A famous passage thanks to Handel’s wonderful Messiah. The Cambridge Bible writes that ” for unto us” refers to the survivors of the judgment. The name “Immanuel,” means “God is with us.” Often as a name it is spelt Emmanuel.
and the government
Now here is the odd phrase “and the government will be upon his shoulders. ” Odd because what government does Isaiah mean? It is found only here and Isaiah 9:7. Cambridge’s best guess is his “princedom,” and it makes the most sense. John Wesley agrees with this interpretation that this is not an earthly government but a government for and of God’s people. That idea is not so far from the last lines of President Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.
It is rather for us, the living, we here be dedicated to the great task remaining before us that, from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here, gave the last full measure of devotion that we here highly resolve these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
President Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
In my anguish... 