Immanuel: God's Light With Us: Isaiah 9:1-7

Advent 1

READ Isaiah 9:1-7

‌Now Judah, even though materially prospering, is wallowing in a variety of sins which Isaiah has already been calling out. If you look back, earlier in the book, you get a sense of the moral state of this people.

‌Isaiah 2:6, “For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.” In other words - instead of faithfully worshiping and trusting the God who can actually save them - as He has done countless times in the past, they are importing the Eastern religions, with their spiritism and occult practices.

‌Isaiah 2:7–8, “Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.”

‌So - living in a nation of wealth does not mean you are living in a land of faithfulness - You can live in a land piled high with silver and gold - that is piled equally high with lifeless idols people are spending themselves in serving.

‌Isaiah 5:8, “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

‌Where is history going? What is the destiny of the human race? There’s not a person here today who hasn’t wrestled with that question. “What’s the goal of it all - what’s the purpose of history?”

These last 2 verses of our passage are very well known: “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.”

They are recited every year, all over the world. They’re Christmas verses - but unless you undestand them in their context - you will MISS the power they have to infuse you with hope, right now - in your life today.

The voice speaking belongs to the prophet Isaiah. He, in turn, is delivering a message from God to his people, in the Kingdom of Judah. It is about 750 years before Christ. The nation of Israel has broken into 2 separate, rival kingdoms - divided north and south. The Kingdom of Judah in the south, where the descendant ofDavid sits on his throne, in Jerusalem … and the breakaway kingdom of Israel, in the north, with 10 of the original 12 tribes.

The southern kingdom isn’t doing too badly, economically. Fairly recentl, it lost a good, faithful and long-serving king, Uzziah and now Ahaz has taken his place. Ahaz is a consumate politician - always looking to make a deal … always looking for a angle to increase his power, prominence and personal wealth.

At this very time, his nation is under threat. A coalition of forces has formed in the north. The Northern Kingdom of Israel has joined with the nation of Syria, to come against the South with its combined military might. Both of those nations are larger and more powerful than Judah. Further north, in what is the superpower of th eday, the mighty Kingdom of Assyria is expanding on all fronts and ready to crush all the lesser kingdoms within its reach.

Judah sees what’s coming and Ahaz is wheeling and dealing - trying to find the best chance of keeping his throne.

Now Judah, even though materially prospering, is wallowing in a variety of sins which Isaiah has already been calling out. If you look back, earlier inthe book, you get a sense of the moral state of this people.

Isaiah 2:6, “For you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of things from the east and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.” In other words - instead of faithfully worshiping and trusting the God who can actually save them - as He has done countless times in the past, they are importing the Eastern religions, with their spiritism and occult practices.

Isaiah 2:7–8 “Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures; their land is filled with horses, and there is no end to their chariots. Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.”

So - living in a nation of wealth does not mean you are living in a land of faithfulness - You can live in a land piled high with silver and gold - that is piled equally high with lifeless idols people are spending themselves in serving.

Isaiah 5:8, “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”

Isaiah 8:21–22 “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.”

These people are looking for security and joy in all the wrong places.

Pouring the water of their hope into paper-bags that cannot hold them.

If history continues on its present course - on the horizon is nothing but distress, gloom and thick darkness. Some of you resonate with that right now.

It is into THIS context, that chapter 9 comes in with light and hope. Verse 1 is the transition to a new future - a change of course.

Verse 1: “BUT ...”. In spite of the gloomy picture … “BUT - there will be NO gloom for her who was in anguish.”

When all of the human scheming and organizing and grasping for security has led to failure … God himself will intervene.

GOD WILL STEP IN. Not because the people deserve it - not at all … Just because the God of the universe is THAT kind of God - He rescues His people.

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 shone.”

That term – “deep darkness” – translates the same Hebrew word that is used in Psalm 23:4, “Though I walk through the valley of THE SHADOW OF DEATH”. It’s the same word. That’s why the NIV translates this phrase in Isaiah 9, “Those living in the land of the shadow of death.” That’s a good translation. The idea is of a darkness so deep – you cannot see your hand in front of your face – but you know that threats to your very life are lurking around you everywhere. Death is around the corner.

