"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” Isaiah 9:2

One evening last week, I stood by the sea-shore when the storm was raging. The voice of the Lord was upon the waters; and who was I that I should tarry indoors, when my Master's voice was heard sounding along the water? I rose and stood to behold the flash of his lightning and listen to the glory of his thunder. The sea and the thunders were contesting with one another; the sea with infinite clamor striving to hush the deep-throated thunder, so that his voice should not be heard; yet over and above the roar of the billows might be heard that voice of God, as he spoke with flames of fire, and divided the way for the waters.

It was a dark night, and the sky was covered with thick clouds, and scarce a star could be seen through the rifts of the tempest; but at one particular time, I noticed far away on the horizon, as if miles across the water, a bright shining, like gold. It was the moon hidden behind the clouds, so that she could not shine upon us; but she was able to send her rays down upon the waters, far away, where no cloud happened to intervene.

I thought as I read this chapter last evening, that the prophet seemed to have stood in a like position, when he wrote the words of my text. All round about him were clouds of darkness; he heard prophetic thunders roaring, and he saw flashes of the lightnings of divine vengeance; clouds and darkness, for many a league, were scattered through history; but he saw far away a bright spot—one place where the clear shining came down from heaven. And he sat down, and he penned these words: "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" and though he looked through whole leagues of space, where he saw the battle of the warrior" (Isaiah 9:5) with confused noise and garments rolled in blood" yet he fixed his eye upon one bright spot in futurity, and he declared, that there he saw hope of peace, prosperity and blessedness; for said he, "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."

My dear friends, we live to-day upon the verge of that bright spot. The world has been passing through these clouds of darkness, and the light is gleaming on us now, like the glinting of the first rays of morning. We are coming to a brighter day, and "at evening time it shall be light." (Zech. 14:7)

The clouds and darkness shall be rolled up as a mantle that God needs no longer, and he shall appear in his glory, and his people shall rejoice with him. But you must mark, that all the brightness was the result of this child born, this son given, whose name is called Wonderful; and if we can discern any brightness in our own hearts, or in the world's history, it can come from nowhere else, than from the one who is called "Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God."

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

The sentence is a double one, but it has in it no tautology. The careful reader will soon discover a distinction; and it is not a distinction without a difference. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."

As Jesus Christ is a child in his human nature, he is born, begotten of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary. He is as truly-born, as certainly a child, as any other man that ever lived upon the face of the earth. He is thus in his humanity a child born.

But as Jesus Christ is God's Son, he is not born; but given, begotten of his Father from before all worlds, begotten—not made, being of the same substance with the Father. The doctrine of the eternal affiliation of Christ is to be received as an undoubted truth of our holy religion. But as to any explanation of it, no man should venture there, for it remains among the deep things of God—one of those solemn mysteries indeed, into which the angels dare not look, nor do they desire to pry into it—a mystery which we must not attempt to fathom, for it is utterly beyond the grasp of any finite being.

As well might a gnat seek to drink in the ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God. A God whom we could understand would be no God. If we could grasp him he could not be infinite: if we could understand him, then he would not be divine.

Jesus Christ then, I say, as a Son, is not born to us, but given. He is a boon bestowed on us, "For God so loved the world, that he sent his only begotten Son into the world." He was not born in this world as God's Son, but he was sent, or was given, so that you clearly perceive that the distinction is a suggestive one, and conveys much good truth to us. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given."

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"His name shall be called Wonderful" Isaiah 9:6

Beloved, there are a thousand things in this world, that are called by names that do not belong to them; but in entering upon my text, I must announce at the very opening, that Christ is called Wonderful, because he is so. God the Father never gave his Son a name which he did not deserve.

There is no flattery here. It is just the simple name that he deserves, they that know him best will say that the word does not overstrain his merits, but rather falls infinitely short of his glorious deserving. His name is called Wonderful.

Mark, it does not merely say, that God has given him the name of Wonderful—though that is implied; but "his name shall be called" so. It shall be; it is at this time called Wonderful by all his believing people, and it shall be. As long as the moon endureth, there shall be found men, and angels, and glorified spirits, who shall always call him by his right name. "His name shall be called Wonderful."

The word “wonderful” is sometimes in Scripture translated "marvelous." Jesus Christ may be called marvelous; and a learned German interpreter says, that without doubt, the meaning of miraculous is also wrapped up in it. Christ is the marvel of marvels, the miracle of miracles. "His name shall be called Miraculous," for he is more than a man, he is God's highest miracle. "Great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifest in the flesh." (1 Tim. 3:16)

It may also mean separated, or distinguished. And Jesus Christ may well be called this; for as Saul was distinguished from all men, being head and shoulders taller than they, so is Christ distinguished above all men; he is anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and in his character, and in his acts he is infinitely separated from all comparison with any of the sons of men. "Thou art fairer than the children of men; grace is poured into thy lips" (Ps. 45. 2). He is "the chief among ten thousand and altogether lovely” (Song of Solomon 5:10). "His name shall be called the Separated One," the distinguished one, the noble one, set apart from the common race of mankind.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"His name shall be called Wonderful" Isaiah 9:6

Christ shall be called Wonderful for what He was in the past. Gather up your thoughts, my brethren. for a moment, and centre them all on Christ, and you will soon see how wonderful he is. Consider his eternal existence, begotten of his Father from before all worlds, being of the same substance with his Father: begotten, not made, co-equal, co-eternal, in every attribute, very God of very God. For a moment remember that he who became an infant, was no less than the King of ages, the everlasting Father, who was from eternity, and is to be to all eternity.

The divine nature of Christ is indeed wonderful. Just think for a moment, how much interest clusters round the life of an old man. Those of us who are but as children in years, look up to him with wonder and astonishment, as he tells us the varied stories of the experience through which he has passed; but what is the life of an aged man—how brief it appears when compared with the life of the tree that shelters him. It existed long before that old man's father crept a helpless infant into the world. How many storms have swept over its brow! how many kings have come and gone! how many empires have risen and fallen since that old oak was slumbering in its acorn cradle! But what is the life of the tree compared with the soil on which it grows? What a wonderful story that soil might tell! What changes it has passed through in all the eras of time that have elapsed since "in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1)"

There is a wonderful story connected with every atom of black mould which furnishes the nourishment of the oak. But whilst is the history of that soil compared with the marvelous history of the rock on which it rests—the cliff on which it lifts its head. Oh! what stories might it tell, what records lie hidden in its bowels. Perhaps it could tell the story of the time when "the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the earth (Gen. 1:2)". Perhaps it might speak and tell us of those days when the morning and the evening were the first day, and the morning and the evening were the second day, and could explain to us the mysteries of how God made this marvelous piece of miracle,—the world.

