To Us a Child of Hope Is Born -- John Morrison and Isaiah

 

It must have been the Christmas season, right? And yet, this 35-year-old Scottish minister named John Morrison was likely also reading and remembering when the prophet Isaiah from so long ago had said “To Us a Child (of Hope) Is Born”, and thus a large portion of the credit for this old hymn should travel back much further than the late 18^th Century A.D., long before anything like a Christmas season was ever conceived. The Christ babe’s entry into the world (depicted here in The Adoration of the Shepherds by Matthias Stomer in the mid-17^th Century) was a stunning, if unconventional, method to begin God’s final solution in rescuing His image bearers and ushering in a new age. The more Jesus lived, the more His purpose and His kingdom’s nature became more unsettling to those closest to Him. That this would have such a revolutionary effect on the Apostles and others could not have been fully appreciated when Isaiah lived and prophesied, some 700 years before God sent Jesus to be our Immanuel, God-with-us. We, who can look back with informed hindsight, should be no less aware that this babe’s impact is still provocative.  

 

Although the words he wrote and their apparent original source provide strong clues that John Morrison was intent on creating a Christmas hymn, we do not know what other specific circumstances motivated this Scottish minister in 1781. But, he was apparently reading from Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7 especially, since that text so closely matches the verses that John wrote. It has been perhaps the most used biblical text at Christmas, telling believers that there has been hope among people as long ago as 2,700 years, when Isaiah lived. It was a stormy period for Judah, the southern part of the divided kingdom, because  Assyria threatened (and eventually took into bondage) the northern tribes (Israel), and posed an imminent threat to Judah as well. And though Assyria’s army would be destroyed (around 701 B.C.), Babylon would later (appx. 586 B.C.) take Jerusalem and overwhelm Judah, removing the people into exile. In the midst of his warnings, Isaiah reassures Judah that a ‘child’ would be born from the lineage of King David, and that this promised king would exceed all others. Christmastime is traditionally when we humans like to reach out for hope and joy, so it’s not much of a stretch to imagine that John Morrison was composing his poem, echoing Isaiah’s purpose, to renew the spirits of the people to whom he was ministering. Difficulties may be invading your space or are on the horizon, but a child is to be born. John added the words ‘of hope’ to what Isaiah originally penned, so we can surmise somewhat what this minister’s intent was. Hope. These people needed something to make optimism spring alive again, just as they did centuries earlier. But, from a child? Isaiah and John said this was no ordinary baby – He’d be someone that ‘tribes of earth’ and indeed ‘the hosts of heaven’ would obey (v.1). His names are extraordinary – ‘Prince of Peace’, ‘wonderful’, ‘counselor’, ‘great and mighty Lord’ (v.2); while verse 3 tells of the extent of His influence – ‘power, increasing’, ‘reign (without) end’, a ‘throne’ with ‘Justice’ and ‘peace’ firmly underpinning it. Isaiah’s message still works today.

 

It's still an earth with lots of discordant sounds. Even so, the basis for upbeat expectation is here. There’s still sunshine and green grass, and many other signs that our planet is not about to spin out of control. That there are people that still offer themselves up to help others speaks of a higher purpose than one’s own ego. Where’s that come from? He’s alive, or rather many of us believe He is. The adjectives, names, and attributes Isaiah attached to Him, and which John Morrison reiterated almost 250 years ago, still hold true, as long as part of Him animates us here below. Isaiah did not say ‘of hope’, but John Morrison and every one of us over two centuries later can keep on saying that, making this place we all live a little better. It all begins with that baby in a manger.    

 

 

Read a few details about the author here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/m/o/r/r/morrison_j.htm

Also see here: https://hymnary.org/person/Morison_J1750

 

See the hymns original four verses here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/o/u/s/tousacoh.htm

 

See here for information on the masterpiece artwork File:Adoration of the sheperds - Matthias Stomer.jpg - Wikimedia Commons…The author died in 1660, so this work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or fewer. This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929.