Congratulations! It’s a boy! You have a baby boy! Mazzletov!
I know, I know, you have all kinds of reasons that you shouldn’t have Him. You’re not ready yet, or you’re too old. You can’t afford it. Everybody has their list of reasons that they shouldn’t have a baby.
Believe me, I know! It was 1965. My parents, who already had 5 children, announced to my 17 year old brother Dan the good news that he was going to have yet another little brother or sister. You’d think he’d be thrilled. Instead he said, “O great, just what this family needs – another mouth to feed!” There aren’t many baby pictures of that 6th and final Nichols baby.
Everyone has their reasons that you can’t add a baby boy to the house, right?
Isaiah writes to Israel in 9:6 – to us a child is born, to us a son is given. It’s not just for them. In fact, Jesus wouldn’t even hit the scene for another 700 years or so.
But the angel told the shepherds, Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you;
John later wrote that God gave His one and only Son. Gave Him. To us, a son is given! So, congratulations! You have a son!
Do we really need Him? Is that really the answer to life’s challenges? A baby?
Israel surely was asking questions like that. There was little doubt that they needed something.
It was during Isaiah’s days that the northern 10 tribes were overrun and taken apart by Assyria.
2 Kings 15:29
In the time of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came and took…Gilead and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and deported the people to Assyria.
200 years before that, it was the tribes of Zebulon and Naphtali that had been hit the hardest by King Ben Hadad. Even though the Jews did some resettling many years later, the area that became known as Upper Galilee was never really Jewish again – “Galilee of the Gentiles,” they called it. And just south, the area of Galilee, remained an area of contempt. Being called a Nazarene was an insult. Remember when Philip told Nathanael they had found the Messiah – Jesus from Nazareth? “Can anything good come from there?” he said. The Jewish council insulted Nicodemus: “Are you from Galilee too? Look into it, and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”
We have a copy of the movie called The Nativity. We’ll probably be watching that before long. Like any Bible story movie, it has its flaws, but one feature of it I like is the way it shows the little town of Nazareth, where Mary and Joseph lived. Too often I think we picture a well-organized, big city. It wasn’t. It wasn’t much at all.
So, Isaiah is speaking and writing to people who know hard times. And the first 39 chapters of his book are mostly about the hard times that are going to come upon the remaining 2 tribes of Judah and Simeon because of their unfaithfulness to God too. That’s conditions in Israel in Isaiah’s day. (Not a whole lot has changed).
And, God’s answer, God’s encouraging news is…a Son; a child. Not just any child, but one who was going to be born hundreds of years later. Let’s face it, when it comes to problem solving, having a child be born isn’t usually where we look for answers now either, is it? It’s not quick enough. It’s not proactive enough. Kids are work!
People living in the land of darkness; gloom; distress; being humbled; living in the land where death casts its shadow; oppressed; at war. Sound familiar?
Did anyone else watch, read, or hear the news this past week?
Let me review a little real quickly:
• Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi faces a rebellion from judges who accused him on Saturday of expanding his powers at their expense…There were calls for the "downfall of the regime"
• This past week, eastern rebels in the DRC in Africa captured the city of Goma. Their goal is to overthrow the government.
• Our government continues its investigations into the actions of a former war hero, and the affect it may have had on the follow up to an attack on our people in Bengazi, Libya.
• 18 people were hurt when a natural gas leak triggered an explosion that completely leveled a strip club in Springfield, Mass., and damaged 12 other buildings, officials said Friday.
• And, just when you thought it was safe to brave the crowds on Black Friday: 3 hurt, 2 arrested in gang brawl at CherryVale Mall
And, it’s Christmastime – time for the annual battles over religious expression and the ongoing struggle by the commercial world to camouflage Jesus during a holiday that’s actually all about Him.
Joke – There was an announcement about a school play in Memphis: “All of the cast will be played by members of the 8th grade, except the baby Jesus, who will be played by a concealed 40-watt light bulb.”
While the people of Israel were faced with the prospects of war, deportation, and torture, our own nation has to give serious thought to an increasing strength and resolve among those who hate us and who would destroy us if given the opportunity. Darkness, gloom, distress – greater still, have you looked into the overtly empty eyes of tired people who are struggling with the shallowness that eats away at their being? People buy, and charge, and grasp, and when it’s over, they’ll stand in amazement at how much they don’t know why they’re doing it. We live in a prosperous nation, that’s full of people who are empty and oppressed. They’re oppressed by the worst of enemies, one who will not only enslave them now, but who will cost them their souls forever!
