The Coming King

Amen.

Welcome to the second Sunday in Advent.

Our reading for the sermon this morning is the book of Isaiah, chapter 9.

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

Reading the first seven verses.

If you want to look in your pew Bible, it's page 536.

If you will turn there with me, we will read it together.

Isaiah 9, verse 1.

Isaiah 9:1

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.

You have multiplied the nation.

You have increased its joy.

They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be

burned as fuel for the fire.

For to 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.

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice

and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Will you pray with me?

Amen.

Lord, this morning, as we come to your word, we are humbled, humbled by the power and the majesty

of the words that you give us, because they point us to you and your great power and your great majesty.

Lord, I pray this morning that we would find comfort and joy, awe and wonder as we contemplate the coming of your son, Jesus,

and the great things that you have done for us in him.

Lord, I pray for your help that you would give me words.

Lord, I pray for all of us that our ears would be opened and our hearts would be ready to receive your word this morning.

Lord, we pray these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

And they will be thrust into deep darkness.

If you look just before the passage, the end of chapter 8, those are the words that set up the passage that we're looking at this morning.

This passage is a well-known prophecy.

We hear it in Handel's Messiah.

This is one of those passages that if you've been around Christians, if you've been around Christmas, you've heard these.

But to think about the context, it's important to recognize that 700 years before the coming of Jesus,

the people of God were looking ahead for hope that they desperately needed because they had been thrust into deep darkness.

And I wonder if this Christmas season you can relate.

I wonder if you have felt like you have been thrust into deep darkness.

Maybe you open up your browser or you get your feed, RSS feed on your phone,

and you see the news of the world where we see wars and rumors of wars,

conflict and suffering from famine.

And we think the world is a dark place to live.

You read the news of society.

And you hear about sex trafficking and the suffering of immigrants.

We read about misbehavior in every level of society, from governments to Hollywood,

from church leaders to sports stars to everyday homes.

The darkness seems great at times.

Maybe the darkness has come into your home as well as you live with chronic illness,

as you struggle in a strained marriage, as you weep over broken friendships,

as you face the fearsome reality of joblessness or homelessness,

as you walk in the quiet suffering of deep aloneness,

as you grieve the loss of ones you've loved.

Maybe the deep darkness that you know so deeply is the deep darkness of your own heart,

where you've seen your own failures,

and the worst of you come out,

where you think,

why can't I be better than that?

Why do I always do that so poorly?

Why do I hurt those that I love?

Deep darkness is around us in every place.

And in Israel,

730 years before Christ,

they had been thrust into deep darkness,

just as we today maybe feel the same way.

And like them,

we long for God to act decisively

and to show that the darkness will not win.

The darkness does not have the last word.

It's to this that our text points to this morning.

And the darkness,

as we've alluded to already,

but we want to unpack a little more.

The darkness in the 8th century BC

had a particular shape.

If you were here last week,

Pastor Greg gave a great explanation of the history.

I'm going to try to summarize it.

King Ahaz,

sitting on the throne of the southern kingdom

of God's people in Jerusalem,

had shown himself to be fearful

and faithless before God.

And in trying to save his own skin,

he had made terrible allegiances

with the Assyrian nation,

the nation to the north of Israel

to try to save him.

And what we've seen in chapter 8,

if you went back and you looked at the end,

is that the prophet Isaiah came to Ahaz

and said,

because you have abandoned God,

darkness will come to this land.

The northern kingdom will be conquered

by this Assyria.

And you will be left wondering,

has God abandoned me?

You will be left wearing a heavy yoke

of oppression by the Assyrian rule.

You will know that it has been your own sin

and faithlessness that has ruined you.

And you will know the reality

that evil now has the power over your land.

Now this never came to Jerusalem.

It only happened to the northern kingdom

from Assyria.

And yet it is in this context

that chapter 9 breaks into

the narrative that Isaiah is giving

and the message that he is giving

to God's people.

