God With Us 2: With Us: God

Bill Connors

God With Us • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

Isaiah 9:1–7

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B: Isaiah 9:1-7

Welcome

Good morning, and merry Christmas! Welcome to December and to our Family Worship Service here at Eastern Hills. That title—Family Worship—is intentional, and it has something of a double meaning. First, it means that we see the church as a family, and so when we gather to worship, it’s “family” worship. But also, we understand the importance of individual families worshiping together, for kids to see their parents worshiping God, for parents to teach their children the importance of joining with the church to worship our Lord, and for all of us to be able to do that together. So we’re great with little ones in the room, even if they can be a little noisy at times, because they are learning what it means to be a part of the church, and we together have a responsibility to help raise them in the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ. And if you’re joining us online, we’re glad that we have the technology to be able to do this. Thanks for being here this morning digitally today. However, for those in the church family locally who haven’t been able to join in person just yet for whatever reason, I do look forward to the day when we can worship together in person again.

Announcements

I wanted to take a second and thank everyone for their prayers and encouragement regarding my trip to Israel. I wrote about it on the front page of the EHBC Life a couple of weeks ago. I had planned going to the airport this afternoon to fly to New York and then on to Israel tomorrow, but God had other plans. Due to the rise of the omicron variant of COVID-19, Israel decided last Sunday to close their borders to international travel for two weeks, so my trip has been at least postponed. The organization that was traveling with, The Israel Collective, has very little information about next steps, because of course everything depends on what the nation of Israel does. So while I don’t know what the plans are, I know that God does, and I’ll just follow His lead when the time comes. Thanks again for your prayers, support, and encouragement.

Pastor Wayne has just a couple more Sundays with us after this morning. We are excited for him as he steps through the door into retirement! As I said in the letter that I sent out last month, we will have a send-off reception for Wayne and Joy in two weeks on Sunday, December 19, at 5:30 pm in Miller Hall. We are also taking up a collection as a gift for them that we will present to them that night. Please plan to be here that night to celebrate Wayne’s ministry and congratulate him on this next step in life.

LMCO: Goal $30K, given through last Sunday $11,810. Prayerfully give to this offering. Also the mailboxes in the foyer.

Opening & Scripture

This morning is our second week of a 5-sermon series for Christmas called “God With Us,” which comes from the prophesied name that Messiah would be called: Immanuel. We’re looking at five prophecies about the Messiah from the book of Isaiah, with the last message in the series being planned for our Christmas Eve Service. What we find in the book of Isaiah is what’s known as progressive revelation. The word “progressive” can have a couple of meanings. When I say “progressive revelation” for this series, I mean that throughout the book of Isaiah, we are given additional bits of the revelatory picture of Messiah’s coming. Last week, we saw the actual “Immanuel” prophecy in Isaiah chapter 7, and this morning, we will move on to Isaiah 9 and add another piece to the picture of Messiah’s coming. Let’s stand in honor of God’s Word as we read verses 1-7 of that chapter for our focal passage this morning:

Isaiah 9:1–7 CSB

1 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times when he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, and to Galilee of the nations. 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; a light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

PRAYER

Of all of the places in the Old Testament where we find messianic prophecy, this is probably my favorite passage. There’s a hope that it brings that is actually timeless: it speaks to our contemporary setting much in the way that it did in the time that it was given. Although the contexts are vastly different, the message of the messianic hope is the same. The Immanuel prophecy in chapter 7 that we looked at last week ended on a really ominous note:

Isaiah 7:17 CSB

17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and your father’s house such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah: He will bring the king of Assyria.”

And this wasn’t a good thing.

In between last week’s focal passage and this week’s is the prophecy of the remainder of chapter 7: a prophecy of difficulty and desolation in Judah. And then chapter 8 prophesied the invasion, predicting that the Northern Kingdom would be overrun and that the invasion would reach up to Judah’s “neck,” which it eventually did when Assyria invaded Judah under Sennacherib. The prophecy there is dark. Even in the coming oppression of Assyria, the people of Judah pursued spiritists and mediums for spiritual guidance, refusing to look to God for deliverance. Despite that apostasy, God gives a message of the arrival of Messiah… a message of light and victory in a dark time of difficulty.

Now, before we dive into looking at what we see in this passage, I need to address one textual issue. We need to remember that we are reading an English translation of ancient Hebrew here. If you compare the English translations of the CSB, NLT, ESV, and NASB, you’ll find that they don’t always agree on the tense of the verbs here. From verse 2 through the first part of verse 6, nearly all of the verbs are Hebrew perfect tense, which needs additional context to determine time frame: Just like our perfect tense verbs, perfect tense verbs in Hebrew can be past, present, future, or even ongoing.

The prophetic context that we see here has its basis in the assurance of the action of God. However, commentators and translators differ a little about how they think these verbs should be translated. Some commentators say that they should all be future tense: that all of them “will be,” which is what the NASB does. Some say that they should be present tense: that there is such assurance in what God is going to do that we can speak of it as being done, especially in light of the full revelation of Scripture, so they say “have seen” (verse 2), “have enlarged” and “have rejoiced” (verse 3), which is what the NKJV does. As long as we look at it in that light, neither translation is “incorrect.” The CSB and ESV translators chose to mix it up: to use the present tense through verse 4, and then the future in verses 5-6. The NLT does the opposite: it uses the future through verse 5, and then switches to confident present tense for the first part of verse 6. Again, neither is wrong. They are saying the same thing: that we can have such complete confidence in what God is saying that He will do that we can speak of it as either that it WILL occur, or as if it has ALREADY occurred. God did say of Himself later in Isaiah:

Isaiah 46:10 CSB

10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.

