Immanuel–The Light of Life

Immanuel–The Light of Life

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 14, 1890,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such us was in her vexation,
when at the first He highly 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. The people that
walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land
of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined." Isaiah 9:1,2.

As in this case the Revised Version is much to be preferred, we will
now read it–

"But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former
time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of
Naphtali, but in the latter time has He made it glorious, by the way of
the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people that walked
in darkness ha ve seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined." Isaiah 9:1,2.

When Judah was in sore distress, the sign that she should be delivered
was Immanuel. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and
shall call His name Immanuel" (Isa. 7:14). When no other ray of comfort
could be found, light came from the promise of the wondrous birth of
Him whose name is "God with us." God alone would be the Deliverer of
Judah when overmatched by her two enemies. God would be with them and
He gave them as a pledge a vision of that time when, in very deed, God
would dwell among men and wear their Nature in the Person of The
Virgin-Born.

It is noteworthy that the clearest promises of the Messiah have been
given in the darkest hours of history. If the Prophets had been silent
upon the Coming One before, they always speak out in the cloudy and
dark days, for well the Spirit made them know that the coming of God in
human flesh is the lone star of the world's night. It was so in the
beginning, when our first parents had sinned and were doomed to quit
the Paradise of delights. It was not meet that rebels should be
dwellers in the garden of the Lord–they must go forth to till the
ground from where they were taken– but before they went, there fell
upon their ears the prophecy of the Deliverer who would be born–"The
Seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head."

How brightly shone that one promise amid the surrounding gloom! The
earliest Believers found in this hope of the coming Conqueror of the
serpent, a solace amid their labor and sorrow. When Israel was in
Egypt, in the sorest bondage, and when many plagues had been worked on
Pharaoh, apparently without success for he knew not the Lord and
neither would he let His people go–then Israel saw the Messiah set
before her as the Paschal Lamb, whose blood sprinkled on the lintel and
the two side posts secured the chosen from the avenger of blood. The
type is marvelously clear and the times were marvelously dark!

It seemed as if the Lord would make the consolation to abound even as
the tribulation abounded. I will not multiply instances, but I will
quote three cases from the prophetical Books which now lie open before
us. In Isaiah, turn to his 28th chapter and the 16th verse, and you
read that glorious prophecy–"Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a
stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he
that believes shall not make haste." When was that given? It was
pronounced when the foundation of society in Israel was rotten with
iniquity and when its corner stone was oppression.

Read from verse fourteen–"Therefore hear the Word of the Lord, you
scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because you
have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Hell are we at
agreement; whom the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves.' " Thus, when lies and falsehoods ruled the
hour, the Lord proclaims the blessed Truth that the Messiah would come
and would be a sure foundation for Believers.

Next, look into Jeremiah and pause at the 23rd chapter and the fifth
verse–"Behold, the days come, says the Lord, that I will raise unto
David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall
execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be
saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His name whereby He
shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." When was this clear
testimony given? Read the former verses of the chapter and see that the
pastors were destroying and scattering the sheep of Jehovah's pasture.
When the people of the Lord thus found their worst enemies where they
ought to have met with friendly care, then they were promised happier
days through the coming of the Divine Son of David.

I will only further detain you while we glance at Ezekiel 34:23, where
the Lord says, "And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall
feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be
their shepherd." When came this cheering promise concerning that great
Shepherd of the sheep? It came when Israel is thus described: "And they
were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to
all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered. My sheep
wandered through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yes, My
flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none did search
or seek after them." Thus you see that in each case, when things were
at their worst, the Lord Jesus was the one well of consolation in a
desert of sorrows–

"Midst darkest shades, if He appears, Our dawning has begun. He is our
soul's bright morning star, And He our rising sun."

In the worst times we are to preach Christ and to look to Christ! In
Jesus there is a remedy for the direst of diseases and a rescue from
the darkest of despairs. Ahaz, as the chapter tells us, was in great
danger, for he was attacked by two kings, each one stronger than
himself. But the Lord promised him deliverance and commanded him to
choose a sign either in the heights, or in the depths. This, under a
hypocritical presence, he refused to do and therefore the Lord chose as
His own token the appearance of the heavenly Deliverer who would be God
and yet born of a woman. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a
Son, and shall call His name Immanuel."

