Here is the Third Lesson from the King's College Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols:
3. The prophet foretells the coming of the Savior.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
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.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7
The sentence that begins "For unto us a child is born" may be the most perfect sentence in English.
ReplyDeletewhoop! whoop! i get to read Isaiah 9:2,6-7 during my church's service of lessons and carols sunday morning!
ReplyDeleteGood job, Eric! Make us proud.
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ReplyDeleteI have one of those shirts; they're great.
ReplyDelete"It is a far cry from Isaiah's day to ours, but the prophet has discerned and declared the unchanging secret of national greatness. Justice and righteousness! Give us these in personal life, in the social order, and in international relationships, and the atomic bomb, the hydrogen bomb, and all the instruments of death will be remembered as creations of a barbaric age. Unescapably to a Christian, this whole great passage is bound up with faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God; phrase by phrase, line by line, all that Isaiah proclaimed about the coming Mesiah has been fulfilled in the person and mission of our Lord, and for two thousand years the Christian church has taken up and sung in thanksgiving the good news from God: Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, the 'unspeakable gift.'"
ReplyDeleteThe Interpreter's Bible, Vol. V. George Arthur Buttrick, ed. (Nashville: Abingdon, 1955) 233-234.