No. 832
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, ASV)
Even though Christmas day is not the real anniversary of our Lord’s birth, but more likely closer to the annunciation day or the date of His human begetting (Luke 1:28), nevertheless, since the celebration of our Lord’s birth is not a matter of divine appointment or injunction, but merely a tribute of respect to Him, it is not necessary to quibble about the date. We join with the civilized world in celebrating the grand event on the day which the majority celebrate – “Christmas day.”
In Isaiah 9:2-7[1], we find a lesson appropriate to the Christmas season – a prophecy of our Savior and the great salvation, the gift of God, provided through Him. The prophecy begins: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isa. 9:2) This statement pertains to the future, although it reads as if it relates to something in the past. (Similarly we read “unto us a child is born,” whereas Jesus was not born until several centuries later.) The promised great Light is not yet shining upon the people. Mankind still dwells in the land of the shadow of death. The shadows of the demoralized, sinful, dying condition of Adam’s race affect all of life’s interests for the whole world of mankind. As the Apostle Paul subsequently explained, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Rom. 8:22)
We are still in the time when darkness covers the earth (civilized society) and gross darkness the people (unbelievers). (Isa. 60:2) It is true that there is a measure of light in the world and that it emanated from our dear Redeemer, His words and His works. It still shines forth from all who are truly His, all whose hearts are illuminated by His promises and His Spirit. But this is not the light which is to scatter all of earth’s darkness and to cause all mankind to appreciate the glory of God. It is merely the light of faith, hope, and love that exists in believers.
Our Lord’s light shone into a little corner of the world called Israel, and from His lamp many followers have lit their lamps. To these the Master pointed out, “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” He instructed them, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” He added, however, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (Matt. 5:15-16; John 3:20; 2 Cor. 4:4)
THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
That the True Light is not now shining, that the Sun of Righteousness has not yet arisen with “healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2), is fully evidenced by the gross darkness of the non-Christian world and by the comparatively lesser darkness of Christendom. Some light has spread throughout the world to the degree that Jesus’ true followers have kept their lights trimmed and burning. But all this is merely the shining of light in the midst of darkness and at the present time and under present conditions a light wholly inadequate to dispel the night and to bring in the glorious Day for which the whole creation groans and waits. That glorious Day cannot come until all the members of the Lord’s Body are found; together with Him they will constitute the Sun of Righteousness. (Matt. 13:43)
Soon the Church of Christ will be completed; soon the Sun of Righteousness will shine; soon its rays will light the farthest reaches of the earth. Then every child of Adam, all who shared in his curse, will share in Messiah’s great work of blessing. They will be brought under the influence of that great Light which will make the Millennial Age a Day of glory and of knowledge of the Lord as foretold by prophecy: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14)
This prophecy goes beyond those living at the time and assures us that the Light will shine to those who are in the shadow of death – those already in the darkness of the death state – sheol, hades. The light must shine upon every member of Adam’s race, for Christ tasted death for all. (Heb. 2:9) Just as all of Adam’s children were condemned before their birth, so Christ died for all, before the majority were even born. Just as they shared in the curse that came upon Father Adam, so surely, they will receive a blessing from the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:17-18)
MULTIPLICATION BY RESURRECTION
The prophecy continues: “Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” (Isa. 9:3, ASV) This, the American Standard Version rendering, is evidently more accurate than the King James Version and is consistent with many other translations. This pictures the world of mankind during the Millennial Age, brought forth from the bondage of death, released from the Adamic curse, rejoicing as those who are dividing a spoil – sharing in something which is not theirs, something which has fallen to them. This is how it will be. The blessings of the Millennium will be distributed as divine bounty; the curse will be rolled away; the Sun of Righteousness will shine for all, bringing restitution to all. None will forfeit the blessings except those who willfully refuse them and disregard God’s favor.
The same is true for those who receive divine mercy now. It is a gift; they can do nothing for it; they are merely assured that they are forgiven. The difference is that now only a very few have the eye to see, the ear to hear and the heart to appreciate God’s mercy as it is told us in the Good Tidings which can only be understood by the hearing of faith. In the next age sight and knowledge will largely take the place of faith. The world will then realize the grace of God in Christ Jesus, forgiving their sins and providing them with life everlasting if they will accept it; and they will rejoice to divide the great spoil, the great gift of God. (Rom. 6:23)
The next verse describes the cause for this rejoicing: “For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” (Isa. 9:4) It will be because the great oppressor, Satan, will no longer have control. His yoke of sin, sorrow, pain and death, his rod and his staff of affliction and slavery, will be broken forever, as the Lord explains. (Rev. 20:1-3) The victory over the Adversary is not to be a slow and gradual one, not to be accomplished by missions or any human power; but the Lord Himself will interpose His power, “as in the day of Midian.”
