The People That In Darkness Sat
The People That in Darkness Sat
The people that in darkness sat
A glorious light have seen;
The light has shined on them who long
In shades of death have been.
For unto us a child is born,
To us a son is given,
And on His shoulder ever rests
All power on earth and heaven.
His name shall be the Prince of Peace
Forevermore adored,
The Wonderful, the Counselor,
The great and mighty Lord.
His righteous government and power
Shall over all extend;
On judgment and on justice based,
His reign shall have no end.
Scottish Paraphrases, 1781
THE PROPHECY of Isaiah expounded in this hymn is quite astonishing. Isaiah was writing in the southern kingdom of Judah when it was being threatened by the northern kingdom of Israel. God was promising Judah that He would remove the threat and that He would punish the northern kingdom by bringing the mighty Assyrians to defeat them.
But even in this harsh judgment there was hope. Isaiah 9 opens with a promise to honor the region of Galilee—which was in the northern kingdom! Isaiah’s readers in the south might have expected great promises to Jerusalem and Judah, but Galilee? Yet these are “the people walking in darkness”—northerners who would see the light of Christ.
Jesus fulfilled this prophecy, conducting most of His public ministry around the Sea of Galilee. He was the Child born to recover David’s kingdom, not physically but spiritually.
For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. His government and its peace will never end.
Isaiah 9:6-7
From the book
