Isaiah 9:1-7 - The God Who Redeems

1 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 7 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.

Target Date: Sunday, 17 December 2023

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

1 – Galilee – This is the area bordered on the south by the Samarian mountains, through which lies the pass of Megiddo.

So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah. – Joshua 20:7

Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. – 1 Kings 9:11

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. – 2 Kings 15:29

3 – its - לֹא lô – found in Masoretic and translated by the KJV “not”, i.e. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: - All other modern translations follow the Septuagint translation and leave out this negative.

This passage is somewhat obscure, both in itself, and on account of the diversity of interpretations; for it appears to be absurd to say that the joy was not increased, seeing that he immediately afterwards adds, they rejoiced. On this account the Jews interpret לא (lo) not negatively, but as if ו (vau) had been substituted for א (aleph); for sometimes, though rarely, it has this meaning in the Scriptures.

Thoughts on the Passage:

1 - “The three phrases at the end of the verse—’the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles’ or ‘nations’—indicate administrative districts of the Assyrian conqueror Tiglath–Pileser III as a result of the three campaigns he waged in the west around 733 B.C.”

1 - Note, In the worst of times God’s people have a nevertheless to comfort themselves with, something to allay and balance their troubles; they are persecuted, but not forsaken (2 Co. 4:9), sorrowful yet always rejoicing, 2 Co. 6:10.

2 - Many prophetic perfects in Hebrew in this section assure the certainty of the things predicted. In Hebrew, a writer sometimes described as past what was really in the future. He used the perfect verb tense to emphasize that what was future was as sure to happen as if it had happened already.

Matthew 4 – Moved from Nazareth to Capernaum – about 24 miles direct. About the same distance and direction as Sylacauga to Talladega, or Alex City to Wadley (walking).

This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet - Matthew 4:14

Note, this isn’t saying Jesus was FORCING the prophecy to be fulfilled, but that He was fulfilling the prophecy.

Coming of His age and beginning His ministry, it would have been reasonable for Him to move to Jerusalem, the heart if the Jewish teachers. That was, after all, His destination. But instead, He moved to the shore of the Sea of Galilee, to Capernaum, which was still in the province of Galilee and firmly within Isaiah’s prophecy.

Sermon Text:

We return today to this great prophecy of the prophet Isaiah, spoken 700 years before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It is good for us to remember that because Isaiah is so accurate in his prophecies of Jesus that if we forget that, we might think he had written another gospel rather than a distant prophecy.

700 years – to add a little perspective, that would be like Isaiah living in France in the year 1323, a time before gunpowder was known and used in Europe, predicting the presidential election results next year:

For a country that would not be founded for another 500 years,

On a land mass that would not be discovered for another 170 years,

And describing in detail the conflicts happening around the world right now that he would be responsible to handle.

Of course, the importance of the election of a president cannot be compared to the importance of the event Isaiah was prophesying:

He didn’t care for a mere king – he was proclaiming the coming of the God-Man, Jesus Christ.

He was looking forward to God’s fulfillment of His promise to save His people from their sin.

What little national election can compare with that?

Which of the “critical” things we deal with every day in our own lives compare with God becoming flesh and dwelling among us?

Now don’t get me wrong: elections matter, and the things that you deal with in your life matter.

But we have had elections before. Sometimes we pick a great man, a great leader.

But much more often, we (the citizens of the United States) have picked real stinkers.

And those things that God allows in your life to try your faith in Him give you the opportunity to get stronger in faith, to need Him more, and to KNOW you need Him more.

And once those trials are done and over, once you have overcome the temptation to give up or to compromise your integrity, those same trials become a way for you to glorify God in telling of His abiding grace.

Isaiah is not dealing with some run-of-the-mill prophecies;

He is describing the coming of the Messiah of God.

Even the Jews who deny Jesus is the Messiah know that Isaiah is talking about the Messiah.

They just close their hearts and minds to the reality of the fulfillment of these prophecies in the life of one man – Jesus of Nazareth.

Last week we looked at the first two verses of our passage today, the part we often ignore as we race for that beautiful climax in verses 6 and 7.

We didn’t start in verse 1 simply because we often run past it (even though that would be reason enough);

We started there because Isaiah started there.