GIDEON’S ARMY
The day of Midian was the day when Gideon and his little band, armed with trumpets and pitchers with lights in them, delivered Israel from the hosts of Midian. (Judges 7:15-22) By the blowing of the trumpets, the breaking of the pitchers and the shining of the lights, they confused the Midianites, so that they killed one another with a great slaughter. The Lord overwhelmed the powerful enemies of His people, granting them a miraculous deliverance.
Our Lord Jesus is the antitypical Gideon, and His “little flock” (Luke 12:32), the Church of this Gospel Age, are the antitype of Gideon’s little army. It will be through their intervention (on the other side of the vail) that the hosts of sin and the present weapons of evil will be utterly defeated and will self-destruct in the great Time of Trouble drawing near. The great victory for truth and righteousness will result in the binding of Satan and the release of all the oppressed.
In the next verse we read of the grand conclusion, the end of sin and trouble: “For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire.” (Isa. 9:5, ASV) The interpretation of this figurative statement is that everything pertaining to this great conflict between righteousness and unrighteousness, all of the weapons of Satan, all the accessories of sin and death which have prevailed in the world for centuries, shall be utterly destroyed. The picture shows us the world cleansed from every evidence of opposition to the Divine Government and the Law of Righteousness, and harmonizes well with the statement of Revelation: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:13)
HOW WILL IT BE BROUGHT ABOUT?
Next the Lord gives the explanation of the process by which this prophecy of blessing and release will be accomplished, drawing attention to the fact that no such blessing and enlightenment would be possible until Messiah has come. He also shows that Messiah was to be born after the manner of mankind, but would nevertheless be the Son of the Living God: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . .”
How beautiful, how simple, is the entire statement from the standpoint of faith! Yet the wisdom of this world still may stumble over even such simple statements as these, claiming, as Higher Critics do, that this prophecy was wholly to the Israelites of Isaiah’s day, and that the promised one was King Hezekiah! Blessed are our eyes if they see and our ears if they hear the true meaning of this prophecy and thus permit us to recognize in it the Messiah, Immanuel – meaning “God with us” – the one sent of God to be the great Deliverer and to accomplish for us all the wonderful things which God has promised by all the holy Prophets since the world began, confirming His promise made to Abraham: “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Acts 3:19-21; Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:8,16,29)
The prophecy then pictures the Child grown to manhood, and the government placed on His shoulders: “. . . and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, ASV) Skipping over the earthly trials and sufferings of our Redeemer and the Church during the Gospel Age, the prophecy points to the complete and glorified Messiah at His Second Advent, the standpoint from which the whole world will ultimately recognize Him.
THE TITLES GIVEN TO JESUS
All the titles given to our Lord represent His majesty, dignity, power, and glory. Our Lord is already recognized by His true followers, who know Him as the most wonderful Counselor. No other counsel, no other teaching is like His. The world in general has yet to learn this fact about Him; but before the close of the Millennium it will be generally known: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10-11) If, after confessing Him, any willfully and deliberately ignore and reject His teachings, sinning willfully and intentionally, such will die the Second Death. (Acts 3:23)
Our Lord Jesus is recognized now by His true followers as the Mighty Lord, the Mighty God, but not as God the Father. (1 Cor. 8:6) He is the Father’s representative, voice, mouthpiece, the well-beloved Son whom the Father has clothed with glory, honor and immortality, and given all power in Heaven and in earth necessary to the accomplishment of the great work entrusted to Him. (Matt. 3:17; Matt. 28:18) He demonstrated His fitness for this office by His love and His loyalty even unto the death of the Cross.
Our Lord Jesus will be the Everlasting Father of the human race in the sense that, while their father Adam failed to give them life, our Lord redeemed Adam and all his posterity, thus becoming the Author of everlasting life to all who will obey Him. This will include all of the human family that will attain to everlasting life, except the Church class of this Gospel Age, who are chosen out of the world and begotten of the Heavenly Father to a new, spiritual nature. (1 Pet. 1:3-4) They are spoken of as the brethren of Christ in one figure, and as His Bride and Joint-heirs in another, but never as His children. (Heb. 2:11; Rev. 21:2) To the world, however, He will be the Everlasting Father, or Life-giver, through whom they may have everlasting life – life to all eternity – if they will become obedient to God’s arrangements.
