Christ Is Come. A Christmas Sermon

"For 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. " -- ISAIAH ix. 6, 7.

It is now more than three thousand years ago that God made to Abraham the promise, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. " Again the promise was renewed to Moses when he was commanded to tell the Jews, "a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, like unto me. Hear ye him. " In David's Psalms, again, this same strange person was spoken of who was already, and yet who was to come. David calls him the Son of God, the King of kings. Again, in the Prophets, in many strange and mysterious words, is this same being spoken of as a virgin's child -- "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel, God with us; " and again, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God -- the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. " And again, "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.