Can you identify with the people of Israel in Isaiah’s day? Do you feel like you are walking, today – in a land of deep darkness? Cannot see the future. Cannot see hope ahead. Cannot see past the superpower military of Assyria, as it were.

“There’s hope”, Isaiah promises - “There’s a new day coming - and it will not just be light - there will be a GREAT light.”

Then, in verse 3, Isaiah starts describing what that new day will be like and the first thing that he talks about is its joy and freedom. Isaiah 9:3 “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.” It’s like

He’s looking for an illustration from history to paint the right kind of picture of what God will do, so His people will trust in him - and he thinks, “Gideon! That’s the one … Gideon!” You remember the story from Judged how the Midianites would swarm into the land like locusts, year after year, right at harvest time - devouring the crops and leaving the people of Israel with absolutely nothing to survive on. God called Gideon to be his man and used him to rescue the people from the teaming enemy hoardes. But God wouldn’t do it until Gideon had first sent away almost the whole of his own army. Once he was down to 300 men and some trumpets - that’s when God worked - and it was spectacular … 300 against 10s of thousands - and, as v. 4 says, ‘The yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, YOU HAVE BROKEN.”

What a timely word this is for Isaiah’s audience - breaking the rod of the oppressor. If you are familiar at all with the ancient Assyrian empire, with its capital at Nineveh - you will know that it was built by taking pride in oppression and violence. The very name Assyrian became a byword for cruelty and atrocity. The soldiers skinned their prisoners alive, and cut off various body parts to inspire terror in their enemies. There are records of Assyrian officials pulling out tongues and displaying mounds of human skulls all to bring about stark horror and wealthy tribute from surrounding nations.

The kings of Assyria tormented the … world. They bragged ofhow unsparing a destroyer is their goddess Ishtar; how they flung away the bodies of soldiers like so much clay; how they made pyramids of human heads; how they burned cities; how they filled populous lands with death and devastation; how they reddened broad deserts with carnage of warriors; how they scattered whole countries with the corpses of their defenders as with chaff; how they impaled 'heaps of men' on stakes, and strewed the mountains and choked rivers with dead bones; how they cut off the hands of kings and nailed them on the walls, and left their bodies to rot with bears and dogs on the entrance gates of cities; how they employed nations of captives in making brick in fetters; how they cut down warriors like weeds, or smote them like wild beasts in the forests, and covered pillars with the flayed skins of rival monarchs." (Farrar, The Minor Prophets, pp. 147,148). Isaiah is promising: “It doesn’t matter whether your oppression is coming from the Midianites, or the Assyrians … or anything else in all of creation … rescue is coming. The daylight of joy is coming.

So, what is the source of hope that will guarantee light and joy and freedom and peace?

Isaiah 9:6 “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.”

God’s hope is coming in the person of a child. And yet, no ordinary child. This isn’t the first time this child’s birth is foretold in Isaiah. Back in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” “Immanuel” .... that is a Hebrew word: “Immanu ...” means ‘with us’ and “El”, means ‘God’. “God with us. The promises of chapter 7:14 and 9:6 mesh perfectly together: When there is no other ray of light to be found - when there is nothing in your future but an overwhelming enemy, cruel, deadly - inside you borders and advancing ever closer to take you ...

“The MIGHTY GOD, the EVERLASTING FATHER, the PRINCE OF PEACE ...”“God WITH US” … means more than human speech can ever express. It means sin and guilt removed on our side and justice vindicated on God’s side. It means the whole Godhead engaged for us - determined to bless us.

First of all - that God brings us hope from the outside.

Christmas time, “Hope” is a buzzword used so often that it has almost been neutered of all meaning. Everyone has their opinions about what hope for the world looks like - - Everyone instinctively knows that the world is not as it should be – so where will the rescue come from? Great philosopher? Government intervention? Environmental action?

