"The Hope of Christmas is Jesus" Isaiah 9:1-7
- This message was preached by Senior Pastor, Robert Dennison, on December 3, 2023.
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Audio Transcript
So we’re ready for that. If you take your Bibles now and turn to Isaiah, chapter 9, verses 1 through 7. Today we’re looking at the hope of Christmas is Jesus. And it’s a familiar passage that we often recite or that we read or that we sing about at Christmas time. But I’d like to take some time going back to see what was going on in history at this time time during Israel’s history, how Jesus, even though they didn’t know his name, was the hope for the future for them.
I’ll begin reading in Isaiah 9:1:7. Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times, when he humbled the land of Zebulun in the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.
You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils for you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
And the dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. May we pray? Heavenly Father, as we look today at your word, we thank you for the promise of the Savior that we know now has come.
And Father, we thank you that from eternity past, before the world was even formed, when you knew that mankind would fall into sinfulness, that you desired so much to have a right relationship with us, that you provided even then in your mind that your son would come one day, Father God in the flesh and die on the cross, that we might have salvation from the oppression of the Evil One, and that we might eventually have a new creation restored to what you desire for us to have. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. We’ll go a little earlier before this verse. And we find that there are three kings.
One is Ahaz, and he is the king over Jerusalem of what we would call Judah. Just as in Joseph’s days the brothers were in disagreement, so it was in the tribes later on of Israel, there were 12 of them that there came about a separation. Saul was king over all of them. Then David was king over all of them. Then Solomon was king over all of them.
But when his son, son Rehoboam came along, instead of praying for wisdom from God, he sought wisdom from the young men that were around him. He was given bad advice and the kingdom separated. So now the kingdom of twelve tribes became two kingdoms. One was called Israel, or here it’s called ephraim. Those were 10 tribes that were on the northern part of Israel, and they were in opposition to the southern tribes that were two.
And there’s a third king here, and that’s the king who is over Aram in Damascus, which would be what we call modern Syria today. So if you picture it on a map, there’s Israel, Syria is above them. And these two kings, Syria and over Israel, are going to fight against Ahaz. And that’s what we read here. This is what the Lord God says.
It will not happen. It will not occur. Isaiah is giving encouragement, encouragement to Ahaz that all of this war that’s going around you is going to come to an end within 65 years. The Chief city of Aram, which is Damascus, and the chief of Damascus is Rezin, that would be the king. Within 65 years, Ephraim, that’s the northern 10 tribes of Israel, will be too shattered to be a people.
The chief city of Ephraim is Samaria. And the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. So I’m just reading this verse to let you know that Israel, the ten tribes, had asked Aram or Syria to come down and to fight against the two tribes over which Ahaz was the king. And this is what happened in this confrontation and in this war. The Lord his God handed Ahaz over to the king of Aram.
He attacked him and took many captives to Damascus. Ahaz was also handed over to the king of Israel, who struck him with great force. And Pekah, the son of Remaliah killed 120,000 in Judah in one day. 120,000 brave men were all struck dead. And Scripture tells us here because they had abandoned the Lord God of their ancestors.
When the ten northern tribes went away, they started worshiping idols. But even now, the remnant that were in the two tribes under the rightful king were not following the Lord. Not only were 120,000 in Judah killed that day, but there was an Ephraimite warrior named Zikri. He killed the king’s son, Messiah. And then there was Azrakim.
He was governor of the palace. He was killed. And even Elkanah, who was the second in line to the king, was killed. It was great devastation by death. But if that wasn’t enough, then The Israelites took 200,000 captives from their brothers, women, sons and daughters, and they also took a great deal of plunder from them.
And they brought it to Samaria, where a prophet of God told them, this is not right. These are your brothers and sisters. And they sent them back to Ahaz. But it’s in the middle of all of this devastation that we find the hope of the Savior that is coming one day. And we find also here that this prophecy that in 65 years, Israel, Ephraim is no longer going to remain.
And actually in 65 years, they’re taken away into captivity. And so Isaiah made prophecies that seemed improbable during that day that were fulfilled. And each one of those fulfilled prophecies also tells us that the prophecies he made about the coming Savior, Jesus Christ, would likewise be fulfilled. Isaiah gave some advice to Ahaz, who was distressed through all this, that his own countrymen had joined with the people that lived in present day Syria to come against him. And Isaiah’s advice is spiritual.
In Isaiah 7, 9, we read, if you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all. Isaiah said, you need to stand firm in the faith that has been passed down to you from your fathers. And if you don’t do that, you will not stand. Then Isaiah tells them in chapter 8, verse 13, you are to regard only the Lord of armies as holy. Only he should be feared, only he should be held in awe.
