The World You've Always Longed For

The Christmas song “I’ll Be Home For Christmas”, I’m told, used to make my great grandmother cry. She would cry because her son, my great uncle Lee, would make the same promise every year. “Mom and dad, I’ll be home for Christmas this year.” And every year he would break that same promise. I can’t listen to that song without thinking of my great grandmother.

It’s a reminder to us that Christmas is not the most wonderful time of the year for many of us. How many of you have said at some point in the last five years, “Christmas is just not the same as it used to be”?

In reality, it’s not just Christmas that’s not the way it’s supposed to be. Things in this world are not as they were meant to be. God created this world and called it good. He created human beings in His image and said it was “very good”. But sin entered into God’s good world; sin has made wreckage of our lives, our relationships — there’s nothing that has not been marred and deformed by sin’s evil presence in God’s good world.

But the way things are now — praise God that we know that that is not always the way things will be. The world we know now does not even begin to compare to the world that is coming. And Christmas is about this world that is to come.

Christmas is not just about the coming of the infant Jesus to be born in a manger. Christmas is not only about the coming of Jesus to die for our sins and rise again. Christmas is the story of how the infant Jesus who came and died and rose again will one day a new heaven and a new earth, where nothing that ruins life for us now will do so then.

This passage today is a prophecy of exactly that. And this passage answers four questions for us today:

[SLIDE: FOUR QUESTIONS]

Four questions:

How are things now?

How will things be then?

Who will bring it about?

How can we know He will pull it off?

#1: How Are Things Now?

First question, how are things now?

We know how things are now just be looking outside or turning on the news. Life in 2022 on planet earth means living in the midst of a receding pandemic; life in 2022 means hearing about mass shootings just days apart, the kind of shootings that used to make a huge story because they were so rare. Life in 2022 means global unrest. Life in 2022 means divorce, abuse, Alzheimer’s, cancer.

And we’re tempted to to believe that life today is so much worse than it was then. But life on this earth has always been harder than it was meant to be. When Isaiah preached this message, Israel faced incredibly hard times. Israelites in the time of Isaiah were dealing with believers falling away from the faith; they were dealing with disease and starvation; they were facing global unrest; they were facing imminent threat from the north as the Syrians were joining up with the northern kingdom of Israel and threatening to come south and wreak havoc. They were outnumbered and without hope, terrified by rumors on this side and that. No wonder he says all the experienced, in 8:22, was “distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish.”

Some of you know what the distress and darkness are like. “Hello darkness, my old friend; I’ve come to talk to you again” — for some of you that’s not just a song lyric; it’s your reality.

Some of you know the gloom of anguish that Isaiah is talking about because your own lives have been ripped open. It could be terminal illness, with you or someone you love; it could be chronic pain, with you or someone you love; it could be clinical depression, it could be prolonged grief, it could be seasons of lack and neglect. For you it could be the darkness of domestic and sexual abuse. Whatever it is, darkness brings a feeling of being lost; it makes you feel disoriented; it robs you of your stability; you’re not sure which way is up or down, because you can’t see any points of reference.

For many, as well, Christmas is a season of darkness. The season of light, for some of us, is darker than any other time of the year. It’s made darker not only because of the pain you’re already in; it’s made darker by how the rest of the world goes on in its celebration, and you feel left behind.

Friend, you need to know that things will not always be for you the way they are right now. You need to know that you will not always be in this place. Wait on the Lord and walk by faith.

[SLIDE: ISAIAH 8:17]

How did Isaiah do this? He made a commitment. Isa 8:17

Isaiah 8:17 ESV

I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

This is how things are now. It won’t always be this way. Change is coming. Light is breaking in. What will it be like?

#2: How Will Things Be Then?

The first thing we read in chapter 9 is that a change is coming. On the horizon, is a reversal of fortunes. Look at this with me in Isa 9:1. “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time” — that’s how things are now — “he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali” — but here’s what’s coming — “in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations”.

A. Light Where There Was Darkness

Read on with me into verse 2: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light // those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shown”.

The world to come will be a world where darkness does not have the last word, where light overcomes the darkness. The reason for that is that Jesus, our Messiah and Savior, is the Light of the world. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4-5 ESV).

The apostle John in his revelation said this about the new heaven and the earth that is coming: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there” (Rev. 21:22-25 ESV). That’s coming for everyone who believes on Jesus and will call Him Lord.

