The Yale expositor., 1916-12-21
INTERNATIONAL.
SUNllIS0IOOL
LESSON
(By r. o. SELLERS, Acting Director OF
the Sunday School Course I'm the Moody
Bible Institute OF Chicago)
Copyright. 1916. Western Newspaper Union.)
LESSON FOR DECEMBER r.
UNTO US A SON is GIVEN.

/
and his name shall be called Wonderful.
! Counsellor. the Mighty God. the Everlast-
ing Father, the Prince of Peace.-lsa- 9:6.
The Christmas lessen 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 an1 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, b. G. T3S 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
ii Kings 10 :29) Isaiah was preach
ing in his home city, Jerusalem. His
vision Of the Messiah Savior was not
more than so years before J0hn saw
the vision Of the glorifed Jesus.
I. Darkness Versus Light wv. 1-5).
We need To go back into the eighth
chapter to get the fun historical situa-
tiOn Of this part Of the lesson. AhaZ,
trembling In Jerusaiem, had with him
the Prophet Isaiah, tie wiScst and
greatest man In his kingdom, yet Ahaz
listened not 10 his words of warning
and rebuke. lie doggedly pursued his
own course ana sought help In every
other quarter than the right ore. This
explains Isniahs words, "The people
that walked in Garkaess." Primarily
he may have referred 10 those Of the
lands of ZebulOn and Naphtali, the
Ga,ilee of the nations (John 1 :46;
Z :52) and the light which shone in
them, which was the light Of the world,
Jesus of Nazareth (Jchu S.12). But
there is 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 1879. With the
coming Of light comes the increase Of
joy ". 3 II. W. In israel there is to
be, through Christ, a wonderful in
crease Elsa. 40 :2J-22; Zech. 10:S). In !
Christ there is to be great joy, the JOY !
Of harvest and of victory. The re-
liglon Of Jesus Christ is pre-eminently !
the religion of joy (Acts S:S; Phil.
4 a; l Peter l :S) but the Child that |
was to be born was to be Il Deliverer
too, for the "yoke of burden" was tax !
of $1,S00000 that lad recently been !
levied by the king Of Assyria. 1t was
n night of thick darkness for Israel. !
Then, even as row, we have the moral |
darkness. (Rea3 Rom. l :20-32) But |
the prophet saw the JOY of deliverance. |
Jerusalem had been left In peace, |
Hezekiah succeeded lis father, Ahaz, |
and entered upon 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
plicatlon of the nations, the increase /
OF their Joy.
II. Unto Us Son Is Born wv. 6-7). !
The greatest JOY for Israel in Isaiah's |
time was in this vision of the Messiah,
ing ahead seven centuries. We are
looking back nineteen. He was to be
king over his people. Name and title
Is here given. ID Wonderful" be-
cause of his nature, being both hu-
man ard 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)
"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 hetween man and God, and be-
tween man and man. He is the peace
Of TIE soul as we'll as bringing
peace &c 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
md richness of the revelation they con-
tain concerning the person, character
and work of Christ.
Cur LORDS earth life began at Beth
lehem, but he was from all eternity
(John 8 :56-5S; John :1-2).
AS a man is not at peace with God
he cannot be at peace with himself or
his fellows; but as Jesus restores
peace between nan and God, he also
restores peace tn the heart of the In
dividual (Phil. 4:7).
Sunday school officers and teachers
should realize the difference between
the peace with God (Rom. 5:1) and
tha ,,oooo 30 Cd fnbtI ~