Christmas Eve Service

Isaiah 9:6,7

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“His Name Will Be Called, pt. 3” • 12.24.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Christmas Eve Service

Intro.

- We first looked at "The Context Of Christmas." Isaiah did not prophecy during a jolly happy time. It was a time of deep depravity and depression wrapped in darkness.

- Israel's sin had set them in an adverse condition and had set them up for a profound fall. It was in that darkest part of Israel that God's light would shine in the ministry of the Messiah.

- In our second message, we observed "The Celebration Of Christmas."

- Because the Messiah has come, the work for salvation is finished, the oppressor has been crushed and peace is ours. Today, what exists in our hearts will ultimately be expressed in our world!

- Tonight, we come to our final message, where we discover "The Christ Of Christmas." Let's take a look and see what we discover about Him.

Text

• Isaiah 9:6 : "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." : What was Isaiah's voice like when he uttered these words? Do you hear a proud, superior tone?

- I'm convinced that when Isaiah uttered these words, there was a near shock and certainly an awe at the incredible grace that would be bestowed upon them!

- "For unto us." This is going to happen to us! This is going to be a blessing from God for the people of Judah!

- Considering all that we have observed regarding the spiritual and moral climate of the nation during this time, any expectation of good would have seemed far fetched.

- Yet, it was the people of Judah who could expect this wonderful person and claim Him as one of theirs, indeed, the greatest of theirs or any people group ever!

- Far from distancing Himself from Judah, God again reveals that His faithfulness to His own promise is far more important than Judah's disobedience to His covenant!

- His grace is indeed sufficient to me if it has already been sufficient to these!

- What does Isaiah say about Him? He'll be a Child who is born. He will be a human being, a person with the same vulnerabilities of time and space.

- As a Child born, He would need to be fed and cared for. He would need help reaching things that were too high for Him. He would have questions that would need answering.

- Jesus, our Savior, was born and His birth was hardly one that one would expect. He let out His first cry in what we might call a tiny barn.

- His parents and some animals were the only ones to hear His first cries! There was no immediate fanfare. He was only a baby.

- But He was already a Son! He was already, at the moment of conception, the unique, eternal Son of God. God had given us or delivered to the world, His own Son!

- When a human has a baby, it's a human. When God has a Son, that Son is God! That's the Son of God, Jesus, the One God the Father has given to redeem a sinful humanity unto Himself!

- He is human so that He might sympathize with our weakness and God that He might be strong enough to procure a salvation for all who would believe upon Him!

- He must be great enough, as the government, the reign over God's Kingdom, will rest squarely upon His shoulders. He will bear the full weight and responsibility as the sole sovereign.

- He will not depend upon a holy constituency or a righteous cabinet of voices contributing to His decision making. He will rule alone!

- When one thinks of government, or authority, the thoughts are hardly complementary. The Lord's rule will be far different. He will have a Name.

- The concept here is not that people will employ these words when delineating who He is. "Hey, that's Mr. Wonderful!!" The idea here is that this will be His reputation.

- When people say His Name, it will be synonymous with this type of rule, or with these characteristics. His Name will be called, each item, more excellent than the last.

- His Name will be called "Wonderful Counselor." Some have believed that the two words should be separated and the words would certainly be true. "Wonderful" speaks of awe inspiration.

- As one gets older in their faith, Jesus does indeed become more wonderful. When you think of Him, your mind gets caught up in what He must be like in full divinity.

- How great must He be in heaven, when on Earth, His ministry was replete with miracle after miracle. He is Wonderful. He is our Counselor.

- His life advises us to put our faith in God, to trust Him even in the face of the worst pain. He counsels us in His teaching every time we read His words.

- Certainly, these things are true and you wouldn't be wrong for holding them in this way. However, I tend to agree with the view that Wonderful modifies Counselor.

- He is our wonderful counselor. I'd suggest that we consider this in terms of advocacy. He stands as our Lawyer, our legal defense. Turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:31ff.

- The chapter that begins with the phrase "There is therefore now no condemnation" ends with this group of sentences.

• Romans 8:31-34 : "What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." : Who can condemn us when Jesus stands right there next to the Father and answers for us!?

- He is not only a great lawyer. He is Mighty God. What a statement to those that will say that the Bible never equates the Messiah, Jesus Christ, with deity. The scripture is unified on this subject.