So, God’s answer to us is the same…a Son; a child. Not just any child, but one who was born over 2,000 yrs before. Just that news about a child isn’t enough. We have the advantage of looking back on it. Isaiah’s audience didn’t. What’s so significant about the baby? How is the announcement of His birth supposed to breathe optimism and hope into the hearts of discouraged and floundering people?
It won’t be because He has a glowing halo of light around His head when He’s born. It won’t be because He doesn’t cry or act like any other ordinary baby. It won’t be because He’s born in a palace and His people come to pay him homage from the start. It won’t even be because He’ll grow up to lead a rebellion against the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, or Romans.
In this small section of Scripture, Isaiah gives us 2 main reasons to find hope in the fact that a Son has been given, and they’re what I want you to take with you as a source of hope when you leave here today: 1. What He’ll be Called, 2. What He’ll Do.
This morning, I want to invite you to take hope in the fact that to us a Child has been given.
1. What He’ll be Called
Whenever you hear the news that a baby has been born, there’s a certain list of questions you’re supposed to go through. The first one is…boy or girl? Then…What’s his/her name? Then, you ask when, how much did he weigh, is Mom doing OK, and last, you ask about the dad too.
Our names are important to us. Sometimes, though, they get lost in the shuffle.
Story - a children’s SS class listened to the Christmas story and then sang through “Silent Night.” Then, they were all to draw what they thought the nativity scene might have looked like. One little guy did a good picture of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus, but off to the side was a roly-poly figure. Being a bit worried that that boy had somehow worked Santa Claus into the manger scene, the teacher asked him who that was. She wasn’t sure whether she was relieved or more worried when the boy responded, "Oh, that’s Round John Virgin!"
Quote - Billy Sunday in a sermon called "Wonderful” said, “There are 256 names given in the Bible for the Lord Jesus Christ, and I suppose this was because He was infinitely beyond all that any one name could express.”
5 of those names are given to us here in Isaiah. I know you’ve heard them before, largely because of a man named George Frederick Handel who used this text in his oratorio called The Messiah. By the way, Handel had it right when he separated the first 2 names. Can you hear the violins and the timpani in the background as the choir sings?
Wonderful!
Much of our world is focused on being wonderful. The marketplace is constantly trying to outdo itself, to still be able to make you, the consumer, say, “Wow”!
That’s what a wonder is – something that makes you say, “Wow!” until the novelty wears off. This child would be wonderful – but not because of a temporary thrill. He’d be perpetually wonderful.
Counselor!
Good counselors are a source of wisdom and assistance in life. The Bible commends the value of having someone to serve as a good counselor. It’s one of the names applied to the Holy Spirit. Don’t let the Child’s infancy fool you. He’d be the greatest counselor Who ever lived.
The Mighty God!
When a nation is oppressed, they’re looking for a powerful ruler. Once again, even though a child, don’t let His size fool you. He is God Who has temporarily bound Himself inside a human body. He’s the powerful ruler through Whom all things were made. He was with God in the beginning, and He is God.
Quote - C.S. Lewis in The Last Battle gives an illustration of the irony of the Child. There’s a discussion about a stable that seems bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. Lucy explains "In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world." A child – the Mighty God.
The Everlasting Father!
There was a point in the ministry of Jesus when John records: the Jews were persecuting Him because He was claiming God as His own Father, making Himself equal with God. Why would Jesus do such a thing? Because He was! Don’t let the child status fool you! This is also the One Who existed in the form of God before He came and Who temporarily let go of equality with God. He told Philip, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.”
The Prince of Peace!
Let’s not forget the last name in this list. Jesus’ reign will be characterized by peace. Now, that’s not because Jesus isn’t willing to fight. It’s because Jesus wins. It’s because Jesus’ arrival to earth is a hostile takeover, even though it seems passive to the point of accidental. The great peace that is to come is the result of winning the greatest conflict of all time. The only way that Jesus could give us a peace that the world can’t give was to defeat Satan – and that’s why to us a child was born.