But if you know Jesus here and now, you can begin to experience His light in your darkness now. What would it mean for the light of Christ to illuminate your heart?

Well, in the Bible light means God’s presence with you. He alone can banish your feelings of loneliness. In the Bible, light means God’s truth, His word. His word can overcome the lies you hear in your heart about yourself — that you’re worthless, unlovable, a failure. God’s truth comes in and He speaks the truth to you — “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” You have value. You are loved. You are significant. You can do all that He has for you to do. He is your Father. He is for you.

Christmas means light in place of darkness. Not just in the future, at the new heaven and new earth. But now, in your heart and home. Jesus brings light.

Things are bleak. But God wants to help you to see, with the eyes of faith, the light on the horizon.

B. Joy Where There Was Anguish

Christmas means not only light where there was darkness; it means joy where there was anguish.

Why does Christmas mean joy where there was anguish? Look at verse 3 with me, and count with me how many references you see in this one verse alone to joy, rejoicing, gladness, etc. they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.”

And what’s more, our joy is enjoyed in relationship with God. Look at verse 3 carefully: “you have increased its joy; they rejoice” — here it is — “before you”. That’s a relationship term. Joy is only joy when it is enjoyed in God’s presence. To put that another way, there is no joy apart from relationship with God. That’s good news.

I have been asked before whether Christians can be depressed. The answer is yet. I have been asked whether Christians should consider taking medicine when they’re depress. The answer is sometimes, yes.

I’ve had Christians tell me that they have struggled with severe depression for years and years but never sought treatment because they thought that as a Christian they should not be depressed. You know, “too blessed to be depressed” and all that.

[SLIDE: DEPRESSION IN AMERICA]

Depression in America

44.4% of 18-29 year olds

35.5% of 30-39 year olds

33.7% of 40-49 year olds

31.3% of 50-59 year olds

23.7% of 60-69 year olds

17.1% of 70-79 year olds

Source: CDC.gov, data represents Oct.5-12, 2022

You need to know that some of the Christians God has been pleased to use most powerfully down through history have struggled with periods of deep, dark, utter despair. Martin Luther, for one — Charles Spurgeon for another. It did not defeat them ultimately, but that doesn’t mean that at times they didn’t feel like it was winning.

Spurgeon, by the way, described his depression this way when it hit him: “My spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child, and yet I knew not what I wept for.” Does that ring true for any of you? [https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/do-you-see-the-glory-of-god-in-the-sun-spurgeons-battle-against-depression/, accessed Nov. 26, 2022]

But he also said this:

I am heartily ashamed of myself for falling into [despondency], but I am sure there is no remedy for it like a holy faith in God.

The iron bolt which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in gloomy prison, needs a heavenly hand to push it back.

Faith is the answer, ultimately. You may need counseling for a while to help you figure out how you got into the hole. You may need medication for a while to clear out the cobwebs and cause the fog to lift.

But ultimately the Lord is your Redeemer! And depression can never change what he ordains to give to His own: joy unspeakable. Keep walking by faith, friends. Others have been where you and God has brought them out. He will bring you out too. Talk about your struggles. Our churches must become places where it is safe to say “I have a problem with mental illness; help me.”

Isaiah uses two word pictures in verse 3 to describe this joy. The first is the picture of the harvest. “They rejoice before you,” Isaiah foresees, “as with joy at the harvest.” The harvest meant the last six months of backbreaking work on the farms had paid off. It’s the equivalent to getting a big Christmas bonus and you’ve got a bunch of bills that have gone unpaid until you get it. Or you’re taking a much needed vacation with your spouse when you get it.

The other picture Isaiah uses is dividing the spoil. Israel won the battle. Now the victory is theirs — and so is everything the invading army owns. Their clothing, their wealth, their weapons — all of it. It’s like the Red Sox winning the world series. For me it would be Duke beating Carolina. Not likely, I know. ]

Christmas means joy where there was anguish. But it also means liberation where there was oppression.

D. Liberation where there was oppression

The reason there will be joy in the place where there was anguish is that there will be peace where there was conflict. Look with me at verse 4: “For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian”.

In America we’ve been sheltered from the harsh realities of war. So we fail to appreciate what Isaiah is talking about in verse 4. A girl named Magda Herzberger can help us.