- The Jehovah's witnesses will tell you that there is a difference between Mighty God and Almighty God. The Father is also called "Mighty God" and Revelation 1:8 calls Jesus Almighty God!

- Jesus Christ is God in the flesh. He has always been and will ever be God, a direct assault on the teachings of every major and minor cult.

- He was never anything else and He will never be anything other than the strong God that He is. Is that not a comfort? The One who you worship is the One who rules over everything!

- Jesus is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. For those who already struggle with the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity, I know that this might make it a bit worse for the moment.

- Jesus is God. The Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God. None of them are the other person. They are distinct from one another, but the same in essence. They are all God.

- At Solomon's porch in Jerusalem, Jesus told the Jews that He and the Father were one, a statement that drew their ire enough to gather stones for stoning! (John 10:30,31)

- When the disciples asked Jesus to simply show them the Father, Jesus replied, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father!" (John 14:9)

- Again, one would not be wrong for adopting this view of this phrase. The word "Father" however, speaks to one who is the progenitor, the first of a type of people.

- In that respect, Jesus is our Father, the first of another kind, specifically being the first to have been resurrected, to have received a glorified body!

- Twice the New Testament, Colossians 1:18 and Revelation 1:5 takes it from the other side, calling Jesus the "Firstborn from the dead."

- Because He did that, we who have believed upon Him also have the promise of following suit! He was the First, the One who opened the door to life, but certainly not the last.

- He is our Wonderful Counselor. He is the Mighty God. He is the Everlasting Father. He is the Prince of Peace.

- When a male heir to the Kingdom was born, the Prince would be groomed for his eventual rule, being taught from the first day the policies of the Kingdom and of his family.

- Isaiah is telling us that His reign will be marked by God's heart for peace. This must have brought a tear to Isaiah's eyes, as all his people knew at the moment was conflict.

- When would there be a cease fire? When could we return to some semblance of rest from all this activity? His Name, His reputation, His Kingdom will be marked by peace!

- How much do we long for that day when all skeptics will be silenced, all opposition will cease,  and all hatred of God will come to an end!? Someday the Prince of Peace will bring this to pass!

• Isaiah 9:7 : "Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." : His government will never stop expanding. Unlike human governments that are subject to the weakness of age, God's Kingdom will only ever multiply!

- The peace that He ushers in will never be threatened, not because He rules with an iron hand, but there will never be another rebellion! Sin will have left the world!

- Notice again Isaiah's mention of the the throne of David. God had promised David an heir and Jesus is that rightful heir!

- The Son of David, the Son of God will establish it firmly and sustain it with judgement and justice forever and ever!

- How will this be accomplished? Will it be by the will of the people? Will it be by popular demand? Neither will be the case.

- The zeal of the Lord of Hosts, His passion, His greatest desire is to bring this to pass.

• Isaiah 9:8b (NLT) : "The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!"

Conclusion

- God's greatest desire is to give His Son the Kingdom that His Name deserves. His humanity has made Him our "Wonderful Counselor" and has made us the new race to which He is the Father.

- In His deity, we confess that He is our Mighty God and the Prince of His Father's Peace.

- Every Christmas, this is the Christ that we confess: He's the King. We're His subjects and as the Father fulfilled His promise in His first coming, so now we expect Him to come again!

- May He come quickly!

Sunday Morning Service

Isaiah 9:3-5

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“His Name Will Be Called, pt. 2” • 12.22.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- We began this set of studies with a look at "The Context Of Christmas." The message that Isaiah conveyed was delivered in one of Judah's darkest hours.

- Her King had turned from obedience to the Lord of Israel and had begun to worship in the same manner as the people of Israel, who had been worshipping as the Canaanites had!

- His profoundly foolish actions were matched by those of the people of Judah, who followed Ahaz into similar sinful actions, consulting with mediums and wizards instead of looking to the Word!

- Assyria had already overrun the Northern tribes and re-settled the region of the Galilee with other nations or Gentile groups. Where was the light in this darkness? The coming of Messiah!

- Jesus would be a floodlight in the darkness, His very presence illuminating that which was hopelessly dark and oppressive.

- How will His coming effect the earth? What are the sweeping blessings that will come to be because He has come? I believe that we can see great implications near and far in these next verses.

- Today we consider "The Celebration Of Christmas."