But what is the history of the cliff, compared with that of the sea that rolls at its base—that deep blue ocean, over which a thousand navies have swept, without leaving a furrow upon its brow!

But what is the history of the sea, compared with the history of the heavens that are stretched like a curtain over that vast basin! What a history is that of the hosts of heaven—of the everlasting marches of the sun, moon, and stars! Who can tell their generation, or who can write their biography? But what is the history of the heavens, compared with the history of the angels? They could tell you of the day when they saw this world wrapped in swaddling bands of mist—when, like a newborn infant, the last of God's offspring, it came forth from him, and the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy.

But what is the history of the angels that excel in strength, compared with the history of the Lord Jesus Christ? The angel is but of yesterday, and he knows nothing; Christ, the Eternal One, charges even his angels with folly, and looks upon them as his ministering spirits, that come and go at his good pleasure.

Oh, Christians, gather with reverence and mysterious awe around the throne of him who is your great Redeemer; for "his name is called Wonderful," since he has existed before all things, and "by him all things were made; and without him was not anything made that was made (John 1:3)"

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"His name shall be called Wonderful" Isaiah 9:6

Let me tell the story of my own wonderment at Christ, and in telling it, I shall be telling the experience of all God's children.

There was a time when I wondered not at Christ. I heard of his beauties, but I had never seen them; I heard of his power, but it was nought to me; it was but news of something done in a far country—I had no connection with it, and therefore I observed it not. But once upon a time, there came one to my house of a black and terrible aspect. He smote the door; I tried to bolt it—to hold it fast. He smote again and again, till at last he entered, and with a rough voice he summoned me before him; and he said, "I have a message from God for thee; thou art condemned on account of thy sins." I looked at him with astonishment; I asked him his name. He said, "My name is the Law." and I fell at his feet as one that was dead. "I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died (Rom. 7:9)."

As I lay there, he smote me. He smote me till every rib seemed as if it must break, and the bowels be poured forth. My heart was melted like wax within me; I seemed to be stretched upon a rack—to be pinched with hot irons—to be beaten with whips of burning wire. A misery extreme dwelt and reigned in my heart. I dared not lift up mine eyes, but I thought within myself, "There may be hope, there may be mercy for me. Perhaps the God whom I have offended may accept my tears and my promises of amendment, and I may live." But when that thought crossed me, heavier were the blows and more poignant my sufferings than before, till hope entirely failed me, and I had nowhere to place my trust.

Darkness black and dense gathered round me; I heard a voice as it were, of rushing to and fro, and of wailing and gnashing of teeth. I said within my soul, "I am cast out from his sight, I am utterly abhorred of God, he hath trampled me in the mire of the streets in his anger." And there came one by, of sorrowful but of loving aspect, and he stooped over me, and he said, "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light (Eph. 5:14)."

I arose in astonishment, and he took me, and he led me to a place where stood a cross, and he seemed to vanish from my sight. But he appeared again hanging there. I looked upon him as he bled upon that tree. His eyes darted a glance of love unutterable into my spirit, and in a moment, looking at him, the bruises that my soul had suffered were healed; the gaping wounds were cured; the broken bones rejoiced; the rags that had covered me were all removed; my spirit was white as the spotless snows of the far-off north; I had melody within my spirit, for I was saved, washed, cleansed, forgiven, through him that did hang upon the tree.

Oh, how I wondered that I should be pardoned! It was not the pardon that I wondered at so much; the wonder was that it should come to me. I wondered that he should be able to pardon such sins as mine; such crimes, so numerous and so black, and that after such an accusing conscience he should have power to still every wave within my spirit, and make my soul like the surface of a river, undisturbed, quiet, and at ease.

His name then to my spirit was Wonderful. But, brothers and sisters, if you have felt this, you can say you thought him wonderful then—if you are feeling it, a sense of adoring wonder enraptures your heart even now.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

“And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor" Isaiah 9:6

"Where there is no counsellor," says Solomon, "the people fall (Prov. 11:14)." I think most people will find it so. A man says, "Well, I'll have my own way, and I will ask nobody." Have it, sir,—have it—and you will find that in having your own way you have probably had the worst way you could. We all feel our need, at times, of a counsellor.

David was a man after God's own heart and dealt much with his God; but he had Ahithophel, with whom he took sweet counsel, and they walked to the house of God in company. Kings must have some advisers. Woe unto the man that has a bad counsellor. Rehoboam took counsel of the young men, and not of the old men (1 Kings 12:8), and they counselled him so that he lost ten-twelfths of his empire.

Some take counsel of stocks and stones. We know many who counsel at the hands of foolish charms, instead of going to Christ. They shall have to learn that there is but one Christ, who is to be trusted; and that however necessary a Counsellor may be, yet none other shall be found to fulfill the necessity, but Jesus Christ the Counsellor. Let me make a remark or two with regard to this Counsellor, Jesus Christ. And, first, Christ is a necessary Counsellor. So sure as we do anything without asking counsel of God we fall into trouble.

You and I will have to learn how necessary it is always to take advice from God. Did you ever seek God's advice on your knees about a difficulty and then go amiss? Brethren, I can testify for my God that when I have submitted my will to his directing Spirit, I have always had reason to thank him for his wise counsel. But when I have asked at his hands, having already made up my own mind, I have had my own way, but like as he fed the Israelites with the quails of heaven, while the meat was yet in their mouth, the wrath of God came upon them. Let us always take heed that we never go before the cloud. He that goes before the cloud goes a fool's errand, and will be glad to get back again.

