Isaiah 9:1-21 – The Songs of Emmanuel

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Join us this week as we continue in the book of Isaiah with our Advent series, The Songs of Emmanuel.

Well, I didn't expect to be back here talking to you guys, but obviously, if I am here, it's because I'm having to self-isolate.

I'm waiting for the results of a test, and hopefully it's negative.

But here we are.

Nonetheless, we get to look at God's word together.

You get to be back in my study, like all of those months.

We're still going to look at Isaiah 9 in the series concluding our Advent series.

And so please keep that open in front of you in your phone or on a Bible.

You can definitely come down the front and get a Bible now because there's nobody there.

And so you can grab one of those so that you can follow along.

I'm going to begin by talking about a very overrated Christmas movie that is, of course, Love Actually.

But obviously, the uh the big don't complain at me.

It's it's not one I would have voted for in the Andrew Woodmartin bracket.

Uh, but obviously, the uh one of the big kind of climaxes of the storyline come uh uh comes with Emma Thompson and Alan Rickman, this married couple, and uh Emma Thompson thinks that this uh gold necklace has been bought for her, and Christmas Day arrives, and she opens this box, this present, and sees that actually it is a CD.

Uh that her husband had bought the gold necklace for someone else.

And there's this very moving scene where she retreats to the room in order to weep, in order to try and gather herself, and then she goes back into the family and says, Right, everybody, let's go.

We're all going to the to the Christmas play.

She puts on a brave face, even though her heart is broken.

And people kind of think that that's that's kind of our lot with Christmas.

Uh, broken hearts, but we put on a brave face.

We do it for the kids, we put on a brave face, right?

That that's what we're supposed to do.

We keep up the pretense, we cover all of the the pain and and glitter and fairy lights and hope that nobody sees the sees the cracks.

I want to suggest to you that that's a really insufficient way of looking at Christmas.

It's not a very emotionally healthy way of looking at Christmas, and it's certainly not the way that God looks at Christmas.

Christmas for the Christian is not actually a sentimental holiday, it's a profoundly realistic one.

We need Christmas.

There are important reasons why we need Christmas and everything that it represents.

Christianity offers something better than brave faces on broken hearts.

It actually offers us something better than misty-eyed nostalgia.

God doesn't want your brave face, He wants to wipe away every tear.

He wants to take your broken heart and flood it with joy and with hope and with peace.

That's what Christmas represents.

The passage uh that was read for us in Isaiah 9 obviously is a familiar Christmas one, but it's the climax of a kind of three-chapter saga, seven, eight, and nine, where the people of God are surrounded by the Assyrian Empire, they were the superpower at the time, and they are pressing in on God's people.

It looks like God's people are going to fall to this great power, and you have a bad king, Ahaz, who uh who refuses to seek God for for help, and the situation is dark and and hopeless, and the people are wondering, how can this possibly end well?

How could God have let this happen, and where is he in all of this?

And it's in that context that Isaiah the prophet starts to deliver these promises.

He starts to promise this child who's going to come, who will be called Emmanuel, meaning God with us.

And these prophecies of this child kind of snowball throughout these three chapters, and in chapter 9, verses 1 to 7, we get the climax of all that that son is and what he will do for us.

But before the light of Christmas, Isaiah reminds us of the darkness of despair.

That's the context.

Before God with us, there are cries of God, where are you?

What do we need to know about these verses that will help us to have hope and joy this Christmas time and beyond?

Well, the first thing that I want us to note this morning is that though the darkness is real, it's not fundamental.

Though the darkness is real, it's not fundamental.

The situation, as we've noted, was dire, and if you cast your eye up to chapter 8, in uh verse 22, the the last verse of that chapter, we get the prophet saying, And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.

So before the passage turns with 9 1, see now, but there will be no gloom for her because a light's about to shine.

Isaiah points to the reality of the darkness.

There is thick darkness.

Assyria is on the on the borders, it looks like God's people are going to fall, God's promises are being called into question, things are not going well.

The darkness is real, and yet it's not going to have the last word.

It's not fundamental.

We also can feel our own species of darkness.

You might not have a great superpower empire knocking at your door, but uh there are darknesses that creep into our lives, the darknesses of doubt and of hidden sin, of anxiety, fear, past hurts, guilt, and shame.

But then things turn in nine chapter one, but there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish in the former time.

He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun, 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 Gentiles.

No darkness, no darkness for whom?

Well, we get a couple of names, get Zebulun and Naphtali.

Now, Zebulun and Naphtali are not people, they are uh they are tribal areas in the north of Israel.

They were the uh the very frontier that the Assyrian Empires they were coming from the north, sweeping down into the south, they would have met Zebulun and Naphtali first, those tribal regions that were between the uh the Jordan River.