There was an ad in The New York Times that said, “The meaning of Christmas is that love will triumph and that we will be able to put together a world of unity and peace.” Now that message is not just a bit different than the real message of Christmas, It is diametrically opposed. Do you remember Live Aid – way back in 1985, when you had all of the biggest of the big names of music, raising money for famine relief in Ethiopia - The famous musical personalities were up there singing …

We are the world,

We are the children.

We are the ones who make a brighter day,

So let’s start giving.

Bob Dylan was there. But everyone could see that he looked very uncomfortable. Afterwards, there was a press conference, and he explained why he felt so uncomfortable. He said, flatly, that he felt uncomfortable singing that song because, “Humankind cannot save itself.” At that point, Bob Dylan, though he wasn’t talking about Christmas at this spot, was giving us the message of Christmas, and it’s the message of this text. The message of this text is … The world can’t save itself. That’s the message of Christmas, and that’s the purpose of this particular passage.

There is a light to dawn, but it’s not a light that can be developed. It’s not a light that comes that we develop when we realize, “We are the world, we are the children,” and we begin to give. Oh hear me right – charity, kindness is good – it is commanded by God – but we cannot save ourselves.

And if you think deeply enough – you know that I’m right.

If we are waiting for a light to shine and save the human race – and we are waiting for humanity to evolve to the place where peace and life may come – all the evidence points to the reality that we will be waiting forever.

Isaiah says the light that can rescue humanity is not developed. It’s discovered. That’s the message of Christmas. Hope comes from beyond us. “For to us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given.”

“For to us a child is born ...”. Do you find it interesting that the rescuer doesn’t suddenly shoot out of the sky, down to earth in a blaze of glory, cape flapping behind, like some heavenly member of the ‘Avengers’ Superhero team. he comes as a child … a baby. Vulnerable. Do you know what this is doing? This is setting the stage for the kind of king this Son is - a servant king, who climbs his throne by suffering: one who chooses to become wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.

Now turn to Matthew 1:21–23 “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” Don’t miss this - here is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise - They call his name Jesus, “The LORD saves”, to fulfill the prophecy that they should call his name, “Immanuel” - “God With Us”.

Now, Isaiah speaks these words in about 740 BC. By 722, less than 20 years later, Northern kingdom is sacked … Assyria’s army invades like a flood - from the North and crush that kingdom. The Southern kingdom lasts a little longer -

Take a look at Isaiah 9:1: Isaiah mentions some specific locations: “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.”

“Gallilee” - that’s the area from the Sea of Galilee to the Mediterranean - it was always a place of mixed cultures - there were Arameans there and Canaanites and Hittites and Hebrews and Mesopotamians. They were all there - and this is where Israel often first encountered foreigners. This is where the Assyrians tacke first - they stripped out all the leaders and the craftsmen and the politicians and the intellectuals - they drag them away from home, then they brought in exiles from other conquered nations and settled them in their place. Of course that means they all intermarry - and now what you have is a watered down Israel - “Galilee of the Gentiles” ends up becoming a ‘put down’ in Israel for compromised and impure and religiously mixed and confused. It was like ‘hillbilly’ - except worse - because it meant more than ‘backward’ - it meant shameful, compromised, utterly lost. There is no place more shameful, more hopeless - than Galilee of the Gentiles.

Oh, but do you know what? This very verse is quoted in the New Testament, when Jesus - Immanuel brings the Good News.

Turn quickly to Matthew 4:12–17 “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 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.””

This is the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry - right after His baptism and testing in the wilderness … and where does God the Son choose to take the Good News of his kingdom first?! … He goes to the darkest place He could find. There was no place as ignorant, no people so gloomy, so racked with anguish as Galilee of the Gentiles … So He chooses to go there and bring God’s loving, saving presence … there. He spent most of His ministry in that very place. So many of the mighty miracles He did, so many of the powerful sermons he preached - He did there. Can you imagine by the end of the three years of his ministry - how many people in Galilee of the Gentiles had been touched by the presence of “God With Us”?

