A Great Light has Dawned

Greetings:

If you have a copy of God’s Word I want to invite you to open to Isaiah 8:19

Merry Christmas

Glad to be back with you all

Introduction:

We live in a day where opposites are perceived to be true.

Story of when I was young, we would say “today is opposite day”. (i.e. Up is down; Left is right; Blue devil basketball is better than Tarheel Basketball

Examples of in our culture of evil being called good:

Being gay or lesbian is flaunted as normal in our public school systems

The legalized murdering of children through abortion under the guise of “choice”

Marketing the approval of immoral lifestyles and all faiths lead to the same God as “diversity and inclusion”

The Bible has a word for this…Darkness.

We live in a day where people are lovers of self, money, and pleasure, rather than God...

This describes the setting in which our text is found this morning in Isaiah beginning chapter 8 starting in verse 19.

Isaiah is speaking to the remnant of God in Judah..prior to the Assyrian invasion.

The Kingdom is divided at this moment in history, and under the wicked rule of King Ahaz.

I want us to see today from this text in preparation of next week when we remember the first advent of Jesus Christ

The Darkness of Sin

The Dawn of a Great Light

The Description of the King

Isaiah 8:19-9:1 “And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 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. 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.”

Body:

Darkness of Sin (8:19-22)

Story: My father was an auto mechanic by trade and owned his business for over 20 years. Give customer the truth to what’s wrong, then solution.

Idolatry dominates the sinner

Col. 3:5 “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

What is idolatry? - Perversion of what is true by giving divine worth towards something created

In other words, making something more than what it really is.

Israel makes a golden calf to worship after the deliverance

Ahaz - Sacrificed his sons as an offering to Baal and the gods of Damascus.

Celebrities are elevated to a status

Four Characteristics of an Idolatrous Nation

Fascination with the occult and superstition(v.19-20)

Israel influenced by the divination of Egyptians, Hittite, and Mesopotamian Cultures

Omen Reading - phenomenons believed to indicate future events outside of Sacred Scripture

Dream Interpretation - Sleep in a specific place with the expectation of a divine-induced dream—was practiced throughout the ancient world - Lexham Bible Dictionary

Astrology - Correlating the movement of the stars, planets, and constellations with events on earth

America influenced by the superstition and occult

Astrology, Tarrot Card Reading, and Fortune Telling

General Superstition

Luck or Karma as being forces determining our fate

Omens - Getting divine instruction from interpreting natural event

If something bad happens to me, it must be Gods’ judgment

If something good happens to me, it must be God’s approval of my life

Prosperity Gospel - Omen Reading repackaged as Christianity

In constant search for something to satisfy their needs(v.21a)

Always searching, never possessing that which truly satisfies

Curse God and men made in God’s image(v.21b)

Truth becomes a stumbling block, resulting in greater arrogance and blaspemy

Sadducees and Pharisees - Blashpemed Jesus Christ

Prov.19:3 “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord.”

Great Tribulation will reveal intense hatred for God

Rev. 16:8-9 “The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.”

Increasing Darkness(v.22)

Eight Signs of Idolotry in a Nation(Romans1:18-32)

Suppress truth(v.18)

Mock God(v.21a)

Ungrateful(v.21b

Irrational Arrogance(v.22)

Idol worship of men, birds, animals, and bugs(v.23)

Dishonorable sexual passions(v.24-27)

Practice of lawlessness(v.28-31)

Approval of others who practice lawlessness (v.32)

Dawn of a Great Light (9:1-5)

God makes what was dishonorable, honorable

Israel suffered in their Assyrian and Babylonian captivity

Scattered throughout the known world

Loss of national autonomy, never to be recovered again

No one is too far gone whom God chooses for Himself

Pray for your loved ones, neighbors, enemies, that they would know Christ!

Two Parallels of Old Testament Israel and the Church:

Multiplication and Great Joy(v.2-3)

Multiplication

The grace of God would multiply Israel after return from the 70 years of captivity in a moment of history

The grace of God would bring salvation to all nations and multiply the seed of Abraham like the stars of heaven

Genesis 15

Joy

The grace of God would bring joy to Israel upon returning home from captivity

The grace of God would bring eternal joy into the hearts of those redeemed from spiritual captivity

Romans 5:1-2 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

John 15:10-11 “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”

Great freedom and Victory(v.4-5)

God would break the burden of oppression upon Israel from foreign powers

God used Gideon and 300 men to defeat a vast army of Midianites

God would send a Deliverer to not only break the power and penalty of sin, but the presence of sin forever

Power of Sin - Enslavement to do only evil continually before God

Penalty of Sin - Death

Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned”

Presence of Sin

Rev.21:3-4 “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.””

8 Descriptions of the Great King(9:6-7)

He is a gift from the Father to the World(v.6a)

John 3:16 ““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son..”

Romans 8:32 “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

He is a Sovereign Ruler

Rev. 19:13-15 “He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”

Wonderful Counselor

Psalm 25:8 “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way.”

Mighty God

DeuT. 10:17 “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.”

Everlasting Father

Isaiah 40:11 “He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Prince of Peace

Eph. 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”

Eternal King

Luke 1:32-33 “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””

Conclusion:

Messianic Prophecy - Psalm 2:7-12 “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.”

Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 2- It was a custom among great kings to give to favoured ones whatever they might ask. (See Esther 5:6; Matt. 14:7.) So Jesus hath but to ask and have. Here he declares that his very enemies are his inheritance. To their face he declares this decree, and “Lo! here,” cries the Anointed One, as he holds aloft in that once pierced hand the sceptre of his power, “He hath given me this, not only the right to be a king, but the power to conquer.” Yes! Jehovah hath given to his Anointed a rod of iron with which he shall break rebellious nations in pieces, and, despite their imperial strength, they shall be but as potters’ vessels, easily dashed into shivers, when the rod of iron is in the hand of the omnipotent Son of God. Those who will not bend must break. Potters’ vessels are not to be restored if dashed in pieces, and the ruin of sinners will be hopeless if Jesus shall smite them.

Christian - You are a love gift from the Father to the Son, Rejoice! Your name is written in the book of life!

Sinner - Beware of your sin! There is coming a day of reckoning where you will give an account before the King of Kings.

The altars are opened and if you need prayer will be here to pray with you.

Lets pray