An old puritan used to say, "He that carves for himself will cut his fingers. Leave God to carve for you in providence, and all shall be well. Seek God's guidance and nothing can go amiss." It is necessary counsel.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

If this child who now lies before the eyes of your faith, wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem's manger, is born to you, my hearer, then you are born again!

For this child is not born to you unless you are born to this child. All who have an interest in Christ are, in the fullness of time, by grace converted, quickened, and renewed. All the redeemed are not yet converted, but they will be. Before the hour of death arrives their nature shall be changed, their sins shall be washed away, they shall pass from death unto life. If any man tells me that Christ is his Redeemer, although he has never experienced regeneration, that man utters what he does not know; his religion is vain, and his hope is a delusion. Only men who are born again can claim the babe in Bethlehem as being theirs.

"But" says one, "how am I to know whether I am born again or not?" Answer this question also by another: Has there been a change caused by divine grace within you? Are your loves the very opposite of what they were? Do you now hate the vain things you once admired, and do you seek after that precious pearl which you at one time despised? Is your heart thoroughly renewed in its object? Can you say that the bent of your desire is changed? That your face is Zionward, and your feet set upon the path of grace? That whereas your heart once longed for deep draughts of sin, it now longs to be holy? And whereas you once loved the pleasures of the world, they have now become as draff and dross to you, for you only love the pleasures of heavenly things, and are longing to enjoy more of them on earth, that you may be prepared to enjoy a fullness of them hereafter? Are you renewed within?

For mark, my hearer, the new birth does not consist in washing the outside of the cup and platter, but in cleansing the inner man. It is all in vain to put up the stone upon the sepulcher, wash it extremely white, and garnish it with the flowers of the season; the sepulcher itself must be cleansed. The dead man's bones that lie in that charnel-house of the human heart must be cleansed away. Nay, they must be made to live. The heart must no longer be a tomb of death, but a temple of life.

Is it so with you, my hearer? For recollect, you may be very different in the outward, but if you are not changed in the inward, this child is not born to you.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

“And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor" Isaiah 9:6

Christ's counsel is faithful counsel. When Ahithophel left David, it proved that he was not faithful, and when Hushai went to Absalom and counselled him, he counselled him craftily, so that the good counsel of Ahithophel was brought to nought (2 Sam. 15).

Ah! how often do our friends counsel us craftily! We have known them do so. They have looked first to their own advantage, and then they have said, "If I can get him to do so-and-so it will be the best for me." That was not the question we asked them. It was what would be best for ourselves. But we may trust Christ, that in his advice to us there never will be any self-interest. He will be quite certain to advise us with the most disinterested motives, so that the good shall be to us, and the profit to ourselves.

Again, Christ's counsel is hearty counsel. I hate to go to a lawyer above all people, to talk with him upon matters of business. The worst kind of conversation is, I think, conversation with a lawyer. There is your case! Dear me, what an interest you feel in it! You spread it out before him, and he says, "There is a word upon the second page not quite correct." You look at it, and you say, "Ah! that is totally unimportant; that does not signify." He turns to another clause and he says, "Ah! there is a good deal here!" "My dear fellow, you any, "I do not care about those petty clauses, whether it says lands, properties, or hereditaments: what I want you to do is to set this difficulty right in point of law." "Be patient" he says; you must go through a great many consultations before he will come the point, and all the while your poor heart is boiling over because you feel such an interest in the main point. But he is as cool as possible; you think you are asking counsel of a block of marble. No doubt his advice will come out all right at last, and it is pretty certain it will be good for you; but it is not hearty. He does not enter into the sympathies of the matter with you. What is it to him whether you succeed or not—whether the object of your heart shall be accomplished or not. It is but a professional interest he takes.

Now, Solomon says, "As ointment for perfume, so is hearty counsel. (Prov. 27:9)" When a man throws his own soul into your ease, and says, "My dear friend, I'll do anything I can to help you. let me look at it," and he takes as deep an interest in it as you do yourself. "If I were in your position," he says, "I should do so-and-so, by-the-bye, there is a word wrong there." Perhaps he tells you so, but he only tells you because he is anxious to have it all right; and you can see that his drift is always towards the same end you are seeking, and that he is only anxious for your good.

Oh! for a Counsellor that could tie your heart into unison with his own! Now Christ is such a Counsellor as that. He is a hearty Counsellor. His interests and your interests are bound up together, and he is hearty with you.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

“And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor" Isaiah 9:6

Christian, do you know what sweet counsel is? You have gone to your Master in the day of trouble, and in the secret of your chamber you have poured out your heart before him. You have laid your case before him, with all its difficulties, as Hezekiah did Rabshakeh's letter (Isaiah 37), and you have felt that, though Christ was not there in flesh and blood, yet he was there in spirit, and he counselled you. You felt that his was counsel that came from the very heart. But he was something better than that. There was such a sweetness coming with his counsel, such a radiance of love, such a fullness of fellowship, that you said, " Oh that I were in trouble every day, if I might have such sweet counsel as this!"

Christ is the Counsellor whom I desire to consult every hour, and I would that I could sit in his secret chamber all day and all night long, because to counsel with him is to have sweet counsel, hearty counsel, and wise counsel, all at the same time. Why, you may have a friend that talks very sweetly with you, and you will say, "Well, he is a kind, good soul, but I really cannot trust his judgment." You have another friend, who has a good deal of judgment, and yet you say of him, "Certainly, he is a man of prudence above a great many, but I cannot find out his sympathy; I never get at his heart, if he were ever so rough and untutored, I would sooner have his heart without his prudence, than his prudence without his heart."

But we go to Christ, and we get wisdom; we get love, we get sympathy, we get everything that can possibly be wanted in a Counsellor. And now we must close by noticing that Christ has special counsel for each of us this morning, and what are they? Tried child of God, your daughter is sick; your gold has melted in the fire; you are sick yourself, and your heart is sad. Christ counsels you, and he says, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, he will sustain thee; he will never suffer the righteous to be moved. (Psalm 55:22)" Young man, you that are seeking to be great in this world, Christ counsels you this morning. "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not."