It formed kind of a segue from the passages of judgment before and this great proclamation here.

And it is an important prophecy, as we saw, because it pinpoints Jesus’s hometown.

It tells Israel where to start looking for the Messiah to emerge from.

And the people of Galilee didn’t have any problem believing the Messiah would come from here – not at all.

Their problem was that they KNEW Jesus.

They knew his parents.

They watched Him grow up.

Some of those rabbis taught Him in Hebrew School.

And to be honest, I don’t know if this is heresy or not, but there is nothing sinful if, as a schoolboy, Jesus wasn’t a straight-A student.

I think He is still qualified to be the Messiah if He got a B in whatever the equivalent of algebra was back then.

Or if, on occasion, when He hammered a nail, it bent and had to be removed and discarded.

I certainly don’t mean any disrespect in any of this, and I am willing to take correction if I am wrong, but the Bible tells us He GREW,

And we also grow when we make a mistake and learn to correct it.

The point is, all those leaders in Galilee were looking for a fully-formed Messiah, like Melchizedek in that He just appeared on the scene, fully grown and starting to work.

They couldn’t have faith in a man they watched grow up.

Matthew 13:54-57 - and [Jesus came] to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they took offense at him.

They saw this “great light” – the Messiah of God – and rejected Him because they knew Him and His parents.

But let’s move in our passage.

Verses 3-5 build this mighty crescendo.

Verse 3 talks about the joy He will bring when He comes:

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.

Those who had walked in darkness, those who had been overthrown, will have a new hope, a new joy.

Notice, though, the source of that joy is not that their situation has been reversed.

There is no promise here that Zebulun and Naphtali were going to regain their inheritance.

There is no promise of a unified Israel under the king in Jerusalem – although we will look at what he does say in a few minutes.

Their joy isn’t because their fortunes or their property or anything worldly has been restored.

Their joy with be in the Lord alone.

It is not BECAUSE of the harvest; it is LIKE the joy of a great harvest.

It is not BECAUSE they have great spoils, but LIKE they have great spoils.

These analogies aren’t describing WHAT makes the people who see that light joyful;

They are describing the great EXTENT of their joy at this light.

In fact, the way these comparisons are put, you would be correct to think that this joy in God would eclipse the greatest joy of the harvest or the greatest joy of a great military victory.

The joy to be found in Jesus Christ IS greater than any other.

When people in their hearts say they haven’t experienced that, I would suggest based on the word of God that there is only one reason they haven’t:

They have other things they love beside God.

And Christian, if your joy in Christ is waning,

or if you have to redefine the word “joy” to mean something other than “jubilant happiness” to say you have joy,

Then I suggest to you that you take a look at the things you love BESIDE God.

Things that you run to when you are in doubt or sad or scared.

When the light shines in the darkness of your heart, it reaches somewhere that wells up as joy, rejoicing.

But if you have other loves, things you want in this world besides Jesus Christ,

Those things create, as it were, shadows, obstructions to the light of Christ.

And the more you search, the more you love of the things here, the more re-imprisoned in darkness and hopelessness you become.

We must never allow ourselves to become enslaved to the sin and the world that Jesus Christ has saved us from.

Remember the JOY we see throughout the events of His birth:

John, even before he was born rejoiced at Jesus: For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. – Luke 1:44

Mary rejoiced: My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior - Luke 1:46-47

the angel said to [the shepherds], “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. – Luke 2:10-11

The shepherds rejoiced: And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. – Luke 2:20

The magi rejoiced: When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. – Matthew 2:10-11

Simeon rejoiced in the temple: 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” – Luke 2:28-32

We see that in 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.

Just a couple of things we need to look at in this verse:

1. The Day of Midian – that is a reference to the battle Gideon’s army fought in the time of the judges.

And the Holy Spirit, through Isaiah, is using this battle as another analogy – AS ON the day of Midian.

If you don’t remember what happened there, you can find it later in Judges 7. I will give you the highlights:

God called Gideon to be Israel’s judge and delivered from Midian.

And he recruited an army of 32,000 men.

God, through a couple of tests, reduced the army to 300 men, each armed with a torch, a clay pot, and a trumpet.

At the signal from Gideon, the entire army broke the pots, lit the torches, and blew the trumpets.

