For to us a Son is Given
Isaiah 9.1-7
Introduction
Lighthouses
Since the very earliest days of sea travel, sailors have recognised the danger they are in when travelling close to a rocky shore or sand bar – especially at night. Over the centuries many thousands of sailors have lost their lives when their ships struck rock or wedged on a sand bar. Not only do such accidents cause loss of life but also loss of precious cargo and loss of expensive ships.
To reduce these losses, from the days of the ancient Greeks, lighthouses have been built to warn sailors of the dangers of a rocky shore.
You can imagine the difference it would make to a sailor when on a dark night his way was suddenly illumined by a brilliant light – that helped him steer a safer course.
Well, our reading from Isaiah 9 speaks of a people walking in darkness who suddenly see a great light. From a situation of despair and hopelessness, suddenly a message and sign of hope comes - which totally transforms the picture for them.
I imagine the reading from Isaiah 9 is a familiar one to you. It is a popular reading in the lead up to Christmas because – rightly – we see in this prophecy an anticipation of the coming of the infant Jesus. He is the great light who is coming to shine into the darkness.
However, I wonder how often we view this reading in its original context in the prophecy of Isaiah? Very often it is just one of several Christmas readings that we string together in the lead up to the familiar nativity sections of Matthew and Luke. But when we do that we fail to appreciate the true significance of the coming of the one who referred to himself as the ‘Light of the World’.
So let’s set some context.
The Darkness of Unbelief: a King Who Failed
The immediate context for the reading in Isaiah 9 is found at the end of the previous chapter, chapter 8, where we read:
Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upwards, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look towards the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
The people referred to here are the people of Judah. The time is around 720 BC, around 20 years before time we have been thinking of in our earlier series on Isaiah 40 and 41.
It sounds pretty bleak doesn’t it? And it was. Here was a nation that had been given all the privileges of being God’s chosen people, of being rescued from slavery, of being given God’s law, of being given God’s temple, of being delivered time and again from their enemies, and yet who had turned their back on God and could only curse him.
The king is King Ahaz, who we heard about in our first reading. Ahaz reigned for 16 years between around 732 and 716 BC. And as we read in 2 Kings, his reign was marked by a significant deterioration in the spiritual and political state of Judah because he ‘walked in the ways of the kings of Israel’.
In particular he abandoned the worship of the Lord, the true God of Judah and replaced it with the worship of pagan gods and with it various pagan practices including
• The ritual sacrifice of his son in a fire
• The offering of pagan sacrifice in the high places and under trees, rather than in God’s temple
• The replacement of the altar in the Temple with one copied from a pagan temple in Damascus,
And not only did he introduce all these pagan practices, rather than turn to God when his land was threatened with invasion he turned to the king of Assyria to help him. As we read in 2 Kings 16:
2 Kings 16.7-8: Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, ‘I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.’ 8 And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria.
So to the sin of false religious practice was added the sin of unbelief, of a failure to look to God for his salvation and for the salvation of the nation.
In Isaiah 7 we have a record of an occasion when Isaiah went to speak to Ahaz. He went to tell him to trust God and not the king of Assyria; but Ahaz refuses to turn to God for help. The result is Isaiah tells him that the same Assyrians he is looking to for help will in fact invade Judah itself:
In Isaiah 8 verses 6-8 Isaiah likens Assyria to a great river in flood that bursts its banks and inundates the surrounding countryside: It will overflow all its channels, run over all its banks and sweep on into Judah, swirling over it, passing through it and reaching up to the neck. Its outspread wings will cover the breadth of your land.
How far God’s leaders had fallen! Just contrast that state of affairs with this prayer from Ahaz’s predecessor on the throne of Judah, King David (2 Samuel 7):
22 ‘How great you are, Sovereign Lord! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel – the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself … 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own for ever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
Some 300 years after David prayed that prayer, here are God’s people, led by a king into deepest apostasy and unbelief, threatened by powerful armies and neighbours, ‘living in darkness’ and fearful gloom.
And so, although exile to Babylon was still over 100 years into the future, Isaiah is anticipating that event, telling the people of Judah that God is about to come in judgement upon them – God will cast them into utter darkness.
Does this description make any sense today? A people disillusioned with their government and their gods, who see only distress and darkness about them? A people who have totally lost their bearings and are aware that their hopes and dreams have been shattered?
Christian Apologist William Craig has written this: Modern man thought that when he had got rid of God, he had freed himself from all that repressed and stifled him. Instead, he discovered that in killing God, he had also killed himself. For if there is no God, then man’s life becomes absurd.
If God does not exist, then both man and the universe are inevitably doomed to death. Man, like all biological organisms, must die. With no hope of immortality, man’s life leads only to the grave. His life is but a spark in the infinite blackness, a spark that appears, flickers, and dies forever.
It can be true of a nation, or church or individual. If the leadership of our nation, or even our church, or if we on a more personal level loses touch with the truth of God and start to chase after the gods of the age, if we put political expediency before biblical truth, the result will be people stumbling about in the dark, full of dismay and despair. And the end can only be the judgement of God.