Magda Herzberger was 18 years old when she was taken with her family from her home in Romania and transported to Auschwitz.

"When we were taken out from our home...I had a little book of mine. I had been writing short stories. I didn't have anything to take of my own except for that. That was all I wanted from the house.

"And this miserable brute Hungarian gendarme looked at me and said, 'What are you holding there?' And I said, 'This is my little book.' And he smiled — I hadn't experienced evil in my life — and said, 'Can I have a look at this?' and he took the book and he tore it into pieces in front of me. I was terrified. I felt like something was cut out from myself."

Her job at the camp was to carry dead bodies to mass burial spots where the bodies would be placed in ovens and burned.

It hadn’t always been that way. "At [the time before the war], we Jewish people had a good life. My grandfather was a businessman. A successful businessman. I had many aunts and uncles, cousins," she says.

"I have seen the flames bursting from the high chimneys of the crematories, and I have breathed the air, the odor of sweet burning flesh. I have seen the big flames belching from those chimneys.

"The Holocaust is burned into the depths of my soul," she adds. "All these horrific memories, they burn."

When the Allies liberated Auschwitz, she was carried out of the camp by soldiers. She couldn’t walk for three months, that’s how weak and malnourished she was.

She died in 2021. But before she died, she told her story to anyone who would listen. She wrote books. She spoke on college campuses. She publicly forgave the soldiers who captured and killed her family. Her story touched thousands of people. Stories of liberation are powerful. [https://history.howstuffworks.com/historical-events/magda-herzberger.htm?srch_tag=bj6qcpwk4q5osqbb3jei2w4te2blegxr, accessed Nov. 26, 2022]

Isaiah speaks of the yoke that would be loaded onto an animal’s back to make them carry the load. He speaks of the staff, the rod the driver would use to drive the camel forward by beating them on the shoulder. All of these pictures remind us of Israel’s experience in Egypt. God brought them out with a mighty hand and an oustretched arm.

Oh the freedom we will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth!Jesus wants us to enjoy a taste of it now. But the Egypt story is nothing compared with the redemption Christ accomplished for us at the cross. There Christ accomplished a redemption for anyone who would so much as look to Him for help. Do you have a sin struggle you need liberation from? Look to Jesus.

Christmas means liberation where there was oppression. Christmas means peace where there was conflict.

D. Peace Where There Was Conflict

Look how thorough the victory is described in verse 5. “For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.”

[SLIDE: ISA 9:5 NIV]

Not clear enough? Read the NIV with me. Isa 9:5

Isaiah 9:5 NIV

Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

Why does Isaiah draw attention to the soldier’s boot? And the soldier’s clothing with that detail of being rolled in blood? He mentions those two tiny details and then says they’ll be thrown into the fire to show us how committed our God is to thoroughly ridding this world of the scourge of war.

Maybe this promise would mean more to us this morning if we were sitting in a Baptist church in Kyiv or Kherson. But we’re not.

Maybe it would be easier to relate to this text if we transferred it from the battlefield to our living room.

Is there war in your home? Do you have bitter arguments with the person you share a bed with? He wants to bring peace where there was conflict; he wants to bring peace into your home. Maybe His will is to do that; maybe it’s to bring peace into your heart and not your home, for the time being. Walk by faith. Christmas means peace where there was conflict.

We know how things are now. And we’ve seen how things will one day be.

Christmas means liberation where there was oppression. And it also means peace where there was conflict.

#3: Who Will Bring It?

Light where there was darkness. Joy where there was anguish. Liberation in place of freedom. Peace in place of conflict. Talk about a change. It’s a revolution!

Who will bring this about? Who’s up to the task?

We’re conditioned to believe that ultimate change happens in the White House or in Congress. Every election the messaging is the same. Both sides say, “The other side wants to imprison you, lie to you, harm you. Not us. Not our guy. They will condemn you. We will save you.”

And you’d be in good company, because when Isaiah preached this message, he was preaching to people who were thinking the same thing — this change he’s describing, this sounds great. He must be talking about King Uzziah. King Hezekiah.

And yet Isaiah is talking about someone very, very different. Who will solve our deepest problems? What — who — is the secret to world peace? Look at verse 6: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders” (Isa. 9:6 ESV).

