THE CHRIST CANDLE

As we end our celebration of Advent, we do so with a bang. We saved the best for last, so to speak. We looked at the prophecies and hope, the joy, and the peace that comes from the Messiah, we finish with the Messiah Himself. He is born, that Divine Christ child, and as we celebrate His advent we will see the glorious changes He has brought.

The significance of the coming of Messiah Jesus cannot be overstated. All the way back in we were promised the Seed of the Woman who would crush the serpent’s head. This epoch battle that has Satan has waged against God, this excruciating struggle against sin that has orphaned us from God, the havoc wreaked upon creation, all promised to be overturned by this Seed.

Though glimpses of the sun have shined through the clouds of despair occasionally, the world has sat in darkness. Isaiah describes it as “people who walk in darkness,” and “those who live in a dark land.”

Listen, brothers and sisters, we come this morning as a people who walked in darkness. We were people who lived in a dark land. But Jesus came! Everything changed over 2,000 years ago when Messiah came.

What I would like to do with our time this morning as we celebrate the Christ Candle on our Advent wreath is to walk through and see how this applies to us today. It is a glorious prophecy. I pray that God will help us delight in His sovereign goodness in bringing to us His precious Son.

I. CHRIST BRINGS LIGHT- vs. 2

The first thing Isaiah mentions in His prophecy is that Christ brings light. Look at how he describes the people. They are walking in darkness. They live in a dark land. This is a gloomy description of the people.

This is a picture of life under sin. I John describes the differences between light and darkness as being the difference between holiness and sin. However, I believe the metaphor also extends to greater detail. For example, in darkness there is confusion. You cannot see anything, and so you have no idea where you are, what is around you, and where you are going. This is such a graphic picture of our estate before Christ. Christian, Paul encourages us to remember what our lives were like before Christ saved us, and I believe this helps foster both gratefulness for the Lord’s mercy but also realization for what we were saved from.

Now, notice the description of the people in the darkness. They walk in darkness. That term, walk, is used in the Bible to describe a pattern. It is not that they took one stroll through the darkness, it is that that they lived through the darkness. Additionally, the second phrase says they lived in a dark land. Both of those terms, walk and lived, describe a state. Our existence, before Christ came, was one of darkness. We were completely hopeless and helpless.

But it is in this hopeless and helpless state that the light shines through. Aside from the comparison between light and darkness, Isaiah also adds some further help to give us a greater appreciation for the light brought by Christ.

He mentions “a great light.” This phrase is used to describe the sun, moon, and stars. But when one imagines deep darkness, darkness so thick you cannot see your hand in front of your face, then the brilliance of the noon-day sun is blinding. This is the contrast Isaiah is presenting at the Advent of Christ. In a land of deep and abiding darkness the light of Christ shines! No long are we blind to our own sin and desperate need for Christ. No longer are we ignorant of the greatest need of our world. Christ brings light, and His light changes everything.

II. CHRIST BRINGS ELATION- vs. 3

Notice second, that the Advent of Christ brings elation. It brings an indescribable and unrivaled joy! The nation is multiplied and its joy is increased. Their joy is swelling up like a balloon. They are rejoicing like it is harvest time! They are as excited as finding great spoil. This poetic description gives us a glimpse of the abiding joy that comes through Christ. We spent two Sundays ago looking at the joy that comes from Messiah Jesus in greater detail, but I wanted to bring up a thought connected with this particular verse.

While we rejoice at the goodness of God through physical blessings, and on a greater level praise Him for the spiritual blessings, the greatest joy we have is Christ. It is what Asaph pens in .

Psalm 73:25 NASB95

Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

When we realize that in Christ we have everything we could ever need, want, or desire, there is a joy that is ever-increasing, always-abiding, and never-ending. Like the people in , we will rejoice with an increasing joy! We will develop this attitude like Paul who said, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (, ESV) To live life on earth is Christ, it is wrapped up in, filled with, and spilling over with Jesus of Nazareth. And what is death? What becomes of the great equalizer of rich and poor alike? For the Christian, it is gain!

No wonder there is such joy at the Advent of Christ. Christian, Christ brings elation! Superior, unrivaled elation!