A message of hope comes

that God has not abandoned his people,

but will send one who will deliver his people

and deliver them from the darkness.

Two questions

that this text answers this morning.

One, whom will he send?

And two, what will the one who he sends do?

So that's what we're going to look at this morning

in our next couple of minutes.

First of all, whom will he send?

Well, verse 6 is the answer.

And you, if you've heard Handel's Messiah,

I hope the little, you know,

soprano line is singing in your ears.

Unto us the child is born.

Unto us.

And so on and so forth.

It's a beautiful place.

If you don't know Handel's Messiah,

if you're not familiar with classical music,

this is your entree.

Go listen to Handel's Messiah.

It's a beautiful piece of music.

Anyway, that's my aside.

So verse 6, though,

is the core of this hope

in terms of who God will send.

For to 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.

God says that though right now

the darkness comes with this power

that is ruling over you,

this government that is oppressing you,

this consequence for your own

faithlessness and sinfulness

where you are suffering,

there is going to be one

who will take a throne of government

that will break these powers,

that will lose the control that they have,

and will establish himself

as the rightful ruler.

This child is not going to be,

as we saw earlier in chapter 7,

a human baby.

This is not the child of Isaiah

and his wife,

Mahar, Shalal, Hashbaz.

This is not even Hezekiah,

the next king of Israel.

The dates don't add up.

You can do the math.

We'll figure it out later.

But what this is,

is the fulfillment of the idea

that God has begun to bring

from chapter 7

that we looked at last week.

This promise that God

is going to use children as signs

that He has not abandoned His people.

That this Emmanuel isn't,

in the Old Testament,

simply just one child or one person,

but it is a series of events

where God is reminding His people,

I will be with you.

And in the end,

it is pointing towards one

who will come

and fulfill all of these things.

But when you look at verse 6

and verse 7,

you know that no human being

will ever take this throne.

No human being will be able

to fulfill this role

where the increase of His government

and the peace will have no end.

Is there any human ruler

who has ever established that?

No.

And never will be.

But He will come

and He will establish a government.

This promised one will come

and His established government

will bring the reign of God

on earth.

And He will be a mighty counselor,

one who is both

the fount of all wisdom

and also a great advocate

for His people

before a holy God.

He will be a mighty God

whose power has no rival

where there is no power

on this earth,

whether it be governmental

or societal,

whether it be personal.

No power

that He cannot overcome

and that He will not overcome.

He is the everlasting Father,

the one who is from ages past

and will live on to eternity

so His kingdom will never fail.

And as a father,

here is more of an image

that He will be one

who will provide and protect

for His people

like a perfect father ought to,

provide and protect

for His home,

for His family,

for His household,

so God will do that

for His creation,

for His world.

And this one will come

and sit on that throne

and reign in that way.

And He will be

the Prince of Peace.

The threats,

the violence,

the evil,

the destruction,

the suffering,

they will end.

One commentator said,

there are no titles enough

to capture all that He is

and all that He will bring.

This is just a taste

of the greatness

of the one

that God will send.

And so God gives

to the nation of Israel

this hope

that though they are experiencing

now great darkness,

God has not left them

or abandoned them,

but that He will send one

who will establish a kingdom

whereby the darkness

will never return.

What will He do?

What will this one do

when He comes?

This is what we're going

to look at now.

We look at these promises

of as He comes

broken up into three different things.

That He will come

and He will deliver

God's people

from contempt to glory.

In verse 1,

He will deliver us

from darkness to joy

in verses 2 and 3.

He will deliver us

from oppression

to righteousness

in 4 through 7.

So let's look at these

briefly together.

First,

the one who will come

will deliver us

from contempt to glory.

Now,

you look at this first verse

and you think,

I'm not really sure

what He is saying here.

Right?

What you need to know

is that

Zebulun and Naphtali,

all right?

Here's your map.