Who will bring light into the darkness, joy into the anguish? Who will replace our oppression with liberation? Who will bring peace into our conflict? Not a Harvard educated politician. Not the UN or the EU. Tackling climate change won’t fix what most needs fixing. not the Republican or the Democratic Party. Not Joe Biden and not Donald Trump. Nothing earthly is the answer. God’s answer to the hell that this world has become since he created it is to come Himself as a baby.

The all-powerful one becomes a weak baby.

The all-sufficient One comes as a baby who needs milk and love from other people.

The God of Abraham, the consuming fire Himself, comes in the form of a crying, giggling, burping, spitting up baby.

Why does He do this? Because to save us, He does not need political power, prestige, position, donors, backers, guts, money, or education. As one author that I read this week said, “God’s answer to everything that has ever terrorized us is a child.” [Ortlund PTW Isaiah p99]

[SLIDE: ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT, NOT ULTIMATE]

Here’s what we forget, church.

Elections are important.

Elections are not ultimate.

When you talk about the problems we face, when you talk about the solution and who can bring us out of it, church, I beg you — talk about those things like a Christian who understands this. Remember your witness. Christmas reminds us that there is a God on the throne of this universe. What is He like? Can He be trusted?

See for yourself, verses 6-7. Isa 9:6-7

Isaiah 9:6–7 (ESV)

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 with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

Okay, so He

That’s the last thing and it’s what we close with.

#4: How Can We Know He’ll Pull It Off?

“Sounds great, pastor Dustin. Too bad it’s a pipe dream. I mean, how’s this really gonna happen? Light in the darkness, joy in the anguish, liberation in the oppression, peace in the conflict. It sounds great. And that’s the problem. It’s too good to believe.”

But friend, look how the promise ends. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”

Zeal is jealousy. Isaiah is saying, “the jealous God, He will do this.”

The jealousy of God is hard. The jealousy of God unsettles us. After all, how can God be openly jealous when He forbids jealousy in us?

But it’s actually good news. It is good news because it means these things promised are guarantees. Isaiah is saying that the future described in these promises is not fiction or fantasy; the future described here is one that God’s zeal will make a reality.

Why? Our hearts are divided; we live for God one moment, ourselves the next. But God lives for Himself, always and forever. God has the highest possible commitment to Himself. God’s zeal is for His own glory.

And there we see that our good and God’s jealousy for himself are the same. we find our highest good and firmest hope. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this” (Isa 9:7d). Our future, the future described in these verses, is not dependent on our faltering allegiance to God. The future described in this text rests instead upon God’s unwavering commitment to glorify Himself by doing us eternal good. [Ortland, PTW, Isaiah, pp 93-94]

His plan has already ordained and accounted for everything that is going on around us — even the things that are unspeakably hard and horrible. He is there. He is not idle. He is at work. He has a plan.

[SLIDE: GAL 4:4-5]

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

That’s how his plan begins. Here’s how it ends.

[SLIDE: REV 21:1-5]

Revelation 21:1–5 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

If we’ve trusted in Christ, this is our future. This is how things will be. Believers, the sky is dark now. Can you see the light breaking on the horizon? Keep walking by faith. Isa 8:17

Isaiah 8:17 ESV

I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

Unbelievers, non-Christians — if you’re here this morning and you have not trusted in Christ as your Savior, if He is just a wise person or a good man to you, if you have no relationship with Him, then nothing I have described this morning will be true for you. The way things are now is heaven on earth compared to how they will be then for you.

“Unless one is born again,” Jesus said, “he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 ESV). The Bible says, “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him” (John 3:36 ESV). It doesn’t give me pleasure to preach that. We may not like it, but our not liking it doesn’t make it untrue.

Unbelievers, non-Christians — your sins separate you from God now and they will forever separate you from God in hell if you do not come to God in Christ now. The door of grace is open, but it won’t always be open.

Friends, each of us will deal with Jesus Christ one way or the other. We can come to Him in submission and faith now, and we will encounter Him as Friend and Savior. Or we can wait until it is too late and then we will encounter Him as Judge. Don’t let another day pass. Believe in Jesus, tell him you want to follow Him even if you know you can’t do it perfectly. Trust Him to save, believe that His sacrifice on the cross atoned for your sins and that He rose again in victory showing that He is Lord and God. Tell Him, “I am yours; save me.”

And all of these things will be true for you too.