PAUSE
As we have said, Ahaz was one of the worst, if not the worst of all the kings of Judah. Just trashing his heritage and turning to ungodly and pagan powers to assist him.
His reign demonstrated graphically that the people of God could not rely on a human king to lead them. A process that started 300 years before when they demanded to be like the other nations and have their own king was coming to its inevitable conclusion. Even the best of their kings, like David and Solomon, had failed them.
To provide leadership for the people of God someone else was needed, someone whose life would not be compromised by sin and unbelief. But where could such a leader be found?
But, although God is about to punish his people, he has not abandoned them.
The Light Dawns: a New King is Promised
And so we come to chapter 9 and that wonderful nevertheless : Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.
And then: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned
Rarely can the contrast have been so sharp - between the dark condition of men and women living astray from God - and the light, hope and joy of people living with God.
Listen to the words that litter the verses that follow: Joy, rejoice, rejoice, rejoice.
Joy replaces despair. Hope replaces gloom. And as we see at the end of our reading: the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. It is all God’s doing. God will take the initiative to save his people from judgement and despair.
What is that God will do? I want to look at God’s answer first, and then to look at its results.
God’s answer is the sending of a child who will be a new kind of king for the people of God. Verse 6:
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 Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness 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 for ever.
So a new king is coming – one who will be all the things the previous kings have not been:
• In place of the folly of kings like Ahaz, he will be infinitely wise, called the Wonderful counsellor
• In place of the weakness of kings like Ahaz, he will called the Mighty God, able to accomplish all that he desires
• In place of the callous actions of kings like Ahaz, he will be the perfect everlasting father
• In place of constant friction, conflict and turmoil of reigns like Ahaz, he will be the Prince of Peace
One is coming therefore who will be the perfect king, whose kingdom will grow and who will reign with justice and righteousness for ever and ever.
And the result?
• Joy, like the joy of harvest or the joy of victory in battle (verses 3 and 4)
• Deliverance, from all that oppresses (verses 4)
• Peace, after endless conflict (verse 5)
No human king, not even king David, could achieve all this. So, for the faithful remnant of the people of God, it was a question of waiting and waiting and waiting for the coming of another king, who could and would fulfil these promises.
The Light Dawns: A New King Arrives
The fulfilment Isaiah’s prophecy is of course to be found in the coming of Jesus which we anticipate during this advent season. He is the one who perfectly fulfils the description that Isaiah gives of a coming king. As we get closer to Christmas listen out for these connections between Isaiah’s prophecy and the coming of Jesus.
The nativity stories which we will be reading again over the next few weeks only give hints about his royal pedigree, but the hints are there.
• He is born in Bethlehem, birthplace of King David and long associated with the royal line
• He is presented by the magi with gold, the gift for kings
• He is called Messiah by the angels and by Simeon – the name associated with God’s coming and anointed deliverer
And he is not just the great king, he is also the great light. In the prologue in John’s gospel, which we often read at Christmas he is referred to as ‘the light that shines in the darkness’ and ‘the true light that gives light to all people’
And so much of his life and ministry is accompanied by joy and rejoicing. Just one example: After their mission trip in Luke’s gospel, for example, we read that the 72 disciples ‘returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’ ‘(Luke 10.17).
Celebrating Christmas
So this is the one whose birth we will be celebrating in 10 days’ time. So much of the Christmas ritual has lost its significance but at the heart of our Christmas celebration is this joyful news.
Jesus the light of the world. The great light who shines in the darkness, just like that lighthouse. He is God’s answer to our darkness. Close our eyes and ignore him and we grope around in the dark and run the risk of coming under God’s judgement. Recognise him and come to him as the fount of all truth, love and wisdom - the one who lights up the way back to God - and we have so much to give thanks for.
Jesus the perfect king. The one who ushers in his kingdom of justice and peace. A kingdom which is growing day by day and year by year. A kingdom which will reach its fulfilment when Jesus returns. - when every knee will bow before him. Recognise him and bow before him now, even as he lies in the manger or hangs to a cross, and his peace and joy can be yours.
I began this sermon with the image of a lighthouse, a bright light that has been carefully positioned to warn travellers of danger and to guide them safely to their destination.
I cannot think of a better illustration of the light that is Christ. Of course Christ is not an impersonal light. He is a person whom we are to worship as God’s son. He is a person whom we are to listen to as the one who is truth. He is a person whose life and teaching shows us the way we should go. Above all he is the Saviour who can deliver us from darkness and transfer us into the kingdom of light
I was struck by a phrase used in an interview on Channel 4 by Alleena Coupe, a prison officer who was one of the people who survived when the helicopter crashed into the Clutha Bar in Glasgow. She spoke of how dark it was inside the bar after the helicopter had crashed. But she always carries a torch in her bag - which she took out and turned on.
Other people were stumbling about in the dark and the dust and she says she called out, ‘Follow the Light’. About a dozen others followed her out of the pub to safety.
This Christmas, if we are in the dark, let’s follow the light that leads us to Christ.
