Saturday, February 13, 2010
Isaiah 9:6b He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
EARTHLY SORROW -- HEAVENLY GIFT
How magnificently Isaiah sums up everything that a person could possibly want or need while walking through the shadow of misery and the valley of death and suffering that is this world and places all of it squarely on the shoulders of this "Child."
To the Israelite dragged from his home and all he knows, sent to a foreign land which he does not understand; to everyone lost and confused in this life, not knowing how his life went so wrong, incapable of finding a way through to the next day, crushed beneath the worry and the impossibility of it all--He is the Wonderful Counselor, gently guiding, patiently listening, holding up the light to show us the way through the dark night to His eternal home.
To the Israelite, the chained prisoner of Assyria, defeated and broken without champion or hero or King--to everyone beaten by the earth, certain that this world is out to get him--He is the "mighty God," full of all strength to hear and rescue.
To the Israelite, cut off from family and friends; to everyone alone without loved ones, without family or friends, surrounded by a sea of uncaring and hateful people--He is the "everlasting Father" continually full of love and mercy, always willing to listen and provide.
To the Israelite with eyes haunted by the wanton brutality of the Assyrian Army; to everyone haunted by the cruelty, evil, and brutality of this world, He is the Prince of Peace, within whose pastures we may lie down and feed in security.
It is no wonder that Christ said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." All of who He is, He is for the sake of those who are tired and alone, depressed and forsaken, weak and defenseless, who sit within the shadow of the night and sorrow of this world. To these He is the Sun of righteousness, the Dawn! Replacing earthly loss and sorrow, not with more earthly gifts, but with the heavenly, the everlasting.