Text

• Isaiah 9:3 : "You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy; They rejoice before You according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil." : Isaiah looks down the corridor of time and sees the fullness of God's plan. In Isaiah's time, the nation's population was being decimated.

- Israel's sin had opened the door wide to hostile nations, who occupied, then scattered the people, thus severely diminishing the remaining population of the northern tribes.

- As Isaiah speaks out what he sees in his mind, he declares that God will again multiply the nation. When this same word is used elsewhere, the effect is often described in an incalculable way.

- For example, the Angel of the Lord promised Hagar in the desert that her child's descendants would be greatly multiplied, so that they could not be counted. (Gen. 16:10)

- He makes the same promise to Abraham after he has been willing to offer Isaac on the mount of sacrifice, saying that his descendants would be as the sand on the seashore. (Gen. 22:17)

- In Joseph's life, his plan to gather grain had gone so well that they stopped counting what had become immeasurable! (Gen. 41:49)

- Isaiah says, "Look what you have done for the nation! You've taken it from this dwindling remnant and made it a great number!"

- How reassuring that must have been for Isaiah, who had to have been looking around, wondering how things could ever be turned around! With God, nothing is impossible!

- He's able to take the smallest remnant and make something huge out of it! In this case, I believe that Isaiah is seeing both the faithful in Israel along with the grafted ones from the nations!

- He is seeing a faithful horde, made into one nation, built on faith in Christ Jesus!

- He has multiplied them and increased it's joy! Again, the contrast. The nation of Israel had no cause for joy in this moment.

- Judah was on the exact same path that Israel had been, though about a hundred years removed and with Babylon as their eventual captors.

- Their reality in the present was sorrow and shame. But Isaiah sees a time when their joy would be multiplied, as much as the nation's population had been!

- He goes on to describe their joy by alluding to two very joyful events in the lives of the Hebrews. The first is the rejoicing which had been associated with the joy of harvest.

- It's very difficult for us to relate in an industrialized society where machinery delivers most everything to our local grocer and we simply pick it up, to the agrarian ways of the Hebrews.

- For the Israeli's, they had put their backs into preparing their fields for planting, carefully and strategically planning how much would be dedicated for this and that crop.

- Then, the seed would be sown into the ground and nothing for a while. Lacking any kind of meteorology, as well as the technology for irrigation, they waited for rain.

- Then came up the firstfruits, all of which was to be given to the Lord. Sometime afterward, the cash crop came up and was collected by the owner's harvesters.

- After the bundles had been assembled and the financial assessment of the produce was calculated, there was nothing short of an all night party that could last for a week!

- Over 10 months of process, plus the promise of payment releases into a great celebration feast that was over the top!

- The second allusion concerns the men who rejoiced when they divided the spoil. Having just finished looking at Israel's victory over Ai, our minds should be freshly aware.

- They had been given the freedom to keep the spoils from the deserted city for themselves.

- This was a built in reward for military service, the reward due to those who had trained and faced the fear of battle.

- Not only were they alive, but they were alive, victorious and enriched by the spoils of war.

- Both pictures point to a time when all else has been accomplished. There is no work left to be performed. There is simply a celebration!

- Someday, the most unlikely thing will have happened for the nation Israel, despite it's fall to Assyria, Babylon and even Rome: The nation would be re-gathered and be strong again!

- Isaiah predicts that the people of Israel will once again have a cause for celebration.

- But even moreso, Abraham's descendants, those who believe in God's Messiah by faith, rejoice before Him because of His finished work!

- "Wait!" You say. How can it be finished? Christ's birth is sort of the beginning isn't it? It is and it isn't. Yes, there were things to do, like grow up and live a sinlessly perfect life.

- But Christ coming alone was the signal of the end. Because He came and fulfilled God's promise, then the full ramifications of His promise are all guaranteed to be fulfilled.

- In the prophetic eye, they are seen as complete and finished before they even begin!

- This is why we rejoice in Him and celebrate His coming, as all promises toward us, are based on His finished work that we simply revel in!

• Isaiah 9:4 : "For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." : How will God affect this change of condition among the people of Israel?

- There will be a time when God will act swiftly and finally against all who are opposed to His Kingdom. Why will the nation of Israel as well as the "grafted in" Gentiles rejoice?