Here's the Mediterranean Sea

and here's

the nation of Israel

and at the northern end

of the nation of Israel

are Zebulun and Naphtali.

In fact,

they are on the route.

If you have a map

of the Middle East

and you're on,

there's a fertile crescent,

right?

Out here is Devart.

There's a fertile crescent

that has to do with rivers

and this is where

all the civilizations were

and up here is Assyria

and over here is Babylon.

And so,

the route,

the trade routes

and the invasion routes

all come down this road

and Zebulun and Naphtali

were the entrance point

for all the attacks

from these great nations

onto Israel.

They were also,

because of that,

the great place

of interaction

and in the view

of Israel over time,

the place of loss

of purity

or clarity

of the nation of Israel.

There was interaction

with these other nations

in ways that God

had wanted his people

to be set apart.

And so,

in this northern area,

this is where

the nation of Israel

lost its identity

and became a byword.

It became a place of shame

and a place of contempt.

Place of shame

because this is where

their nation

had been conquered from

and contempt

because this is where

they had lost

their identity.

If you think about

how Jews treated

the Samaritans

in the first century,

if you know that story,

you're not worth anything.

You're a half-breed.

You're not really

a part of this nation.

You're soiled,

defaced,

disgraced,

rejected,

condemned,

hated.

This was the contempt

that fell upon

this northern part

because of their history.

This was the way

that they were viewed.

And God says

in the former time,

that's right.

This is a place

of contempt.

But look with me again

in verse 1.

But in the latter time,

he has made glorious

the way to the sea.

The way to the sea

is that same trade route,

that same invasion route,

that same,

that comes right

through that place.

God comes

and when this child

comes

and establishes

his government,

that place

that was known

as the place

of contempt

and scorn,

he will make it

a place

of glory.

What does that mean?

What does that look like?

You know,

right down the street

from the place

where my kids

go to school

on Lenox Street

over in Fairhaven,

there's a house

on the corner

and I've been going

there now

for four years

and you drive

by this house

and it's a fairly

nice neighborhood

until you get

to the end

of the street

and the street

on this house

on the right-hand side,

it was a disaster.

The windows

were broken,

the door

was even open

half of the time,

the foundation

had holes in it,

the paint

was peeling,

the roof

was slowly decaying.

It was a mess.

It was a terrible,

terrible blight

on the neighborhood.

The neighbors

were worried

about it.

It was a mess.

It was a mess.

It was a mess.

It was a mess.

It was a mess.

Last year,

Habitat for Humanity

took on this house

as a project.

I get to see Antoine

all the time

as I'm picking my kids

up from school.

I stop and wave

at Antoine

because he's there.

He's managing this project.

If you don't know Antoine,

he works for Habitat for Humanity

in the city.

He's a part of our church

and that house

has regained a glory.

It has been renewed

in a beautiful way.

It has new siding,

new windows,

a new door.

The last week,

a new front porch

went in with steps.

But not only did they

fix the exterior,

but they fixed

the interior too.

You watch them

pull it down

to its studs.

They actually

raised the whole frame

and relayed

the foundation

of the house

so that the family

that will move in,

Lord willing,

at the end of this month

will move into a house

that has a glory

of a home

where they will be able

to be a family

and to live.

Friends,

this is what it looks like

for God

to restore glory

to something

that was contemptible

and shameful.

And this is what God

is doing

at the northern parts

of Israel.

He's saying this place

of invasion

is now

something else.

No longer

are you worthless,

but you are valued.

No longer

are you soiled

and defaced,

but you are cleaned

and renewed.

No longer

are you rejected,

but you are welcomed.

No longer hated

and condemned,

but loved

and exalted.

This is the pattern

of the one

who will come

and establish

his government.

and not only

did he come

and do this

for the nation Israel,

but he will do it

for us.

Christ has come

for you

who feel

that you are the one

who is called

contemptible.