I shall never forget Midsummer Common. I was ambitious; I was seeking to go to college, to leave my poor people in the wilderness that I might become something great; and as I was walking there that text came with power to my heart—"Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not. (Jer. 45:5)" I suppose about forty pounds a year was the sum total of my income, and I was thinking how I should make both ends meet, and whether it would not be a great deal better for me to resign my charge and seek something for the bettering of myself, and so forth. But this text ran in my ears "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not."

"Lord," said I, "I will follow thy counsel and not my own devices;" and I have never had cause to regret it. Always take the Lord for thy guide, and thou shalt never go amiss. Backslider! You that have a name to live, and art dead, or nearly dead, Christ gives thee counsel. "I counsel thee to buy of me, gold tried in the fire and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.(Rev. 3:18)" And sinner! thou that art far from God, Christ gives thee counsel. "Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:12)"

Depend on it, it is loving counsel. Take it. Go home and cast yourself upon your knees. Seek Christ, obey his counsel, and you shall have to rejoice that you ever listened to his voice, and heard it, and lived.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" Isaiah 9:6

You and I sit down in our chambers, and in our house of prayer, and as we muse upon the great covenant of grace, we are in the habit of speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ's everlasting love to his people.

This is one of the jewels of our life, one of the ornaments with which we array ourselves as a bride does. This is a part of the manna that tastes like wafers made with honey upon which our souls are wont to feed. We speak of God's eternal love, of our names having been inscribed in his eternal book, and of Christ's having borne them from before the foundation of the world upon his breast, as our great high-priest, our remembrancer before the throne of heaven. In so doing, we have virtually called him the mighty God; because none but God could have been from everlasting to everlasting.

As often as we profess the doctrine of election, we call Christ the mighty God; as often as me talk of the eternal covenant, ordered in all things and sure, so often do we proclaim him to be God: because we speak of him as an everlasting one, and none could be from everlasting but one who is self-existent, who is God.

Again: how frequently do we repeat over to ourselves that precious verse, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever. (Heb. 13:8)" We are always in the habit of ascribing to him immutability. Some of our choicest hymns are founded on that circumstance, and our richest hopes flow from that attribute. We know that all things will change. We are convinced that we ourselves are changeable as the winds, and as easily moved as the sand by the waves of the sea; but we know that our Redeemer lives, and we cannot entertain a suspicion of any change in his love, his purpose, or his power How often do we sing:—

"Immutable his will Though dark may be my frame, His loving heart is still Unchangeably the same. My soul through many changes goes: His love no variation knows!"

Do you not see that you have in fact called him God, because none but God is immutable? The creature changes. This is written on the forefront of creation—"Change!" The mighty ocean, that knows no furrows on its brow, changes at times, and at times shifts its level. It moves hither and thither, and we know that it is to be licked up with forked tongues of flame, and yet we ascribe to Christ immutability. We do, then, in fact, ascribe to him, divinity; for, none but the divine can be immutable. 

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

 "And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" Isaiah 9:6

Is it not also our joy to believe that wherever two or three are gathered together in Christ's name, there is he in the midst of them? Do we not repeat it in all our prayer-meetings?

Perhaps some minister in Australia began the solemnities of public worship this day with the reflection that Jesus Christ was with him, according to his promise, and I know that as I came here the same reflection comforted me, "Yea, I am with you always even to the end of the world (Matt. 28:20)"

Wherever a Christian is found, there God is. And though there be but two or three met in a barn, or on the greensward under the canopy of God's blue sky, yet there Christ vouchsafes his presence. Now I ask you, have we not ascribed to Christ, omnipresence; and who can be omnipotent but God? Have we not thus in feet then, though not in words, called Christ "God?"

How is it possible for us to dream of Him as being here, there, and everywhere; in the bosom of his Father, with the angels, and in the hearts of the contrite all at the same time, if he be not God? Grant me that he is omnipresent, and you have said that he is God, for none but God can be present everywhere. Again, are we not also prone to ascribe to Christ omniscience? You believe when your heart is aching that Christ knows your pains, and that he reckons every groan; or at least if you do not believe it, it is always my satisfaction to know that— "He feels at his heart. All my sighs and my groans (Ps. 38:9)". And so he does yours.

Wherever you are, you believe that he hears your prayers that he sees your tears, that he knows your wants, that he is ready to pardon your sins; that you are better known to him, than you are to yourself. You believe that he searches your hearts, and tries your reins, and that you never can come to him without finding him full of sympathy, and full of love. Now do you not see that you have ascribed conscience to him. and therefore, though not in words, you have, in accents louder than words, called him the mighty God, for you have assumed that he is omniscient; and who can be omniscient but the very God of very God?

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

If thou hast been born again, not only is thy inward self altered, and thy outward self too, but the very root and principle of thy life must become totally new.

When we are in sin we live to self, but when we are renewed we live to God. While we are unregenerate, our principle is to seek our own pleasure, our own advancement; but that man is not truly born again who does not live with a far different aim from this. Change a man's principles, and you change his feelings, you change his actions.

Now, grace changes the principles of man. It lays the axe at the root of the tree. It does not saw away at some big limb it does not try to alter the sap; but it gives a new root, and plants us in fresh soil. The man's inmost self, the deep rocks of his principles upon which the topsoil of his actions rest, the soul of his manhood is thoroughly changed, and he is a new creature in Christ.

"But," says one, "I see no reason why I should be born again." Ah, poor creature, it is because thou hast never seen thyself. Did you ever see a man in the looking-glass of the Word of God—what a strange monster he is. Do you know, a man by nature has his heart where his feet ought to be:—that is to say, his heart is set upon the earth, whereas he ought to be treading it beneath his feet; and stranger mystery still, his heels are where his heart should be:—that is to say, he is kicking against the God of heaven when he ought to be setting his affections on things above. Man by nature when he sees clearest, only looks down, can only see that which is beneath him, he cannot see the things which are above; and strange to say the sunlight of heaven blinds him; light from heaven he looks not for. He asks for his light in darkness. The earth is to him his heaven, and he sees suns in its muddy pools and stars in its filth. He is, in fact, a man turned upside down.

