Wonder Of Advent #10

Child of Mystery

Read: Isaiah 9:1-7

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.

Isaiah 9:6

IT MUST HAVE SOUNDED ABSURD. Over the centuries, we’ve grown accustomed to the words quoted from pulpits, sung to us in an oratorio, and printed on Christmas cards. But really, a child who would be called Everlasting Father? A human who would be called Mighty God? Could the prophet really expect anyone to receive the counsel of a boy or entrust the government to him? These short sentences were a prophetic enigma, surely intentionally cryptic, and mind-bending for anyone who had never heard them before. They were hidden in mystery.

But now the plan has unfolded. Looking ahead from the point of Isaiah’s prophecy centuries before Jesus was born, the sages must have been puzzled. Looking back, we can see exactly what Isaiah meant. The child was human, to be sure, but he was more, born of divine and human parentage. He stepped into this realm from eternity and would step back out of this realm and into eternity again. These paradoxes—and many more in his Kingdom—were absolutely true. This child, above all others, could give wonderful counsel and comfort. This human, distinct from all others, would come to be known as the mighty God and everlasting Father. This royal prince would have a Kingdom like no other, won from conflict but bent on peace. He was—and is—an intersection of earthly and heavenly realms, a doorway between our visible world and eternal realities, the child who would be Lord.

Even looking back on history, we have a hard time understanding exactly what happened in the Incarnation. But God is much more interested in our faith than he is in our understanding. He wants us to know him far more than he wants us to explain him. He loves our intellectual curiosity, but some things are deeper than our minds can grasp. But we can experience who he is.

That’s why Jesus came. He is the visible representation of the true nature of God. Even the inspired words of ancient Scripture had not captured God this well. But Jesus did. A child who rules, a prince who is really a king, a counselor rather than a dictator, an everlasting Father in the form of a Son. If you want to know what God looks like, this is it. The Christmas story is an unveiling of deity so we can experience God in the flesh.

Prayer

Lord, I want to know you. In this Advent season, give me insight into your nature. Let me see Jesus in new ways. Show me the Father in the child. Amen.

REFLECTION

What does it mean to know and experience God? If Jesus is the exact image of God, what can we say about God’s nature?

Further reading: Hebrews 1:3

Lo, within a manger lies

He who built the starry skies.

“SEE AMID THE WINTER’S SNOW,” EDWARD CASWALL