- Because God has broken that which had once bound Israel, God's people. Again, it interests me that Isaiah says this in the past tense. "For you have broken..."

- In God's mind, which is not bound by linear realities, what is future to us is indeed present to Him. It's a chapter written that has not yet been exposed to us.

- The word "broken" here speaks of something that has been shattered, rendered utterly unrecognizable and useless toward it's previous occupation.

- God has broken the yoke, the staff and the rod of his oppressor. He has shattered the yoke of his burden. The yoke is the wooden implement strapped onto a beast of burden, an ox or a donkey.

- The yoke signified ownership and purpose as the beast was now employed with the hard labor, the burden or load, of the field.

- The second allusion is that of the staff of his shoulder. This is the shepherd's staff, the walking stick of the Shepherd, who would use this tool to direct the flock as they walked together.

- The rod was employed by the shepherd as a disciplinary tool, used for striking those that got out of line. None of these tools in themselves carry any evil intent.

- But these are the tools of an oppressor. This is a task master, an overlord. This person has no regard for the humane treatment of the animal.

- This would include all who have been a tool of the enemy against the people of God, whether nations or tyrant unbelievers, who have sought to use their office and influence to destroy faith.

- I truly fear for those who have sought to destroy God's people over the years. The terror that awaits those that trouble God's kids is beyond comprehension!

- Isaiah concludes with an inference to a time when Israel was under the tyranny of the people of Midian, an account of which can be found in the book of Judges. Turn over to Judges 6.

• Judges 6:1-6 : "Then the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian for seven years, and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of the Midianites, the children of Israel made for themselves the dens, the caves, and the strongholds which are in the mountains.  So it was, whenever Israel had sown, Midianites would come up; also Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them. Then they would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance for Israel, neither sheep nor ox nor donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, coming in as numerous as locusts; both they and their camels were without number; and they would enter the land to destroy it. So Israel was greatly impoverished because of the Midianites, and the children of Israel cried out to the Lord." : First, note that this time of struggle was a judgment, a consequence for their disobedience to the Lord.

- "The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So, the Lord delivered them."

- Israel existed in a conditional covenant with the Lord. Their obedience would bring blessing and confidence, victory over their enemies. Disobedience would bring about the opposite problems.

- Note secondly, it was 7 years maked by fear. The people had lived in homes and near fields. They now hid in dens and caves, trembling at their enemies.

- Third, they were at the mercy of their oppressors relentlessly. The Midianites would come up and threaten them, and when they did not come up, the Amalekites were there to pick up the slack.

- There was no break. If it wasn't one daunting enemy, it was another. No rest. No recovery.

- Fourth, note that this was a time of extreme injustice. Their enemies came in and ransacked all of Israel's produce. They just lived there as if nobody else owned the place!

- The ate up all of the land and didn't leave anything for Israel or her herds. They came in simply to destroy the land.

- Finally, note that it was a time of excessive poverty. The people were greatly impoverished. Literally, they were brought low to the ground.

- What was left to do? Cry out to the Lord! This is the cycle of the book of Judges in just one story: Sin, suffer, repent and receive God's deliverance!

- What was God's answer? A man named Gideon, who despite being a bit of a coward at the beginning of the story, turned out to be a great deliverer in Israel.

- His story culminates in a few pages of great bravery, where 300 men storm the Midianite camp and rout them thoroughly. Judges 8:28 provides us with a summary statement.

• Judges 8:28 : "Thus Midian was subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted their heads no more. And the country was quiet for forty years in the days of Gideon.'" : Midian, so thoroughly defeated, never recovered. They were never again a threat to the people of Israel!

- Essentially, God had given this example to Isaiah to convey it to the people of Israel. Someday, it would be rightly said that their God had delivered them just as thoroughly.

- He had broken all of the implements that the oppressor had against them. He would smash the yoke so that the people would no longer work for him.

- He would obliterate the staff, so that they would no longer take their direction from him. He would crush the rod that beat across their back, so that he would no longer abuse them.

- In it's place would be a yoke, but a yoke that was easy and a burden that was light. He would carry a staff that would lead them by still waters and a rod that would be a comfort to them!

- The problem wasn't work, direction or discipline. These are necessary things for a life. The problem had been that they had been under the wrong leadership!

- God took them out from under that oppressive hand and freed them to be His! That's why they rejoice in Him!

