God's Christmas King
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CPT: God will bring about the final reversal of Israel’s deadly darkness through the Divine Son-King.
Theme: Jesus Christ as King.
CPS: Rejoice: your King will conquer all.
Purpose: A listener should have confidence in Christ's ability and plan to solve the Israel-Hamas and American election crises.
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits,
And unto wizards that peep, and that mutter:
Should not a people seek unto their God?
For the living to the dead?
To the law and to the testimony:
If they speak not according to this word,
It is because there is no light in them.
And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry:
And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves,
And curse their king and their God, and look upward.
And they shall look unto the earth;
And behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish;
And they shall be driven to darkness.
Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation,
When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea,
Beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light:
They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy:
They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
And garments rolled in blood;
But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
And the government shall be upon his shoulder:
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
From henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
Introduction
Introduction
Almighty....Amen.
Wanted to bring something to you that would help us prepare for the Christmas season.
Not very season-y, turn on Fox News or National Public Radio, Ukraine, Irsael; news makes us angry and hateful
16 Rejoice evermore.
It is going to be hard to rejoice evermore when all we listen to tells us to panic and run.
Theme: How can we rejoice this Christmas when we look around and see only darkness?
Transition: Firstly
There is darkness to be faced (vv. 19-22)
There is darkness to be faced (vv. 19-22)
the Bible is blunt. It faces reality.
Background:
Who is the author?
Isaiah, the prophet.
What is the historical context?
Time--prophesied between 740-690 BC
Events
Prophesied to both kingdoms, especially Judah, about coming destruction due to their apostasy;
First half of Isaiah--judgment with slivers of hope
Set against the crushing backdrop of the Assyrian invasion in 722 B.C., which wiped out the Northern Kingdom of Israel entirely.
This prophecy supposes the recent devastation of Galilee by the Assyrians.11 E. Power, “Isaias,” in A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, ed. Bernard Orchard and Edmund F. Sutcliffe (Toronto; New York; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson, 1953), 548.
It is a darkness of demonic death (v. 19)
It is a darkness of demonic death (v. 19)
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, And unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God? For the living to the dead?
Medium--a man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit or that is a wizard11 Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 15.
Necromancer--, one who contacts and gains information from a dead spirit11 James Swanson, Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Hebrew (Old Testament) (Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).
Chirp and murmur--speaking in their chants
See Deut.18.9-14--These things were so evil that God drove the wicked nations out of the land.
This is very relevant now: modern-day tarot card, seances, and such are nothing more than asking for the dead on behalf of the living
Trans: There is a darkness to be faced, and it is a demonic darkness. Number 2,
It is a darkness that produces more darkness (vv. 20-22)
It is a darkness that produces more darkness (vv. 20-22)
20 To the law and to the testimony: If they speak not according to this word, It is because there is no light in them.
As always, the cry is “to the Word.”
With reference to what? Evaluating this evil practice.
Light/dawn is the new day, when the darkness is dispelled. It is a sign of hope, of future things.
To have light is to be living in the face of God, in newness. Those who do not speak after God’s Law have no God in them.
And there is a consequence to that. It will lead to more darkness. Notice v. 21.
They will be fearful, famished, and furious (v. 21)
They will be fearful, famished, and furious (v. 21)
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: And it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, And curse their king and their God, and look upward.
It—the land
hardly bestead—greatly distressed
Sin leading to more sin: rejecting this Word, having no dawn, causes judgment, which partly consists in becoming angry against their king and God.
They will be thrust into the godless darkness (v. 22)
They will be thrust into the godless darkness (v. 22)
22 And they shall look unto the earth; And behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; And they shall be driven to darkness.
They have looked up, they look down, and all they see is trouble and darkness.
“If God’s presence is light and life, then opposition to Him brings darkness and death (Deut 28:28; Job 18:5; 38:4–15; Psa 49:18–19; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:18).”
Transition: There is a darkness to be faced.
There is comfort for God’s people (vv. 1-5)
There is comfort for God’s people (vv. 1-5)
The is hope in the face of judgment. (1-2)
The is hope in the face of judgment. (1-2)
1 Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, When at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, And afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, Beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.
Dimness—darkness
her—israel
God singles out this area, this northern regions that was the first to be invaded, the first to face judgment for their wickedness, and what does he say?
2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Turn to Matthew 4:12–16 “12 Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; 13 And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: 14 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, 15 The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; 16 The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.”
There is joy like a full harvest (v. 3)
There is joy like a full harvest (v. 3)
Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy:
They joy before thee according to the joy in harvest,
And as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
There are enemies who are cast down (vv. 4-5)
There are enemies who are cast down (vv. 4-5)
For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.
For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
And garments rolled in blood;
But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.
Day of Midian—Judges Judges 8 (KJV 1900)
This shall..fuel of fire—This is the garments, they shall all be burned up. These enemies, we are told, will be taken down. He know that this is already happening since Matthew told us it was under way!
The King has come to conquer (vv. 6-7)
The King has come to conquer (vv. 6-7)
He comes as promised (v. 6)
He comes as promised (v. 6)
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:
And the government shall be upon his shoulder:
And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
He has all authority
He rules wisely
He is God, the Mighty
He is forever Caring
He rules in peace.
He comes in justice (v. 7a)
He comes in justice (v. 7a)
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end,
Upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom,
To order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
From henceforth even for ever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
What is justice/ righteousness here? Obedience to God’s law with fair rulings.
He comes with purpose (v. 7b)
He comes with purpose (v. 7b)
Why/how will God's zeal do this? God who is passionate will do it, even though it will be messy.
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