Another of our Lord’s titles will be Prince of Peace. While His Kingdom will be introduced by the great Time of Trouble, the trouble will not be of His producing. (Dan. 12:1) It will be the result of the wrong course of sin and selfishness fostered by the great oppressor, Satan. The Prince of Peace will subdue all enemies, all sin, all unrighteousness, all insubordination to the divine will. Nothing will hinder the accomplishment of this great mission entrusted to Him by the Father. His love of peace will not hinder Him from dashing the nations to pieces as a potter’s vessel, in order for righteousness to be established upon a firm and sure foundation. (Psa. 2:9; Rev. 2:26-27)
“UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID”
Our lesson concludes: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isa. 9:7)
The word David signifies “beloved;” and the kingdom entrusted to King David was God’s Kingdom in a typical form, which was never to pass away. (1 Chron. 29:23; 2 Sam. 7:16) It was maintained by the Lord down to the time of Zedekiah, when we are told that the crown and the scepter of authority and power were removed to be overturned until He would come whose right it is. (Ezek. 21:27)
Our Lord in the flesh, as a descendant of King David, was the legitimate Heir to that Kingdom of David which was to have no end. But instead of establishing His Kingdom at His First Advent, He declared, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) That is to say, His Kingdom was not of that age, that dispensation. He then began the selection of the Little Flock who in the world to come, the Millennial Age, will be His joint-heirs and associates in the Millennial Kingdom.
When Christ and the glorified Church reign over the earth, their rule will be the continuation or exaltation of the Kingdom of God which was begun in King David and Natural Israel. This greater David, this greater Beloved of the Father, full of grace and truth, will establish righteousness in the earth with judgment – with punishments for wrong-doing and rewards for right-doing.
Although the Millennial Kingdom will be under the direct supervision of our glorious Lord and His associated Church, yet behind it will be the Father’s delegated power. As the Apostle assures us, when it is said that all things will be put under subjection to Christ, it is manifest that the Father is excepted, for it is He that puts all things under Christ. “Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God [the Father] may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:27-28)
Immanuel’s government, from the time of its beginning to the time it will be transferred to the Father, will be one continuous success; there will be no breaks or changes of course. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” The discipline and order which He will establish will be on such a firm basis that day by day will see it more secure, until finally the consummation having been reached, the trials all being complete, the willfully incorrigible having been destroyed, the dominion without end will be passed to the Father.
It was the Father’s Kingdom from the time of David; it will be the Father’s Kingdom under the control of Messiah during the period of subjugation and restitution, the Millennial Age; and afterward it will be the Father’s Kingdom without end: “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father.” (1 Cor. 15:24) The assurance given is that the work of reconstruction will be so thoroughly carried out that never again will sin bring a curse upon the earth. (Rev. 21:4)
(Reprinted from No. 724, December, 2017; based on several writings of Pastor Russell, primarily Reprints 3685-3687.)
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THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH QUESTIONED
Many question the teaching of the Bible respecting the miraculous birth of Jesus. Voltaire, Paine, Ingersoll and others have denied it and we do not question the right of Rev. Dr. Aked and others of today to take up the same arguments.[2] We live in a free country. Candor in our day need not lead anybody to the stake. We rejoice in these liberties.
But we are surprised that Dr. Aked should still claim to be a Christian, and still retain the pastorate of a Christian Church, while denying the very foundation of the Christian religion. Our amazement grows when we learn that after he had frankly acknowledged his unbelief, he was elected to be the head of the Church Federation in San Francisco. Think of the meaning of more than two-thirds of that Federation agreeing that Jesus was not supernaturally born! Less than one-third of these Federationists believe the fundamental doctrine of Christianity!
We can hear these learned gentlemen claiming to belong to the newer and larger Christianity, backed by the theological colleges, and therefore they have first right to the name “Christian.” They claim to be “Modernists” who still hold to Christ, but as a great Teacher – not a Redeemer.
Christianity was established by Jesus and His Apostles. The unbelief of few or many cannot change Christianity. We would hope that the believers in the “Christianity” of the colleges will realize that in retaining the name Christian and holding pastorates in Christian churches, they are sailing under false colors; they should resign or induce their congregations to unite with them in some new name, such as “Humanitarians.” Merely to endorse a few of Jesus’ teachings, such as the Golden Rule, while rejecting His other teachings, does not give any one the right to the name Christian.