The fall has so ruined our nature, that the most monstrous thing on the face of the earth is a fallen man. The ancients used to paint griffins, gryphons, dragons, chimeras, and all kinds of hideous things; but if a skillful hand could paint man accurately none of us would look at the picture, for it is a sight that none ever saw except the lost in hell; and that is one part of their intolerable pain, that they are compelled always to look upon themselves Now, then, you must be born again, and unless you are, this child is not born to you.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" Isaiah 9:6

We believe that Christ is the mediator between God and man If we would understand the term mediator or daysman, we must interpret it as Job did; one "that might lay his hand upon us both (Job 9:33)"

We are accustomed to say that Jesus Christ is the mediator of the new covenant, and we offer our prayers to God through him, because we believe that he mediates between us and the Father. Let it once be granted then that Christ is the mediator, and you have asserted his divinity. You have called him the Son of God; and you have granted his humanity, for he must put his hand upon both; therefore he must put his hand upon man in our nature, he must be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, and be in all points like we are.

But he is not a mediator unless he can put his hand upon God, unless as fellow of the Eternal One he shall be able, without blasphemy, to place his hand upon the divine Being. There is no mediatorship unless the hand is put on both and who could put his hand on God but God? Can cherubim or seraphim talk of laying their hands on the Divine? Shall they touch the Infinite? An all-devouring and consuming fire?

Only God can put his hand on God, and yet Christ has this high prerogative, for mark, there is no mediatorship established, there cannot be, unless the two are linked. If you wished to build a bridge you might commence on this side of the river, but if you have not connected it with the other side, you have not built the bridge. There can be no mediatorship unless the parties are fully linked. The ladder must have its feet on earth but it must reach to heaven, for if there were a single breach we should fall from its summit and perish. There must be entire communication between the two.

In calling Christ mediator we have in fact called him the mighty God.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" Isaiah 9:6

We call Christ our Saviour. Now, have any of you that foolish credulity which would lead you to trust in a man for the everlasting salvation of your soul? If you have, I pity you. If you can commit the keeping of your soul to one like yourself, I must indeed mourn over you, and pray that you may be taught better.

But you do trust your salvation to him whom God hath set forth for a propitiation, do you not, O follower of Jesus? Can you not say all your hope is fixed on him, for he is all your salvation and all your desire? Does not your spirit rest on that un-buttressed pillar of his entire satisfaction, his precious death and burial, his glorious resurrection and ascension?

Now, observe, you are either resting on man, or else you have declared Christ to be "the mighty God." When I say I put my faith in him, I believe him to be God. I could not put my trust in any being that was merely created. God forbid that my folly should ever go to such an extent as that. I would sooner trust myself than trust any other man, and yet I dare not trust myself, for I should be accursed. "Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. (Jer. 17:5)"

You get a blessing by faith in Jesus, but how? Is it not because—"Blessed is he that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the lord is? (Jer. 17:7)"

Christ is Jehovah, and therefore the blessing comes to those who trust in him. So, then, as often as you put your trust in Jesus, for time and eternity, you have called hind "the mighty God."

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God" Isaiah 9:6

"Unto us a child is born." A child! What can that do? A child it totters in its walk, it trembles in its steps—and it is a child newly born. Born! An infant hanging on its mother's breast, an infant deriving its nourishment from a woman. Can that work wonders?

Yes, says the prophet, "Unto us a child is born." But then it is added, "Unto us a Son is given." Christ was not only born, but given. As man he is a child born, as God he is the Son given. He emotes down from on high; he is given by God to become our Redeemer. But here behold the wonder! "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God." Is this child, then, to us the mighty God? If so, O brethren, without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness indeed!

And yet, just let us look through the history of the church and discover whether we have not ample evidence to substantiate it. This child born, this Son given, came into the world to enter into the war against sin. For thirty years and upwards he had to struggle and wrestle against temptations more numerous and more terrible than man had ever known before. Adam fell when a woman tempted him; Eve fell when a serpent offered fruit to her, but Christ, the second Adam, stood invulnerable against all the shafts of Satan though tempted he was in all points, like as we are. Not one arrow out of the quiver of hell was spared; all were shot against him. Every arrow was aimed against him with all the might of Satan.

And yet, without sin or taint of sin, more than conqueror he stood. Foot to foot with Satan, in the solitude of the wilderness, hand to hand with him on the top of the pinnacle of the temple; side by side with him in the midst of a busy crowd—yet ever more than conqueror. He gave him battle wherever the adversary willed to meet him, and at last, when Satan gathered up all his might, and seized the Saviour in the garden of Gethsemane, and crushed him till he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood, then when the Saviour said, "Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt (Matt. 26:39)" the tempter was repulsed. "Hence, hence!" Christ seemed to say; and away the tempter fled, nor dare return again.

Christ, in all his conquests over sin, does seem to me to have established his Godhead. I never heard of any other creature that could endure such temptation as this. Look at the angels in heaven. How temptation entered there I know not; but this I know, that Satan, the great archangel, sinned, and I know that he became the tempter to the rest of his companions, and drew with him a third part of the stars of heaven. Angels were but little tempted, some of them not tempted at all, and yet they fell. And then look at man; slight was his temptation, yet he fell.

It is not in a creature to stand against temptation; he will yield, if the temptation be strong enough. But Christ stood, and it seems to me, that in his standing he proved Himself to have the omni-radiant purity, the immaculate holiness of Him before whom angels veil their faces, and cry, "Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Sabbath."

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

How complex is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! Almost in the same breath the prophet calls him a “child,” and a “counsellor,” a “son,” and “the everlasting Father.”

This is no contradiction, but it is a mighty marvel that he who was an infant should at the same time be infinite, he who was the Man of Sorrows should also be God over all, blessed for ever; and that he who is in the Divine Trinity always called the Son, should nevertheless be correctly called “the everlasting Father.”

How forcibly this should remind us of the necessity of carefully studying and rightly understanding the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! We must not suppose that we shall understand him at a glance. A look will save the soul, but patient meditation alone can fill the mind with the knowledge of the Saviour. Glorious mysteries are hidden in his person. He speaks to us in plainest language, and he manifests himself openly in our midst, but yet in his person itself there is a height and depth which human intellect fails to measure. When he has looked long and steadily the devout observer perceives in his Well-beloved beauties so rare and ravishing that he is lost in wonder; continued contemplation conducts the soul, by the power of the Holy Spirit, into an elevation of delighted admiration which the less thoughtful know nothing of. So deep is the mystery of the person of our Lord that he must reveal himself to us or we shall never know him.