• Isaiah 9:5 : "For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, and garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire." : How final is this change of condition? Will this be a temporary or permanent change?

- Isaiah prophecies that there will be a time when the use of battle implements will be obsolete.

- Every warrior's sandal, or boot from the tumultuous battle will no longer be necessary for another battle. The soldier's cloak, soaked in blood, will no longer be put on.

- Those implements will only have one use: For burning and fuel of fire! The warrior will never have to use them again. They will only be good for kindling.

- I'm not sure that we can really comprehend what this means psychologically, given that we live in a country that has largely been sheltered from oppressive government regimes.

- Israel has only ever known isolation among their enemies, who question their right to exist!

- What would it be like for the world to drop every item related to war? What would it be like for a country that is always on the verge of being squashed into non-existence to lay down all defenses?

- Could you imagine looking at things that had once been indispensable items, as simply unnecessary tools which have taken up space?

- That is what the Messiah brings! He brings security that supercedes the power of the weapon of war. None will ever threaten again and the people of God will ever dwell in peace.

- This is an oft repeated theme in Isaiah, who sees Christ's coming as the end of war. This is simillar to that which is found inverse in Isaiah 2:1-4.

• Isaiah 2:1-4 : "The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, 'Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." : Is Isaiah confused? Certainly in Christ's first coming, there was still war and killing and struggle.

- God's sees it all as done. Because He came, born of a virgin, born under the law, these things are realities that will yet be fulfilled in time. All of this is possible because of the very next line.

• Isaiah 9:6a : "For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder." : Suffice it to say that the celebration of Christmas, the joy of the finished work, the power over oppression and the security of a sustained peace is Him!

- He is the One who has finished the work necessary for our salvation. He has broken to pieces the power of oppression. He has given His people rest and peace for eternity!

- It's all because a Child is born and a Son is given, the government being upon His very able shoulders.

Conclusion

- Let's pray.

Sunday Morning Service

Isaiah 8:19-Isaiah 9:2

Audio Access Available Above

“His Name Will Be Called, pt.1” • 12.15.13 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service

Intro.

- When one comes to faith in Jesus Christ, a light is turned on in their soul.

- In the proverbial rear view mirror of our life is a fleeting darkness which we are moving ever away from, but which once had been our present reality.

- As time increases that distance, the memory of what that life was like diminishes, except for fleeting social gatherings and media creations which expose us to the remaining reality.

- For those who engage those souls still trapped in darkness, there is either a hope in God's ability to do anything or a despair which wonders if any will respond to Him.

- God has been calling sinful man to faith in the One who breaks the bonds of the curse of darkness since the opening chapters of Genesis. He continues to call today.

- But as great as His offer is and as magnificent as the benefit of knowing God through Christ is, the real issue at hand remains, which is best summarized by the Apostle John in John 3:19.

• John 3:19 : "And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil."

- We live in a world of evil because men love evil rather than the light of God's love.

- The story of Christmas, the first advent or coming of Christ to the Earth, is a divine response to this very issue. Today, we begin a study in one of the most familiar prophecies regarding Christ.

- What we are set to do today is to set the stage for the next two studies. Our study today is more foundational and principial. We'll call it, "The Context Of Christmas."

Text

- Isaiah 9 gives us a tremendous prophetic portrait of the Messiah, but first provides us with a sobering view of what life was like in his days.

- Long after Joshua's passing, and long after the time of the Judges, Israel chose to change from a theocracy to a monarchy. Consider that thought: We'll take human rule over God's rule!

- After King Solomon's death, the Kingdom splintered into two factions. The two southern tribes are known as Judah, while the 10 northern tribes retained the national name Israel.

- Israel's practice of religion had been doomed from the very beginning when King Jeroboam instituted the worship of the Golden Calf in the city of Dan.

- Their way of life steadily digressed into greater and greater evils until God finally used the Assyrian Army to disperse them in 722 BC, about 20 years after they had begun an occupation.

- This brings us to Isaiah's time, whose career had witnessed the heights of prosperity in Uzziah's reign but had watched Judah fall into a horrific spiritual slide during the reign of Ahaz.

- Turn in your Bibles to II Kings 16 to get a small snapshot synopsis of Ahaz' reign.

• II Kings 16:1-4 : "In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree." : Here's a 20 year old who at that young age lacks any semblance of the fear of God in his life. And he's the King!