Now, we don’t have time to look over the 251 other names by which Jesus will be known. Let’s just accept that His name is part of why we can take comfort from the giving of a child.
It may be in your life that you need to stand in amazement at Jesus once again. It may be that you need One Who is the greatest counselor, and you just need to consider what He has said all over again. It may be that you need to remember that Jesus is God in the flesh – not a mere man, in fact, He’s equal to the Father. It may be that you’re looking for peace and discouraged by the lack of it that you see, and you need to remember that some peace isn’t going to happen until the war’s over. You need once again to consider the child, and to consider His name.
2. What He’ll Do
Isaiah 9:1-2
Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan--The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
Bring Real Light
It was a long time coming, but the word God gave through Isaiah was fulfilled. Matthew is careful in his gospel to help us remember the words about Jesus that were spoken hundreds of years before through the prophets.
Matthew 4:13-16
Leaving Nazareth, [Jesus] went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali--to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah: "Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, along the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles--the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned."
In a great way, the ministry of Jesus brought light to people in a dark land. When He arrived, they were living under the guidance of corrupt teachers who had lost the spirit of God’s law and made it into something God never meant it to be. They were also living under Roman oppression and surrounded by reminders of it every day. But worse than these things, they were all living under the shadow of death – spiritual death. Then came Jesus, and He was telling them that the Kingdom of God had arrived. Light, in a dark place.
Bring Real Peace
It’s not a surprise that Israel was expecting a Messiah Who would come and be a political and social liberator. Look at the language in
Isaiah 9:4-5
For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
What do you do with the weapons and the equipment of war when there’s no longer a war to be fought? In the Middle East, as our troops uncovered weapons caches, they would burn them, blow them up, destroy them.
That’s what Isaiah is talking about when he predicts that the trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. Those things will be no more. Why? Because the Prince of Peace is coming. Not a military leader. Not a revolutionary Who will lead a rebellion. His first visit seems almost like a loss, but it’s not, and when He returns there won’t be any doubt. He’ll bring real peace.
The great thing is that right now we can have His peace. It’s not the absence of conflict. It’s the ability to have calm and balance in a world that’s neither calm nor balanced.
To us, a child is given Who is the giver of real peace in a world that needs it more than ever.
Let’s read:
Isaiah 9:6-7
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
When God is zealous about something, stuff happens. The word that’s used here is the word that describes jealous anger – that kind of deep, driving feeling that powers a warrior in battle. It was zeal for the house of God that urged Jesus to drive out the money changers and animals from the temple. So, Isaiah ends this short passage with a reminder. In case you have any doubts, in case you wonder why it’s taking so long, or if God really meant it, remember - the zeal of the Lord Almighty is going to get this done. How?
To us, a Son is given.
Conclusion:
It turns out that Christmas is based on an exchange of gifts, the gift of God to man--His unspeakable gift of His Son, and the gift of man to God--when we present our bodies a living sacrifice
It was 1860. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, One of America’s favorite poets was enjoying growing recognition. He was pleased at the election of Abe Lincoln. He thought it marked the triumph of freedom for the nation.
The Civil war started the next year. July 9, Longfellow’s wife was in their home when her dress caught fire in a freak accident. He tried to extinguish the flames, and ended up being burnt badly himself. His wife died the next morning. The scars on his face were why he grew his white beard. Christmas of that year he wrote in his diary, “How inexpressibly sad are the holidays.”
The war raged on, and the death toll mounted. Christmas of 1862 he wrote in his diary, “A merry Christmas say the children, but that is no more for me.”
His son had joined the Union army and was severely wounded in 1863. That Christmas there is no entry in his diary.
But on Christmas Day 1864 – at age 57 – Longfellow sat down to try to capture, if possible, the joy of the season. He began a poem he entitled “Christmas Bells”:
I heard the bells on Christmas day.
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
As he came to the 3rd stanza, he was stopped by the thought of the condition of his country. They were dark times. The Battle of Gettysburg was not long past. You can see the struggle he must have been going through in his mind as he continued to write.
And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth”, I said,
For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.
But then he turned his eyes on the Son Who was given to us. He continued writing:
Then peeled the bells more loud and deep;
“God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.”
To us, a Son is given. We can let the darkness overwhelm us, or we can look to the great light that God sent in the form of a child.