He has come

to do a work

of renovation

in your life

to restore

the glory

that God

gave you

in creation

that has been

marred

by sin

and suffering.

for those

of you

who feel

outside,

who look

at the church

and think,

well,

isn't that

a group

of people

who look

good

and have

it all

together?

I don't belong

there.

Christ has come

for you.

For those

of you

who felt

marginalized,

well,

whoever those

people are,

I'm sure

I can't measure

up to their

standards.

I'm not good

enough.

Christ has come

for you

to say,

come in.

Christ,

when he came,

said,

I have not

come for the

healthy,

but for the

sick.

For those

of you

who know

you need

him,

but feel

like maybe

you can't

come in,

know that

Christ has

come for

you

to bring

glory

to the

contempt

of your

life,

to restore

you and

to renew

you,

and to

buy faith

in him

know the

hope of

Christ in

you,

the hope

of glory.

Not only

does this

one come

to deliver

us from

contempt to

glory,

but he also

in verses

two and

three turns

us from

darkness to

joy.

Look with

me again,

verses two

and three.

The darkness

here is

related to

the exile.

It is

related to

the loss

of the

light of

their identity

as God's

special people

protected by

God.

It is not

only darkness,

but deep

darkness,

if you see

in verse

two.

And if you

listened

carefully earlier

when John

read from

Matthew,

the deep

darkness is

also the

shadow of

death.

For in the

Bible,

darkness and

death are

often related

thematically.

In the

experience of

the exile,

in the

experience of

the invasion

of the

series,

in the

experience of

God's

judgment,

the nation

of Israel

felt that

what had

once been

fair and

flourishing,

the people

of God

in the

place of

God,

had now

become

ruined.

I have a

fascination

with natural

disasters.

It goes way

back to my

childhood.

When I was

10, I was

reading about

tornadoes and

hurricanes and

stuff like

that.

I don't know

if you saw

the pictures

of the

Florida Panhandle

after the

hurricane hit

it.

Places where

once there was

a community

and neighborhoods,

there is now

simply concrete

slabs.

Where there

were trees

and vegetation,

there were

at best

sticks and

stumps.

And the

power had

gone out,

like really

gone out.

There would

be no light

there for

weeks and

weeks.

This

natural

devastation

maybe gives

us a sense

of how the

people of

Israel felt

the darkness

had descended

on their

land and

on their

nation.

And into

this darkness,

God sends

this one

who will

bring light.

When you

look at two

and three,

it's this

picture of

establishing and

renewing the

land.

The nation is

multiplying and

flourishing.

Rather than it

feeling like decay,

destruction, and

ruin, the nation is

now flourishing and

growing and

expanding.

And not only is it

expanding seemingly

in size and in

prosperity, but it's

expanding in joy.

Look with me at

verse three.

They rejoice before

you, that is, the

people of God as

they see this one

come.

They're rejoicing

before God as with

the joy of the

harvest.

As in, as they are

reaping the fruits of

God's abundant

goodness and

deliverance to

them.

As they are glad

when they divide the

spoil, that is, as

they have experienced

victory over their

enemies, as they

have experienced the

establishment of

peace, the gladness

is that they get to

sit and be a part of

the everlasting kingdom

that will not end.

This joy is

characteristic and

it's this joy that

is so different from

the darkness.

For the darkness is

often a deep darkness

of despair and fear.

But this joy is in the

rejoicing that God has

not abandoned his

people.

He has not forgotten

them and he has not

failed them.

But that he is sending

this one.

How about you?

Has the hurricane come

through your life?

Maybe you feel right

now like the

eye wall has just

passed and it's

looking pretty grim.

Maybe some of you

have just had a

glancing blow.

Maybe you've seen the

darkness of sorrow or

depression, of

abandonment or

failure.

fear.

You feel like life is

over.

You feel like the

darkness will never

get better.

God speaks a better

word.

He has not abandoned

his people but he has

come for his people.

