Post Tenebrus Lux: The Dawning Joy of Our Infant Saviour

“It is winter in Narnia,” said Mr. Tumnus, “and has been for ever so long…. always winter, but never Christmas.

During long nights it is as if the dawn of a new day is far off. In wintertime it seems as if summer will never arrive. But surely enough, day after day, month after month, year after year, the sun still rises, the light of a new day pushes out the darkness of night, and the warmth of summer overcomes the cold and dark of winter.

So too, those who are in the thick darkness of sin and misery will also experience the light of a new, coming salvation. This is the promise that Isaiah held out to the people of God.

“It is winter in Narnia,” said Mr. Tumnus, “and has been for ever so long…. always winter, but never Christmas.”

Israel, by their own sin, were facing the prospect of a great exile. They had neglected to do what was required of them. God called them fulfil the point of the law, which they neglected to do,

Read 1:17

Isaiah Himself saw the wickedness of His own being when faced with the holiness of God in Chapter 6,

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts!”

And just as God held the promise of redemption to the people of Israel saying,

“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.”

God now cleanses and purifies Isaiah,

“And He touched my mouth and said: Behold, this [burning coal] has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

This hope is what Isaiah revolves around, the hope of coming salvation. Because of this, there is every reason for rejoicing. Just as Tumnus saw hope in Lucy in the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Isaiah prophesied of hope that will come in Immanuel. This is the hope that we see dawning before us as we look forward to Christmas tomorrow.

Today I want us to see that we have reason for rejoicing because we have been brought from death to life, the powers of darkness and the oppression of sin have been overcome through the birth of an infant saviour.

We’ll do this by looking at the passage before us with three brief points, The Dawn of Joy, The Reason for Joy, The Bringer of Joy.

Repeat

The Dawn of Joy

Isaiah has just laid bare the surety of destruction from Assyria saying in 7:8-9,

Read 7:8-9

But now He moves to provide hope in the face of darkness.

Read with me verses 1-3.

Head

Heart

Though darkness, gloom and anguish are fast approaching for Israel, as the threat of an Assyrian invasion draws near. For the people who are God’s, there is hope of no more gloom.

God says to the people that this time of gloom is associated with the former time. The coming threat is just a temporary moment. There is a promise of a latter time, a time of restoration to come.

This promise gets at something far greater than the threat of invasion. It promises restoration of a deeper darkness. Far deeper than the darkness brought by the Assyrians was the darkness of Israel’s sin. We too see ourselves here.

At one time we too were in darkness, we walked in the darkness, we lived in the darkness. But thanks be to God, He has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. We have been transferred from the Kingdom of darkness to the Kingdom of Light.

The eyes of faith look upon these words of Isaiah, and see with Him, the surety and finality of this coming great light.

Hands

Sometimes we can look at our lives and see within us the remaining sin, we see the existence of the Old Man within us, the last of the Kingdom of Darkness seeking to take hold of our life. We can be tempted to live in despair.

But the ultimate reality is not the Kingdom of darkness but of light. One commentator points out that we have a choice when we see darkness. Will we look at the darkness and sin and conclude there is no hope, that God has abandoned us? Or will we hold onto the promises that God has declared to us, that we are no longer children of darkness, but by His grace alone, are children of light?

This time of year is a time to reorientate ourselves to the promise that is revealed in Christ, the light of the world has come.

When faced with our sin and our depravity When we are tempted to despair, in the face of temptation, know that though this reality is real, it is not the ultimate reality. The coming destruction from Assyria was real, but Isaiah is saying in this passage that it is not the ultimate reality. It is the former time. The ultimate reality is the dawning of a new light and the over-coming of darkness.

The ultimate reality is that we are children of light, not of darkness. The ultimate reality is that though we may be tempted, our Father has given us a way of escape.

The way of escape is the dawning of light.

Heart

Darkness and light cannot dwell together. That is why the hope of night is the coming light of day. And the hope in sin, is the coming light of a saviour.

