A Christmas Lesson
( Text from the American Revised Edition.)
Lesson 12. December 20.
CHRISTMAS LESSON — Isaiah 9:2-7 — https://www.truthunity.net/asv/isa.-9
9:2The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. 9:3Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. 9:4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, thou hast broken as in the day of Midian. 9:5For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire. 9:6For 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, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 9:7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.
Golden Text — For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.— Luke 2:11.
Just why these passages from Isaiah should be taken as a prophecy of the birth of Jesus of Nazareth is not clear to the unbiased reader. This chapter was written over seven hundred years before the time of Jesus, and does not mention the future birth of this one who “shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor,” etc., but states plainly, “ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” putting it positively in the present tense. If Isaiah was prophesying about one to appear in the future, it would have been an easy matter for him to have written in the future tense. But he writes about this “Prince of Peace” as present at the date of the writing, which would eliminate the claim of prophesy. So this lesson should be called, “The Birth of the Christ to Consciousness Proclaimed.”
Isaiah was spiritually illuminated and perceived the birth, doubtless in his own consciousness, of “the mighty God.”
David typifies the power of love, and it was upon this throne that the “ Prince of Peace” was to reign. The same symbol was used in connection with the birth of Jesus. He came from the house of David, or Love. The Christ is born to consciousness in no other way but through the quickening in the soul of Divine Love.
This Christ is not restricted to the “chosen of God,” nor the “elect,” nor those who are known to the world as Christians, but is a principle in Being expressing itself through the man-consciousness whenever conditions for it are made right. This Christ of God is a fact of man’s being, just as poetry or music, or mathematics are facts of his being. It remains latent or unmanifest until it is brought into visibility through cultivation.
The Christ seed has its centers of manifestation prepared and waiting in the human form, and when man longs for God and reaches out for the good, the true and the beautiful, there is an uplifting of the whole consciousness, both mental and physical. Brain centers that have been inactive are quickened—the finer nerve centers of the organism begin to vibrate, and there is gradually formed in one this “mind of Christ.” Paul said truly, “We have the mind of Christ.” Those who are versed in soul development tell us that the birth to consciousness of this higher principle of Being is attended with a quickening of brain cells in the top of the head, and that the phrenological bump named Spirituality is built up and becomes the center of mighty spiritual forces.
