“The Hope & Promise of Advent”
Isaiah 9:
9:1 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 nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.
4 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.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
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 Counselor, 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 forever.The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
Subject; what kind of king (kingdom) does Christmas celebrate?
Complement: an everlasting kingdom of justice.
Idea; Christmas is even bigger than we thought!!!
concise preaching idea -- Christmas - Santa or Saviour ?
Introduction: Christmas is a season of opposites and extremes – great joy and great despair
It's a time when we can be jealous of the blessings of another and simultaneously feel worse about ourselves.
Part of the problem in this conflict is how we view Christmas – we know it's the birthday of Jesus our messiah – but we tend to get drawn into the commercial and economic momentum too.
Christmas is a holy and sacred time on the calendar – but the sacred and the secular have come to share this season in an awkward and at times embarrassing way.
So as followers of Christ, let us hear the words of scripture that give shape and meaning to Christmas.
Read Isaiah 9:1-7
Situation; Gloom… Exile…Scattered…Oppressed... The Historical situation: 750 BC…
Israel’s best days are behind her …. King David ruled 250 earlier….followed by Solomon…then the kingdom is divided and a series of mostly weak and compromising kings followed.
The book of Isaiah begins this way…
1: 8 your country is desolate…like a city under siege
1:13 “stop bringing meaningless offerings”
1:15 I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood…seek justice…plead the case of the widow.
1:21 see how the faithful city has become a harlot…
1:25 I will purge away your dross
1:26 afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.
2:12 The lord almighty has a day in store for all the proud…
3:1 the lord is about to take from Jerusalem both supply and support
3:4 I will make boys their officials… children will govern them
3:13 the lord takes his place in court…
ELDERS AND LEADERS; it is you who have ruined my vineyard.
3:18 the lord will snatch away their finery…bangles, headbands, necklaces…
5:13 …exile. ( 200 years later…)
6:13 “holy seed will be cut down to a stump…” … the holy seed will be a stump in the land.”
Modern situation – terror… poverty… economic disparity…
Here in Isaiah 9, God talks about people sitting around in darkness.
They’re uncomfortable.
They’re more than just a little confused.
And they are seriously afraid for their future.
the Jews had long considered this section of Isaiah to be Messianic.
So for over 500 yrs, the Jewish people KNEW this section of Isaiah spoke of the coming Christ.
Isaiah fore-told Israel where the child would minister.
“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” Isaiah 9:1
Notice Isaiah says “the land of Zebulun and Naphtali”.
… but they were relatively insignificant tribes. They were rarely mentioned anywhere in the Old Testament and were never spoken of as having any important role in anything. That is until God mentioned them here in Isaiah 9.
Nazareth was in the region of Galilee.
Guess which tribes once inhabited the land of Galilee? That’s right – Zebulun and Naphtali.
Matthew tells us that early in His ministry, Jesus left His home town of Nazareth… and
“…he 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." Matthew. 4:13-16
· When Jesus began His ministry He resided at Capernaum in Galilee
· It was in Galilee that Jesus performed his first miracle.
· It was in Galilee that he selected the majority of his 12 disciples
· And it was in Galilee that He spent most of His time preaching and teaching and performing various healings and miracles
Isaiah went on to say WHAT this child would do.
Isaiah 9:2-3 “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. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.”
In the day of Jesus Galilee (land of Zebulun & Naphtali) was considered a very dark land.
It was a backwater region where only the poor and uneducated lived. It wasn’t an enlightened area.
Isaiah 9:2 tells us “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
…seven hundred years before this birth.
So about 2,700 years ago there was a city called Jerusalem. By this time the kingdom that was known as Israel was divided.
Also, around this time Jerusalem was under attack by its own brothers and sisters to the north.
God tells Isaiah to go to King Ahaz, king of Jerusalem, king of Judah, and basically tell him, "Don't worry. I have everything under control. Everything is in my sovereign rule. Ask me for a sign, and I'll give it to you."
In other words, God says, "Listen. I'll go one further. Not only don't worry, but ask me for anything to show you. So I can show you how sovereign I am and how powerful I am, ask me anything and I'll give it to you." Now Ahaz was weak, and he was an unbeliever and he rejected God's sign. So God became angry with him, and so God says, "That's fine. I'll go ahead and give you a sign."
In Isaiah 9, in this time of darkness, God promises them that light will come and that this one who brings light is going to put an end to war, oppression, and darkness.
