God With Us - Nevertheless Series

Opening Scriptures: Isaiah 8:21 – 9:1 – 7

Let me remind you that when the Bible was written there were no chapter divisions. It was not until later that chapter divisions were placed into scripture so that would could get some organization when finding passages

Introduction

I mentioned last Sunday that Isaiah talked about two areas. There was the judgement of God and the redemption plan. Last Sunday we saw how I

God gives King Ahaz an opportunity to see the deliverance hand of God. Yet Ahaz refuses a sign. There was so much more than Ahaz. This was about Israel, this was about God sending redemption.

Israel plunges into darkness.

Plundged into great darkness. Darkness of sin. Darkness of oppression. Darkness of rebellion.

Isaiah 8:21 They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse [p]their king and their God, and look upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.

Isaiah 9:1-7 Nevertheless,

In spite of what it looks like. There is about to be a change. God is intervening on the scene. Notice there is a comma there which means to pause. Which means we need to stop right here and soak everything in.

Selah time. Rest. Pause. Think.

Psalm 3 contains the words Selah three times, at the end of sections of thought, and at the very end of the Psalm:

1 O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me;

2 many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God. Selah

3 But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

4 I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah

5 I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me.

6 I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

7 Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

8 Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people! Selah

Child of Hope

With just one word, "Nevertheless," Isaiah erases all of the gloom of darkness over the earth and foresees the dawn of a "great light," bringing hope even to those who live in the land of the "shadow of death" (Isa_9:2). How true to the character of God! Not even the darkest gloom can keep the light of His presence from shining, even upon those who live in the land of the shadow of death.

But God Moment

43 times in scriptures that phrase is used. It shows God’s intervention in the darkest of moment. When it seems all hope is lost. When it seems that there is no other way to go. When we are at the rock and a hard place.

Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the [a]course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, 3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.

4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, As when at first He lightly esteemed The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward more heavily oppressed her, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles. (2) The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined.

Why? There is a Great Light to be light upon the world. This is a prophetic passage of the coming Messiah.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world”

John 8: 12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.”