- Each King, when introduced, had this summary statement attached to them: They did or did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord. In the case of Ahaz, it is said that he did not do right!

- "Maybe he was a victim of his environment?" "Maybe he had a poor example?" No, in fact, his Father David was the greatest King in Israel's history!

- To make matters worse, Ahaz not only rejected David's godly example, but walked in the idolatrous, foul ways of the Kings of Israel, an indictment of the lowest order.

- This is akin to saying, "His Dad was Billy Graham, but he was a producer of pornography!" That's about as different as you can get and as close to what is being reported about Ahaz.

- How committed had he been? Ahaz worshipped Molech, the Canaanite god adopted by the polygamous North, which demanded the offering of infant children as a sign of worship.

- This was the type of dangerous, human sacrificing, cult like behavior that prompted God to remove Canaanites from the land of Israel in the first place!

- In our vernacular, we might say, "He's setting Israel back 200 years spiritually!"

- He sacrificed and burnt offerings out under every green tree. They knew what this meant, though we do not. It sounds pretty innocuous, but involved things that were forbidden by God.

- The King over God's people leading by example, worshipping false gods in every vile way that the people of Canaan, the previous tenants of the land, had once done!

- Among his final insults against the God of Israel, Ahaz had an altar constructed that replaced the Altar that God had ordained to be the offering place in Israel.

- You might be thinking, "Big deal! So he was a bad King." He was more than a bad King. He was a very bad King at a very bad time!

- Judah, the southern Kingdom has just witnessed what the Assyrians had done against the North.

- Israel's godlessness had opened the door to judgment. God did not defend Israel, but delievered them over to the Assyrians!

- Now, Judah's sole defense against it's enemies, the Syrians, is Yahweh and Judah's King decides that this is a good time to live like the world around him, snubbing his nose at the Almighty!

- Isaiah sees the writing on the wall for Judah as well. If this was the way the King had gone, what about the people of God? I won't ask you to turn there, but Micah 7 contains a description.

- Judah was becoming a murderous society, filled with injustice and cruelty. Even family bonds were unsafe as a place of refuge.

- If the King will not seek God and they will not seek God, where is their hope? This is precisely Isaiah's sentiment at the end of chapter Isaiah 8.

• Isaiah 8:19, 20 : "And when they say to you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." : God's people wanted counsel, but where did they look? Mediums, wizards, those who were characterized by their whispering and muttering.

- A medium is a necromancer, one who proposes to commune with the dead. When this word is translated in the LXX, it gives us the word "ventriloquist."

- Essentially, a person who believed themselves to be communing with the dead were themselves puppets for the activity of the demonic realm!

- The wizard was similar, in that his awareness of incantations brought wisdom, but from hell.

- Those who whisper or "peep" or "chirp" seems to describe a sound made by a type of occult advocate. The same is true of the one muttering, who growled for their answers.

- Isaiah is saying that these noises were made to convey some spiritual state, but it was just noise inspired by Satan, given in order to deceive God's people and distract them from God.

- Isaiah asks, "Should they not seek their God!?" Shouldn't they repent and call upon the name of the Lord? Instead they sought the dead for the living!

- God had given them a clear witness in the law and the testimony, or as we would say, God's Word. Therein is the light contained! There is your wisdom Israel!

- But they would not look. Why? Because there was no light in them! Profound. They are in a beautiful land of God's choosing, miraculously conveyed and amply supplied.

- They have history and a heritage, but their love of darkness has crippled them and left them destitute spiritually! What is the outcome for such people? Take a look at verse 21.

• Isaiah 8:21, 22 : "They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry; and it shall happen, when they are hungry, that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness." : They will pass through it. What is the "it?" Life. Those who reject the light of God and refuse the counsel of His Word will pass through life as will the rest of us.

- For the people listening at this time, they had already seen this take place. The North was now living scattered from their land in overwhelming difficulty, that's the word "hard pressed."

- The word "hungry" comes next. It's strength zapping hunger. It's the kind of hunger that one experiences after exerting themselves all day long.

- What an apt description. Apart from the life of righteousness, given by the Lord Jesus to His people, each person is in a state of difficulty and extreme hunger spiritually.