He was to eat butter and honey, like other children in that land of
milk and honey, and yet He was to be the Mighty God, the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace. We see here Godhead in union with Manhood!
We behold Jesus, Man "of the substance of His mother," and yet, "God
over all, blessed forever." Surely this God-appointed sign was both in
the depth and in the height above–the Man of Sorrows, the Son of the
Highest. This vision was the light of the age of Ahaz. It is God's
comfort to troubled hearts in all ages–it is God's sign of Grace to us
this morning. The sure hope of sinners and the great joy of saints is
the Incarnate Lord, Immanuel, God with us! May He be your joy and mine
even this day. He it is who is the great light of the people who dwell
in the land of the shadow of death! If any among you are in that dreary
land, may He be light and life to you! He alone could make the darkness
of Zebulun and Naphtali to disappear in a blaze of glory! He can do the
same for those who sorrow at this hour!

Now, if I may have your patient attention, I shall, as I am enabled,
illustrate this fact by the content. Scripture best explains Scripture,
as diamond cuts diamond. The Word of God carries its own keys for all
its locks. It is profitable to study Scripture, not in fragments, but
in connected paragraphs. It is well to see the glory of a star, but
better to behold the whole constellation in which it shines. When I
have dwelt upon the context, I shall, in the second place, press home
certain joyful Truths connected with the subject.

I. There is to be a light breaking in upon the sons of men who sit in
darkness and this light is to be found only in the Incarnate God. Let
me ILLUSTRATE THIS FACT BY THE CONTEXT. I must carry you back to the
14th verse of the seventh chapter. The sign of coming light is Jesus.
"Therefore the Lord Himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin
shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel." In
Judah's trouble, the Virgin-Born was God's token that He would deliver
and speedily–for in less time than it would take such a child to reach
years of knowledge, both Judah's royal adversaries would be gone.

The sign was good for Ahaz, but it is better far for us. Behold the
Incarnate Son of God born of Mary at Bethlehem–what can this intend
for us but Divine Grace? If the Lord had meant to destroy us, He would
not have assumed our nature. If He had not been moved with mighty love
to a guilty race, He would never have taken upon Himself their flesh
and blood. It is a miracle of miracles that the Infinite should become
an Infant–that He who is pure Spirit and fills all things, should be
wrapped in swaddling bands and cradled in a manger! He took not on Him
the nature of angels, though that would have been a tremendous stoop
from Deity, but He descended lower, still–for He took on Him the seed
of Abraham. "He was made in all things like unto His brethren," though,
"He counted it not robbery to be equal with God."

It is not in the power of human lips to speak out all the comfort which
this one sign contains. If any troubled soul will look believingly at
God in human flesh, he must take heart of hope. If he looks
believingly, his comfort will come right speedily. The birth of Jesus
is the proof of the good will of God to men–I am unable to conceive of
proof more sure. He would not have come here to be born among men, to
live among them, suffer and to die for them, if He had been slow to
pardon, or unwilling to save! O despairing Soul, does not Immanuel, God
with us, make it hard to doubt the mercy of the Lord?

We have comfort in the fact that our Lord was truly Man. He whom we
worship became one with us in nature. He was born as other children are
born, save that His mother was a virgin. He was fed as other children
were fed, upon curds and honey, the food of a pastoral country. He had
to be developed as to His natural powers, even as other little ones. He
grew up from childhood to youth and from youth to manhood, passing
through all the gradations of human weakness, even as we have done. And
He was obedient to His parents, even as other children should be. He
is, therefore, really and truly a Man–and this fact is a bright
particular star for sinners' eyes. Come to Jesus, all you who languish
under terror and dread because of the majesty of Deity, for here you
see how compassionate He is, how sympathetic He can be, yes, how near
of kin He has become!

