“Unto Us a Child is born, unto us a Son is Given”
Isaiah 9:6
Our Lord and Savior, was both born and given to us. He was truly-born as a child as you and I were and became a human. As Jesus Christ, God’s Son, He was given, begotten of His Father, not made, but of the same substance of His Father. This is a mystery utterly beyond the understanding of any human being. As one great preacher, C.H. Spurgeon said: “It would be like a gnat drinking from the ocean for a finite creature to comprehend the Eternal God. A God whom we could understand would be no God.”
Jesus Christ as a child was born, but Jesus Christ as a Son was not born, but given. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16). It is true that “unto us a child is born”. It is a fact that a child is born. It is a fact more fully established than any other fact in history, that the Son of God became a man and was born in Bethlehem, wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid in a manger. The unbeliever may dispute it, but we, professing to be believers in Scripture, receive it as an undeniable truth, that God has given His only begotten Son to be the Savior of men and women.
If this child who we see through the eyes of faith wrapped in swaddling clothes in Bethlehem’s manger, is born to you, then you are “born again”. “Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3). For this child is not born to you unless you are born to this child. Only men and women who are “born again” can claim the babe in Bethlehem as being theirs.
How can you know if you are “born again”. There are several ways. Have you come to Christ and asked for forgiveness of your sins and asked Him to be your Savior? Is there a change within you that makes you care about spiritual things? Is there a change in you that makes you want to avoid sin and the pleasures of this world? “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Colossians 3:1-2). The new birth does not consist in washing the outside of the cup, but a cleaning on the inside, in the inner man. If you are not changed inside, this child is not born to you. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Another way you can know if you are “born again” is that there is a change on the exterior of your life. Do your friends and family observe a change? If there is no change in the outward life, there is no change within. The proof of the Christian is in the living. When we live in sin and worldly pleasure, and seek our own desires, and not God’s will, and we deceive ourselves. “If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:6-8).
If this “Child”, the Lord Jesus Christ is born to you, you must come to Him as a child with faith. “Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, "Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. "Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:2-4). Do you take God’s Word just as it is, simply because your heavenly Father says it is true? Can you believe the mysteries of God in the Bible without demanding to have them intellectually explained to you? Can you say and believe as the Psalmist says: “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, For all are Your servants.” (Psalms 119:89-91).
If this “Son” is given to you, you have become a son or daughter of the Heavenly Father. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13). Does the Holy Spirit speak to you about your relationship with Him. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:15-16). If “unto us a Son is given”, then we are given to the Son. "This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” (John 6:39). The Lord Jesus Christ is praying to the Father for you today if you are His son or daughter. "I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.” (John 17:9)
If you receive the gift of salvation from God the Father then you have been born again - “unto you a child is born”,. If you have accepted Christ as your personal Savior, “unto you a Son is given”. How is it we give so little to Christ who gave Himself for us? This Christmas realize the greatest gift you have been given is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a personal gift that each person has to receive.