The light shines most

brightly for those who

have lived in the

darkness.

The hope is sweetest to

those who have tasted

despair.

And the love is most

glorious for those who

have known rejection.

in the midst of the

darkness then the

light has come.

If you're a believer and

you are going through a

period where darkness

seems to be the thing

that is winning, the

word here is hold on.

because Christ has come and

he will be victorious over

that darkness.

Don't give up.

Don't give in.

Don't despair and allow

that darkness to rule you

for Christ has come.

If you're here this morning

exploring Christianity, you're

here because it's Christmas

season, maybe you've come to

recognize that there's

something missing in your

life.

Maybe there's a nagging sense

that there's a darkness in

your life, a yawning, aching,

longing for something, a

spiritual darkness, a

lostness in your life.

The reason why we celebrate

Christmas every year is to

remember that God has come

for us.

That this light of Jesus has

come to save us and deliver

us from the darkness and he

invites you to come.

Come and know him.

Come and know him and all of

who he is.

Come and find out more of what

this book says about who he

is.

And we pray that in him you

will find hope and by

believing in him you will

find life.

You will find him who is the

real joy of Christmas.

So not only from contempt to

glory, not only from darkness

to joy, but finally from

oppression to righteousness.

Look with me at verses 4.

4 through 7.

The images are striking,

aren't they?

The very tools and the

weight of the Assyrian

invasion, the yoke of his

burden, the staff for his

shoulder, the rod of his

oppression.

Those are talking about the

implements of war and the

weight of a heavy government

being brought upon God's

people.

slavery and servitude.

Listen, if you haven't ever

explored, I think Greg

mentioned this last week, but

if you've never explored how

evil the Assyrian empire was,

Wikipedia, do something, look

it up.

It was a truly horrific rule.

It was not a society that you

would have wanted to be a part

of.

The boots of the soldiers

trampled over the ground and

the land of Israel and the

garments of blood remind us that

they came not as peaceful

occupiers, but as warlike

conquerors.

And they came with death.

But the promise here is that all

of those tools will end.

The yoke is removed.

The staff is broken.

The rod is broken.

As on the day of Midian, which

reminds us of the story of Gideon

in Judges 6 and 7, when Gideon,

with a very small army that God

made even smaller, intervened and

defeated the enemies of God's

people in a miraculous way.

God did an unlooked for and

surprising victory in ways that you

could never have seen because he

did it without military might and

power.

God is promising his people that

those implements of warfare are not

the last word, but that he will

break them.

God is promising his people that

those implements of oppression will

not continue forever.

Now, we live in a world where

oppression does continue, doesn't

it?

It happens on a global scale.

Socioeconomic, the rich oppress the

poor.

Racial tribes oppress other racial

tribes.

Even in more genteel societies, we

see gender discrimination and power

struggle.

And in our personal lives, we see

homes where oppressive abuse happens

on a regular basis.

Oppression does happen on a global and

on a personal level in these ways.

We also recognize that the Bible says

that the greatest oppressing force in

our lives is actually the power of

sin.

That the thing that we most are

powerless over and the thing that

most drives and controls us is our own

evil hearts and our intent to live

apart from God and the destruction that

it causes in our lives.

It is the weighty hand that rules over us

in our worst moments.

And when we're honest, we recognize how

often it still controls us and destroys us.

Our life with God and our life with others.

But verse 7 tells us that a new power has

come.

There will be a government that will

increase and grow until there is no other

government other than his.

And he will establish a kingdom that will

never fail but will go on forever.

And he will establish justice and

righteousness.

righteousness.

The wrongs that we face and the wrongs

that we do and the wrongs, the evil that

wells up in our hearts will no longer

control.

That he will break their power.

And he will establish instead justice and

righteousness which is not merely vengeance

but it is a life-giving establishment of all that

is right and true and good.

That we are right with God and right with one

another.