He is God, but He is God with us. He is bone of our bone and flesh of
our flesh–a Brother born for adversity. And here the most trembling
may be at rest. God in our nature is a grand prophecy of salvation and
bliss for us. Why has He come down to us but that we may come up to
Him? Why has He taken our nature in its sorrow, but that we may be made
partakers of the Divine Nature in righteousness and holiness? He comes
down, not to thrust us lower, but to lift us to heights of perfection
and glory! That Jesus is Man, and yet God, is full of hope and joy for
us who believe in Him. I do not feel as if I wanted to enlarge upon
this glorious Truth with words alone. Oh, that the Holy Spirit would
convey to each one of my hearers the light which shines from the star
of Incarnation!

Oh, that at this moment the people who walk in darkness may see in the
Incarnate God a great light and perceive in Him the prophecy and
assurance of all good things! Not long shall evil oppress the Believer,
for in Christ Jesus God is with us! And if God is for us, who can be
against us?–

"O joy! There sits in our flesh,

Upon a throne of light,

One of a human mother born,

In perfect Godhead bright!

Forever God, forever Man,

My Jesus stall endure!

And fixed on Him, my hope remains

Eternally secure."

Further on we see our Lord Jesus as the holdfast of the soul in time of
darkness. See in the eighth verse of the eighth chapter the whole
country overwhelmed by the fierce armies of the Assyrians as when a
land is submerged beneath a flood. Then you read–"And he shall pass
through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, he shall reach even to
the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of
your land, O Immanuel." The one hope that remained for Judah was that
her country was Immanuel's land! There would Immanuel be born. There
would He labor and there would He die. He was by Eternal Covenant the
King of that land and no Assyrian could keep Him from His throne.

Whatever the enemy might do, the land was still, "Your land, O
Immanuel!" If, my dear Friend, you are a believer in Christ, you belong
to Him and you always were His, by Sovereign right, even when the enemy
held you in possession. The devil had set his mark upon you so that you
might be forever his branded slave, but he had no legal right to you,
for

Immanuel had redeemed you and He claimed you as His own. Had we known,
we might exultingly have gloried over you, "Your soul, O Immanuel!" The
Father gave you to Jesus and Jesus Himself bought you with His blood
and, though you knew it not, He had the title-deeds of you and would
not lose His inheritance.

Herein lay your hope when all other hope was gone1 Herein is your hope
now! If you belong to Jesus, He will have you. If He bought you with
His blood, He will not shed that blood in vain. If on the Cross He bore
your sin, He will not suffer you to bear it and so to make void His
sacrifice. If you belong to Him He will deliver you, even as David
snatched the lamb of his flock from the jaw of the lion and the paw of
the bear. O Sinner, this is the great hope we have for you–if you were
given of old to Jesus He will rescue you from the hand of the enemy!
This, also, is your own hope–if you believe in Jesus you belong to
Jesus! If you trust Him, He has redeemed you with a price and will also
redeem you with power. If you cast your guilty soul at His dear feet
and take Him to be your own Savior, you are not your own, but bought
with a price–and sooner shall Heaven and earth pass away than one whom
Jesus calls His own shall be left to perish. "Having loved His own, He
loved them unto the end." Immanuel, God with us, is strong to rescue
His own out of the enemy's hands.

Further on in the chapter we learn that Jesus is our star of hope as to
the destruction of the enemy. The foes of God's people shall be surely
vanquished and destroyed because of Immanuel. Note well, in verses nine
and 10, how it is put twice over, like an exultant taunt–"Gird
yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces; gird yourselves, and you
shall be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it shall come to
nothing; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for Immanuel." Our
version translates the word into "God with us," but it is, "Immanuel."
In Him, even in our Lord Jesus Christ, dwells all the fullness of the
Godhead bodily and He has brought all that Godhead to bear upon the
overthrow of the foes of His people.

Let the powers of darkness consult and plot as they may, they can never
destroy the Lord's redeemed. Lo! I see councils of evil spirits–they
sit down in Pandemonium and conspire to ruin a soul redeemed by blood.
They lay their heads together. They use a cunning deep as Hell–they
are eager to destroy the soul that rests in Jesus. In vain their
devices, for the Incarnate God is embodied Wisdom! Now see them–they
rise from the council table. They put on their harness. Their arrows
are dipped in malice and their bows are strong to shoot afar. Each foul
spirit takes his sword, his sharp sword, that will cut a soul to the
center and kill it with despair–but their weapons shall all fail. If
we fly to Jesus, who is God with us, no weapon that is formed against
us shall prosper.

