“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, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
A Child is Born—A Son is Given
This marvelous prophecy is a Christmas favorite for all who believe on Jesus, the Jewish Messiah, and Savior of the world. We mostly zoom in on His glorious titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and one of His dearest, Prince of Peace. Instead, I will draw your attention to the terms son and child. They reveal the dual nature of this wonderful person. We understand by the term child, that He will be human. And we understand by the term Son that He is divine. Furthermore, His government will be from heaven: “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 forever…” (verse 7).
Sadly, the Jewish people did not receive their Messiah, because they could not accept that God could become man: “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). When Jesus came on the scene, one of the major objections of the religious leaders of the Jewish people was that He made himself to be the Son of God. They knew this meant that Jesus was claiming to be divine, to be deity, and to them this was blasphemy. They saw him as the son of Joseph— a child born to earthly parents. They could not receive Him as the Son of God.
The child was born of Mary, his earthly mother. But the Son was given by God, His heavenly Father. He had to be human in order to die for humanity, and save us from our sins, and He had to be divine in order to be sinless, because sin cannot atone for sin. There was not one sinless man upon the planet, that could have atoned for the sins of the world. This is the message behind John 3:16:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever should believe on him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Jesus is the only begotten Son of God, possessing deity. But He was born of a human woman, possessing humanity: “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign; behold, a Virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and you shall call his name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
In the Jewish scriptures, the Hebrew word for virgin is almah, which appears seven times in the Old Testament. It can be translated virgin as it is here in Isaiah 7:14. In four cases, it is translated maid, referring to a young girl, as in the case of Miriam, Moses’ sister. She was 10 years old when Moses was born, she and helped her mother by taking baby Moses to the Nile River where Pharaoh’s daughter would find him. Of course, she was referred to as a maid. She was only 10 and certainly not sexually active.
The Virgin Mary
Jews who do not believe that Jesus is their Messiah state that Isaiah 7:14 should have been translated maid and not virgin. But the New Testament writer Matthew cited this verse from Isaiah in reference to the birth of Jesus, born of Mary:
“And she shall bring forth a son, and you shall call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us” (Matthew 1:21-23).
The Greek word for virgin is parthenos, and it always and only means virgin. Matthew made it clear that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin when she conceived him in her womb by the Holy Spirit. Moreover, Matthew also gave us the interpretation of the title Emmanuel: God with us. (That’s another wonderful message all on its own!)
God said that He would give Israel a sign, and what could be a greater sign than a virgin becoming pregnant? This pointed to the fact that God himself would be the Father. The Jews could not except that Jesus fulfilled this prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, because they could not conceive that God could become a man. Jesus came as the second Adam to undo what Adam did in the garden of Eden. God only needed one sinless man to take the place of every human sinner and die for their sins. Why only one man to atone for billions of souls? Paul wrote in the fifth chapter of Romans, that by one man, Adam, all became sinners. Therefore, by one sinless man, all could become righteous (see Rom.5:12-19).
But God could not find one sinless man on the earth, as every human has inherited the nature of sin from our parents, Adam and Eve: “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), and “There is none righteous, no, not one” (verse 10). The only remedy was for God to become a man. In order to be sinless, God had to be his father. And in order to atone for humanity, he had to be human:
“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law” (Galatians 4:4). “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil…. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:14, 17).
These verses clearly show that Jesus was fully human—the incarnation. He came into this world in the womb of a woman, flesh and blood, just like you and I were born. And because He was born in an earthly womb, we now have the ability to be born of Heaven’s womb, born again of the Spirit. Jesus said in John 3:4-7:
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, You must be born again.”
He became like unto us in the flesh that we might become like Him unto in the Spirit. I want to draw your attention to one of my favorite verses, Hebrews 2:11, that states that because we are sanctified by Him, we are one with Him, and Jesus is not ashamed to call us His brethren. The Greek word for brother is adelphos. It comes from the root word delphus which means womb. A brother is someone who is born of the same womb as you. Jesus came in the flesh, born in the same earthly womb as we are. This is why He is our brother, and we can say:
Happy Birthday Big Brother!
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