“I was blind - hadn’t seen my own face … Until Jesus opened my eyes.” “I couldn’t walk - couldn’t go hear Jesus if I tried. But my friends carried me and lowered me through a hole they dug in a rooftop - and Jesus didn’t just teach me - he brought me to my feet and made my useless legs obey. I can walk.” Another one pipes up, “My daughter was dead. The mourners were wailing outside the house. When I asked for a help I could never repay … this Jesus followed ME to my home … he pushed past the hopeless, grieving crowd at my door, went inside, took my girl by the hand and helped her out of bed as if it were no more complicated than waking her from a nap.”

There were the thousands who could speak with one voice: “Oh, the sermons he preached! He made our hearts dance for joy; and then he fed us and we ate bread and fish until we could eat no more.” You couldn’t go half a mile without meeting somone who once was hopeless - but had been touched by Jesus - “Immanuel”.

Galillee of the Gentiles - the land of hopelessness has been made glorious. Do we have any citizens of Galilee here? You know what I mean - anyone here who thinks, “Yes, God cares about lost people - He sent His Son to save the lost and hopeless … but surely that doesn’t mean me. Maybe at one time - It could have been me … but I have so corrupted myself by the foolish choices I’ve made … so messed up my life - that whatever “Immanuel” means … it cannot mean, ‘God with ME’.

“But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.” See the glorious light of hope, piercing into the midst of the blackest cloud of the most devastating darkness. It’s a hope that only GOD WITH US could ENSURE.

Some of you here know what it’s like to walk through that terrible wilderness. I want to speak directly to you, right now. I know where you are - you are being driven away from the comfort of home, like a captive into the land of despair … for the last few months you have been trudging your way through the valley of the shadow of death … you are distressed and your soul is hungry - you can’t find the food of comfort anywhere and there are days when you don’t even understand why you are still on this earth.

“Why am I even alive?” The captive Israelites cursed their king … they cursed God himself.

You look up, but the heavens are as impenetrable as cold steel above your head; your prayers seem to go up, fall down and crash around your feet.

You look around you on the earth and ‘gloom and anguish’ - your hopes for a better tomorrow have all faded into the darkness of reality and your heart is torn itno two with regret over past decisions and dread of tomorrow. Every hour seems to take you only deeper into midnight.

If that’s you, friend: Let me give it to you straight: There is no place for you to find true, life-sustaining hope … no place, except for one: IMMANUEL … God With Us. Only God, taking up your cause and bearing your sin and failures can possibly save you - and give you rock-solid unshakeable joy.

But that’s what Isaiah is promising. That’s what the New Testament records. Can you see Him? God Himself has come to save you: “I have come to seek and to save the lost.”

Oh, won’t you come to him - you who have wandered the furthest into rebellion and a paralyzed right now in a prison of despair. The great light, Isaiah promised, is intended for YOU. Jesus has come to save YOU - and He is God and man in one person: Man, so that he can feel your gloom, God, so that He can rescue you from it.

The government cannot save you, no minister can save you, no self-help plan can save you … But here’s the One who CAN.

Some of you lift weights. One of the best exercises to build total body strength is the deadlift - because of the way it demands so many muscles in your body engage together, in order to lift the bar. You know what it is to to try with all of your might to lift a box, a package, a piano - and it won’t budge. You strain and strain - and nothing.

The great God is an expert at the dead lift. When everything else has failed, He can lift a world of sin. Failure - The stain of sin that nothing else can touch … your best efforts only smear the stain around - the blood of Immanuel washes it white as snow. God with us means the difficulty is gone - a perfect work has been accomplished. Oh that anyone here without hope - would see God’s great light.

When Jesus comes

Isaiah 9:5 “For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.”

If, my dear friend, you are a believer in Christ, you belong to him, and you always were his by sovereign right, even when the enemy held you in possession. The devil had set his mark upon you, so that you might be for ever his branded slave; but he had no legal right to you, for Immanuel had redeemed you, and he claimed you as his own.