As John says,

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

We know that our hearts are naturally wicked and dark. It cannot produce light on its own. The light in which we walk has to come from outside of us. As we consider the coming of Christ, His work can be summed up by this word “light.” God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

This light is in opposition to the thick darkness. The light is our hope and our reality. The promise given to us is that we would experience fullness of it,

“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”

Dear friends, the very being of God is light, such that it radiates from Him. His very essence is the lack of darkness and the abundant presence of light.

One day the fulness of that will overcome the thick darkness of sin and the effects of sin in this world, and our being and our lives will be wrapped up in that.

Therefore, we ought to rejoice. We ought to be known as a people of rejoicing. We do not live without hope, as those who walk and live in darkness, but the dawning of our saviour that we are celebrating, means for us life and life in its fullness. We have a new joy, one that is not found in ourselves, but given to us by God who is light.

Pause

This leads me to my second point.

The Reason For Joy

Read with me verses 4-5.

“For” connects what comes in this passage to what immediately preceded. That we should be a people of new joy, known for rejoicing. The Prophet had said that we ought to be a people of joy because we had seen a great light. And we have seen from John that light drives out darkness. Light delivers.

Head

Israel hoped for this deliverance. They had a taste of it when they were delivered from the bondage of Egypt. Despite the fact that that yoke of burden had been cast off, they were no longer literally oppressed by a people, the yoke of oppression of their sin was still laid across their shoulders.

Assyria was the coming oppressor, ready to lay heavily again, that yoke of oppression. But God promises to break again, that yoke and bring deliverance.

The breaking of the burden of sin will be like the defeat of Midian by Gideon. Namely, it will be a victory completely in the hand of God and darkness will be defeated by light. Midian stood against Israel “like locusts in number,” and yet Gideon stood against them with 300 men.

It is not in the will of man to overcome the oppression of sin, but by the power of God. “God has given into [Gideon’s] hand Midian, and all the camp.” And with the sound of the trumpet of triumph, and the radiance of light surrounding the camp of darkness, the triumph of the Lord came over the camp of Midian, breaking the rod of the oppressor.

Heart

So great is the victory over sin and darkness that it can be compared to this victory of Gideon over the Midianites. Human strength could not accomplish what God brought about that day. So too the yoke of the burden of sin could only be broken by One, God Himself.

We know how heavy that burden is. We know the oppression it brings to us, the slavery by which we are naturally bound in our state of sin. We are mere “beasts of toil” under sin.

Greater than the oppression of Egypt, of Midian, or of Assyria is this oppression. And just as those nations were defeated, so too has sin been dealt its deadly blow in the death, burial, and resurrection of our saviour. We have a salvation that breaks the bonds sin. We have deliverance from the oppression of sin.

This is reason for great rejoicing. The great light has shone and has pushed out darkness once and for all.

Pause

The great light also brings complete peace.

When delivering speeches, it is often said that you shouldn’t use a negative illustration for a positive point. But here in verse 5 we find the Prophet making a positive point about peace through a negative illustration.

Read vs 5.

All the implements of war will longer be needed, they will be destroyed as peace is ushered in with the coming of the Great Light. They will be burned because there is no longer need of them. If both the warriors shoes and garments are burned up as food for the fire, so too are the weapons of war.

The coming of our saviour means that all that is used to defeat us in sin, the weapons of the devil, will be destroyed. There is not only deliverance from sin in our saviour, but the coming of peace as the war is won. It is in this promise of peace that we rejoice.

Just as fire destroys and completely burns all that is in its path, extinguished when only there is nothing left to be burned, so too the defeat of sin is utterly complete.

Hands

We need not worry about what there is left to do to defeat sin. We are over-comers, not in ourselves, but in Christ.

We can and should rest. And more than rest, we should rejoice. Our saviour has come, He is the Prince of Peace. God Most High. “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is well pleased.”

