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Call to Worship:

Grace be to you and peace from God, who is and who was and who is to come, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. (Rev 1:4-5)

Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Royal Hope (9:1–7)

It is a sure hope—so sure that, according to Hebrew idiom, it is even written in past tenses as though it had happened already.

The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel M. The Light and the Child (8:19–9:7)

In v.2, as in several of the succeeding verses, past tenses are used to speak of events that, though future, are certain because they are divinely planned and predicted through an authentic prophet of God. These prophetic perfects serve to present faith’s faculty of imagination with the assurance of things hoped for (cf. Heb 11:1).

Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Royal Hope (9:1–7)

The darkness and distress are real but they are neither the only reality nor the fundamental reality. In any given situation we can either sink into despair or rise to faith and hope. Isaiah insists that hope is part of the constitution of the here and now.

Hope is not just a future-oriented thing. It looks at present realities with an alternate reading. This dark? There’s more to it.

Darkness become light.

People walking in darkness - people living out their lives in a shadow, under threat, but what comes after night? Dawn. Light dawns.

Joy follows. Two spheres of joy - harvest and plunder. (One is better than the other)

For God delivers.

Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Royal Hope (9:1–7)

He couples this with Gideon and the defeat of Midian (Judg. 6–8), a victory wrought through an insignificant agent (Judg. 6:15) and in such a way that it could only be a work of God (Judg. 7:2–14) but involving and benefiting Naphtali and Zebulun (Judg. 6:35). The yoke is suffering endured; the rod is suffering inflicted. The contrast expresses totality: all suffering is now at an end in this expected work of God.

For God brings an end to war… Isaiah 2:4

Isaiah 2:4 CEB

4 God will judge between the nations, and settle disputes of mighty nations. Then they will beat their swords into iron plows and their spears into pruning tools. Nation will not take up sword against nation; they will no longer learn how to make war.

For God will provide a King

Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary iv. The Royal Hope (9:1–7)

The perfection of this King is seen in his qualification for ruling (Wonderful Counsellor),11 his person and power (Mighty God), his relationship to his subjects (Everlasting Father) and the society his rule creates (Prince of Peace).

Hezekiah or Jesus?

Grace Song:

The major scholarly consensus with respect to approaching Isaiah 9:6-7 has been either messianic or Isaianic (i.e., that it is reference to Hezekiah as the awaited king), and not both. However, in light of "dynastic messianism", the most appropriate approach to Isaiah 9 seems to be that which embraces both messianic and Isaianic outlook. Hezekiah does play a major role in the book of Isaiah. He is the king par excellence that replaces Ahaz, and the first to be the "child" of Isaiah 9:6. Hezekiah was the first Messiah for Isaiah and the people living in the eight century BC Judah, for Hezekiah's birth signified God's presence with them in a most precarious circumstance. 10 Moreover, this oracle of royal hope was to serve as a model for Hezekiah and the ensuing kings to follow.

However as Provan notes, Hezekiah as well as the rest of the earthly Davidic kings that followed-- in the total effect within the context of the entire book of Isaiah -- was only a type and "a paradigmatic king in whose reign the promises were in fact as yet unfulfilled, and who thus points beyond himself to another Davidic monarch to come." 11

Thus, the ultimate fulfillment of the royal hope -- announced with an immediate reference to the prophet's own day, and with somewhat pale and shadowy understanding of its remote reference -- began with the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is continuing, and will be consummated with His glorious return.

From the Worship Sourcebook:

As followers of Jesus Christ, living in this world— which some seek to control, but which others view with despair— we declare with joy and trust: Our world belongs to God!

From the beginning, through all the crises of our times, until his kingdom fully comes, God keeps covenant forever. Our world belongs to him! God is King! Let the earth be glad! Christ is Victor; his rule has begun. Hallelujah!

The Spirit is at work, renewing the creation. Praise the Lord!

Jesus ascended in triumph to his heavenly throne. There he hears our prayers, pleads our cause before the Father, and rules our world. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Our hope for a new earth is not tied to what humans can do, for we believe that one day every challenge to God’s rule and every resistance to his will shall be crushed.

Then his kingdom shall come fully, and our Lord shall rule forever. —Our World Belongs to God, st. 1-2, 29, 56