A Child is Born

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders."
-Isaiah 9:6a
     I didn't really plan on writing this blog post, but I thought that it would be good to share something on Christmas day. Isaiah chapter 9 talks about how the Israelites have been living in darkness, but would see a great light. Many promises are made in the chapter, all suggesting that the fate of the Israelites would be changed for their benefit.
     Verse 6 describes the method in which this change would be brought to them. It reads "for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders". The people would be saved from their darkness by a child. What kind of salvation is this? Perhaps when the Israelites heard this, they thought that this child would grow up to be some king. Certainly a child cannot bring salvation, right?
     Ravi Zacharias once said something that totally changed my perspective about this verse. I don't remember the exact quote, but I can share the general idea. Isaiah's choice of words in verse 6 is not accidental; it actually teaches us something profound. The child is born, but the son is given. The child is born because Jesus wasn't a human until he was born. The son is given because Jesus eternally existed.
     While the baby Jesus might have looked unimpressive, He was the very Son of God. The child was born, but Jesus was given to us. God didn't send salvation through some random child- He gave us His son. The word "given" suggests that God offered us Jesus freely. It is amazing that the Creator God would willingly give us His son to save us from our darkness and bring us into His marvelous light. Thank God that the child was born, and the Son was given.
-Smart