His name, Immanuel, is the terror of the hosts of Hell! God with us
means confusion to our foes. As the death of death and Hell's
destruction, our Immanuel cries to the legions of the Pit, "Gird
yourselves, and you shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and you
shall be broken in pieces"! Let us take courage and defy the legions of
darkness. Let us charge them with this war cry, "God is with us."
Immanuel, who has espoused our cause, is God Himself, almighty to
save–the enemies of our souls shall be trodden under His feet and He
shall shortly bruise Satan even under our feet. Satan, from the first,
hated God in our nature, for thus man was exalted beyond the angels and
this, his pride could not endure. The Lord Jesus is as the star
Wormwood to our spiritual adversaries, rousing their fiercest hate and
foreboding their sure overthrow.

Further on we find the Lord Jesus as the morning light after a night of
darkness. The last verses of the eighth chapter picture a horrible
state of wretchedness and despair–"And they shall pass through it,
hard-pressed and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they
shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and
their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and
behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be
driven to darkness." But see what a change awaits them! Read the fine
translation of the Revised Version: "But there shall be no gloom to her
that was in anguish." What a marvelous light from the midst of a
dreadful darkness! It is an astounding change, such as only God with us
could work!

Many of you know nothing about the miseries described in those verses,
but there are some here who have traversed that terrible wilderness and
I am going to speak to them. I know where you are this morning–you are
being driven as captives into the land of despair and for the last few
months you have been tramping along a painful road, "hard-pressed and
hungry." You are sorely put to it and your soul finds no food of
comfort, but is ready to faint and die. You fret yourself–your heart
is wearing away with care and grief, and hopelessness. In the
bitterness of your soul you are ready

to curse the day of your birth. The captive Israelites cursed their
king who had lead them into their defeat and bondage. In the fury of
their agony they even cursed God and longed to die.

It may be that your heart is in such a ferment of grief that you know
not what you think, but are like a man at his wits' end. Those who led
you into sin are bitterly remembered and as you think upon God you are
troubled. This is a dreadful case for a soul to be in and it involves a
world of sin and misery. You look up, but the heavens are as brass
above your head. Your prayers appear to be shut out from God's ear. You
look around you upon the earth and behold, "trouble and darkness, and
dimness of anguish." Your every hope is slain and your heart is torn
asunder with remorse and dread. Every hour you seem to be hurried by an
irresistible power into greater darkness, yes, even into the eternal
midnight.

In such a case none can give you comfort save Immanuel, God with us!
Only God, espousing your cause and bearing your sin, can possibly save
you! Look, He comes for your salvation! Behold, He has come to seek and
to save that which was lost! God has come down from Heaven and veiled
Himself in our flesh that He might be able to save to the uttermost. He
can save the chief of sinners–he can save you. Come to Jesus, you that
have gone furthest into transgression, you that sit down in
despondency, you that shut yourselves up in the iron cage of despair.
For such as you there shines this star of the first magnitude! Jesus
has appeared to save and He is God and Man in one Person–Man that He
may feel our woes–God that He may help us out of them! No minister can
save you! No priest can save you–you know this right well–but here is
One who is able to save to the uttermost, for He is God as well as Man!

The great God is good at a dead lift. When everything else has failed,
the lover of Omnipotence can lift a world of sin! Jesus is almighty to
save! That which in itself is impossibility is possible with God. Sin
which nothing else can remove is blotted out by the blood of Immanuel.
Immanuel, our Savior, is God with us–and God with us means difficulty
removed and a perfect work accomplished! But I fail to tell you in
words. Oh, that the Light, itself, would shine into your souls that
those of you who have as yet no hope may see a great light and may from
now on be of good courage!