Pause

The Bringer of Joy

Who is this great defeater of sin? The One who breaks the rod of oppression, who brings complete peace, the final defeat over sin?

Read vs 6-7

Head

Just as the defeat of the Midians came through the weakness of 300 men, so too the great defeat of sin comes, not through the strength of a great conqueror but the humility of a Child.

Ultimately our joy is not found in the benefits that are brought, deliverance and peace. Our joy should ultimately be found in the bringer of those benefits. It is because of Him that we can rejoice in the benefits.

One commentator says it beautifully,

“Hence we learn that we ought not to swallow up the benefits which we receive from God, so as instantly to forget them, but should raise our minds to Christ, otherwise the advantage will be small, and the joy will be transitory; because they will not lead us to taste the sweetness of a Father’s love, unless we keep in remembrance the free election of God, which is ratified in Christ.”[1]

This is the goal and objective of the whole Christian life, that we should “taste the sweetness of a Father’s love.”

Christ, as a child has been given “to us” for this end. This is who He is. Immanuel, God with us. He has come to be as we are, in order that He may make us to be as He is.

He is no mere man, nor any angel, but the Son of God. To us is given the One to whom the Father has said,

“ You are my Son, today I have begotten you.”

Which is to say, that which the Father is in character and being, so too is this Son.

And it is this Son that it said:

“for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.”

The hope for us is in this Son. Whoever believes in this Son, who has been born an infant Child, will not die but have eternal life. And this eternal life is bound up in being as He is.

Heart

Yet, he does not come in power and might, but in the paradox of the Gospel, He comes in ultimate weakness, being born of a virgin as a child. The One who has come as our deliverer truly has taken upon Himself the fulness of our form.

He has experienced everything we have experience, yet because of the unity of God and man, He has not sinned. He is Light, in Him there is no darkness.

Because of this, the government will rest upon His shoulders. He is now made the perfect ruler, the awaited Son of David. With justice and righteousness, His Kingdom be established. And there will be no end to His reign, from this time forth and forevermore does our King reign upon His throne.

Not only is His Kingdom eternal, His Kingdom is the Kingdom of grace. The place where sin is atoned for, where we are washed clean. The people are brought in by the will and grace of God alone. His Kingdom will increase until one day it will encompass the whole earth.

Our King is called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. He is wonderful Counsellor because in Him lies the very wonder of our salvation and the acts of redemption throughout Scripture. He holds in Himself pure wisdom, knowledge and truth. He surpasses all human thought and power. He is Mighty God because by His hand, the fullness of the God works to redeem His people.

“Be of good cheer,” Christ says in John, “I have overcome the world.” Be of good cheer, through His overcoming, He is able to save all those of us who put their faith and trust in His deliverance. Christ says of Himself, “i am the good shepherd” and in this it is revealed the character of His Fatherhood to us. He cares for us. He loves us. Eternally He is this for us. His love, protection and care will never cease. As a Shepherd so tenderly loves His flock, comforts, and cares for them, so too our Saviour so “tenderly, loves, comforts, and cares for us as a Father to His children.”[2] Our saviour, when he comes, is finally called the Prince of Peace.

All that darkness and sin has touched in this world will be brought under the reign of peace.

We once were enemies of God but through Him who is Peace and reigns in Peace, we now have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He has bought us our peace by nailing to the cross all that stood against us and separated us from God. Because we are justified in Christ, we have the peace of God which surpasses all understanding dwelling in us.

We rejoice now. We have tasted of this redemption that will one day increase to consume the whole earth when Christ returns. We rejoice now because we live in hope. We rejoice now because we have experienced deliverance from the oppression of sin. We rejoice now because the Prince of Peace has come to us.

Wonderful Counsellor

Mighty God

Everlasting Father

Prince of Peace

The Zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. These are glad tidings of great joy. The dawning of our saviour is here. O come O come, Immanuel

[1] Calvin, commentary on Isaiah 9:6 [2] Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah.