Indeed, no prophecy preceding the time of Isaiah ix. 6 could be allowed to refer to Christ, on the assumption of the critic. More than this, the prediction of Christ's second advent is vitiated by this assumption. It was more than eighteen hundred years ago that the angels said to the disciples who were steadfastly watching his ascension: "This same Jesus who is taken from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." Was there no comfort to the disciples in the promise of his return, though they did not live to witness it? Paul, enlarging on the promises of Christ's return, said to the Thessalonians: "Wherefore comfort one another with these words." Let us now consider the prophecy in its context. The prophecy of the seventh and eighth chapters is projected on through the ninth. The first verse of this chapter predicts some relief of the former sufferings of the people for their sins. "The people that walked in darkness (verse 2) have seen great light." The prophet informs us who it was, to whom this light should come. The inhabitants of "the land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim," which embraced the region of Galilee, in which the larger portion of Christ's ministry was exercised. Matthew quotes this scripture as fulfilled by the coming of our Savior. (See Matt. iv. 12-16.) "Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison he departed into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim; _that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet_, saying, The land of Zabulon and the land of Nephthalim, by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; the people which sat in darkness saw a great light, and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Undoubtedly the prophet looked into the future, when the coming of the Messiah should bring the light of the gospel into that region so particularly described by him. And the inspired writer of the gospel of Matthew positively applies the context of Isaiah ix. 6 to our Lord. Then, proceeding with the explanation as to how the light should break forth in "Galilee of the Gentiles," the prophet announces (verse 6) that, "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, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." The reader may well investigate the language of this prediction, "for unto us a Child is born." The "for" is given as an explanation, a reason for the coming light to "Galilee of the Gentiles," a region and a people that had been for generations "in the shadow of death." The light was to break forth because a child was to be born and a son given.