Once more, dear Friends, we learn from that which follows our text that
the reign of Jesus is the star of the golden future. He came to Galilee
of the Gentiles and made that country glorious, which had been brought
into contempt. That corner of Palestine had very often borne the brunt
of invasion and had felt more than any other region the edge of the
keen Assyrian sword. They were at first troubled when the Assyrian was
bought off with a thousand talents of silver, but they were more
heavily afflicted when Tiglathpileser carried them all away to Assyria,
for which see the 15th chapter of the second book of the Kings.

It was a wretched land, with a mixed population despised by the purer
race of Jews. But that very country became glorious with the Presence
of the Incarnate God! It was there that all manner of diseases were
healed. It was there the seas were stilled and the multitudes were fed!
It was there that the Lord Jesus found His Apostles and there He met
the whole company of His followers whom He had risen from the dead.
That first land to be invaded by the enemy was made the headquarters of
the army of salvation! This very Zebulun and Naphtali, which had been
so downtrodden and despised, was made the scene of the mighty works of
the Son of God!

Even so, at this day His gracious Presence is the day-dawn of our joy!
If Christ comes to you, my dear Hearer, as God with us, then shall your
joy be great, for you shall joy as with the joy of harvest and as those
rejoice that divide the spoil! Is it not so? Many of us can bear our
witness that there is no joy like that which Jesus brings. Here read
and interpret the third verse of the ninth chapter. Then shall your
enemy be defeated, as in the day of Midian. Gideon was, in his dream,
likened to a barley cake which struck the tent of Midian, so that it
lay along. He and his few heroes, with their pitchers and their
trumpets, stood and shouted, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" and
Midian melted away before them! So shall it be with our sins and
doubts, and fears if we believe in Jesus, the Incarnate God–they shall
vanish like the mists of the morning. The Lord Jesus will break the
yoke of our burden and the rod of our oppressor as in the day of
Midian. Be of good courage, you that are in bondage to fierce and cruel
adversaries, for in the name of Jesus, who is God with us, you shall
destroy them!

This you see in the fourth verse. Please follow me as I dwell on each
verse. When Jesus comes, you shall have eternal peace, for His battle
is the end of battles. "All the armor of the armed man in the tumult,
and the garments rolled in blood, shall even be for burning, for fuel
of fire." This is the rendering of the Revision and it is good. The
Prince of Peace wars against war, and destroys it. What a glorious day
is that in which the Lord breaks the bow and cuts the spear in

sunder, and burns the chariot in the fire! I think I see it now. My
sins, which were the weapons of my foes, the Lord piles in heaps. What
mountains of prey! But soon He brings the fire-brand of His love from
the altar of His sacrifice and He sets fire to the gigantic pile. See
how they blaze! They are utterly consumed forever. The enemy has now no
weapon that he can use against my soul.

The Incarnate God has broken the power of the adversary, for the sting
of death is sin and that He has made an end of. He has thus destroyed
the war which raged in our souls and now He reigns as Prince of
Peace–and we have peace in Him. Now is it that the Lord Jesus becomes
glorious in our eyes and He whose name is Immanuel is now crowned in
our heart with many crowns and honored with many titles. What a list of
glories we have here! What a burst of song it makes when we sing of the
Messiah–"His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace"! Each word sounds
like a salvo of artillery! It is all very well to hear players on
instruments and sweet singers rehearse these words–but to believe them
and realize them in your own soul, is better by far!

When every fear and every hope, and every power and every passion of
our nature fills the orchestra of our heart and all unite in one inward
song unto the glorious Immanuel, what music it is! He is to us the
Wonderful, the Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the
Prince of Peace and much more than words can tell. Do but get Christ
Jesus in your soul as the Incarnate God and He will set up a government
within your nature which shall bring you peace, righteousness, joy and
eternal glory! He will so reign over you that your happiness shall know
no bounds! You shall climb from Grace to Grace, from joy to joy, from
peace to peace, yes, from Heaven to the highest Heaven! This all along
shall be your comfort, that Jesus is both God and Man, even God with
us.

Thus have I very briefly skimmed over the connection. Had we time and
Grace, what a wealth of thought might be drawn from these inexhaustible
mines!

