A Child is Born Isaiah. 9:1-7 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

In these verses, you are dealing with a passage that is partially fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus and completely fulfilled at his Second Coming.  For instance, v.6 says, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given” [fulfilled at his first coming, he is the Son of God]; “and the government shall be upon his shoulder” [to be fulfilled at his Second Coming].  It is very important in understanding this passage that you see the dual fulfillment.  Otherwise, you cannot fully understand the passage.

Another example of this dual fulfillment is found in Lk 4:16-21.  When you compare this passage with Is 61:1-2 you see that Jesus left out “and the day of vengeance of our God” because that day will not occur until Jesus returns.  So, with this dual fulfillment in mind, let’s examine the verses.

v.1 the dimness – see Is 8:21-22 – this dimness, which is a reference to the Tribulation, will be worse than the vexation of Zebulon and Naphtali and the more grievous affliction of Galilee[2 Chr 16:4, 1 Chr 5:26, 2 Ki 15:29].

v.2 “walked in darkness have seen a great light” – partially fulfilled at the first coming of Jesus [Matt 4:12-16].  Notice that Matthew leaves out the reference to the “dimness” – so the prophecy will be ultimately fulfilled at the Second Advent.

v.3 the colon separates the first advent and the second advent – at Jesus’ first coming, the nation was truly multiplied [Acts 2:5-11] but their joy was NOT increased because the nation rejected the light of v.2 [which is Jesus Jn 8:12, Jn 3:18-19].  At the second coming of Jesus the nation will indeed joy before the Lord because he will literally be in the midst of them and their joy will be the joy of the harvest [Amos 9:11-15] and the joy of dividing the spoil [Is 60].  Note: all modern translations remove the word “not” from this verse because they see it as a contradiction and therefore a mistranslation.  The trouble is not the translation but their lack of understanding.

v.4 “broken the yoke” of the Antichrist – as in the day of Midian [Jud 7:22, when Gideon and 300 men, picturing the remnant ofIsraelat the return of Jesus, defeated 135,000 Midianites, picturing the Antichrist and his army]

v.5 “burning and fuel of fire” unlike the ordinary bloodshed and confusion of war, the destruction at the return of Jesus is going to be by fire [Joel 2:2-3; 2 Thes 1:7-9]

v.6 -7 these will be ultimately fulfilled when Jesus returns because right now the government is not upon his shoulder, his peace is not here, he is not sitting upon the throne of David and his kingdom is not here now [Lk 1:31-33, Jn 18:36, Acts 1:6-7].  He will be called by the names in verse 6 and he will rule in the earth with judgment and justice during his 1,000 year reign.