A little over a month before he died, the famous atheist Jean-Paul Sartre (a French novelist, dramatist and philosopher) declared that he so strongly resisted feelings of despair that he would say to himself, “I know I shall die in hope.” Then in profound sadness, he would add, “But hope needs a foundation.”
(Our Daily Bread, April 17, 1995)
That hope is outlined in Hebrews 11:8 “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. 10 Abraham did this because he was confidently looking forward to a city with eternal foundations, a city designed and built by God.”
Chorus
I have a hope / That will never fade away / He’s alive in me /
Living day to day / I have a hope / And my hope has a name /
Prince of Peace / And the Lord of Love / Jesus Christ / The Son of God King of hope / He will always be / His great name / Holds my destiny
1993 Jim Firth (Jim Firth 560 N LaCumbre Rd. Santa Barbara CA 93110)
That’s My King!
1. There is Hope in Dark Times!
Verse 1
God’s people had turned to spiritism and psychics (8:19). They had chosen their own paths of disobedience and rejection of God’s ways. As a result God’s people faced oppression and bondage from enemies that sought to destroy them. What was mentioned here had already past but a greater bondage and slavery was coming as another warring king came to oppress Israel. They were coming out of one slavery experience only to face another foe. They were being exploited, robbed, distressed and oppressed. “The time of darkness” was certainly bleak. The verse however, offers hope – hope that the darkness and despair will not continue! There is a promise of good times when the people of God will hold their heads high again! The people in darkness were slaves in Babylon and the prophet’s words would be realized for them 60 years later.
Choices and consequences go hand in hand.
E.g. God to Solomon, “At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or I might command locusts to devour your crops, or I might send plagues among you.” (2 Chronicles 7:13) You cannot run a sharp blade across your arm and not expect to bleed. The hope is in stopping the bleeding and healing from the wound!
There’s hope! The answers do not always come quickly, or come as we suppose is best, or come as we prefer – but the best answers come! The Hope (God Almighty) of the ages delivers!
E.g. Continuing with Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:14 God continued with, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land. 15 I will listen to every prayer made in this place.”
That’s My King!
2. There is Deliverance in Desperate Days
Verses 2-5
This is a prophecy of the coming Christ, the Messiah of the world! Isaiah’s reference to “seeing a great light” leads some to interpret this as a picture that when sins hold is rejected the light of God’s deliverance will come crashing in! That, when Jesus comes as Messiah, the light is going to be a blinding reality! Yet, Jesus came as a babe in a manger – almost unnoticed and shrugged off. It was through the course of his 33 years, and only after his death and resurrection that the blinding light shot into humanity’s heart and left us staggering as our darkened hearts squinted against the overwhelming truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ!
We can expect moments of truth, revelation and blessing to explode in our lives, while much of the revelation of God’s glory is a gradual transformative experience. A progressive work – “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. (Philippians 2:12). Not many are blinded as Paul on the road to Damascus and arrested dramatically by God. He is too overwhelming for us to handle in all his glory! We can only manage small doses of His person and power!
That’s My King!
Verse 4 again
John N. Oswalt, professor of Old Testament and Semitic languages, Asbury Theological Seminary (Wilmore, Kentucky): “Isaiah calls to mind historic events which would give credence to the eschatological [last times, end times, judgement] hope. Gideon and his people, faced by an oppressive horde, discovered that in God weakness is strength, and they watched in amazement as God used them to bring deliverance (Judges 6, 7). He comforts the Church again after these great threatenings promising to restore them to great glory in Messiah.”
http://www.searchgodsword.org/com/gsb/view.cgi?book=isa&chapter=9&verse=1#Isa9_1
The people in darkness are spiritually blind and enslaved – their hope is now and to come! The deliverance would not be the result of humanity’s good efforts to change. It would come because of the unmerited favor and grace of God!
That’s My King!
3. There are Answers for our Dilemmas!
“Mary had a little lamb” – His name was more than just Jesus, as sweet as that name sounds!
Re. “His name shall be called Wonderful” – Poem:
The Counsellor? Not yet to Mary comes
That word, I think, he has such need of her.