In other words, regard only the Lord. Don’t look to anyone else for what you need. And then lastly, Isaiah said, go to God’s instruction and testimony. Go to God’s Word for advice. Go to God’s Word to find out what it is that you need to do.
History tells us in Scripture that Ahaz did not take any of this advice at all. Instead, Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath, pileservice of Assyria. So we have Israel. Syria is above them. He went to an even larger country, Assyria, which would be part of modern day Turkey and going down into Iran.
And he went to that king, and he said, I am your servant and your son. March up and save me from the grasp of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel who are rising up against me. Me. And Ahaz also took the silver and the gold found in the Lord’s temple and in the treasury of the king’s palace, and he sent them to the king of Assyria as a bride. Now remember Isaiah’s advice.
First, stand firm in your faith. But Ahaz did not stand firm in the faith of his fathers. He didn’t place his faith in God. He went to a foreign king to to place his faith there. He did not regard only the Lord.
Instead, he looked to a foreign earthly king to solve his problem for him. And instead of going to God’s word for an answer, he went to his earthly storehouses of gold and silver. Instead of looking to God for advice and strength, he used what wealth he had brought to the kingdom and to purchase help from an earthly king. And so we’re told that the king of Assyria listened to him and he marched up to Damascus, and he did capture it, and he deported its people to Kir. But he put Rezin the king to death.
Ahaz did not follow the advice of Isaiah. He did what looked right in his worldly mind and his worldly wisdom, and it looked like his problem had been solved by what he did. But that’s not the whole story. Because as we go on to read in Isaiah 8 that because of his actions, because of falling away from following the Lord, the results of a wrong response were that the people were suffering. If they do not speak according to this word, to the word that God had given to them, Isaiah said, there will be no dawn for them.
Darkness is going to creep in and stay. He says that then they will wander through the land. They’ll be dejected, they’ll be hungry. And when they are famished, instead of turning back to the Lord, Isaiah says that they’re going to be enraged and they’re going to look upward, but not to pray to God, but instead they’re going to curse the their king, and they’re going to curse God. And then they’re going to look toward the earth instead of heaven, and they’re going to see only distress, darkness, the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Ahaz didn’t follow the prophet’s advice. Instead, he lived his life according to the world. Instead of going by God’s word, he went by what the world led him to do. In 2nd Chronicles 28:1, we read that Ahaz did not do what was right in the Lord’s sight. In 28:2, the next verse, it says that he cast images of the Baals.
So he set up idols, he had them made. And then in verse three, it tells us that he burned incense in the Ben Hinnom valley. He was worshiping the idols. And what seems unthinkable to us in verse three, eventually he burned his own children in the fire, imitating the detestable practices of the nations. He was burning his children as a sacrifice to these false gods.
Thus we have people of Judah living in this mindset and this circumstances of worshiping foreign gods instead of worshiping the Lord Almighty. And because of that we find them in a similar situation that we live in today. Here we live today, people are not worshiping the Lord. Most people speak no longer according to the Word or the Bible. Just as in Ahaz Day, most people are walking now in darkness without the light of God’s word.
And most people are wandering around without any eternal purpose in their life. People are dejected, they’re hungry, both physically and spiritually. In other words, they’re unsatisfied with their lives. As in Ahaz Day, most people are upset with government and they’re upset with God. And most people look to the earth.
They’re more concerned about that than the Lord God. They focus on distress, they focus on darkness, they focus on gloom, and they focus on the affliction in the world. And Scripture tells us that just in that day, most people will only move into greater and greater darkness as they follow the world instead of following the Word. But there was hope in Ahaz Day, just as there is hope, hope today for us. Isaiah, chapter 9.
We go back to verse 1. Nevertheless, even with all of this gloom and doom and darkness going on, Isaiah said that the gloom of distressed land will not be like that of former times. He said things are going to change. It’s not going to continue to be this way. Times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and there’s a three letter word that tells us that everything is going to change.
That word is but in the future. And then it tells us who is going to make the change. He will bring honor, in other words, but God is going to step in. He’s going to turn all of this around. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan and to Galilee of the nations, in other words, where it got dark in the Northern part of Israel first.
That is where Jesus would come from in Galilee, that they would see the light first. God is going to bring honor because God is a gracious and loving God. He gives us gifts that we don’t deserve yet. This is a promise from God given through the prophet Isaiah. And it was to give hope to the people of God during that day.
And it also is to continue to give hope to us. Today we celebrate Christmas because we know that the Messiah came. But we still have a hope. We’re going to talk about in the future, that God is going to make all things right. We talk about faith, we talk about hope.
Faith believes that God will do what he says, accomplish what he purposes. But hope, on the other hand, believes that God is going to provide something good. He’s going to make things wonderful. He’s going to make all things positive. And so it is at Christmas.