He is not discovered by research nor discerned by reason. “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas,” said Christ to Peter, “for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee. (Matt. 16:7)”

Another apostle asked the question, “How is it that thou dost manifest thyself unto us? (John 14:22)” There is no seeing Jesus except by his own light. He is the door, but no man opens that door but Jesus himself; for “he openeth, and no man shutteth; he shutteth, and no man openeth. (Rev. 3:7)” He is the lesson, but he is also the schoolmaster. He is both key and lock, answer and riddle, way and guide. He is that which is to be seen, for we are to look unto him; but it is by him that we are enabled to see, for he giveth sight to the blind.

Let us then, dear friends, if we really desire to understand that most excellent of all sciences, the science of Christ crucified, entreat the Lord himself to be our Rabbi, and beg to be allowed to sit with Mary at the Master’s feet. Be this our prayer, that “we may know him;” and be this our desire, that “we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ (2 Pet. 3:18)” for “to know him is life eternal (John 17:3)”, and to be taught of him is to be “wise unto salvation. (2 Tim. 3:15)”

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

If this child is born to you, you are a child, and the question arises, are you so? Man grows from childhood up to manhood naturally; in grace men grow from manhood down to childhood; and the nearer we come to true childhood, the nearer welcome to the image of Christ.

Brothers and sisters, can you say that you have been made into children? Do you take God's Word just as it stands, simply because your heavenly Father says so? Are you content to believe mysteries without demanding to have them explained? Are you ready to sit in the infant class, and be a little one? Are you willing to hang upon the breast of the church, and suck in the unadulterated milk of the Word—never questioning for a moment what your divine Lord reveals, but believing it on his own authority, whether it seemed to be above reason, or beneath reason, or even contrary to reason?

Now, "except ye be converted and become as little children" (Matt. 18:3) this child is not born to you; except like a child you are humble, teachable, obedient, pleased with your Father's will and willing to assign all to him, there is grave matter of question whether this child is born to you. But what a pleasing sight it is to see a man converted and made into a little child.

Many times my heart has leaped for joy, when I have seen a giant infidel who used to reason against Christ, who had not a word in his dictionary bad enough for Christ's people, come by divine grace to believe the gospel. That man sits down and weeps, feels the full power of salvation and from that time drops all his questionings becomes the very reverse of what he was. He thinks himself meaner than the meanest believer. He is content to do the meanest work for the church of Christ, and takes his station—not with Locke or Newton, as a mighty Christian philosopher—but with Mary as a simple learner, sitting at Jesus' feet, to hear and learn of him.

If ye are not children, then this child is not born to you.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

Jesus Christ is everlasting. Of him we may sing with David, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. (Psalm 45:6)” A theme for great rejoicing on our part. Rejoice, believer, in Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to-day, and forever.

Jesus always was. The Babe born in Bethlehem was united to the Word, which was in the beginning, by whom all things were made. The title by which Jesus Christ revealed himself to John in Patmos was “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come.(Rev. 1:8)” “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow (Rev. 1:14),” to behold that he is the Ancient of Days.

“Ere sin was born, or Satan fell,

He led the host of morning stars;

Thy generation who can tell,

Or count the number of thy years?” - Isaac Watts

In his priesthood, Jesus, like Melchisedek, “has neither beginning of days nor end of life. (Heb. 7:3)” His pedigree is thus declared by Solomon: — “When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth; while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: when he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. (Prov. 8:24-31)”

Think not that the Son of God ever commenced to be.

“Ere the blue heavens were stretch’d abroad,

From everlasting was the Word;

With God he was; the Word was God,

And must divinely be adored.” - Isaac Watts

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

The connection of the word “Father” with the word “everlasting” allows us very fairly to remark that our Lord is as everlasting as the Father, since he himself is called “the everlasting Father”.

According to our common notions, of course, the Father must be before the Son, but we must understand that the terms used in Scripture to represent Deity to us are not intended to be literally understood, and rendered in their exact terrestrial sense; they are only so far descriptive as they may be but do not encompass the whole truth, for human language utterly fails to convey the very essence and fullness of celestial things.

When God condescends to speak to men, who are but as infants before him, he adopts their childish speech, and brings down his loftiness of thought to the littleness of their capacities. Babes have no words for the thoughts of senators and philosophers, and such matters must be stated in childish language if babes are to know them, and then the statement must inevitably fall far short of the great fact. The relation between the Father and the Son is a case in point; it is not precisely the same as the relation between a father and a son on earth, but that happens to be the nearest approach to it among men. We must beware of stretching and straining the word in its letter, especially in points where it would make us err from the spirit of the truth. Christ Jesus is as eternal as the Father, or he would never have been called “the everlasting Father.”

It is the custom in the East to call a man the father of a quality for which he is remarkable. To this day, among the Arabs, a wise man is called “the father of wisdom;” a very foolish man “the father of folly.” The predominant quality in the man is ascribed to him as though it were his child, and he the father of it. Now, the Messiah is here called in the Hebrew “the Father of eternity,” by which is meant that he is pre-eminently the possessor of eternity as an attribute. Just as the idiom, “the father of wisdom,” implies that a man is pre-eminently wise, so the term, “Father of eternity,” implies that Jesus is preeminently eternal; that to him, beyond and above all others, eternity may be ascribed.

No language can more forcibly convey to our minds the eternity of our Lord Jesus. Nay, without straining the language, I may say that not only is eternity ascribed to Christ, but he is here declared to be the parent of it. Imagination cannot grasp this, for eternity is a thing beyond us; yet if eternity should seem to be a thing which can have no parent, be it remembered that Jesus is so surely and essentially eternal, that he is here pictured as the source and Father of eternity.

Jesus is not the child of eternity, but the Father of it. Eternity did not bring him forth from its mighty bowels, but he brought forth eternity. Independent, self-sustained, uncreated, eternal existence is with Jesus our Lord and God.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

In what sense is Jesus a Father? He is a Father representing those who are in him, as the head of a tribe represents his descendants.