If you're looking at me, the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

And so Isaiah is talking about these sort of areas, these were the first to be overrun by the Assyrian Empire.

But here Isaiah takes something that is going to happen and puts it in the past tense, saying that the lands might fall.

The Assyrian Empire did come and sweep away the northern kingdom.

But what he's saying is that won't be the end of the story.

That won't be the last of it.

That might be real, but it's not fundamental.

Do you see?

The darkness is real, but it is not fundamental.

It cannot always be night.

When it comes to suffering, and it feels like that darkness is closing in, it's important for us to have an expansive field of vision, to have the perspective that Christianity offers us.

You imagine uh that you're you're outside one morning, sunrise is around about kind of 8.20, 8.30 at the minute, and if you're looking over towards the western sky, all you'll see is darkness.

It'll look pitch.

It's not until you turn and see the eastern sky, and then you realize actually the dawn is breaking.

What can happen to us when we're in seasons of darkness, trouble, and distress is that we become fixated on the western sky.

We become fixated on the darkness.

One of the things that Christianity helps us with, and one of the things that God does for us, is he says, expand your vision.

Expand your horizon to see, to glimpse something of what I am doing in the world and in your suffering.

The darkness is real, but dawn is coming.

The darkness is real, but it's not fundamental.

It won't have the last word.

The dawn is coming, the light is about to break in.

Do you see?

If you fixate on the darkness, you will of course be given over to hopelessness and despair.

But God, in our lives and here in this passage, gives us glimpses of the coming dawn that we might have hope.

Where does the light come from?

We'll have a look at verse two.

The people 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 on them.

The light that dawns comes from outside.

It dawns on us.

It doesn't come from us.

Do you see?

People like to think that the light of hope the light of progress comes from within humanity.

That as we if we could only come together, if we could only uh unite, if we could only all stand on our on our doorsteps and clap on a Thursday evening, the that would bring the light into the world.

Now, to be sure, there are lots of expressions of uh that are moving of people coming to together, but real lasting circumstance changing darkness, dispelling light has never come from humanity.

It's never come from us.

It has to come from outside, it has to dawn on us, it has to shine on us, it doesn't come from us.

Do you see?

What does that light bring?

Well, we get the answer there in verses three and four 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 defy the spoil.

For the yoke of his burden, the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.

And just notice in those verses uh the active agent, you, you, you.

The one who's acting here is God, not us.

God is acting to drive back the darkness.

That's always been true.

That's what Christianity is about.

The light drive back drives back the darkness and brings with it, well, two things could be summarized.

Joy and liberation.

It brings joy and liberation.

Because after all, what's darkness, but despair and alienation and oppression.

There are two uh joy images and two, excuse me, that's why I'm not here.

Um there are two joy images and there are two liberation images.

The two joy images there in verse three uh are that of harvest and of dividing spoils or uh or military victory.

Harvest joy is the joy of the world being as it should be, the joy of right circumstances.

Harvest is supposed to follow uh sowing, and when it comes, it is a time of great joy because you know that you're going to survive, you know you're going to have enough food to last you through the winter, and you're gonna have your seeds to scatter next spring, that sort of thing.

So it is joy that the world is as it should be.

Joy in right circumstances.

The joy that comes from the spoils of war, I guess, is the joy of vindication, of victory over enemies, the joy that you feel when uh when Ireland wins the Six Nations.

That that that pride and delight.

It's a rare uh pride and delight, but it's something that we uh have experienced before in the past and hopefully will again.

The liberation images of verse 4 bring us to look back uh in in two ways into Israel's past.

First to the Exodus, that is the the yoke of burden, uh the staff of his shoulder, that is, uh the staff that a um that a slave master would have would have held kind of on his shoulder to go and whack people with, right?

So it's it's the it's the blows of the oppressor that would have happened in in Egypt when the people were enslaved.

And then we get this reference to the uh to the day of Midian when God's people uh faced this overwhelming foe, and God gave them the victory back in uh in Judges chapter 8 with Gideon and uh his 300 men.

Judges 8 · chapter mention

Here's the point.

God is saying that when he acts and when the light comes, there will be no more burdens, no more blows, no more bullies.

And just like the Exodus and just like the victory at Midian, the people could not save themselves.

In both of those circumstances, they needed God to act.

God heard their cry in Egypt and came to rescue his people using his servant Moses.

They couldn't save themselves, and so when we look back in verse 4 to those things, one of the things that Isaiah is saying is this is something that God's gonna do.

This is something that we need God to do.

The joy comes, the liberation comes by God acting.

How then does God achieve this?

Does he descend on the clouds?

Does he have uh an array of angels?

How will these earth-changing events be brought to pass?

