What Son is This?

Intro

If there’s one thing American evangelicals love to do, it’s marketing

What we believe comes from what we read…or at least it used to.

In many ways, what Christian writers produce is more formed by the screen than the ways of the pen

Neil Postman: “the electric church”

For many, to be entertained is equivalent to being edified

My own experience as a boy with various “boy’s Bibles”

The Action Bible

The Holy Bible for Minecrafters

Mine: The Boys Bible

The problem in all of these gimmicks is that rather than getting us to see the point of the whole of the Word of God, their only goal is to get us in only leaving us dazed and confused

Scripture isn’t “seeker-sensitive”

We must read the Bible with gospel-grounded hearts and minds as the children of God

Only by being illumined by the Spirit to what the Bible even is really all about can we begin to comprehend its infinite worth for us

The prophecy here in the opening verses of Isaiah 9 reminds us of the hinge of history: the coming in the flesh of God’s chosen Messiah into the world. Rather than being a violent victor, Christ is a humble son born just like one of us so that he might be what we could never hope trusting in our own sinful selfishness. To be giving as we often are at Christmas ourselves is not enough; only Christ was the one who truly gave all so that in his body, all might see God and his salvation.

The Hope (vv. 1-5)

God’s salvation comes in an unexpected way (v. 1)

God’s trustworthiness doesn’t mean he’s predictable

The land about which Isaiah prophesied was not entirely unlike our own

Charting our own course apart from his promises leads only to death and disarray (8:22)

Redemption would be far easier for us to comprehend if it fit within our own system of psychological self-justification

God himself enters into our materialistic decay and reveals his glory without asking for our permission first

Everyone will behold the glorious salvation of the Lord (v. 2)

All of us are weighed down by our own depravity

No amount of fumbling around according to our own understanding can free us from spiritual darkness

Example: Someone has to be able to call out the whole elephant

If there’s one thing this year has taught us, it’s the folly of relying upon our own hyper-individualism for salvation

God will vindicate the righteous (vv. 3-5)

The people to whom Isaiah spoke were not aliens to hardship (v. 3)

Their only security was the covenant-faithfulness of their God

Our enemies cannot be fully conquered on our own accord (v. 4)

God himself will always be the true victor

Evil will eventually cease (v. 5)

The intimidating hordes fade, but the promises of God remain forever

How will God do this? Will it be because of a direct cataclysmic reckoning with the powers that be which would put Ares to shame? A charismatic leader who unites the nation’s with his charm? Perhaps a new state-of-the-art plague? No, Isaiah says. A child is the one who all of our hope is in.

The Hoped-In (vv. 6-7)

The son has a people he is purposefully coming into the world to save (v. 6)

His responsibility is political, but he’s no politician

The government of the Son is the entire created order which is in shambles due to our sins

In Christ, the totality of consolation is found

His attributes work together in unity toward the perfection of his salvation

John Calvin: “Whenever any distrust arises, and all means of escape are taken away from us, whenever, in short, it appears to us that everything is in a ruinous condition, let us recall to our remembrance that Christ is called Wonderful, because he has inconceivable methods of assisting us, and because his power is far beyond what we are able to conceive. When we need counsel, let us remember that he is the Counsellor. When we need strength, let us remember that he is Mighty and Strong. When new terrors spring up suddenly every instant, and when many deaths threaten us from various quarters, let us rely on that eternity of which he is with good reason called the Father, and by the same comfort let us learn to soothe all temporal distresses. When we are inwardly tossed by various tempests, and when Satan attempts to disturb our consciences, let us remember that Christ is The Prince of Peace, and that it is easy for him quickly to allay all our uneasy feelings. Thus will these titles confirm us more and more in the faith of Christ, and fortify us against Satan and against hell itself.”

By simply calling upon the Son, we already have our hopes answered

To know God means we actually trust him

Christ’s rule will be universal (v. 7)

He is the son of David who treasures the law of the Lord in his heart

The true throne of Christ is within the hearts of men

Peace for the redeemed comes about in reconciliation and restoration to God, not superficial toleration of others

It is only in the gospel that any lasting rest for society can be found

Christ’s power flows from within his own goodness

A heart of a righteous king is always for the welfare of his people

As God himself, Christ’s zeal cannot be stopped

Cleansing the temple was just the beginning; the whole world will soon be his dwelling place

Conclusion

Reflecting upon the behaviors and actions of the church in America this holiday season, it would seem that trusting in the Prince of Peace is insufficient when compared with the poisoned-honey rhetoric of the rulers of the age

Surrendering our hope to those who promise us fleeting feelings of influence and cultural prestige cannot usher in the kingdom of God as we often deceive ourselves into thinking

Christmas should humble us with how the very humiliation of the Son of God was what it would take to mend the canker of sin that has coursed throughout all of human history

Is the gospel just a home-spun set of proverbs that grandma loved put on her refrigerator to you, or is it the divine drama of God himself ransoming humanity out of the muck and mire of their own self-incurred sinfulness by taking upon himself a body which would be bruised and broken on their behalf so they might live again with him when it arose in glorious victory?

The manger is only the beginning

Philippians 2:6-11: “Though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

The child that the shepherds shouted about and the wise men helped hide from Herod was no mere guru or carpenter’s son. Beholding Christ with redeemed eyes allows us to apprehend a greater and more peculiar glory than most are willing to believe despite the carols they so often mindlessly sing about him. Our commissioning as Christians requires us to look to Isaiah 9 and answer one question: “What Son is this?” That, my friends, is the only one that matters for this season of Advent and any that might come after it until the next Advent that is to come.