The apostle Paul comes to our help here, for in the memorable chapter in the Corinthians, he speaks of those who are in Adam, and then he talks of a second Adam (Rom. 5). Adam is the father of all living; he stood for us in the garden, and fell and ruined us all. He was the representative man by whose obedience we should have been blessed, through whose disobedience we have been made sinners. The curse of the fall comes upon us because Adam stood in a relation towards us in which none of us stand towards our fellows. He was the representative head for us; and what a fall was there when he fell! For every one of us in his loins fell in him. “In Adam all die.” (1 Cor. 15:22)

Since his day there has been but one other father to the human race federally. It is true, Noah was the father of the present race of men, for we have all sprung of him; but there was no covenant with Noah in which he represented his posterity, no condition of obedience by which he might have obtained a reward for us, and no condition of disobedience for the breach of which we are called to smart. The only other man who is a representative man before God is the second Adam, the man Christ Jesus, the Lord from heaven.

Brothers and sisters, we call Adam father mournfully, for we are cast out of Eden by him, and we till the ground with the sweat of our face; in sorrow did our mothers bring us forth, and to the grave in sorrow must we go. But we who have believed in Jesus call another man father, namely, the Lord Jesus; and we speak this not sorrowfully but joyfully, for he has opened the gates of a better Paradise; he has taken away the sweat of toil from our faces spiritually, for we who have believed do “enter into rest (Heb. 4:3)” He has borne himself the pangs which were brought upon us by sin, he took our sicknesses and bore our sorrows; while death itself, the heaviest affliction, he has overcome, so that he that liveth and believeth in him shall never die, but pass out of this world into the life celestial.

The grand question for us is this - Are we still under the old covenant of works? If so, we have Adam as our representative father, and under Adam we died. But are we under the covenant of grace? If so, we have Christ as our representative Father, and in Christ shall we be made alive. Generation makes us the sons of Adam; regeneration acknowledges us as the sons of Christ.

In our first birth we come under the fatherhood of the fallen one; in our second birth we enter into the fatherhood of the innocent and perfect One. In our first fatherhood we wear the image of the earthy; in the second we receive the image of the heavenly. Through our relation to Adam we become corrupt and weak, and the body is put into the grave in dishonour, in corruption, in weakness, in shame; but when we come under the dominion of the second Adam we receive strength, and quickening, and inward spiritual life, and therefore our body rises again like seed sown which rises to a glorious harvest in the image of the heavenly, with honour, and power, and happiness, and eternal life.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

Jesus is a Father in the sense of a Life Giver. That is the main sense of “father” to the common mind. Through our fathers we are called into this world. Now it is by Christ that there is a communication of divine energy to the soul. It is through him, through his teaching, through the Spirit that he hath given, through the blood that he has shed, that life is given to those who were dead in trespasses and sins.

He that sits upon the throne saith, “Behold, I make all things new. (Rom. 21:5)” “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Cor. 5:17)” “This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. (1 John 5:11)” “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.(John 5:24-26)”

We know that through Jesus Christ the divine life is given to us. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:4)” He gives the living water, and then it is in us “a well of water springing up into everlasting life. (John 4:14)” He is that living grain of wheat which was cast into the ground to die, that it might not abide alone, but become a root that bringeth forth fruit, which fruit we now are, receiving life from him as the stem receives life from the seed from which it sprang.

Jesus is our Father in that sense. It is the Spirit of God who operatively quickens the soul and makes us live, but Jesus Christ’s gospel is the channel through which the Spirit works, and Jesus Christ is the true life to us. Receiving Christ we receive life, and without him we cannot have life. “He that hath the Son hath life; he that hath not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. (John 3:36)”

As through the energy of Adam this vast world is peopled until hill and dale are covered with a teeming population, so through the life-energy of our Lord Jesus Christ the plains of heaven and the celestial hills shall be peopled with a throng that no man can number. Out of every realm, and people, speaking every language, having been bronzed by the heats of the torrid zone, or frozen amidst the frosts of the frigid north, Christ shall find a people into whom his quickening shall come, and they shall live through the energy of his Spirit, and he shall be their everlasting Father. It is in this sense, because that life is everlasting and can never die out, that Jesus Christ is called “the everlasting Father.”

He is the author and finisher of our faith (Heb. 12:2). If we love him, it is because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). If we patiently endure, it is by considering “him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself. (Heb. 12:3)”

It is He who waters and sustains all our graces. We may say of him, “All my fresh springs are in thee. (Psalm 87:7)” The Spirit brings us the water from this well of Bethlehem, but Jesus is the well itself. Spring up, O Well! Spring up, O Well! Divine Father, blessed Jesus, prove thy Fatherhood by re-quickening our souls this morning according to thy word!

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

Christ may be called a Father in the loving and tender sense of a Father’s office. Here is a text to show what I mean. God is called the Father of the fatherless (Psalm 68:5), and Job says of himself, that he became a father to the poor (Job. 29:16). You know what it means, of course, at once; it means that he exercised a father’s part.

Now, albeit that the Spirit of adoption teaches us to call God our Father, yet it is not straining truth to say that our Lord Jesus Christ exercises to all his people a Father’s part. According to the old Jewish custom the elder brother was the father of the family in the absence of the father; the firstborn took precedence of all, and took upon him the father’s position; so the Lord Jesus, the firstborn among many brethren, exercises to us a Father’s office.

Is it not so? Has he not succoured us in all time of our need as a father succours his child? Has he not supplied us with more than heavenly bread as a father gives bread unto his children? Does he not daily protect us? Did he not yield up his life that we his little ones might be preserved? Will he not say at the last, “Here am I, and the children that thou hast given me; I have lost none (John 18:9)”

Does he not chastise us by hiding himself from us, as a father chastens his children? Do we not find him instructing us by his Spirit and leading us into all truth? Has he not told us to call no man father upon earth in the sense that he is to be our true guide and instructor, and we are to sit at his feet and make him our Rabbi and our authoritative Teacher? Is he not the head in the household to us on earth, abiding with us, and has he not said, “I will not leave you orphans; I will come unto you (John 14:8)”? As if his coming was the coming of a Father.