The army of Midian literally killed each other in their flight.

And so the sum total of that, and what Isaiah is telling us, is that the Messiah with be a complete work of God.

He isn’t coming to recruit an army for conquest, but will free His people all by Himself.

2. The yoke that others have put on His people will be broken.

He is not talking here simply of some personal freedom, although He might in some cases free His people.

But the freedom He brings changes our entire allegiance.

We owe all our allegiance to God, and only through that highest loyalty to we pay respect to any earthly power.

That is why, I think, that the Bible has so many passages addressed to SLAVES.

It is not, as was done in the past, to be used as an excuse to OWN people.

It is a good riddance that the institution was broken.

But consider that even those teachings on slavery have something to teach us in our day:

Even if you have no choice about your situation, your job, your living situation, your highest loyalty is to God.

We often look at those passages, like Ephesians 6 and 1 Peter 2, and we find a good analogy to our profession.

And we take it to mean, correctly, that we should work for our employer as if we are working for the Lord Himself.

But there are other yokes:

The infirm person who needs assistance or needs to live in a nursing home.

The person whose emotional needs cross over into mental disease.

The person whose body restricts them in some way from living like those around them may.

My grandfather, to the day he died, had all his intelligence and reasoning, but because of multiple strokes, he was confined for his last decade of life to a hospital bed, paralyzed and functionally mute.

There are many other possible yokes, but the point of the passage is this: Jesus Christ can free you from that bondage.

No, the promise is not that my grandfather could walk and talk again.

The promise is that in whatever situation he found himself – mobile or still – he was set free in Christ.

And when the trials of this life came to an end, he found himself in a new and perfect body.

And all this is God’s work through Jesus Christ – we, if God decides we even need to be around for the battle, we need only to carry our torch, trumpet, and clay pot.

Verse 5 talks about the aftermath of that battle: For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.

We don’t fight battles the same way today that they did back then.

Even as late as the wars of the early 20th Century, the soldiers were expected often to provide their uniforms or equipment for themselves.

I remember when I did some research on the founder of my hometown, Daniel Pratt, that in the Civil War he outfitted the “Prattville Dragoons” with uniforms, guns, and horses to go and fight.

And Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders used much of their own equipment when they charged San Juan Hill.

The point is that equipment and clothing was dear in the days before the government provided it to every soldier.

And the picture we have in this verse is the stripping of the soldiers of their boots and uniforms.

Not, as was most often the case, so that equipment could be used again.

It was stripped to be burned.

It wouldn’t be needed any more.

Wars will cease.

Conflicts will come to an end.

The work of the blessed peacemakers under the authority of the great Peacemaker will have its result.

Now you may want to clear your throat or point out that we still have wars today.

I certainly do agree with you. We do have wars today.

The culmination of this prophecy still lies in our future, but the One who is pictured in this prophecy is Jesus Christ Himself.

From the moment of His birth, the peaceful final state for His people has been inevitable.

And that peace is in us EVEN NOW.

That is why the very next thing he says is:

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

Listen to the progression:

The people who walked in darkness will have great joy.

The yoke of the oppressors will be broken.

The great warriors will be overthrown in the midst of their strength.

How?

Because the Lord will send a plague or a bolt of lightning?

Because God will call His church militant to rise up and institute His law?

Because God will come to judge everyone before the Savior is given?

NO

We rejoice, we are free, and we have overcome the gravest things of this world…because to us a child is born.

A son is given.

No cannons, no armies, no bombs – a child, an infant.

That is our hope.

The child – the Son of God. The only begotten Son of God.

If it were any other child in charge of the government, it would be considered a tragedy, and sign of God’s judgment.

But THIS Child, THIS Son – He is our great hope.

We will look, if the Lord is willing, next week at the remaining verses of this passage to understand why He is our hope, but I would like to mention one thing here at the close:

As the Angel of God was speaking to the shepherds, he said:

Luke 2:11 - For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Everyone has probably heard this verse a dozen times for every year of your age.

But notice what he didn’t say:

He didn’t say “a Savior, who is the Lord’s Christ [Messiah]”.

He identifies Jesus, the newborn, as the Messiah AND the Lord God.

Man and God, God with us.