Well, it is with the birth of a child, that this child will be born, verse six, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Notice they they parallel at the very start of verse six, just uh just by the by, for to us a son is born, or sorry, to us a child is born, to us a son is given.

Maybe hinting at uh at Jesus' uh humanity and his divinity.

So he was a child that was born, but also a son that was given into the world.

And then we have these extraordinary titles that he is the wonderful counselor, that is, that he will come with supernatural wisdom, he will confound the wisdom of the world, he will sit as the uh as the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple and confound the teachers of the law.

He is the embodiment of wisdom and truth.

The wonderful counselor draws near with wisdom and compassion.

He's not just the wonderful counselor because of the breadth of his knowledge, because of the depth of his wondrous love.

We're also told that he is the mighty God.

Again, this is no ordinary child, this is God himself.

This is the author writing himself into the story.

This is God made flesh.

This is Emmanuel, God with us.

It's a reminder, isn't it, that we don't just simply need a philosopher, we don't just simply need more education.

The problem with humanity isn't a lack of knowledge or a lack of wisdom, it's that we need God.

He is also the everlasting father.

That is not to say that the father, in that Trinitarian sense, is the one who comes to earth, but rather it is bringing about these notions of uh of intimacy and love and familial uh joy and delight, that the father who loves us, like a good dad, who comes and who cares for us, who protects and provides, that's what Isaiah is getting along here.

And unlike earthly fathers, this is not a father who uh who will one day die or who leaves, he is an everlasting father going to his his timelessness, his eternality.

He is the one who will bring everlasting provision, intimacy and protection.

And then we're told that he is the Prince of Peace In a world of brokenness and darkness and despair.

He is the one who will bring peace.

Not just peace between nations and peoples, but between humanity and their God.

Just got a little phone battery note there.

Peace here in this context is that shalom, that holistic peace of everything being right with God and man.

Eden restored, being back with one another and with the God who made us.

He is the one who will bring that to pass.

He is the one who will bring peace to our wandering souls.

He will be the one who will bring peace in the midst of our grief and loss, he's the one who will bring peace in the midst of our perhaps even disappointment, with the change of Christmas plans and things like that.

And how can we be sure that this will happen?

Well, we're told right at the very end that the zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

From where we sit, we know who this child is.

He is the light of the world.

The one that the darkness could not comprehend, could not overcome.

And he is the one who we remember this Christmas time, this Advent time, will come again.

Remember, we're talking about how Advent is not just looking back, it's also looking forward, that one day that that dawn will uh will come with a blazing sunrise, and that there will never be a night again.

Isn't that what we uh we see at the very end of the Bible in the book of Revelation?

That there's no more night.

The darkness won't fall ever again.

Because the light of the world has come, and we live our lives in the sight of his blazing radiance, filled with joy and hope and peace.

He is the fulfillment of the promises that God made to David, that there would be a forever king sitting on David's throne, that he would be a king for everyone, and we see that in verse 7, that the of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.

There is a limitlessness to the peace and good rule of King Jesus.

It will expand and fill every corner of the cosmos.

And now the promise, the invitation is that that peace and that good rule could come and fill every corner of your heart and your life and bring joy and hope.

God is in the process of bringing to pass the world that we all want, not merely draped in tinsel and fairy nights, not just of brave faces painted onto broken hearts, but one of lasting peace and joy.

And that story continues from as I's day to ours, with the birth of the Savior at Christmas that we remember, and as we look to his coming again.

And so, City Church, I'm sorry that I can't be with you this morning, but I'm excited for the new year and what God is doing amongst us.

And my hope and my prayer for us is that we will set aside some of the tinsel tainted fakery that leads us to pretend on the outside that everything is okay when clearly it isn't.

But also that we wouldn't become fixated with the darkness.

Some of you look out and look at your life and you only see the darkness.

The dawn has broken with the coming of Jesus.

The dawn broke at Christmas, and the light will only get the brighter.

May we be agents of that light that show glimpses of that dawn in how we act towards one another, in how we conduct ourselves, in our families, in our workplaces, in our schools, that wherever God places us, that we might push back a little bit of the darkness, that we might join God in that work and that we might bring some hope and joy to a world that desperately needs it.

That is the promise of Isaiah 9.

Joy is coming.

Joy has dawned upon the world, promised from creation.

God's salvation now unfurled.

Hope for every nation.

May you know that joy this Christmas time and beyond.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

Let me pray.

Father, I pray that you would increase our hope and our joy as Isaiah promised all those centuries ago, that we might know the joy of relationship with the light of the world.

Forgiveness that comes only from him.

Give us peace this Christmas time we pray.

In his name.

Amen.

See you in twenty twenty two.

Thank you for listening to this week's sermon.

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