Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

What are you trusting in?

This is not a question that is talked about most days - especially during the holiday season.

This is not something that we sit around and discuss while we eat breakfast and prepare to go off to work and school.

Most days we live in a relatively comfortable and normal bubble that allows us to eat our food, drive our car, watch tv and do so without trusting in anything.

This is an incredible dangerous position to live in, church.

Every moment of our lives we are trusting in something!

If you are facing a situation that you face often then you might be quick to trust in your own IQ or experience.

Often in life we trust in ourselves.

Not only do we do this at work and school, but we do this in our spiritual lives as well.

Sometimes it can be difficult for you to know what you are trusting in.

Possibly you are going throughout your day and you face a situation that you’ve faced before and you instinctively react to it as you always have.

Did you trust in yourself or did you trust in God to provide as He has in the past?

Sometimes this can be hard to tell, but one of the easier times it is to tell where your trust/hope is placed in is when you are facing a crisis… Whenever we face a crisis, we have options.

Trust in ourselves, or trust in God.

One of the tendencies for many people is to place their trust in either themselves or in others.

For Americans, we know that we are blessed to live in a great nation and we can be quick to place our trust in our government.

Throughout human history, though, we have seen the issues with placing trust in human leaders.

The Egyptians enslaved tens of thousands of innocent people to build their massive pyramids.

The Romans provided great technological advancement and helped bring about peace and prosperity to much of Europe, but they did so upon the backs of slaves and the Roman Legion.

The American Revolution attempted to break apart from the British Crown and establish a democratic republic for the people… but we know that our form of government even has its shortcomings and is corrupted by this tiny thing called sin.

Even though representative democracy is likely the greatest form of government on the planet at the moment, it is the best of bad options.

Scripture points to a time in which the perfect government system will be brought about: a Theocracy - a dictatorship with Jesus Christ being the ruler and the government being placed upon His shoulders.

Our text today is in Isaiah as the prophet gives a prophesy about a coming child - clearly a promise of the coming Messiah.

Let’s see what these whispers in the wilderness have to say about this coming Child.

Isaiah 9:

The sign of Immanuel (7:10-16)

Whenever we read a Christmas text such as and 9, we must be quick to acknowledge the fact that Scripture is progressive and that these types of texts certainly apply to the coming savior, Christ, but they also meant something to the people of Isaiah’s day and age.

They carried with them dual meanings both of immediate meaning and long lasting hope.

The reason that is so important for us to note before we study these two texts is that many people will make the point that and 9:1-7 are just talking about Jesus Christ.

To say this, though, is to only tell part of the story.

In order to truly exegete the text, we must be faithful to study the context by which Isaiah was writing and to do that means that we must understand what this message would have meant to his Jewish audience.

A couple weeks ago we looked at and examined Isaiah’s call to ministry as he caught a glimpse into the heavenly throne room and saw the Lord being worshipped on His exalted throne by the seraphim who cried out that God is “Holy, holy, holy.”

This was a man who had seen the glory and holiness of God and lived to tell the tale because his sins were atoned for by God.

Now, in , we see that the people of Judah are in a state of panic.

The Israelites (Northern Kingdom) and the Arameans have united together to destroy Jerusalem.

The king of Judah at this time was Ahaz - who was a bad king.

Yet, God tells Isaiah in that these enemies will not prevail against Jerusalem.

He declares that these people will not be able to conquer Judah.

Isn’t it amazing that whatever side God sides with will prevail?

We know this to be true in history as the Assyrians and Babylonians conquered Israel/Judah.

Did this transpire because their gods were stronger than Yahweh?

Of course not!

He used foreign powers who worshipped false gods to bring in His divine justice and judgment upon His people.

Whatever side God chooses will win, friends.

shows this to be true

Just because this is the case, though, there exists a warning for the king: If you do not believe, you will not last.

As tells us:

Romans 1

Ahaz must trust completely in Yahweh, God, he must be a man of faith!

As if this request were not enough, God essentially gives him a blank check in verse 10-11 as he tells Ahaz to ask for a sign and God will give it to him regardless of how significant the sign is.

Imagine how you would respond in such a situation… God tells you to simply ask for a sign, how would you answer?

Perhaps you would say that you’d want to be given riches or a special ability.

Possibly you would ask for a special Christmas gift or a relationship to improve.

We would ask for a great many things in this situation, yet Ahaz is silent!

He refuses in verse 12.

Because of Ahaz’s refusal, God will give the people a sign, according to Isaiah in verse 14.

The sign will be the son of a virgin, called Immanuel.

The questions that we must faithfully ask this morning are:

Was there an immediate sign in Ahaz’s day?

What does this verse teach about the virgin birth?

What is significant about the word, “Immanuel”?

Christian prophecy often has a type and a fulfillment, a shadow and the reality.

Something was acted out imperfectly in space and time illustrating some aspect of Christ’s future coming.

Christ then perfectly fulfills that shadow with the bright light of his life and ministry.

During Ahaz’s day there had to have been a child named Immanuel.

This would have been a “normal” child.

Does verse 14 tell us that there will be a virgin birth?

Of course!

uses and ascribes this as a prophecy fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

The Hebrew word in is “halmah” which means “young woman” or “woman of marrying age.”

It can refer to a virgin, but it does not emphasize her virginity.

The individual in Isaiah’s day would have been born like every single baby boy, the normal way.

However, this shadow points to the messiah who will be born of a true virgin, Mary.

Christian prophecy often has a type and a fulfillment, a shadow and the reality.

Something was acted out imperfectly in space and time illustrating some aspect of Christ’s future coming.

Christ then per- fectly fulfills that shadow with the bright light of his life and ministry.

Immanuel is a significant word for Christians and it means “God with us.”

In Isaiah’s day, this word was significant because it symbolized the fact that God was with the people of Judah - He was their protector.

As Christians know, though, the term Immanuel takes on even greater meaning in the person of Jesus Christ because the Son of God came to the earth, put on human flesh and is the Savior of mankind.

With that said, this would have meant something to Isaiah’s context and we have to at least acknowledge that fact.

This coming light of sorts will not only come, but even in Isaiah’s day His coming is being prophesied about.

tells us what His name will be and how He will be born of a virgin.

Let’s continue looking at what Isaiah prophesies about the coming King in .

Look for the Light (9:1-2)

shows us that this king will bring light and peace to God’s people.

The promise from the Lord in the opening verses of is that there will be no more gloom in Galilee, but that it shall be made glorious.

The two regions listed in this verse (Zebulun and Naphtali) are located in the far northern part of Galilee.

This region, arguably more than any other, was influenced by foreign cultures and religions.

This was the place that had turned their backs on God time after time, yet God will make this region glorious.

If you were thinking of a place that God would reward and make glorious, you’d think that it would be a place like Jerusalem because they were more obedient and more significant in this timeframe, yet that’s not how God works.

He uses crooked sticks and insignificant people to bring about His plan and He gets 100% of the glory.

God will bless this region and honor them whenever He sends a “new light” to them in the future.

Not only will these people see a light, but the light will shine on them.

The light will be in their very midst!

The hope in verses 1-2 of is that God has not given up on His people.

There will be hope and light in the coming days, even in the midst of the darkness.

Church, there are times where we might be going through the middle of a rough patch in life and we might feel as though we are in the darkness with no light in sight.

We must remember texts like that show us that hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah prophesied that the light would come.

Think of the hope that this would have given to the people of his day!