The picture here of "every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood burned as fuel for the fire" implies the idea that the war has ended. This one will come and end war. All the battle implements, all the battle clothing, everything with blood on it will be gathered and it will be burned as fire because war will be no more.
That's the promise that God is giving his people in the midst of the threat of invasion from foreign enemies!!!
Complication: The exile… (586) --- 200 years after Isaiah’s prophecy!
...but the solution comes in the form of a baby!
A child?
Government on his shoulders? Forgive me for being skeptical!
This prophecy will be fulfilled in 2 stages:
Stage 1 – Jesus comes as a baby … dies on the cross…rises from dead… ascends to heaven
How can a man who never even attempts to overthrow Rome – and never gathers an army establish a kingdom???
Simply by going about the villages telling stories and healing the sick?
Stage 2 – Jesus is coming again
“if I go away I will come again and receive you unto myself – that where I am there you may be also.”
The lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout and the voice of the archangel – and the dead in Christ will rise first…
Resolution: 750 years had already passed…
Now - in 2019- another 2000 years have passed…
we are Waiting for 2nd advent
and Working for second advent
God with us – Emmanuel
God with us – by his indwelling Spirit!!!
Advent season anticipates second advent.
Then it explains how all this will come about:
For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
He is Wonderful Counselor. That word "wonderful" means supernatural. He will be all wise and he will be all knowing.
But notice, secondly, he is Mighty God.
Mighty comes from the word for "warrior." So this child is God with us, who makes war for us. This is the God who fights on our behalf.
This is the child that was promised in Genesis 3:15 that would make war with the serpent. He would make war with the enemy of God. He would make war with Satan himself. And this child that will be born is Mighty God. He is God himself who comes down, and makes war with the enemies of his people. He fights for his people.
That is good news. The greatest battle that we see that this child fought was the battle against the devil when he lived a perfect life of perfect obedience and in obedience he went to the cross. The Bible says that he destroyed the works of the devil by dying on the cross.
But notice also the title Eternal Father. Not that Jesus is our father, not that there's any confusion in the Trinity. But he will act as a father. He will be a king who will rule on behalf of his people with care and compassion. Unlike the kings of Israel's history, unlike the king of Jerusalem's history who were selfish and ruled for selfish gain, this king will rule his people with compassion, care, kindness, and mercy. This is the kind of king that people long for. He will deal with his people in a fatherly way.
And then finally, he is the Prince of Peace. He is the Prince who brings peace.
This is a king who comes and rules and his government will continue forever and ever and ever. This is the king who comes. And it says:
[he will sit] on the throne of David and over [David's] kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.
This promise is fulfilled on two levels – personal level and the global level.
• Jesus is coming again – to fulfill his promise of a kingdom!
• No more talk about politics…D Trump and friends
• No more worries about evil dictators in places like Syria
• No more corruption
• No more taxes
• No more wars
• In this new kingdom - We won’t need money for health care
• In this kingdom – we won’t need a police force – or an army
• In this kingdom – we won’t have to worry about messing up the environment and “global warming”
• I don’t even think we will have to worry about aliens invading the planet.
• This is the bright and glorious promise of this new kingdom of God…truly, “the government will be upon his shoulders” – its an incredible claim… in the imagination of poets and novelists there is this idea of “utopia” – I think because we all dream about the world being beautiful and people living in peace – but this kingdom of God isn’t a dream – its our future reality. It is what Bethlehem celebrates and anticipates.
Applications… discipleship implications …
Until the day of Jesus government… we respect the govt as “established by God”
Roman govt was a cruel dictatorship
• Romans 13 govt is “ordained by God”
o Jesus --- render to cesar…
• 1 Timothy 2:1ff – pray for our leaders
recent days in the political world…
• Jesus calls us to be peacemakers
Love our neighbour
Love the stranger
...I was naked and you took me in… when Lord…when you did it unto the least of these …you did it unto me…
yes, Even to love our enemies
ILLUS: The famed Austrian psychologist Carl Jung once wrote about a life without God:
“Those psychiatrists who are not superficial have come to the conclusion that the vast neurotic misery of the world could be TERMED a neurosis of emptiness.
Men cut themselves off from the root of their being, from God and then life turns empty, inane, meaningless, without purpose.
So when God goes, goal (purpose) goes.
When goal goes, meaning goes.
When meaning goes, value goes, and life turns dead on our hands.”
