God’s Grace for Us

According to a legend, Satan and his demons were having a Christmas part. As the demonic guests were departing, one grinned and said to Satan, “Merry Christmas, your majesty.” At that, Satan replied with growl, “Yes, keep it merry, If they ever get serious about it, we’ll all be in trouble.”

To redeem this time from simply being a time of stress and merriment, we better be serious about having a clear understanding of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. Let’s review two important definition that we learned last week.

Incarnation: The act of grace whereby Jesus came to earth and took on a human nature into union with his divine nature becoming “God incarnate” for the purpose of our salvation.

Atonement: The act of grace whereby Jesus suffered and died on the cross for the forgiveness of sins.

You will notice that each definition begins with the word grace. What is grace?

Grace: The divine activity in which God confronts human indifference and rebellion with an inexhaustible capacity to forgive and to bless.

In our text for today, we will look at God’s promise of a Son as His grace-filled action toward us.

Isaiah 9:1–7 ESV

1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

A Dark Situation

Isaiah begins this section by describing a spiritually dark situation. In Isaiah's day, Israel's once united covenant people had become divided socially, geographically, and spiritually. The North entered into judgment and exile for their sinfulness toward God before the South. As a result of their sin, God allowed this territory to be conquered by the Assyrian Empire from 740-722 BC. These two tribal territories mentioned here experienced an overwhelming loss that eventually became known as Galilee of the Gentiles. So how is this a prophecy of Christ? It is in this northern territory of Galilee that Christ began his ministry. Matthew 4:12-17

From the time of Isaiah to the arrival of Christ, the people of the area lived as people separated from God. But God will do something. He will change the former days into something better in the latter days to come. The latter days will be marked by glory and light through Jesus.

God’s Gracious Light

Isaiah lists four areas of promise where God reverses the situation. Instead of darkness, God shines a light. Instead of a lack of things, God will allow the people to rejoice over His provisions. Instead of the threat of death and oppression from the enemy, God will fight their battle and provide them with victory. We ought to recognize that in Christ, we have our needs met. We have a God that is for us and not against us. Therefore, we have every reason to rejoice in what Christ has done and continues to do for us.

So how does God show his grace that reverses the situation of darkness? The solution is the birth of a Son. This child will be a King, an Anointed One who takes up the throne of David. The King will change things for the undeserving people. Christ fulfilled these in ways that the ancients may have never imagined. As was mentioned last week, the greatest enemy of humanity is not other humans. We have greater enemies and problems, namely the Devil (Adversary) 1 Peter 5:8, and our sin and desires Romans 7:21-23.

We ought to recognize that in Christ, we have our needs met. We have a God that is for us and not against us. Therefore, we have every reason to rejoice in what Christ has done and continues to do for us.

Grace-Filled Names

In the earlier sections of Isaiah, children and their names provided the sign to trust in God’s promise. So too, this promised Son has a name that describes God’s gracious action. Let’s look at the four-fold name revealed in Isaiah. When we look at these names, we can see how Christ fulfills this for us.

Wonderful Counselor - a perfect king and ruler over the people and the world. He knows how things were meant to work according to God’s good design and will. We follow Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Mighty God - This name is quite interesting. On a basic level, it points to the power and person of God almighty. Only God is all-powerful. But this son will have this name/title, which doesn’t fully explain the trinity but leaves us with a door to understand how the Son is both Divine and the Messiah.

Everlasting Father - This name, like Mighty God, may have caused some to wonder how great this child would be. However, the term everlasting naturally describes the enduring quality that belongs only to God. And the term Father is not meant to equate the Son as being the Father, but pointing to the Covenant Relationship of Creator to the Created, just as a human father is present in giving life to a child, so too is Christ in giving life to us.

Prince of Peace - This name points to the kingly duties of the Son. Christ stands as the true ruler of the kingdom. He brings peace and administrates the kingdom to bring peace with God and others.

All the Son's actions will be of an eternal nature. All the Son will do will be in accordance with God’s righteousness, and it will never falter or grow weak.

Grace is the Zeal of the Lord

Although this section of scripture does not contain the word “grace”, it describes God’s gracious actions. Verse 7 may be the most essential key to understanding God’s grace. It simply states that the zeal of the Lord will do this. This phrase occurs other times in the Old Testament, such as 2 Kings 19:31 and Isaiah 37:32. Each occurrence describes a promise that comes from God’s definitive action. The Lord of Hosts (a term that often describes military power) acts with zeal. His zeal describes a strong feeling of passion and enthusiasm toward another. It is often used to describe God’s,

jealous concern for his own people and their welfare...

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition (Zeal)

When it comes to His creation, you, and me, He is passionate about you coming to know Him. He desires for us to enter a relationship of the Creator to the Created. Imagine the feeling of a parent separated from their child who deeply desires for things to be made right once again, and we will begin to understand the heart of God toward us. God’s zeal is a sign of His grace.

The Lord will do this

When asked why God should do all these things, how might we answer? Could we point to something that the people did in the land of Naphtali and Zebulun? No, that was a land of darkness. What about your own life? What part of your life could you point to that you could honestly tell God, “You must love me because I deserve it!”

The truth is that we could never point to anything that we have done to demand God’s grace. If we insist on setting up some guidelines to achieve God’s grace, we have missed the whole point of grace. It is a gift. We cannot pay God for it, nor can we set up a payment plan. We cannot even tip him for it. We can only humbly say, “I need it.” Only one person can cause God’s grace, and that is God alone.

God’s Grace for Our World

We should not forget that the prophecy of Isaiah was sent to a divided covenant people but looked forward to a re-united people under a New King. In the same way, we must look toward Jesus Christ as the solution for the restoration of human relationships. Like the lands of Naphtali and Zebulun, we too recognize the tremendous darkness we live under. Let us not forget that Peace comes from knowing the Prince of Peace. Righteousness in our actions flows from being made right through Jesus Christ. Restored relationships are made possible through the grace we receive from God and the grace we give toward others as forgiven people.

God’s Grace for a Troubled Heart

If you are a believer in Christ, you have received God’s life-giving grace. You may be tempted to think that God’s grace is only for salvation, but you would miss out that God’s grace is present for believers to deal with their shortcomings. In our walk with Christ, we may experience great moments of success. And we may be tempted to rely on that success as the source of evaluating our worth and relationship to God. We may not say it, but we may develop a bit of pride in our “good” that we accomplish for God and with God. But all it takes is one problem, one trip up, one challenge, or one less than stellar performance to cause us to go into a slump. In that slump, we may attempt to pump ourselves up by telling ourselves, “I will try harder next time.” But this thinking has a way of developing into pride and a system of working for God’s grace. Look at the example of Paul, who was the stellar apostle to the Gentiles. He recognized his need and the power of God’s grace.

1 Corinthians 15:9–10 ESV

9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 2096 Prayer Prelude of Newton

Two or three years before the death of John Newton, when his sight was so dim that he was no longer able to read, a friend and brother in the ministry called to have breakfast with him. Their custom was to read the Word of God following mealtime, after which Newton would make a few short remarks on the Biblical passage, and then appropriate prayer would be offered. That day, however, there was silence after the words of Scripture “by the grace of God I am what I am” were read.

Finally, after several minutes, Newton spoke, “I am not what I ought to be! How imperfect and deficient I am! I am not what I wish to be, although I abhor that which is evil and would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be, but soon I shall be out of mortality, and with it all sin and imperfection. Though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor yet what I hope to be, I can truly say I am not what I once was: a slave to sin and Satan. I can heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge that by the grace of God I am what I am!” Then, after a pause, he said. “Now let us pray!”