If he is a Father, will we not give him honour? If he be the head of the household, will we not give him obedience, and say in our hearts, “Other lords have had dominion over us, but henceforth, thou everlasting Father, we will give thee reverence.” If he be in all these senses “the everlasting Father,”

“Then let us adore, and give him his right,

All glory and power, and wisdom and might,

All honour and blessing, with angels above,

And thanks never-ceasing, for infinite love.”

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father”  Isaiah 9:6

Jesus is the author of an eternal system. As I glanced at the words “everlasting Father,” and thought of him as the Founder of an ever-living system, I said to myself, “Ah then, the Christian religion will never die out!”

It is not possible that the truth as it is in Jesus should ever be put away if he is “the everlasting Father.” I quote again Master Hugh Latimer, when, standing back to back with Ridley, “Courage, Master Ridley,” said he, “we shall this day light such a candle in England as shall never be put out.”

Look yonder at Christ on the cross! He did that day light such a candle as never can be put out. He is “the everlasting Father.” He set rolling that day as it were a snow-flake of truth as he died upon the cross; and you know what the snow-flake does upon the high Alps; a bird’s wing perhaps sets it rolling, and it gathers another and another and another, till, as it descends, it becomes a mass of snow; and by-and-bye as it leaps from crag to crag, it grows greater and greater and greater, until ponderous masses of ice and snow cohere together, and at the last, with an awful thundering crash the avalanche rolls down, fills the valley, and sweeps all before it.

Even so, this Everlasting Father on the cross set in motion a mighty force which has gone on swelling and increasing, gathering to be a ponderous mass of mighty teaching, and the day shall come when, like an irresistible avalanche it shall fall upon the palaces of the Vatican and upon the towers of Rome, when the mosques of Mohammed and the temples of the gods shall be crushed beneath its stupendous weight, and the Everlasting Father shall have done the deed.

“The everlasting Father” is the Father, in all his people, of eternal life. Adam, you are a father, but where are your sons? If you could return to earth, O Mother Eve! where would you find your children? Methinks I see her as she paces round the earth and finds nothing but little grassy mounds, heaps of turf, and sometimes a valley sodden blood red where her children have been slain in battle. I hear her weeping for her children; she will not be comforted because they are not! But hush, Mother Eve, what life did you give them? What life was that which Father Adam conferred upon your sons and daughters? Why, only life terrestrial, a bubble life, that melted and disappeared.

But Jesus as he comes again will find none of his children dead, none of his sons and daughters lost; because he lives they live also, for he is the everlasting Father, and makes those to have everlasting life who live and breathe through him.

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

My hearer, if the Son is given to you, why do you linger in the plains of doubt? Get thee up, get thee up to the high mountains of confidence, and never rest till thou canst say without fear "I know that my Redeemer liveth. I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him." (2 Tim. 1:12)

Oh, my dear hearers, rest not unless you know assuredly that Christ is yours, and that you are Christ's. Suppose you should see in to-morrow's newspaper, (although, by the way, if you believed anything you saw there you would probably be mistaken) but suppose you should see a notification that some rich man had left you an immense estate. Suppose, as you read it, you were well aware that the person mentioned was a relative of yours, and that it was likely to be true. It may be you have prepared to-morrow for a family meeting, and you are expecting brother John and sister Mary and their little ones to dine with you. But I very much question whether you would not be away from the head of the table to go and ascertain whether the fact were really so. "Oh," you could say, "I am sure I should enjoy my Christmas dinner all the better if I were quite sure about this matter;" and all day, if you did not go, you would be on the tip-toe of expectation; you would be, as it were, sitting upon pins and needles until you knew whether it were the fact or not.

Now, there is a proclamation gone forth to-day, and it is a true one, too, that Jesus Christ has come into the world to save sinners. The question with you is whether he has saved you, and whether you have an interest in him. I beseech you, give no sleep to your eyes, and no slumber to your eyelids, till you have read your "title clear to mansions in the skies."(Isaac Watts)

What, man! shall your eternal destiny be a matter of uncertainty to you? What! Is heaven or hell involved in this matter, and will you rest until you know which of these shall be your everlasting portion? Are you content while it is a question whether God loves you, or whether he is angry with you? Can you be easy while you remain in doubt as to whether you are condemned in sin, or justified by faith which is in Christ Jesus? Get thee up, man. I beseech thee by the living God, and by thine own soul's safety, get thee up and read the records. Search and look, and try and test thyself, to see whether it be so or not.

For if it be so, why should not we know it? If the Son is given to me, why should not I be sure of it? If the child is born to me, why should I not know it for a certainty, that I may even now live in the enjoyment of my privilege—a privilege, the value of which I shall never know to the full, till I arrive in glory?

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

Why are we sad? If unto us a child is born, if unto us a Son is given? Hark, hark to the cry! It is "Harvest home! Harvest home!" See the maidens as they dance, and the young men as they make merry. And why is this mirth? Because they are storing the precious fruits of the earth, they are gathering together unto their barns wheat which will soon be consumed.

And what, brothers and sisters have we the bread which endureth to eternal life and are we unhappy? Does the worldling rejoice when his corn is increased, and do we not rejoice when, "Unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given?" Hark, yonder! What means the firing of the Tower guns? Why all this ringing of bells in the church steeples, as if all London were mad with joy? There is a prince born; therefore there is this salute, and therefore are the bells ringing.

Ah, Christians, ring the bells of your hearts, sound the salute of your most joyous songs, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given." Dance, O my heart, and ring out peals of gladness! Ye drops of blood within my veins dance every one of you! Oh! all my nerves become harp strings, and let gratitude touch you with angelic fingers! And thou, my tongue, shout—shout to his praise who hath said to thee—"Unto thee a child is born, unto thee a Son is given."

Wipe that tear away! Come, stop that sighing! Hush your murmuring. What matters your poverty? "Unto you a child is born." What matters your sickness? "Unto you a Son is given." What matters your sin? For this child shall take the sin away, and this Son shall wash and make you fit for heaven. I say, if it be so,

"Lift up the heart, lift up the voice,

Rejoice aloud! Ye saints rejoice! (Charles Wesley)”

Spurgeon, Charles. A Child is Born: Daily Readings for Advent