III. CHRIST BRINGS FREEDOM- vss. 4-5

Continuing to borrow from language of conquest, Isaiah gives the next beauty that Christ brings: freedom. The language uses depictions of warriors. Notice there is the picture of oppression. The yoke is a common description of slavery, as is the staff and rod. All picture oppression and slavery.

Before we describe those aspects, I want to highlight the background from which Isaiah is painting this picture. Think of the Exodus. The children of Israel had been enslaved by the Egyptians and placed under bitter oppression. That is one of the backdrops that Isaiah is using. Were we to take the time this morning we could reference several passages of Scripture that connect the dots. But there is one more backdrop on which Isaiah paints. That is Midian. It seems odd that this place would receive mention in this messianic prophecy, but after we look at it I think it will become abundantly clear why.

You may remember the name Midian in connection with Gideon. In we read of the Midianites brutal oppression of Israel. God called Gideon to deliver His people, and Gideon sent messengers to recruit soldiers from Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali (; ). As Gideon began to work through God to deliver Israel, God instructed Gideon that his army was too large. In God clearly gives the reason for reducing Gideon’s army.

Judges 6–7 NASB95

Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. ‘I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.” ’ ” Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. “Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.” Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar. Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground. Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him, rose early and camped beside the spring of Harod; and the camp of Midian was on the north side of them by the hill of Moreh in the valley. The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’ “Now therefore come, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’ ” So 22,000 people returned, but 10,000 remained. Then the Lord said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water and I will test them for you there. Therefore it shall be that he of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ he shall go with you; but everyone of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ he shall not go.” So he brought the people down to the water. And the Lord said to Gideon, “You shall separate everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, as well as everyone who kneels to drink.” Now the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was 300 men; but all the rest of the people kneeled to drink water. The Lord said to Gideon, “I will deliver you with the 300 men who lapped and will give the Midianites into your hands; so let all the other people go, each man to his home.” So the 300 men took the people’s provisions and their trumpets into their hands. And Gideon sent all the other men of Israel, each to his tent, but retained the 300 men; and the camp of Midian was below him in the valley. Now the same night it came about that the Lord said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hands. “But if you are afraid to go down, go with Purah your servant down to the camp, and you will hear what they say; and afterward your hands will be strengthened that you may go down against the camp.” So he went with Purah his servant down to the outposts of the army that was in the camp. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the sons of the east were lying in the valley as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. When Gideon came, behold, a man was relating a dream to his friend. And he said, “Behold, I had a dream; a loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian, and it came to the tent and struck it so that it fell, and turned it upside down so that the tent lay flat.” His friend replied, “This is nothing less than the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; God has given Midian and all the camp into his hand.” When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed in worship. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the Lord has given the camp of Midian into your hands.” He divided the 300 men into three companies, and he put trumpets and empty pitchers into the hands of all of them, with torches inside the pitchers. He said to them, “Look at me and do likewise. And behold, when I come to the outskirts of the camp, do as I do. “When I and all who are with me blow the trumpet, then you also blow the trumpets all around the camp and say, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon.’ ” So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just posted the watch; and they blew the trumpets and smashed the pitchers that were in their hands. When the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and cried, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Each stood in his place around the camp; and all the army ran, crying out as they fled. When they blew 300 trumpets, the Lord set the sword of one against another even throughout the whole army; and the army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali and Asher and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian. Gideon sent messengers throughout all the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Come down against Midian and take the waters before them, as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan.” So all the men of Ephraim were summoned and they took the waters as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan. They captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan.

Judges 6:35 NASB95

He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.

Judges 7:2 NASB95

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’

God wanted Israel to know that it was Him, and not themselves, that delivered them. And this is the constant theme of Scripture, all the way from Genesis to Revelation. You and I, left on our own, are helpless babies in a land of darkness. Just as Paul would write in ...

Isaiah 9:4 NASB95

For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.

Ephesians 2:8–9 NASB95

For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Judges 7:2 NASB95

The Lord said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.’

Israel was delivered from Egyptian slavery and Midian oppression, not by their own hands, by but the sheer grace and unimaginable power of God. We are delivered from the slavery of sin and oppression of the devil, not by our own power, but by the amazing grace and saving power of God! Christ brings freedom! Freedom from sin, from Satan, and from the world. We are no longer oppressed, and we are not even conquerers. Paul tells us that we are more than conquerers ().

