(Christian Post) “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish,” Isaiah begins his prophecy of Christ’s birth. He is addressing an Israel ravaged by war — an Israel in anguish.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Of course, Isaiah here foretells the event we celebrate every Christmas: the birth of our Messiah, the dawn of a new age. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.”
We all know, however, that Christ’s coming did not immediately end men’s wars or usher in universal peace on earth. We know that being a Christian often makes us targets for persecution, rather than protecting us from it. That is the case in contemporary America an…