Joy Unexpected

Notes
Transcript
This is our third week in Isaiah for this Christmas season.
We started by looking at Isaiah 7 and the promise of the virgin who would conceive and give birth to a son whose name would be Immanuel, God with us.
Last week, we saw the gloom and darkness the people were living in. The people in Isaiah’s day, like us apart from Jesus, were walking in darkness.
But God has promised to make a light shine in the darkness. Jesus, the Light of the World, will not be overcome. The darkness has no power; His light outshines all.
In fact, God is spreading His light to more and more people, multiplying a remnant into a large and numerous people. This is how our text for today begins.
The LORD will take a small remnant of His people—He always has a people for Himself, even if few in number and scattered—the LORD is going to take this small remnant of His people and make them into “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language…” (Revelation 7:9).
We know this from the end of the story.
For context, and to get our bearings, we’re going to read a few verses from what we read last week. And then our focus is going to be on verses 3-5 of Isaiah 9.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do) please turn with me to Isaiah 9 (pages 1,073 in the red pew Bible). As you are able and willing, please stand for the reading of God’s Holy Word:
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
May God add His blessing to the reading of His Holy Word!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The “you” here is God, the LORD Yahweh, the Covenant God. He’s spreading His light and multiplying His people. This is what He does; this is His purview. Job 12:23 “He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.”
God has enlarged the nation and increased their joy. Right here is our key thought. The increase of joy.
This joy is not small. It’s not half-hearted. The people are chalk-full of joy. The LORD God has increased their joy.
Isaiah compares this joy with the joy people have at harvest. Think a really big harvest, the highest yields you’ve seen. Or a huge bonus on payday.
The people rejoice as soldiers dividing the plunder. This means they’ve won the battle, and get to enjoy all the spoils of war.
It’s like the joy after an NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship. Of course, Mizzou players and fans can only try imagine what that would be like…
I’ll tell ya, it’s joyful. It’s triumph and celebration. JOY. JUBILATION. EXCESSIVE HAPPINESS.
As at the harvest, as warriors after a victory—that’s the gladness Isaiah speaks of here.
What God has done (and will do) for His people inspires JOY. The people rejoice at what He has done. And they will rejoice when He acts again.
The people—notice verse 3—we read: rejoice before you [before God].
It’s not some object-less joy. It’s not just joy for joy’s sake. It’s joy before the LORD, in His presence, in acknowledgement that the LORD is the giver of joy.
I think there’s an implied command here for God’s people to:
Rejoice
Rejoice
The LORD has increased joy. And the people are to rejoice at what He has done. Rejoice at the truth of who He is. Rejoice at what He is promising to do. Rejoice before Him.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice. 3 times the word is used.
Verse 4 begins with the word “For”, giving the reason for the celebration of verse 3. There are two sets of historical references in verse 4; references of Egypt and Midian.
The words used here should make us think about Israel’s slavery in Egypt. Yoke that burdens, shoulders, oppressor. All of these feature in the story of the peoples’ time in Egypt.
13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.
6 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
6 “I removed the burden from their shoulders;
their hands were set free from the basket.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering.
When we read words like yoke and burden and think about what people shoulder and how they’re oppressed, biblically, it’s hard to imagine anything but their time in Egypt.
Of course, the point of bringing up that time in Israel’s history isn’t to pick at an old wound and pour lemon juice on it.
It’s to remind them about what the LORD did in saving them. How the LORD broke the bars of the yoke, freeing them, redeeming them, taking care of their oppressors/slave drivers.
We can’t miss the allusion to Egypt and the exodus that followed—something only the LORD could accomplish, by His mighty hand and outstretched arm. It’s one of the LORD’s most impressive displays of conquering care for His people.
But there’s another historical reference in verse 4. It’s from my favorite book in the Bible. There’s never a time I don’t want to preach from the book of Judges, and the fact that I get to preach from Judges during Christmastime fills me with a joy I can’t explain.
Isaiah 9:4 begins with the phrase: For as in the day of Midian’s defeat…
We’re meant to, at this point, think back to the book of Judges, specifically Judges 6-8, and our good pal, Gideon.
Well over a millennium before Jesus was born, Israel was in really bad shape. This is what we read in Judges 6.
1 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and for seven years he gave them into the hands of the Midianites. 2 Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds. 3 Whenever the Israelites planted their crops, the Midianites, Amalekites and other eastern peoples invaded the country. 4 They camped on the land and ruined the crops all the way to Gaza and did not spare a living thing for Israel, neither sheep nor cattle nor donkeys. 5 They came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it. 6 Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help.
Israel was in really bad shape. How bad was it? Really bad. For seven unbelievably hard years this went on, over and over and over, the Midianites ravaged the land.
In response to the cries of the people, the merciful God raises up a judge. But Gideon isn’t as impressive as the others. He’s pretty faithless.
Anytime the LORD told him to do something, Gideon said, “Well, okay I guess. But I’m gonna need a sign.” And then he’d ask for another sign just to make double-sure the LORD really, actually wanted him to do what he said.
The whole “putting out a fleece” is Gideon’s faithlessness memorialized for us. Don’t be like Gideon. Listen to what the LORD says, no matter how it sounds to you.
When it was time to muster the troops and cross swords with the Midianites, Gideon and a whole mess of Israelites were ready to go to battle.
But the LORD stopped Gideon.
2 The Lord said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’
Too many men? I don’t think you could have too many men to go up against the Midianites. But the LORD says so.
3 Now announce to the army, ‘Anyone who trembles with fear may turn back and leave Mount Gilead.’ ” So twenty-two thousand men left, while ten thousand remained.
22,000 scaredy-cats are just fine to turn back from the fight. Only 10,000 men are left.
