No Extravagance in Christ
J. Leckie, D. D. 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… No one can at all appreciate the wonder. fulness of Christ who does not consider its freedom from the merely marvellous. Has not the element of wonder in human history always had as its drawback and bane the tendency to extravagance? It cannot keep within bounds. Its disease is unnaturalness, exaggeration, grotesqueness. It piles marvel on marvel, outraging all sense of proportion. It defies every feeling of the ludicrous. It delights in trampling on the understanding, and finds a merit and satisfaction in receiving the monstrous and contradictory. Is not this the characteristic of all mythologies, and not least of the history of Buddha, whom some have ventured to mention along with Christ? The wonderfulness of Christ is not marvellous. It is not something to astonish. It has a meaning and a purpose prior to that and above it. His is not the marvellousness of the aurora borealis, but of the eastern aurora, the dawn It is not the marvellousness of an architectural monument meant to exhibit the resources of art and wealth, but the architecture of a temple for God and man to dwell in. His is not the marvellousness of a gigantic tree, but of the tree of life producing medicine and food; not the splendour of a vast orb of fire, but of the sun that rays out life to the worlds. There is no part of Christ's wonderfulness which does not serve a great end and occupy a distinct and necessary place. (J. Leckie, D. D.) 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. WEB: For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.