THE BIRTH OF THE MESSIAH.

ISAIAH IX.

WHEN We read the 8th chapter, we found laid out an account of the great judgments which were to be inflicted primarily upon idolaters, and upon those that transgressed the law and despised the testimony, and had no trust or hope in God the only Saviour. This chapter, which refers back to the judgments pronounced in the previous one, says, "Nevertheless," though all these judgments shall overtake this people, "the dimness," the desolation or the misery, "shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations." But after having spoken of the great afflictions, a burst of sunshine breaks through the cloud that was charged with desolating judgments— judgments that had been partially emptied upon the land--a burst of sunshine such as, beginning with the gray dawn at first, increased to meridian splendour, and deepening still in brilliancy, will not be quenched until the whole earth is filled with the glory of it, and the Gentiles shall see, and come to the light, and Israel recognize in itself their glory. He says, "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and," it

It

is in our translation, "not increased the joy;" but in the margin it is perhaps more properly translated "to him ;"-the Hebrew for "to him" and the Hebrew for "not," having exactly the same sound. The one, therefore, in this passage has been mistaken for the other. The translation strictly is, "Thou hast multiplied the nation, and increased to it the joy; they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." But why? is the picture of those of God's people who recognize the Saviour and rejoice in Him. But why do they rejoice? child is born," an infant, the holy child Jesus; "that holy thing which shall be born of thee, thou shalt call his name Jesus;" "unto us a son is given," the Son of God, essential deity; the son of man, thorough and true manhood; "and the government shall be upon his shoulders;" the government of nations, the government of mankind, the government of his redeemed and ransomed church; for he is as much a king as he is a priest and a prophet. "And his name shall

"Unto us," sinners,

66 a

be called;" that is, his name shall be-the expression "shall be called" frequently denoting simply "shall be;" and in the Scripture a name is always a reality -"his name shall be, Wonderful;" wonderful in his birth, wonderful in his life, wonderful in his words, wonderful in his death; no man spake like this man, no man lived like this man, no man loved like this man, no man died like this man. There was a peculiarity distinctive and inimitable in all he did, for it was for us, to obey our law and to give us a righteousness that would avail us at the judgmentseat; and all he suffered was for us; it was the

expiation of sin, it was the extinction of the curse, it was redemption through his blood, securing to us the forgiveness of sins and the acceptance of God. And he shall also be called "the Counseller;" that is, the teacher, the prophet. He is predicted by Moses as a prophet whom the Lord God shall raise up unto you;" he is called in the Gospels a teacher; his lessons are in the Gospel lessons of light and love, his word is the Bible inspiration and truth, he sent his Spirit to inspire it into the minds of his evangelists, and they wrote it, and he sends the same Spirit to inspire it into the hearts of his people as they listen to it, or read and receive it. He is also "the mighty God." In this perhaps there seems a contradiction; a child, a son, and yet the mighty God. It may be asked, Do we comprehend this? We do not; yet we accept it because God says it, believing that in all the departments of the spiritual, the moral, and the physical universe there are heights to which no human imagination can soar, and depths which no human plumb-line can fathom; not that anything there is against the reason that is impossible, but, in some things, so transcending reason that we can no more comprehend them than the finite can comprehend the infinite, or the temporal the eternal. He is man, and yet the mighty God. We need nothing but the record of his deeds to show that he was so; in fact, our blessed Saviour constantly asserts of himself what would be blasphemy if he were not the living and the true God; does he "that all men should honour the Son even Does he not say

not say as they honour the Father?" "Before Abraham was -not, the words are so

guarded, "before Abraham was," not "I was;" which might be true on the Arian hypothesis, namely, that he was a precreated being; but he says, "Before Abraham was, I am." Now, what do those words, "I am," suggest constantly in the Old Testament? "Jehovah; I am that I am;" and therefore he assumes to be God. "The everlasting Father." These words strictly translated mean "the source, the author of the age to come." The word Father is employed here, not in the sense in which it is applied to the First Person in the blessed Trinity; but in the sense of a fountain. We read, “He is the father of all such as handle the harp and organ;" meaning, he is the source, the teacher of that science. And so here Christ is called the fountain, the author literally of the age to come, of which he is the king, and governor, and ruler, and light, and air, and glory, and all and in all; that age when there shall be no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple thereof; that age when there shall be no night, nor sorrow, nor tears, but all things shall be made new; and he shall reign from sea to sea, and of the increase of his government or reign there shall be no end, and all shall bless him and be blessed in him. "That this passage refers to the Messiah has been generally conceded, except by the Jews, and by a few later critics. Jarchi and Kimchi maintain that it refers to Hezekiah. They have been driven to this by the use which Christians have made of the passage against the Jews. But the absurdity of this interpretation has been shown in the Note on chap. vii. 14. The ancient Jews incontestably referred it to the Messiah. Thus the

Targum of Jonathan renders it, His name shall be called God of wonderful counsel, man abiding for ever, THE MESSIAH, whose peace shall be multiplied upon us in his days.' The older interpreters unanimously suppose that this refers to to the Messiah; and this view was entertained by the Jews in ancient times. Thus Rabbi Jose, of Galilee, says, The name of the Messiah is Shálōm, as it is said in Isa. ix. 6, "Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace." Ben Sira (fol. 40, of the Amsterdam Edition, 1679,) numbers among the eight names of the Messiah those also taken from this passage, Wonderful, Counseller, Mighty God, Prince of Peace. The later Jews, however, have rejected this interpretation, because the Messiah is here described as God, contrary to their system of doctrines."

Then there follows what at first seems puzzling, "All the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones," and so on. It seems at first as if this picture of a people scourged and punished was coeval or cotemporary with Isaiah himself; but the words are so graphic and so applicable to the Jews in the days of our Lord that I think the portrait that follows this beautiful apocalypse of Christ as the Saviour is the actual portrait of the Jews that rejected that Saviour, and would not accept him as the Wonderful, the Counsoller, the mighty God. For instance, here is their cry, "The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones; the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars;" we have lost