Abbeville progress. (Abbeville, Vermilion Parish, La.) 1913-1944, 1916-12-23
LESSON FOR DECEMBER "a
UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN.
Lesson TEXT-Isaiah s:l-7.

government shall be upon his shoulders;
and his name shall be called Wonderful
Counsellor. the Mighty God. the Everlast-
ing Father, the Prince of Peace.-Isa. go
The Christmas lesson naturally and
logically follows the three lessons we
have just had from the. book of the
Revelation where Jesus in his glory
had been portrayed, and the ultimate
success of his work Is fOreseen in the
new heaven and the new earth. Isaiah
saw the vision of his first coming. John
saw the vision of his second coming,
when what he began the first time
shall ultimately be accomplished. The
prophecy here spoken was uttered dur
ing the reign of AhaZ, Il. e. 73S to
723. The king of Assyria was attack
ing Syria. The tribes of northern Is
rael were carried away as captives.
Judah was in danger Of invasion. (See
III Kings Is :29.) Isaiah was preach
ing in his home city, Jerusalem. His
vision of the Messiah Savior was not
more than 800 years before John saw
the vision of the glOritied Jesus.
{. Darkness Versus Light wv. 1-5).
We need to go back into the eighth
chapter to get the full historical situa-
ton of this part of the lesson. Ahaz.
trembling in Jerusalem, had with him
the Prophet Isaiah, the wisest and
greatest man In his kingdom, yet Ahaz
fcfn 70 of
and rebuke. He doggedly pursued his
own course and sought help in every
other quarter than the right one. This
explains Isaiah's words, 1.-THE people
that walked In darkness" Primarily
he may have referred to those of the
lands of Zebulon and Naphtali, the
Galilee of the nations John l :46
1852 and the light which shOne In
them, which was the light of the world,
Jesus of Nazareth John SIP. But
there is a larger application in this
verse to the whole world which lay
in darkness until Jesus came, and the
whole world has seen or shall see the
great light duke 1 1879. With the
coming of light comes the increase Of
JOY ". 3 r. W. In Israel there is to
be, through Christ, a wonderful in
crease Elsa. 40 :2O-22; Zech. 10:S). In
Christ there is to be great joy, the joy
of harvest and of victory. The re-
ligion of Jesus Christ is pre-eminently
the religion of Joy (Acts SIS; Phil.
"A; / Peter :S) but the Child that
was to be born was to be a Deliverer
too, for the yoke of burden" was tax
of S1,S0O,OOO that had recently been
levied by the king Of Assyria. II was
a night Of thick darkness for Israel.
Then, even as now, we have the moral
darkness. (Read Rom. l :20-32.) But
the prophet saw the joy of deiiverance.
Jerusalem had been left in peace,
Hezekiah succeeded his father, Ahaz,
and entered upon a religious revival in
the kingdom. The people who had
walked in darkness had seen a new
light. The prophet saw the dawning
rays through the midst Of this dark
ness Of ignorance being removed. He
also saw the coming of the Light Of
Men 700 years later, and the multi
plicatiOn Of the nations, the increase
Of their Joy. When Jesus comes again
he will deliver Israel from her present
oppressOrs that have ground her down
these many centuries, and will then ex-
alt Israel above the nations Czech. II /:
1-21; 9:12-17; 500 23). But Jesus is
delivering men today, removing every
sort of yoke of burden, and breaking
the rod of oppressors John 1896 ;
Math. IL :2S). He also is bringing
peace to men. and with the consum-
nation of his work, wars will cease.
Shall we not all pray for the speedy
consummatlon of that day? Even so.
come Lord Jesus"
u. Unto Us a Son Is Born wv. CD
The greatest JOY for Israel In Isaiah's
time was in this vision of the Messiah,
the promised Savior. Isaiah is look
ing ahead seven centuries. We are
king over his people. Name and title
is here given. "a Wonderful" be-
cause of his nature, being both hui
man and divine. The word made flesh
and dwelt among US. (2) Counselor"
one who has the wisdom TO guide him.
self and others. No one guided by him
has ever failed of true success. (3)
1.-THE Mighty God" He was truly God
so that we can trust him to the utter
most. He can also save to the utter
most. (4) Everlasting Father" ex-
pressing his divine loving kindness and
standardization with the Father. (5)
He is also prince of Peace" the one
who rules so that peace and prosper
ity abide in his kingdom. He brings
peace between man and God, and be-
tween man and man. He is the peace
of the soul as well as bringing
peace to the soul. The completeness
of this picture which Isaiah saw is
the one which st. John saw, of which
we have been recently studying. These
two verses are marvellous ones. not
only because of the clear prediction of
Jesus of Nazareth, made more than
seven centuries before his first advent,
but marvellous also for the fullness
and richness of the revelation they con-
tain concerning the person. character
be the king of growing kingdom. OF
the increase Of his government there
Is to be no end. He is also to be a
king upon the throne of David. Jesus
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