Still, just as Isaiah's prophecy was made to the faithful Eemnant in Israel, so the fulfilment is only to those who receive Him. " He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God."
IT On the centenary of the birth of George Stephenson there was an imposing demonstration at Newcastle. A vast procession filed through the town, carrying banners in honour of the great engineer. In the procession there was a band of men who carried a little
^ R. W. Barbour, Thoughts,
ISAIAH 131
banner bearing the words, " He was one of us." They came from the little village of Wylam, where Stephenson was born, and were proud of him as having been one of themselves.
3. This child is a gift. In this lies the glory of the gospel. It is this that makes it a gospel. Not of works : " The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." And what does this gift of God carry with it ? (1) A remedy for distress : " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden " ; (2) An example of new life : " Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ"; (3) Power to make the example effective: " I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me."
IF " Not only is He the Wisdom of God, in Avhich the world was made — not only the Kevelation of God, who lighteth every man — but also the Power of God, to arrest the flood oi evil, to push back the merciless curse, to force open the bolted gates ; the Power by which the strong Will of God enters into acticm upon the field of human history, and works mightily, thrusting its victorious way against all the weight of hostile principalities and unkindly powers. With power He comes from heaven that you who receive Him may have power to become, in His adoption, sons of God." ^
II.
His Destination.
" The government shall be upon his shoulder."
He is to bear the burden of kingship. Accordingly, when
the wise men came from the East, they came inquiring, " Where
is he that is born King of the Jews ? "
1. Now these two, a child and a king, express the supreme desire of the ancient Israelites. The history of Abraham is the memorable example of the one, the history of Samuel of the other. The paradox of Jewish faith consisted in this, that it focused at once in a cradle and a throne. To meet Jewish aspiration, the Saviour had to be " born King."
2. Kingship is a burden. The government is to be laid upon His shoulder. The duly crown that the Messiah visibly wore on earth was a crown of thorns.
3. But this king is competent. Not as Cromwell's son Eichard who laid down the government which he was not fit to
* H. S. Holland, Christ or Ecclesiastes, p. 28.
132 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
carry. Can we trust Christ ? Every question of this questioning age is running up into that. If He is God, the everlasting Son of the Father ; if He has overcome the sharpness of death ; if all power is given to Him in heaven and on earth, then we stand safe. We have not been mocked with cunningly devised fables. If it is not so. His claims and our hopes fall in a common and irretrievable ruin.
(1) On Him depends our deliverance from the past. Christ alone frees us from the past. We may seek to bury it ; we may say —
All that we two only know, I forgive and I forego ; So thy face no more I meet In the field or in the street.
It pursues us nevertheless; and the longer the world lasts the consequences of sin are more clearly traced, insomuch that Christian preachers of the doctrine of forgiveness often timidly minimise it, and fail to show it as a really supernatural thing.
(2) On Him hangs all our hope for the future. A great change has come over thought on the subject of the immortality of the soul. There were many, almost within memory, who held fast to that, though they rejected the distinctive doctrines of Christianity. In the life of Keid, the great Scottish philosopher, there is a letter which puts this with striking force. All that is fast disappearing. Now we believe in immortality because we believe in Christ.
IF In a little Perthshire town there was a minister of the Gospel whose name filled the district round like ointment poured forth. A Highland drover had occasionally to pass through this town. On one occasion he tarried over the Sabbath day and went to the church. He could not make much of a continuous English dis- course. But at the end he heard the minister give out for singing a part of the 34th Psalm in the Scotch Version, of which the last verse is —
111 shall the wicked slay ; laid waste
Shall be who hate the just. The Lord redeems His servants' souls ; None perish that Him trust.