Prince of Peace

come thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free!

Introduction

Read Isaiah 9:1-7

Isaiah 9:1–7 ESV

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Context

Birth Announcement

After living in North Africa for 8 months we learned that Annie was pregnant with our firstborn, Josiah.

I remember when Annie took the pregnancy test, and just the sheer joy and elation when it came back positive.

But being so far away we didn’t necessarily get to “share” that with anybody. So we did what most milennials do, and announced it on Facebook.

Personally I think a simple baby announcement on Facebook suffices, but some people tend to go all out.

But in our passage today, we find a Baby Announcement, not surrounded by family and friends, not a gender reveal party, and obviously not on facebook… instead it is a birth announcement in the midst of distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish.

Assyrian Invasion

Hope Recap

If you weren’t here last week, I mentioned that Isaiah is prophesying right at the beginning of the downfall of both the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah at the hands of foreign Invasion to the mighty Kingdom of Assyria.

And in Isaiah 7 we saw that God was begging King Ahaz to ask for a sign.

A sign that would show Ahaz once and and for all that God is a God in whom we can trust. Someone that will never fail. Never disappoint. Utterly trustworthy. A God who delivers Hope.

But Ahaz rejected the offer, yet God took it upon Himself to deliver Hope in the form of an unexpected sign… A virgin would conceive and call His name Immanuel,” and that sign came true and was Understood in God’s time to be Jesus, specifically fufilled in the Virgin Birth.

But now we turn to Isaiah 8, and Isaiah is prophecying the dowfall of Israel and Judah and Isaiah 8:21-22 reads “They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.”

Because they had failed to Hope in God, they would be experience horrible circumstance.

They would be conquered, and taken into captivity and they’d spend their days wandering around distressed and hungry,

and ultimately blame God for their plight. (vs. 21.)

But while they wander they will only see distress, darkness and gloom. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

To Us a child is born…

And as they are wandering around, thrust into deep darkness groaning and moaning like we do saying,

“What is this world coming to!?

A birth announcement arises saying, “Look what has come to the world.”

“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...”

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

In the midst of distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish… comes the Prince of Peace, who will bring about peace everlasting. Peace that will reign forever!

This prophecy is once again a messianic prophecy fulfilled in Christ’s birth.

Peace.

How does the Christmas Story provide Peace?

Let’s answer that question in 2 Points:

Peace Defined

Peace Delivered

Peace Defined

Peace Defined

Just as we often confuse HOPE with Wishful Thinking, I believe we confuse PEACE with the absence of something negative. Let me give you a few examples, or common associations:

“Peace and Quiet”— sometimes I come home for dinner and all I want is for my kids to speak one at a time, but instead they all clamor and fight for attention and the noise grows louder and louder, and I find myself yearning for “PEACE”…

Peace the absence of Noise.

“World Peace”— Or maybe you think of Miss Congenality starring Sandra Bullock. An undercover agent poses as a Beauty Pagent contestant, and the judges ask, “What’s the most important thing our society needs!?”

And 4 contestants rifle off, “World Peace” or Peace the absence of War.

“Get Along”— Often we want “Peace” in interpersonal relationships. Right? You’re thinking about hosting the extended family for Christmas, but you know you got that one person who just has to put the fun in dysfuctional. always gets people riled up, and you find yourself wishing, “I just wish for once, we could have peace.”

Peace the absence of Conflict

But just as with HOPE, biblical Peace is so much more than these plighty definitions and usages.

Biblically, Peace is Shalom. SHALOM is not the absence of negative, but instead it is the presence of positive.

It is a completeness, A fullness, A contentment, prosperity, and security regardless of circumstances.

It is the presence of Positive, even in the midst of negatives.

In fact, Shalom is not dictated by externals at all.

Instead, it is wrought internally by the presence of positive. Not externally with the absence of negatives.

And this is exactly the type of Peace that Jesus brings.

Now I’ll say more about this later on; but this Peace, this Shalom, is exactly what Jesus is all about.

Peace was foretold at His birth

Luke 2:13-14 “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!””

Peace inferred at the beginning of His Ministry

Matthew 4:13-17 “And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Jesus is the LIGHT that has dawned even in the midst of thick darkness.

And why Zebulun and Napthali…

Isaiah 9:1… in the former time these areas were in thick darkness. HOw? They were the first taken captive. They were the first yoked to the burden. Bearing the rod of their oppressors on their shoulders.”

So the PEACE comes FIRST to those whom darkness had come first. A restoration.

Peace was expounded on throughout His Ministry.

John 16:33 “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.””

John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.

In summary,

The world at times can offer you the absence of negatives…

“Peace and Quiet” or “World Peace” or “No Conflict” but

You still don’t have Shalom.

We’re still aware there is something missing. Because even if you’re all alone… say sitting at the beach, just watching the sunrise. Perfectly tranquil… True Peace still evades us.

Why? Because YOU ARE THERE.

When all the negative externals are absent… the internals still remain do they not.

They may even INTENSIFY

Because most the time the chaos, or disorder of our external lives simply serve to distract us from the deeper chaos and disorder that lives internally.

Worldly peace cannot diminish the gloom or anguish. Worldly Peace still leaves us thrust in to “thick darkness.”

We don’t need the absence of negatives, we need Shalom, the presence of a a Positive.

So how do we get it?

How?