- In Israel's case, instead of repenting. Instead of recognizing this as their spiritual condition and turning toward God for help, they become enraged and cursed both their King and their God.

- "Enraged" speaks of a settled postion of anger that has been worked up. As the person considered God, he kept being angry at the thought of Him. Now, it's settled.

- When I don't want to face my sin, I will blame Him and everyone else! Isaiah paints the picture of one who is angry at God and then looks upward, as if to say, this anger is for you!

- Then they will look to the earth. What will their perspective be towards those around them? They'll simply see trouble, darkness and gloom of anguish!

- The phrase might sound a bit more like this: They look to the earth and look! This is what they see: A woman has risen to challenge my rights to my husband! That's the word here.

- The trouble, the distress, is similar to that which a woman would feel from a rival. Instead of feeling confident rest, she is working to keep her husband! Oh the trouble!

- They see trouble, darkness and gloom or dimness of anguish. The word is related to pressure, which constrains them and causes them hopelessness to their very being.

- To Israel and an unrepentant Judah, the promise would be a banishment into darkness, a physical deportation. For those who reject God's law and light, the same is true, but far worse.

- Instead of physical deportation, there awaits a final spiritual loss of all privilege to eternal life, a foreiture of all of God's good promise.

- Being driven speaks of a place that nobody would go willingly, but must go, as the people of Israel did at the behest of the Assyrian army. They were indeed driven from their land.

- All of this context reveals a dark, hopeless world that the people of Israel faced. They knew a great past, but were experiencing a difficult present and an uncertain future.

- Amazingly, it's in this context that God gives His most wonderful news!

• Isaiah 9:1 : "Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, In Galilee of the Gentiles." : Verse 1 in the NKJV should make each of us wonder if there is any hope at all! A simple reading gives us this: The gloom will not be upon her!

- There is a promise change of condition coming.  Going from distressed and lightly esteemed and heavily oppressed to anything would be better! The NLT reads this a bit more clearly for us.

• Isaiah 9:1 (NLT) : "Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory." : Geographically, this area in the North of Israel where Zebulun and Naphtali settled was a dark place.

- It was one of the first places that the Assyrians over took, given the water supply of the Galilee. Consequently, it became a base of operations for the Assyrian army.

- One of the tactics of the Assyrians was to settle people from other nations together in a new land. That's how the Galilee became known as "Galilee of the Gentiles."

- The impression then was that this area was lightly esteemed by God, a cast off, a lasting symbol of a part of the land that was utterly forsaken by God Himself.

- It's there in that specific part of the land that God was going to do something amazing.

• Isaiah 9:2 : "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined." : It's at this moment that Isaiah looks into the future and speaks of this as though it was happening in his time.

- He's honest about the darkness. He sees it, but he also sees it as a fantastic backdrop to the announcement of a great light!

- How wonderful is a little light to a dark place? How illuminating is even a small light? What Isaiah see is a great, intense floodlight that disperses the darkness!

- Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death. What a picture! The oppresive hand of captivity and the spiritual gloom that follows a life without God is like living in the shadow of death!

- It feels claustrophobic and imposing, bearing down on those who must share it's space.

- Imagine a creeping shadow which comes ever nearer as the light fades. What happens when the light comes shining on? The shadow of death disappears!

- Shadows and darkness cannot coexist with the light, especially this light. Who was this light? None other than Jesus Christ Himself, the Light of the World!

- Turn over to Matthew 4. Jesus has just been tempted in the wilderness and the world has just taken another turn towards darkness. Note verse 12.

• Matthew 4:12-17 : "Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: 'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned.' From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" : It was in one of these most dark places in Israel that Jesus came to minister and present Himself as the King of the Kingdom of Light from Isaiah.

- What is the message of the Kingdom? Repent! Repent from from your wickedness. Repent from your self-righteousness, for the Kingdom of heaven is represented by the King Himself!

Conclusion

- This is the essence of the Christmas story. God sees the darkness of human depravity and the hopelessness that comes upon a life that is separated from Him.

- In time, He sent His Prince, His Savior, His King to occupy not in Jerusalem, but in the darkest place of the land, where the enemy's power was greatest.

- Every year, there is a reminder that a person need not live in darkness or be doomed to darkness forever, for the Light, Jesus Christ, has come into this world and His light has shone!

- His light will shine, but will you walk toward it? Don't let the opportunity pass you.