And we as human beings under his rule will

flourish and rejoice in one another.

It is the very opposite of our fallen world

and our fallen hearts when he comes to break

the oppression and to establish rightness

in our world and in our hearts.

And friends, this is good news, isn't it?

For we know how often we still face and

experience the oppression.

We know that some of us are fighting today with

addictions.

Deep-seated patterns of sin.

Long stretches of failure.

Where we feel helpless before our sin.

Jesus has come to break those bonds.

And to set you free from them.

For is this not the very gospel that we preach

and that we proclaim?

That we are dead in our sins and trespasses.

That sin has a power over us that we cannot free

ourselves from.

And the only hope and the only help we will find

is not from improving ourselves but from looking

outside of ourselves.

And God has come in the person of Jesus Christ

to be that help from the outside.

And by his perfect life and by his death on the cross

bearing the penalty for our sin and breaking the power

of sin over us.

By rising from the dead so that he might give new life.

This is the great hope of the gospel for us.

And it's not just for us as individuals but it is for our

society as well.

We must not pit the oppression that he breaks of personal

sin against the oppression of our society as if they're

separate.

But in fact they are a weave of the power of sin in our

world.

And we know that God has come to break those.

And we know that he's not done doing those.

And so it is right for us as his children to act for

righteousness and justice in this world.

We know that we know one who has the power and who wields

the power to break those patterns.

And we know that one day when his rule is fully established

that those bonds of oppression, that that weight will be

broken.

That the kingdom will come for the flourishing of all and

flourishing of each one of us.

But recognize at the very end, verse 7, the last line, to

recognize that though we may work towards this, in the end, what

will accomplish this?

It will be the zeal of the Lord.

It will be the hand of the Lord who will bring this deliverance.

It will be the person that God will send who will bring this

final victory.

And friends, this is why in Matthew chapter 4, the passage that was read

Matthew 4 · chapter mention

earlier this morning, the gospel writer refers to this passage.

He says, Jesus is coming in the most unlikely way to bring a surprising

redemption to remind you that God has not forgotten his promise.

But in fact, he will fulfill his promise.

Jesus comes out of Galilee in the north, a place of contempt in the first

century, to redeem him.

Jesus comes not as a conquering warlord on a white horse with an army at his

back, but he comes to a stable.

And in Matthew 4, he's just beginning his ministry.

And what has he started with?

Temptation and exile in the wilderness.

And he comes out of that.

And Matthew says, do you see this one?

He's coming from the north.

He's coming to redeem Zebulun and Naphtali, Galilee of the Gentiles.

He's coming to bring the fulfillment of the promise that light will win over

darkness because he is the child that will be born.

He is the one upon whom the government will rest.

He is the coming king who has come to rescue us and to save us and to deliver us.

But he does that not by great overpowering might and by fighting with the weapons of this warfare,

but he does it with the incredible grace of offering himself to die in our place.

And he breaks the power of darkness and of contempt and of oppression by taking those things upon himself.

He was scorned.

He was abandoned to the darkness by his friends.

He was oppressed in his crucifixion, in his death.

He took those things on himself to free us to come so that we might have life,

so that we might have freedom, so that we might have glory and joy and righteousness in God.

Friends, this is the good news of Christmas.

This is the good news of the gospel.

And this is why we sing,

Joy to the world, the Lord has come.

Let earth receive her king.

Let every heart prepare him room.

And heaven and nature sing.

Let's pray together.

Lord, we thank you for this word.

We thank you for the word of hope that you bring us.

Lord, that you have remembered your promises and you have remembered your people.

And you have come to us in love.

You have come to us in the person of Jesus.

Who comes, Lord, as our savior, as our deliverer, as our king.

Lord, we do pray that as we walk through this season, Lord, we would be renewed in hope.

Lord, and that in hope we would be renewed in our devotion and our love for Christ who has come for us.

We pray this in Jesus' name.

Amen.