The Mighty God? Ah, no, how can it, when
He is so small and weak he just can stir
His head upon her breast?
The Prince of Peace?
O, sweet, spent mother, far too great that word!
She only knows the peace that wraps her round
Since first that baby cry of his was heard.
The Everlasting Father? That will come
Long, long years hence with comfort solemn, deep!
But now she murmurs only, ‘Little son!’
And moves to kiss him softly in his sleep.
One word alone of all the prophert spake
Is in her heart to-night, I think – just this –
The Wonderful! She says it o’er and o’er,
And breathes it yet again in every kiss.”
(The Speaker’s Bible, V. 4)
To Mary, for this time, he was her newborn baby boy. But to the world he would be its Saviour! Oswalt: “this child has those traits which manifest the presence of God in our midst.” Titles demonstrate that God is for us, not against us; that he desires our deliverance, not our destruction.
Verse 7 – some lessons on the “Passionate commitment of the Lord” for his people. First, it is extremely intense and fervent.
(The Speaker’s Bible) – In terms of the human race “all the passion and intensity of the Divine nature, has been seeking to save [the world].” As it relates to the individual, “God seeks and pursues the [person].” As it relates to cleansing and perfection, “God is zealous, not simply to save us, but to set us perfect before his throne.”
His purpose is righteousness, justice and salvation for the world! How is that possible? It is only possible when there is that Wonderful Counsellor (a guide), a Mighty God (superior rulership), an Everlasting Father (timeless relationship), Prince of Peace (expression of life beyond human ability to create) – of these there is an absolute need which must not end. How is that possible? “He will reign… “The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this!”
That’s My King!
How different would your day be if there was a remote thought in the deepest chamber of your heart that none of this is true? That Christ is not coming again; that the world will never be delivered from its sinful bondage; that there is no hope beyond death?
I doubt you would be here to sing and worship; or offer prayer to God for the needs of the people around you; or extend a hand in Jesus’ name. EVERYTHING you are in the faith and EVERYTHING you hope for in the broken lives of humanity depends on an answer and justice to come someday.
That’s why you must be sure of this one thing more than any other – Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, the Saviour of the World, the Messiah of Almighty God, and EVERYTHING, though senseless it may seem, will come together in conformity to his glorious purposes! You have to be able to declare without reservation,
That’s My King!
Isaiah felt that way! He was so sure in his vision of the Christ of God and his cosmic, indisputable order in the universe, that Isaiah needed no evidence. The vision was enough to assure him that the war is over before it begins. It’s settled and that’s the end of that.
We are the recipients of that truth that Jesus is the Christ of God! The evidence is overwhelming glaring in history, in science, in experience!
“Prince of Peace” (V 6b and v7) – “of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.”
His peace is not the mere calm between warring parties who have reached a truce that for the time-being, keeps people from bloodshed and wiping each other out of existence. His peace is the enduring, unending, drawing near of his eternal Kingdom in people’s hearts and in the established place of the glorified and redeemed to come! It is calm in the storm of circumstance and turmoil, knowing that all evil will be judged, every injustice will be avenged and all faith will be swallowed up with sight of Him who is eternal, everlasting and without end!
That’s My King!
Wrap
When the church becomes discouraged, facing seemingly impossible odds and facing desperate times, it is very much like a football team– like the Shiloh Eagles. They have not had a winning season for six years and in the season of this clip they had lost their first three games. Their playing was half-hearted and they were discouraged. Watch what happens when Coach Grant Taylor challenges them to give God nothing but their very best. (Watch video clip)
- Promise God our best
- Don’t quit until you have nothing left
- Give God our best
- Give God everything we’ve got
- Keep driving
- We don’t give up on God
- It hurts but we keep going
- Don’t quit
- One day, we’ll find ourselves in the end zone!
If you walk around defeated, so will they – Who’s “they” in your world?
Whatever your sense of hope;
Whatever the desperate times you are facing,
Whatever dilemma you may be in, remember
God is enough!
That’s Your King!
