Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful… I. PEACEFUL OF DISPOSITION. 1. He bears long with His enemies. 2. He bears much at the hands of His friends. 3. He is easy of access for poor sinners. 4. He is ready to forgive. 5. He is very familiar with His true subjects. 6. The afflicting of His people is, as it were, against the grain with Him (Lamentations 3:33; 1 Peter 1:6; Hebrews 12:10; Isaiah 63:9). 7. He bore His own sufferings with the utmost peaceableness, meekness, and patience. II. PEACEFUL IN ACTION. Consider — 1. What peace is effected by this Prince of Peace? (1) Peace with God. (2) Peace among men. (3) Peace within men, peace of conscience. 2. What is His work about that threefold peace? (1) He purchased it by His precious blood. (2) He makes the peace of His own efficacy. The covenant of grace is the covenant of peace, and He is the Mediator of it. He does, by His Spirit, bring the sinner into the covenant of peace, and by His intercession obtains peace with God for him. He, by the same Spirit, unites men to Himself by faith, and to one another in love. (3) He maintains the peace made. (4) He restores the peace when at any time it is disturbed (Isaiah 57:18). (5) He perfects the peace. III. PEACEFUL IN RESPECT OF THE STATE OF HIS KINGDOM. He is the true Solomon (Peaceful); and no king of Israel had such a peaceable and prosperous reign as Solomon. 1. Every one of His subjects is, by His wise management, put in a state of peace (John 16:33). 2. The peace of His kingdom is the fruit of war and victory in that war. What made Solomon's reign so peaceable was David's wars and victories. Our Lord Christ was a man of war; He fought and overcame sin, death, and the devil; and the peace of His kingdom now is the fruit of that. 3. Hence in His kingdom is the greatest wealth and abundance. 4. The good of His kingdom is advanced from all quarters, and there is nothing but is turned to the profit thereof, by the infinite wisdom of the Prince (Romans 8:28). 5. In the end the peace of His kingdom will be absolute. Solomon's reign was more peaceable in the beginning than toward the end. But Christ's kingdom is contrariwise; though, indeed, it will never end. But, at last, all occasion of disturbance, from without or from within, will be utterly cut off. (T. Boston.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. |
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