Peace Delivered

It is a Work of God

Isaiah 9:4 “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.”

When the Israelites were conquered, and led into captivity their situation was like a YOKE.

We don’t use YOKE’s very often, and the only time I’ve ever seen one is at Cracker barrel.

But a yoke is a wooden crosspiece that is fastened over the necks of two animals and attached to a plow or cart.

It is a WEIGHTY SHACKLE that sits upon your shoulders, keeping you chained to your burdens.

Often God spoke of the burdens of his people with the imagery ofa Yoke.

When the Israelites were captive and enslaved in Israel we read:

Exodus 1:11 “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens.

Exodus 2:11 “One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens,

But when God Delivered them we read:

Lev 26:13 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk standing straight.”

The BURDENS sat on the shoulders of the people.... like a Yoke.

And this YOKE made them “greatly distressed”. It was so heavy, and pushed them so low they were thrust into thick darkness.

No Peace. No shalom.

Ya’ll know what this feels like don’t you. So many of you pass through the land just like this. A HEAVY YOKE OF BURDENS weighing you down.

Becuase we are unfamiliar with a Yoke… I think it can be likened to a Backpack.

We all have backpacks, and everybody’s backpack carries different burdens.

For some it is the Burden of your Circumstances

Financial Stress; Death; Illness;

For some it is the Burden of Relationships

Marital tension; political climate; a prodigal child; your job; a fractured friendship; maybe just feeling overwhelmed as a parent and you find yourselves in cycles of reactive parenting that weighs you down.

For some it is the Burden of your Sin

Lust for pornography that you can’t get free from; Addiction to alcohol or drugs that pushes you further to the ground; Greed and discontent that took on that debt you’re chained too; selfishness and entitlement that is corroding your relationships. A critical spirit void of grace that sees the negative in everything. Unforgiveness that keeps you yoked to your past.

And on and on.

For some it is (D) all of the above.

So like the Kingdom of Israel in our passage you pass through the land, greatly distressed. BURDENED with Your Yoke.

Blaming God

And to make your pack even heavier… “you are enraged and blame God” for your HEAVY BURDENS

Leading to unbelief, doubt, and a severance of relationship with God.

A life totally void of PEACE. Thrust into thick darkness.

But look at the end of vs. 4.

“you have broken”… Peace, the removal of your yoke, is a work of God.

Just as on the day of Midian!

Now that’s interesting.

The prophet here is referencing Gideon.

In Judges 6-8 the people of Israel were once again under the Yoke of oppressors… specifically the people of Midian.

But God, always yearning to break the yoke of our burdens, sends a seemingly insignificant agent to Break the Yoke, in a very unexpected way.

Gideon was a coward and a nobody, but God used that seemingly insignificant agent to free Israel from the Midianites.

But He did it in an unexpected way. He made Gideon trim down his army from 32,000 soldiers to 300! Why?

so that there would be no doubt as to the SOURCE OF THEIR VICTORY.

PEACE, is a work of God.

Breaking the YOKES that Burden His people, is His work. “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this...” But...

He does it in unexpected ways, so that there would be no doubt as to the Source of the Victory.

And that leads us to our part of the text:

Prince of Peace

The unexpected way, that God ultimately delivers Peace is through a baby.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

For to us a child: FULLY MAN

For to us a Son: FULLY GOD

This baby is King

He is a Wonderful Counselor: supernaturally qualified with wisdom.

He is Mighty God: All powerful to govern.

He is Everlasting Father: not the 1st perosn of the trinity, but motivated by love, care, and concern for His subjects.

He is Prince of Peace: the society that His Rule and Reign creates is Shalom.

The Baby Breaks our Yokes.

How?

Not with the blood of war; but the blood of a sacrifice.

He breaks our yokes by making Peace with God

Colossians 1:20-22 “and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,”

Romans 5:10 says that we were enemies of God. That there was nothing we could do to please Him.

And just like the Israelites we view ourselves as VICTIMS.

But we aren’t victims… it is our sin that has seperated us from Him.

It is our choices that make this bag burdensome.

It is our sin that has led to circumstances that weigh us down.

It is our sin that has led to broken relationships that weigh us down.

It is our sin that has fashioned this YOKE, and created these burdens.

Yet this Prince of Peace, as a work of God alone, has made Peace by the blood of His cross.

And although alienated… burdened. yoked. he has reconciled us.

He has broken our burdens.

So what must I do?

Take them off your shoulders, and put them on His.

Those BURDENS on your shoulders, through the Prince of Peace, can now be transferred to His shoulders (vs.6)

That act… is an act of repentance and faith.

And He takes that Bag

And he paid for that SIN (Weight #1)

And He restores and reconciles broken relationships (Weight #2)

Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility”

And He heals those circumstances (Weight #3)

And once we put our burdens on His shoulders… we find Peace.

Peace with God is where true Shalom Begins…

it has to start there. But it is only the beginning.

Because in this world… we still have the externals right? The absence of peace in this world. some of the externals don’t we…

some circumstances (due to the sin of the world and others) will still hurt.

some relationships may never be restored (due to the sin of the world)

and although saved, you may slip up and sin and have to deal with the consequences of it.

But internally we will still have Peace, in allegience to the Prince of Peace

and one day he will come again to bring Ultimate peace.

Not as a baby, in a manger, with swadding clothes.

But as a King, on a war horse, with a sword coming from his mouth, in a white robe.