Back to the word pictures of our own oppression. We are, as Paul describes in , slaves to sin before Christ saves us. While we do not sin to the full extent of our capacity, we all sin because we are sinners. We are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Our entire beings are corrupted by the fall. Simply look at to see how the Scriptures, God’s inspired Word, describe us.

I want you to picture someone who is addicted to something. It could be alcohol, pornography, shopping, whatever. The addict is practically incapable of freeing him or herself from the addiction. Outside help is needed. This is the idea behind the freedom we have because of the advent of Christ. We are delivered from sin. We are no longer slaves to sin. Through faith in the Messiah and repenting from sin we enjoy freedom!

So, Christ brings light, he brings elation, and he brings freedom. But Christ brings His kingdom.

IV. CHRIST BRINGS THE KINGDOM- vss. 7-9

Sam Renihan connects some dots for us when he writes this,

“The kingdom that Adam should have built, but failed to build, and the kingdom that Israel was designed to prefigure and prepare, that kingdom was the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ.” - Sam Renihan

[Sam Renihan, The Mystery of Christ: His Covenant & His Kingdom (Cape Coral, FL: Founders Press, 2019), 194.]

Christ’s advent is the inauguration, the beginning of the unfolding of His kingdom. Remember John the Baptist’s call? He said “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (, ESV)

The kingdom of heaven (or God, Matthew was sensitive to his Jewish audience), is here now as the Church. Paul picks this incredible theme up in his letter to the church at Ephesus. Christ’s kingdom is here, now, in the Church. All that is promised in this Child comes at His birth, not at full growth. The son arrives and the kingdom begins.

Now, as opposed to working primarily (and some would say exclusively) through the nation of Israel, God is working through the Church comprised of people from every tribe, people group, and language all worshiping Christ and proclaiming the Gospel.

Jesus describers the ever-expanding and always-victorious nature of His kingdom in , And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (ESV)

Christ’s Kingdom is in the world as the Church, and the gates of hell cannot prevent it from destroying its kingdom.

APPLICATION

So what does this all mean to us today? I see four possible applications.

First, concerning Christ bringing light. If you are not a follower of Jesus, you are as those people who walk in darkness and live in deep darkness. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the darkness, you may not even be aware of this fact. But Christ shines light, and this Scripture offers you the hope of living in the light of God. Would you confess and forsake your sins, and leave the darkness through the power of God’s grace?

Second, Christ brings elation. Christian, are you aware of the joy of the Lord? That sweet delight that comes not from external circumstances but from God Himself? Spend time in prayer and meditation as you dwell upon the mercy of God that He would be our Father.

Third, Christ brings freedom. Perhaps you are battling against a particularly sin. I want to offer a few steps that you can use to gain victory over that sin.

First, confess that sin to God ().

Second, memorize and study Scripture that concerns that sin. You can typically find an account of someone’s life with that sin in Scripture as well as teaching that helps provide the framework for that particular sin.

Third, keep a card with the Scripture or thought gained from your study about that sin, and chose to find fulfillment or joy in God (an aspect of His character).

Fourth, enlist the help of the church. Find someone who can help you fight against that sin.

Fourth, Christ brings the kingdom. As we approach 2020, I think it is fitting that we end with this. The Old Testament prepares the way for the Messiah, and Jesus brought both Jewish and Gentile people into His Church. It is His Kingdom. We must understand, from the Scriptures, what Christ expects of His Church. He expects His Church to follow His Word, submit to His leaders, pray for and encourage its members, and proclaim the glorious Gospel.

QUESTIONS FOR PERSONAL DEVOTION AND FAMILY WORSHIP

Have I confessed my sin and received Christ’s salvation? Has Christ brought His light into my own life?

Do I have true joy in God? What other things in life do I search for to achieve joy?

Am I struggling with a particular sin? What Scriptures speak to that sin? How can I use God’s Word to fight against that sin? Who have I enlisted to help me gain victory over that sin?

Have I committed myself to Christ’s Kingdom (i.e., the Church)? Have I submitted to the leaders of Christ’s Kingdom? How am I contributing to His Kingdom? Am I telling others about the Gospel?