II. But now, secondly, I want to PRESS HOME CERTAIN TRUTHS CONNECTED
WITH MY THEME. Come,

Holy Spirit, to help the preacher! Come, Divine Comforter, to troubled
hearts and give them rest in Immanuel! Immanuel is a grand word. "God
with us" means more than tongue can tell! It means enmity removed on
our part and justice vindicated on God's part. It means the whole
Godhead engaged on our side, resolved to bless us. But you say to me,
"Who is this? Are you sure that Immanuel is Jesus of Nazareth?"

Yes, Jesus is Immanuel. Will you turn to Matthew 1:21 and read onward,
"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 Immanuel, which being interpreted is,
God with us." Do you see this? They call His name Jesus to fulfill the
prophecy that they should call His name Immanuel! It is a singular
fulfillment surely. It can only be accounted for by the fact that the
Holy Spirit regards the name, "Jesus," as being tantamount to the name,
"Immanuel." The Savior is God with us. Jesus, a Savior, is, in the
Hebrew, Joshua, or Jehoshua, that is, Jehovah saving.

The sense is the same as that of Immanuel or, "God with us," or for us
since God for us is sure to save us. The two names are the same in
essential meaning. If God has come to save, then God is with us. If God
Himself is our salvation, then God is on our side. And if the Child
born of the virgin is indeed the Lord of Glory, then is God our friend!
Strong Son of God! Immortal Love! We have not seen Your face, but we
can trust Your power and rest upon Your love. Your very birth brings
hope! But as for Your death, when You did bear our sins in Your own
body on the Cross, this is the fulfillment of all our desires in the
canceling of sin, the removal of wrath and the securing of eternal
life! Yes, Jesus is God with us.

Perhaps you wish to know a little more of the incident in the text
which exhibits Jesus as the great light. We have spoken of Zebulun and
Naphtali–were those regions really benefited by the coming of the Lord
Jesus? Just look a little further on, to Matthew 4:12: "Now when Jesus
had heard that John was cast into prison, He departed into Galilee; and
leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea
coast, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali: that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the Prophet, saying, The land of
Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond
Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw
great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death
light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say,
Repent: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

Yes, Beloved, our Lord made His home in the darkest parts. He looked
about and saw no country so ignorant, no country so sorrowful as
Galilee of the Gentiles and therefore He went there and lifted it up to
Heaven by priceless privileges! His ministry of repentance and faith
was in itself a glorious light! But He did many mighty works to confirm
it. Why, the whole country round was full of sick folk whom He had
restored. You could not go half a mile but what you met a blind man who
told of how Jesus had restored his sight, or a sick woman who had been
raised up from the fever, or some paralytic who had been made whole!
That country must have been glad, indeed. Multitudes would never forget
how they heard Him by the sea. They said, "What sermons He preached! He
made our hearts dance for joy and then He fed us and we ate of barley
loaves and little fish till we were filled. He is a wonderful Prophet
and this is a wonderful country. It was once dark enough, but now
enlightened by His Presence."

Beloved, I pray that Jesus may come to you if you are in the dark,
today, and work miracles for you, feed you and touch you and make you
glad so that, though you were the most unhappy of beings, you may
become the happiest of mortal men! Galilee–plundered, despoiled,
despised–became, by-and-by, glorious–because of Him who is Immanuel.
This is a happy omen for you, dear Friends–if you have been the most
sorrowful of beings, the Lord Jesus may come at once to you and make
you rejoice with great joy! Jesus rescues from contempt, from
ignorance, from misery, from despair and therein reveals Himself as
"God with us."

We will turn back to where we opened our Bibles at the first and there
we learn that, to be God with us, Jesus must be accepted by us. He
cannot be with us if we will not have Him. Hear how the Prophet words
it: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." As a Child He
was born, as a Son He was given. He comes to us in two ways–in His
human nature, born–in His Divine Nature, given. But I want you to see
that all the sweetness and light that can come to you through Him must
come by your putting both your hands upon Him and taking Him to be your
own. Here is one hand, "Unto us a Child is born." Here is the other,
"Unto us a Son is given."

