1.1.1 12.1.2024 The Waiting is the Hardest Part. Isaiah 714, 9.1-7, 11.1-5

Start:

Entice: I never do, and I’m certainly not now going to lie to you. The Christmas season has grown more central to my way of thinking over the years. I’ve often told you that I build my preaching calendar around the weeks from Advent to Easter. So, a new “year begins” with the best story of all, the good news of Jesus.

When we think of the Old Testament promises regarding a coming Messiah, we have to deal with the fact that most of those promises were given in desperate times.

When I was younger I thought that there were no desperate times, only desperate people.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to understand that all times are relatively desperate, and all people are relatively desperate—particularly those outside of Christ.

Engage: The joy of Christmas causes us to look at Scripture through a particular lens. For example…

Isaiah 7:14 ESV

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.

To us these words, this promise, form part of a big, joyous holiday expectation. They were originally words of encouragement and hope to a desperate king in dire straights. He didn’t really understand what it meant to have

God with us, with him.

One of the lessons of the Advent and Christmas season is the yearly reminder that

God with us

changes everything.

Everything is transformed

because

God with us

is

God for us

on the cross

and

God among us

through the Spirit.

God with us,

Jesus.

Expand: Through Advent and Christmas, we are taught the power of patience and the virtue of waiting. And as the prophet Tom Petty reminded us…

the waiting is the hardest part.

Isaiah the prophet was waiting hundreds of years before his promises took on flesh. Besides the promise of God with us he uttered other promises on behalf of the promised redeemer that fill that waiting with hope and give that expectation legs.

Excite: Today we share a powerful word of hope. A word that helps us make sense of a confusing world. The one for whom we wait saves the world from itself, establishes a redemptive Kingdom of Peace, Justice, and righteousness which is not subject to the whims of Empire.

Explore:

We anticipate with Isaiah an unequaled redeemer who brings a universal redemption to the undeserving redeemed.

Expand: The hints of hope give way to concrete expectations.

Body of Sermon:

Isaiah 9:1–7 ESV

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.

We are promised

1 Light—Instead of darkness.

1.1 The darkness is deep.

1.2 The darkness is universal.

1.3 The darkness is denied by the Light!

We are promised

2 Liberation—Instead of despair.

2.1 Wonderful Counselor

2.2 Mighty God

2.3 Everlasting Father

2.4 Prince of Peace

And we are promised a

3 Legacy-Instead of desolation.

3.1 The throne of David.

3.2 The zeal of the Lord.

Shut Down

Why was God so deliberate, guarded, and ...slow about

revealing His plans,

providing His promise,

and

describing His intervention?

Reconsider with me the central point of the sermon…

It is for the undeserving

which makes it hard to believe.

It is universal,

which can make it hard to accept.

It is unequaled,

which can make it hard to embrace.

Make no mistake,

God with us may have been laid in a manger, but through Him God the Father brings forth both righteousness and justice.

Isaiah 11:1–5 ESV

1 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, 4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. 5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

During the extended holiday season, we will wait.

For cookies and pies to finish in the oven.

We will wait for friends or relatives to arrive.

Children will wait for the appearance of presents

and

the ultimate appearance of Santa.

Waiting can be difficult at Christmas because we crave the joy and community it brings.

The whole of history agrees.

The waiting is the hardest part.

Isaiah reminds us that upon His coming, God with us, transforms that waiting to a momentary pause amid the joy of eternal satisfaction. The wait is worth it, don’t you think?