The Father gave you to Jesus, and Jesus himself bought you with his blood; and, though you knew it not, he had the title-deeds of you, and would not lose his inheritance. Herein lay your hope when all other hope was gone. Herein is your hope now. If you belong to Jesus, he will have you. If he bought you with his blood, he will not shed that blood in vain. If on the cross he bore your sin, he will not suffer you to bear it, and so to make void his sacrifice. If you belong to him he will deliver you,

This, also, is your own hope: if you believe in Jesus you belong to Jesus; if you trust him, he has redeemed you with a price, and will also redeem you with power. If you cast your guilty soul at his dear feet, and take him to be your own Saviour, you are not your own, but bought with a price; and sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than one whom Jesus calls his own shall be left to perish. “Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end.” Immanuel, God with us, is strong to rescue his own out of the enemy’s hand.

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What is the danger that Isaiah warns his people of? The Danger of Darkness: Look at v. 2 of our text: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” It is a danger of darkness.

We see the darkness that surrounds Isaiah, most clearly, at the end of chapter 8, Isaiah, is looking around at his nation in his day and what he sees is not a bright picture:

8:22: “And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.”

What’s the problem? Why is there this terrible darkness?

One answer in 8:19 – “And when they say to you, ‘Inquire of the mediums and necromancers’. One of the problems came from where the people are going to find guidance. They are being told --- “Do you want to find out how you are going to get through this tough time? Do you want to find out if there is hope in the future? Don’t look at the Bible … go to the PNE and pay $25 to meet with a wrinkly old lady in a tent – offering to read the leaves at the bottom of your teacup.”

And in chapter 5:1-5, Though Israel had been given so much by God - - - Verse 1 of chapter 5, “Let me sing for my beloved my love song concerning his vineyard on a very fertile hill. He dug it and cleared it of stones and planted it with choice vines; he built a watchtower in the midst of it, and hewed out a wine vat in it; and he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.” V. 4, “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?”

Though God could say, “What more could I have done for my vineyard?” He gets no good return. Just like a parent who has shown nothing but careful, unconditional love to a child - - Christmas time they spare no expense to get the child exactly what he needs – the best of the best – and the response that dad gets, on Christmas morning is – “This is useless and it sucks!” – followed by a stomping away to do everything possible to break dad’s heart in blatant rebellion –

All summed up in chapter 3:8, The state of the nation: “For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying His glorious presence. For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.”

The disaster about to happen is going to come at the hand of Assyria – the superpower nation, to the north of Israel - - Isaiah warns that Assyria is going to invade the nation. In fact, v. 1 refers to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali – that’s important. Because as Isaiah is speaking in 740 BC, the Assyrian army is setting up its camp, inside the borders of Israel – in the northern-most parts of the nation – in the areas of Zebulun and Naphtali. And in 722 BC, the Assyrian forces sweep down in a massive attack and destroy the Kingdom of Israel. The enemy is already at the gate!

That is the army that is mustering in the north and coming to destroy Israel because of its persistent rebellion against the God who loves His people and continues to call them to repentance. Internally and externally things couldn’t get worse. So, when the attack comes - who gets the blame? Look at chapter 8:21, “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.” NIV – “they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.”

So they shout – God, if you are even up there – you have failed! You’ve got a lot of explaining to do! Where are you, when we hurt?!”

Does that cry sound familiar to you?

“If there is a God – He has a lot of explaining to do!”

And how will God respond? How would I respond? He has given them a vineyard – a place of blessing and fruitfulness – He has given them protection and guidance: “This is how you live to enjoy the blessing I have for you” … and they have ignored His word, they have killed His prophets – and now, like the kid who has been loved and warned to NOT touch the hot stove – they have pressed the palm on the red-hot burner … but instead of realizing the wrong done – they blame the parent! This is all your fault, God!” What will God do? If it was me …

… Amazing “BUT” B-U-T, in chapter 9, verse 1: “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.” Instead of a “Get out of my face!” that you may expect from God, there is a promise – such a gracious promise: “BUT there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.”

Verse 2, “The people who walked in darkness HAVE SEEN a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shone.”

Isaiah says to his own people and says to us, today: There is a light coming that is so secure, so certain that it will illuminate any crisis you find yourself in.

Christmas is a time for lights – we hang up lights on our houses, on our trees - Here is the Light that you need. I want you to notice something – the light he is referring to is so certain that Isaiah puts it in the past tense. V. 2, “The people who walked in darkness HAVE SEEN a great light.” The Light that Isaiah is talking about is centuries away. He is speaking 8 centuries before Christ. But that absolutely does NOT mean that his hope is ‘iffy’. No – hope is a done deal.

SLIDE 2 THE PLACE OF HOPE

So where does this sure and certain hope that the darkness of the shadow of death is NOT the end of the story? Where does rescue from the mighty, ruthless Assyrian forces and every other threat in our lives today – where does the one, unfailing rescue come from in Isaiah’s prophecy?

Verses 6-7 reveal the place of hope – Verse 6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.”

along the lines of that well-known song that was the theme of a Live Aid concert almost 30 years ago:

We are the world,

We are the children.

We are the ones who make a brighter day,

So let’s start giving.

Last week was American Thanksgiving – followed immediately by Black Friday – the national holiday for shopping gluttony. For the first time ever, some of the stores didn’t wait until Friday to open their doors – they opened on Thanksgiving already. Did you see the reports of some of the shopping ‘adventures’? One woman got up from the table after her Thanksgiving dinner – after giving thanks for her blessings - - - went to the local Wal Mart to get a few things - - and ended up getting arrested after, she got involved in an argument over a shopping cart – and pulling a taser gun on another woman. This was not a fight over bread and water, between two starving people – this was a fight over a cart, that they each wanted – so they could stuff it with junk they most likely won’t even use a year from now.

It’s God intervening. It’s God erupting into our situation to bring light from the outside. Yes, things are very dark. There’s utter darkness. We keep looking, and we keep looking to the earth. We keep looking, and it gets darker in darkness.[2] But do not be discouraged, friend.

In the very first book of the New Testament – in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 4, tells us that this promise – this passage from Isaiah, is fulfilled. Over 700 years later, Jesus has just been in the wilderness, being tempted by Satan, he comes back out of the wilderness. He comes into the city of Nazareth, and departs from it into Capernaum – where? Into Galilee of the Gentiles, into the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, and he preaches the Good News about what His coming means:

Matthew 4:13-16: “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.”

Jesus is the light of the world – the light that takes away the sting of death, the fear of the darkness of hopelessness. He is the one who takes away the fear of the Assyrian and every other oppressor.

“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness (in the valley of the shadow of death), …”

That is each one of us. And that is the ultimate problem – the Great Tyrant – the fact that no matter if everyone on earth stands in a circle and sings “Kum By Ya” – we are each one of us, going to die. For some of you, the valley of the shadow of death is a very present reality. You have a loved one on death’s door, right now. For many of us, the Christmas season is a painful reminder that someone you loved deeply – has passed through the doorway of death – and there is that aching, empty hole in your heart where your loved one used to be.

The light of Christmas – hope for you in your most hopeless time – comes in the person of Jesus Christ. God breaks into our world in the person of Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man - - born as a baby – He comes into our darkness – He endures our death – he goes through the doorway of death, He rises from the grave – He says, “I am the resurrection and the life”. The great darkness – our one unconquerable enemy – the cruel superpower, setting up camp on the outskirts of your life – DOES NOT NEED TO MAKE YOU AFRAID ANYMORE.

John 11:25, Jesus says “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies”.

Will you trust Christ with your death – and your life – this Christmas?

Over the next weeks of Advent – we are going to look at the titles of Christ given here in Isaiah chapter 9 – to get a deeper understanding of the fullness of His character - - but for this morning – please recognize that He is your only hope.

[1] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church. [2] Keller, T. J. (2013). The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive. New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church.