Do you ask, "What are those two hands?" I received a note from one of
my hearers, who pleads, "Tell me, Sir, what faith is. Tell me what you
mean by believing and trusting." My dear Friend, I am always telling
you that and I mean to keep on always telling you it so long as I have
a tongue to move. By a daring act of appropriation take Jesus to be
yours and say with me–oh, that we could all say it in one great
shout!–"UNTO US A CHILD IS BORN, UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN." God gives
Him, we take Him! He is born, we take Him up in our arms and feel ready
to cry, "Lord, now let Your servant depart in peace; for my eyes have
seen Your Salvation."

He is a Son given. Shall we not accept this Gift of gifts and love Him
because He has first loved us? To believe is to take freely what God
gives freely. It is the simplest thing that can be. I could not explain
to you what to drink is, but I will put this glass to my lips and
actually perform the action. Now you see what it is. The water is put
to the lips, it is allowed to flow into the mouth and down the throat
and so it is drunk. Take Christ just so. Up to the very lips of your
reception He flows–open the mouth of your soul and take Him into
yourself. "May I?" you ask. May you? You are threatened with damnation
if you do not! This is one side of the Gospel message–"He that
believes and is baptized shall be saved; he that believes not shall be
damned."

A man may certainly do that which involves him in condemnation if he
does not do it. That awful threat is one of the most powerful bits of
Gospel that I know of–it drives while the promise draws. If you want
Christ, you may have Him. If you desire to have God with you, He waits
to be gracious unto you. If you wish for Immanuel, behold Him in Jesus,
your Lord. "Oh, but I wish I had some sign that I might be sure!" What
sign do you need beyond the gift of God, the birth of Jesus? Away with
demands which are wild and ungenerous. The Word of God bids you believe
and live. The moment you believe in Jesus He is yours.

Say, then, this morning, "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is
given," and say it with fullness of delight! Be sure that you go on
with the verse to the end–"and the government shall be upon His
shoulder." If Christ is your Savior He must be your King–

"Butknow, nor of the terms complain Where Jesus comes He comes to
reign: To reign, and with no partial sway; Lusts must be slain that
disobey." The moment we really believe in Jesus as our salvation we
fall before Him and call Him Master and Lord. We serve when He saves.
He has redeemed us unto Himself and we acknowledge that we are His. A
generous man once bought a slave-girl. She was put up on the block for
auction and he pitied her and purchased her. But when he had bought her
he said to her, "I have bought you to set you free. There are your
papers, you are a free woman." The grateful creature fell at his feet
and cried, "I will never leave you! If you have made me free I will be
your servant as long as you live and serve you better than any slave
could do."

This is how we feel towards Jesus. He sets us free from the dominion of
Satan and then, as we need a Ruler, we say, "And the government shall
be upon His shoulder." We are glad to be ruled by "Immanuel, God with
us." This, also, is a door of hope to us. That Jesus shall be the
Monarch of our hearts is our highest joy! To us He shall always be
"Wonderful." When we think of Him, or speak about Him, it shall be with
reverent awe. When we need advice and comfort, we will fly to Him, for
He shall be our Counselor. When we need strength, we will look to Him
as our Mighty God. Born again by His Spirit, we will be His children
and He shall be the Everlasting Father. Full of joy and rest, we will
call Him Prince of Peace.

Are you willing to have Christ govern you? Will you spend your lives in
praising Him? You are willing to have Christ to pardon you, but we
cannot divide Him and therefore you must also have Him to sanctify you.
You must not take the crown from His head but accept Him as the Monarch
of your soul. If you would have His hand to help you, you must obey the
scepter which it grasps. Blessed Immanuel, we are right glad to obey
You! In You our darkness ends and from the shadow of death we rise to
the Light of life! It is salvation to be obedient to You. It is the end
of gloom to her that was in anguish to bow herself before You!

May God the Holy Spirit take of the things of Christ and show them unto
us and then we shall all cry–

"Go worship at Immanuel's feet! See in His face what wonders meet!
Earth is too narrow to express His worth, His Grace, His
righteousness."

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON– Isaiah 7:10-16; 8:5-8,19-22;
9:1-7. HYMNS FROM "OUR OWN HYMN BOOK"–251, 260, 256.