Unto Us a Child is Born
 ~ A Christmas meditation by David J Allen ~

"For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6)

Two thousand, six hundred years ago Isaiah spoke to the people of Israel.  His message was a message of hope to a people in dire distress.  They were living under the disasterous rule of a failed king and were on the brink of ruin.  But Isaiah had a message of hope.  There is an heir to the throne.  His name is Hezekiah and he will be different.  And sure enough, he is different.  He turns the nation back to God and rescures them from the immediate distress.  And so Isaiah's prophecy appears to be have been fulfilled.

Or is it?  Yes, Isaiah's prophecy is fulfilled, but not with the birth of Hezekiah.  Isaiah's prophecy is truly fulfilled 600 years later in a dirty, draughty stable in Bethlehem with the birth of Jesus Christ.  It sounds like an unlikely place for the Saviour of the world to be born.  Surely God would be better organised than to have His son born in the first place that Joseph could find that would give Mary some semblance of privacy!  Could it be that the one who is to be known as "Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" would be born in such unusual circumstances?  Well - yes actually!  This baby, making do with a feeding trough for a cradle, is indeed the Saviour of the world.  He is indeed the one of whom Isaiah speaks - the one who, Himself, is the hope of all who are in dire diestress and seemingly without hope.  He is the fulfillment of God's promise of hope and deliverance for all who will put their trust in Him.  He is hope and deliverance for God's covenant people, Israel, and for the entire world.  He is hope and deliverance for you and for me - if we are willing!  For it is "unto us", for each of us, that this child of hope is born.

I was in a shop yesterday and they were playing Christmas music.  The tune that they were playing was entitled "Just Another Winter's Tale".  I'm sure you know it.  It set me thinking and so let me ask ... in this crazy over-commercialised world, what does Christmas really mean to you?  What does Jesus mean to you?  Is He your Saviour?  Have you asked Him to forgive you for all the things that you've done wrong, and for trying to live your life independent of Him?  Have you surrendered your life to Jesus and allowed Him to take control and make you into a new person?  Have you experienced His deliverance?  Or is there as much room for Him in your life as there was for Him in the inns of Bethlehem on the night He was born?

The world around us want to make Christmas mean all sorts of things.  We hear much talk of "the Christmas spirit".  It's supposed to be a time of peace and goodwill, of feasting and frivolity, of giving gifts, of remembering those less fortunate than ourselves, a time for family.  Well, that may well be true of "Xmas" but Christmas is about Jesus Christ.  Celebrating His birth.  And, compared to that single fact, everything else about Christmas isn't really important.  Without Him  (God's most precious gift to each and everyone of us) at the very centre of it, the Christmas story is indeed just another Winter's tale.

"For unto us a child is born".  Born in a stable 2000 years ago; a child of hope and deliverance for each of us.  Have you made Him your hope in life?  Have you experienced His deliverance?  I hope and pray that you have, and that this year you have a happy and blessed Christmas.  A Christmas made truly happy and blessed by your personal experience of the love of God through His Son, Jesus Christ, whose coming is the reason we celebrate.