4 But the Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will thin them out for you there. If I say, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go; but if I say, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.”
5 So Gideon took the men down to the water. There the Lord told him, “Separate those who lap the water with their tongues as a dog laps from those who kneel down to drink.” 6 Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.
7 The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men that lapped I will save you and give the Midianites into your hands. Let all the others go home.”
In the end, Gideon, who began with 32,000 troops, was left with a whopping 300 soldiers whose only qualification was that they lapped water like dogs. Crazy.
Following Gideon’s lead, his 300 soldiers surrounded the Midianite camp under the cover of darkness. Massively outnumbered, they divide into three companies of 100 men, and they proceed to do something utterly ridiculous.
19 Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. 20 The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” 21 While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
22 When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords. The army fled to Beth Shittah toward Zererah as far as the border of Abel Meholah near Tabbath.
In the aftermath, there would have been garments soaked in blood, shoes of the Midianite soldiers scattered everywhere, and fires burning all over the place.
What kind of warfare is this? Well, it’s God at work, giving victory. One of those moments with an “only the LORD” kind of explanation.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
This is what Isaiah is talking about. The “day of Midian’s defeat” is shorthand for the battle between Gideon’s 300 and all of Midian.
It’s like when we talk about “Gettysburg” or “D-Day” referring to more than the words mean themselves.
The day of Midian’s defeat was no battle at all, really. God destroyed Midian that day. The day of Midian’s defeat is entirely God’s doing.
The yoke of Midian was broken. The oppressor was dealt with by God Himself. The warriors’ boots and blood-stained garments were thrown into a bonfire. All the makings of warfare ceased.
Isaiah 9 wants us to think back to Egypt and Midian and REJOICE! Why? Because the LORD is going to do something similar all over again.
We are to:
Rejoice at the Unexpected
Rejoice at the Unexpected
We can say “unexpected” or “foolish” or “absurd”—pick the word you like.
32,000 men, pared-down to 300.
No weapons, just some broken pottery and the sound of shofars and trumpets?
In what world would that work? That doesn’t make any sense!
It’s unexpected, foolish, absurd, ridiculous. Kind of like the manner in which the LORD determines to save you and me.
What’s the LORD answer to our oppression? What’s the LORD going to do about our Enemy—the One who prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking something to devour? What kind of judge/savior/warrior will the LORD send to come to our rescue, we who are in deep, deep need?
Isaiah tells us in verse 6: A child is born, a son is given.
That’s…unexpected. Not a mighty, powerful warrior. Not a seasoned, battle-hardened military commander.
No.
A child.
A son.
The LORD’s answer for all the problems before us, His plan to deal with everything that assails us, His remedy to all the power of darkness and hell is what?!
A baby boy.
Humble, helpless, human.
Isaiah is looking ahead to a Liberator even better than Gideon. The One who will liberate us and set us free is a child, a son.
Isaiah wants us to:
Rejoice at the Unexpected Manner of God's Salvation
Rejoice at the Unexpected Manner of God's Salvation
When Isaiah turns the page back to Judges, he wants us to think about the unexpected way in which God saved His people from the Midianites.
Isaiah is saying, “So it will be when the Messianic child is born, when to us a Son is given. He’ll be like Gideon, but oh-so-much better. As that leader defeated Midian with a burst of light, so when the Prince of Peace comes, the people who walked in darkness will see a great light; on those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, His light will shine. In Him will be life and light of men. His light will shine in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.” -Chad Bird
It’s foolishness to the world, this story of a baby come to save us. But this foolishness remains the best story in the world.
A child, a son, the perfect Second Person of the Trinity, taking on flesh and blood, and making His dwelling among us.
A child, a son, who lived a perfect, sinless life, obedient in every part of the Father’s will in all the ways you and I are disobedient. Perfect, sinless, willing to be our substitute, the sacrifice for our sins.
A child, a son, born to die.
A child, a son, will defeat all the forces of evil and will put a final end to conflict itself. The victory is won by Him—by the child alone.
All we do is step onto the battlefield after the war is won. The only thing for us to do is celebrate.
There’s joy, to be sure, when we realize all that God has done for us, shattering the yoke of sin that burdens us, removing the bar across our shoulders and placing it on Jesus’ shoulders who would carry it to Calvary.
Jesus comes to deal decisively with all that oppresses us.
There’s joy. And relief. And security.
And none of it is our own doing.
It’s all the LORD’s doing.
For us, we’re reminded here to REJOICE AT THE UNEXPECTED MANNER OF GOD’S SALVATION.
We sing, “Joy to the World!” and for good reason. Joy because the LORD has come to us. Joy to the World, the Savior Reigns. He rules the world.
We rejoice, and for good reason. We rejoice, because Immanuel has come to us.
We who belong to God by faith in Jesus have all the reason in the world for joy.
It’s no coincidence that one sense of this word—joy, rejoice—means to “be merry.”
When we think about joy this time of year especially, it would do us good to think about gladness, rejoicing, being merry.
“Merry Christmas” takes on some new meaning when we consider that it’s Jesus, the Christ, the son who was born to us—it’s Jesus who increases our joy and makes us merry.
The manner by which God saves His people is through a child, a son, born in a manger, with lowly shepherds as the first witnesses.
We rejoice at the unexpected manner of God’s salvation—because Jesus is the perfect Savior.
If you’re living in darkness, you need Jesus.
If you know despair and gloom, you need Jesus.
If all is well, you still need Jesus.
If you’re burdened with grief and sorrow; weighed down by sin and shame, come to Jesus, and find salvation, full and free. JOY. Happiness. Gladness.
Come to Jesus, and be merry. Come to Jesus and experience true, eternal joy.