We both believe in Jesus Christ, but we also hope as we look forward to the new creation. The creation that has begun in us when he makes us new eventually is going to affect the whole world. When everything is made right at Christmas time, we all hope that we’re going to get just the right present or we’re going to give something to others that we love. And we want to see them desire that and love it and enjoy it. We have a hope for what is coming, that it’s going to be wonderful.
So with every present that we give, with every song that we sing, we should be hoping also in remembering that Jesus Christ Christ is eventually going to bring an even better and glorious Christmas to us. Let’s go on to read verse two. It tells us that because of God’s grace, He’s also going to bring light. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness.
You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. And the people have rejoiced before you. As they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. It uses a past tense verb. Here it says a verb.
The people have seen a great light, but it had not happened at this time. It’s really looking toward the future. But God is so certain in that what he says is going to happen that he uses this verb. It has been seen in the past. It’s just like when the world was created.
God knew that Adam and Eve were going to sin. But in his mind he saw that one day Jesus Christ was going to die on the cross. And he was able to say, it’s already accomplished because it had been accomplished in his mind, even if it had not been accomplished within our own timeline. God is going to, by his grace, give us light. It talks about an enlarged nation and increased joy.
And all of this is looking forward to Christ’s second coming one day when he will set up his kingdom in the world by God’s grace. We also promise that God will defeat the enemy. He’s going to defeat Satan completely one day. And at that point you have shattered their oppressive yokes and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressors, just as you did on the day of Midian. God is going to one day completely remove the harness or the yoke from the shoulders that Satan has on this world.
The rod that he uses to beat people and the staff that directs people of the world in the wrong directions are all going to be taken away so that we can have complete freedom, not only individually, but worldwide, because of the hope of Jesus Christ. It tells us here also that God is going to do this by giving us a child. Here we come to our typical Christmas reading. For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. The Old Testament saints, they were looking forward to the King coming that would set everything right, that he would bring prosperity to Israel, that he would bring justice and righteousness. And when Jesus first came, many were expecting him to do that at that time, to get rid of the Romans, to set up his kingdom on this earth.
But Jesus Christ came first for a more important reason. Not just to set us free physically, but he died on the cross so that we could have forgiveness of our sins, so that we could have spiritual prosperity and righteousness in our lives. But when he comes a second time, we will see the complete fulfillment of this prophecy, not only in our individual lives, but worldwide. But they don’t know the name Jesus yet. They don’t know who’s coming.
But Isaiah gives them some hints so that when Jesus does come, they will recognize him. He’s going to come as a child. And not only is he going to come as a child, but specifically it’s going to be a boy child that comes. And eventually the government will be on his shoulders, he will carry all things. And then we get some indication of who he also is going to be, that he’s going to be God Almighty because he will be named Wonderful Counselor.
Wonderful meaning here that when he comes, it’s going to be miraculous, it’s going to be supernatural, it’s going to be unexplainable. And so it was when Jesus came, born to a virgin that people were like, this has never happened before. It is a miracle. And we learned that the type of king that he’s going to be, he’s going to be one who’s a counselor. Instead of just telling people what to do, he’s going to be there to give guidance.
He’s going to be a great listener. He’s going to be one who understands us in all ways and one who is able to wisely tell us how to live. But he’s not going to just be a man who’s wonderful, miraculous, and a counselor. But it says here he’s going to be mighty God. It’s a term that can only be used of Yahweh.
And so Jesus Christ the Savior, when he comes, will be God. He will also more clearly be the Eternal Father, which again only can be used of God the Father. And he will also be not the Prince of war, but he will be the Prince of peace. For he will be known for establishing peace throughout all of the world, as all of the world truly desires. When he reigns, then eventually there will be prosperity, there will be justice, and there will be righteousness.
We come over to Ephesians, chapter 2, verses 1 through 5. And here again we see a similar situation that we see in Israel. That people’s lives are dark, they’re living in sin, but that three letter word comes up. But instead of saying but he, it tells us here. But God does something for us in the midst of all this evil.
And it’s only by his intervention that there is change. In Ephesians we read, you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the Spirit now working, and the disobedient. We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts. And we were by nature children under wrath, as the others were. Also, just as in Ahaz Day, they didn’t follow the Lord, they were following the world.
They were completely enveloped in sin. But here God does not destroy them. Instead it says, but God, who is rich in Mercy, meaning he doesn’t give us what we really deserve. He gives us something good instead. God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love that he had for us, has made us alive with Christ, even though we were dead in trespasses.
You are saved by grace. Jesus Christ came as the child that God promised that he would give one day. And he was the hope then for those people that were following the Lord. He was a hope for the past. He’s also a hope for our future, and he’s also a hope of the present.