Dr. Aked admits that St. John’s Gospel tells of the prehuman existence of Jesus. But Dr. Aked challenges proof that Jesus Himself claimed a supernatural birth. He boldly declares that St. Peter never refers to it. He exultantly points us to the Epistles of St. Paul as not teaching that Jesus was a supernatural person. One might suppose, when reading Dr. Aked’s statement, that he fully believes and endorses all the teachings of Jesus, St. Peter and St. Paul; and that if they had told of the miraculous birth, he would be a hearty believer in it and an advocate of it.
The Bible stands or falls as a whole. Its Plan of Salvation, made up of the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets, cannot be accepted in part and rejected in part. If Jesus and His Apostles taught that He had a special birth for a special purpose, and the statement was not true, they were wicked deceivers. Then not one word of theirs should be accepted or trusted. To call Jesus the Great Teacher, and then to say that the basis of His teaching is falsehood, is inconsistent, and would imply sympathy with falsehood.
THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES
Jesus had been with His disciples, working miracles for probably two years, before He asked them, “But whom say ye that I am?” When St. Peter declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus replied, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:15-17) St. Peter thus declared his faith that Jesus was the Son of God and not the son of Joseph. Jesus approved this, and referred to the Heavenly and not to an earthly Father.
Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” By inference, He either told of a pre-human existence or He was being deceitful! Similarly He prayed, “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 8:58; John 17:5) If He had no previous existence, but was born like others, His words were deceptive. Was the great Teacher the great Deceiver?
Again, Jesus told His disciples, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” If He had no previous existence, if He had not a special birth, how could we understand those words except as deceptive? Similarly, in referring to Himself, Jesus said, “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” (John 6:62, 32-35, 41)
Surely Jesus was miraculously born, or else He was the greatest and most successful of all deceivers, and therefore the worst of all deceivers. Let each take his choice. There is no middle ground.
What is the significance of St. Paul’s statement, “Who [Christ Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible . . . all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Col. 1:15-17) These words by the Apostle are surely not in accord with the theory that Jesus began His existence the same as others.
Again St. Paul writes, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” (2 Cor. 8:9) Again he declares, “Who, existing in the form of [a] God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6-7, ASV)
If Jesus was the son of Joseph, He was not “separate from sinners,” as St. Paul declared (Heb. 7:26), but belonged to the same stock with all others. He also would have needed a Redeemer.
The early Church all believed Jesus’ declaration that He was the Son of God, whom the Father had sent into the world to be the Savior of men. (John 3:17) Indeed, this feature of the Master’s teachings especially angered the Jews; for they declared that in claiming to be the Son of God, He was establishing Himself upon a pedestal of honor, dignity, glory, in competition with Jehovah. To this, Jesus replied, “Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” (John 10:36)
The Gospel of St. John was written later than the other Gospels; hence he did not take up the miraculous birth of Jesus, but through him God gives us a glimpse into the pre-human condition of the Savior: “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word [Logos] was with [the] God, and the Word [Logos] was [a] God. The same was in the beginning with [the] God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made . . . And the Word [Logos] was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-14)
THE BASIS OF BIBLE DOCTRINE
Separated from the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus, the theology of the Bible would not hold together for one moment. Its claim is that the divine sentence following Adam’s sin was a death sentence. The teaching of the Bible is that God arranged this death sentence purposely, so as to make necessary the death of Jesus. St. Paul so declares, saying, “For since by [a] man came death, by [a] man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all [all who are in Christ] be made alive. But every man in his own order.” (1 Cor. 15:21-23) In other words, if God had not provided a sinless Redeemer, and if that Redeemer had not died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and risen from the dead for our justification, then there would have been no future life for humanity – the death of mankind would have been like that of the brute, a hopeless one. There would have been no resurrection from the death condition. Death would have been an eternal sleep.
St. Paul emphasizes this thought, declaring that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then all faith is vain, all hope is vain, all preaching is vain. (1 Cor. 15:13-14) No one will question the declaration of the Scriptures that all humanity are misshapen in iniquity, and that in sin did our mothers conceive us. Father Adam and Mother Eve gave us, as their children, a legacy of imperfection of mind and body, and of sinful tendencies. God’s provision is that Christ will make good for the transgression of the first Adam, and that eventually He will be the Second Adam, who will be successful, who will give life everlasting to all those who will obey Him.
(Based on What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 327-330.)
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[1] The first verse of this chapter properly belongs with the previous chapter; accordingly, in the Hebrew text it is numbered 8:23. Therefore our topic begins with the second verse.
[2] In 1914, Dr. Charles Aked, president of the Church Federation of San Francisco, stated from the pulpit his unbelief in the immaculate conception of Jesus. Amid the ensuing controversy, the Federation overwhelmingly rejected his offer to resign.