Let’s think about the hope of the past. It goes all the way back to Genesis, chapter three. After Adam and Eve had obeyed the serpent and they were led into a new life of sin and suffering, God made this promise to them. He spoke to the serpent and he said, I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. And I would say most women, if you’re like my wife, you hate snakes.
But that’s not really what this is about. This is about the serpent, Satan, the deceiver, who had used the snake at that time that one day he talking about, there’s this man that is coming, that he’s going to strike the head of Satan and he’s going to destroy him. And Adam and Eve from the very beginning had that hope that God still loved them. He was still gracious and good. He was going to provide a way to destroy sin in the world.
We saw the same thing in Abraham recently when he was about to sacrifice his son Isaac. We read this in the narrative that Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught in the thicket by its horns. He was just about to use the knife to slay Isaac and the angel of the Lord stopped him. And this is what he saw when he looked up. So Abraham went and he took the ram and he offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
And Abraham named that place the Lord will provide. And the verb is very important here because at this point, he’s already provided. The lamb he should have named that the Lord did provide to look back to when Isaac’s life was spared. But instead, Abraham knows that something else is going to happen. He’s looking forward that the Lord in the future one day will provide.
He’s looking to the hope that will come in Jesus Christ. And so today it is said, when Moses wrote this, it will be provided on the Lord’s mountain. They weren’t looking so much back to what God did for Abraham and Isaac, but they were looking forward. That One day the hope of the nations would come to this world. So it was for Adam and Eve, for Abraham, for Joseph, for Israel, for Job, for David.
All of these Old Testament characters that loved the Lord, they all had hope in the past about what God was going to do in the future. For us today, Jesus is still the hope of the future. We go to the end of the story. In Revelation 22:7, we read this. Jesus says, look, I am coming soon.
Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. We have the hope that he is going to return. And then in verse 12, he wants to make it further clear to us about his promise. He says, look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to repay each person according to his work. And as if he just wants to be extra certain that we got what he’s trying to say.
Our hope is in verse 20 he says, what? Yes, read it with me. I am coming. He doesn’t want you to miss the point that the hope of the future for us in the midst of all of the evil in the world that surrounds us, he is going to come back and make things right. We read about this time in Revelation 21.
It says, Then I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. Just as he lived with Adam and Eve in the garden. He is going to return one day to live with us. They will be his peoples and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
And at that time he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more. Grief, crying and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away. And then the one seated on the throne said, look, I am making everything new. And so it is when we share the gospel about how sin came into the world and Jesus Christ died on the cross to take care of our problem.
It doesn’t just stop there. We’re looking forward with a future hope when he will bring about the new creation, not just in our lives spiritually, but all of the world is going to be remade as God had intended it in the beginning. But all of this is irrelevant unless you have hope of the present in your life today. Jesus Christ needs to be the hope in your life today. And God tells us in John 1:12 how it is that Jesus becomes the hope for us today.
He said to all who did receive Him. He gave the right become children of God to those who believe in his name. We can have hope in the present if we have received Jesus Christ into our life. We have to believe in his name that he is the Lord God Almighty, that He is the Savior. That’s what his name, Jesus means, Savior, that he came and he died on the cross, that we might have eternal life.
Romans 10, 8, 10 gets a little more specifically. This is the message of faith that we proclaim. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord, meaning that someone who has a hope of Jesus present in their life is someone that tells others willingly. He is God Almighty, he died on the cross, and he is the Lord of my life, meaning that he’s in control of the way I live. But it’s not just the confession of our mouth.
We also have to believe in our heart. The gospel mentioned that he died on the cross. He was buried and he was raised from the dead. And when we confess this to others, when we believe in our heart, it says that we’re saved so that we have a present hope in our life. For According to verse 10, one believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation.
Jesus Christ has always been the hope in the past, in the future, and he wants to be your hope presently in your life. And as I come to the pulpit every Sunday, it’s the prayer and the desire of my heart. If there’s anyone here that has not placed their faith in Jesus Christ, that they will reach out to the Lord and say, God, I believe today that Jesus died for my sins. I want you to come in and solve the problem in my life, and I want to follow you for the rest of my life. If you’ve not done that, Hunter’s available to talk to you.
I’m available to talk to you. Look for elders that have their name tag on, and look for elders who don’t have their name tag on. I’m getting on the mat over here. We got somebody that would just really be humbled to be able to share that time with you, to rejoice with you that you might place your faith in Jesus Christ. May we close in prayer.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the hope that we have in Christ. And we thank you that we can experience that hope in our hearts today. But we also look to the glorious return, Father, when you will make all things right and new and wonderful and clean without sorrow and without sadness. And, Father, in the midst of a dark world, with things going on that are very troubling to us today, we take hope and we know that you will bring that about. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.