I’m bringing this up for two reasons. First: many of us are using various translations this morning. I didn’t want that to be a distraction for you as you read and listen. Second: I wanted to make sure that you understand that, just like I said at the beginning of my message, this prophecy is timeless. It points to a particular event in history: the coming of the Messiah, but the message of His coming has meaning for all people from the time the prophecy was given through today. We’ll consider both perspectives in each of our points this morning.

1) Messiah’s Arrival as Light

The message that Judah had been given since the Immanuel prophecy in chapter 7 was a difficult one to receive. Yes, there was a announcement made of God’s coming to be with us, but as I mentioned last week, that prophecy was likely not a positive message for Judah’s king, Ahaz. But the message in chapter 9 is different: it’s full of hope.

Isaiah 9:1–2 CSB

The Hebrew tradition actually puts verse 1 of chapter 9 with the end of chapter 8, but especially because of the connection between the gloom of verse 1 when coupled with the darkness in verse 2, along with the hope of honor in the future coupled with the “great light” in verse 2, I think that it goes well as an introduction to the poetry we find in verses 2-7.

Zebulun and Naphtali were the northernmost tribes of Israel, and they would have been the first to suffer when an invading army came from the north, such as what happened with Assyria. During the Syro-Ephraimite conflict, which we talked about last week, when Judah called on help from Assyria, Assyria provided that help in the form of invading northern Israel, particularly Naphtali:

2 Kings 15:29 CSB

29 In the days of King Pekah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee—all the land of Naphtali—and deported the people to Assyria.

But this is not how the message will end. Instead, God says that he would bring honor to what would be the least likely of places in Israel: by the way of the sea (of Galilee, most likely), from the land east of the Jordan, out of the land of the Gentiles (“of the nations”). So what would come from that far northern part of Israel that would honor it so? A light. A great light. A light that would dawn on the land of darkness.

Darkness is a pretty big image in Scripture. It normally denotes things like despair, fear, judgment, and hopelessness. Basically, as the opposite of light, darkness in Scripture is usually a place that is away from the presence of God. Certainly, the time that Judah found herself in, with the impending invasion of the Assyrians because of the apostasy that her king had led her into, would count as a time of darkness.

Fast forward about 250 years. After the message of the prophet Malachi in the early 400’s BC, the voice of God through the prophets falls silent. He stopped speaking directly to His people through prophecy, and the promise from Isaiah 9 hadn’t come true yet. Where is the light? Where is the Savior? The nation of Israel is plunged into spiritual darkness while they wait for the promise to be fulfilled.

This passage in Isaiah is clearly a message about the Messiah, as it is used as a reference to Jesus by Matthew in chapter 4 of his Gospel:

Matthew 4:12–16 CSB

12 When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: 15 Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, along the road by the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 16 The people who live in darkness have seen a great light, and for those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.

With the coming of Jesus, The silence is over, and the light has dawned. A modern Christmas song, “When I Think Upon Christmas” by Hillsong Worship, captures the message of the wonderful light of Christ that dispels the darkness:

For the joy of the world, He was born

Bringing peace to us all through the gift of the Son

Now the darkest of ages are done

For the Saviour of heaven has come.

— “When I Think Upon Christmas” by Hillsong Worship, Aodhan King, Renee Sieff, Benjamin Tan

The darkest of ages—the over 400 year silence of the voice of God—is broken when God the Son takes on flesh and comes as a baby: Immanuel, God with us. Not only do we experience His voice again, but His very presence in a tangible way—as One who shares our humanity. Messiah’s arrival scatters the centuries of darkness. A great light has dawned on the people living in the land of darkness.

We struggle in our own forms of darkness. We are set upon by sin, and walk in the darkness of separation from God who loves us. We are trapped in our darkened ways of thinking, lacking the ability to see the hope that God has provided for us. We are buried by guilt and shame and pain to the point that we believe that God is distant, uninterested, and silent—all lies. But like Judah in our focal passage this morning, we are presented with a message of hope, even as the darkness looms large around us.

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.

— Alec Motyer, Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary

Did you catch that? Yes, the darkness and distress in our lives is very much real, but they are not the ONLY thing that’s real, nor are they the MOST IMPORTANT reality. Jesus said that He is the light that has come into the world, and He comes to dispel the darkness:

John 12:46 CSB

46 I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.

I am not going to stand here and say that it’s all just super easy: just trust in Jesus and all of the darkness in your life will vanish. The darkness that vanishes when you trust Christ is the reality of your separation from God. He’s not distant, even if you feel like He is. He will never leave you nor forsake you. We can lean on our great God even in the times of darkness.

Isaiah 50:10 CSB

10 Who among you fears the Lord and listens to his servant? Who among you walks in darkness, and has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord; let him lean on his God.

If you’re in darkness right now, Jesus knows. He wants to shine the light of His presence into that darkness and bring you hope. The Christmas message—the message of the arrival of the Messiah—is a message that brings light to dark places in our hearts, dark places in our minds, dark places in our world. Jesus came so that we would not remain in darkness but have His light.

So Messiah’s arrival was an arrival of light. But it was also an arrival of victory.

2) Messiah’s Arrival as Victory

Certainly Judah needed a message of victory, because they knew what Assyria did to the nations they had conquered. Judah had been oppressed and enslaved before along with the rest of Israel, having spent hundreds of years in Egypt as slaves. But along with the promise of Messiah’s arrival as light in darkness, God promised through Isaiah that Messiah’s arrival would also be as victory out of oppression:

Isaiah 9:3–5 CSB

3 You have enlarged the nation and increased its joy. The people have rejoiced before you as they rejoice at harvest time and as they rejoice when dividing spoils. 4 For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 5 For every trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire.

There are great pictures here of victory: enlarging the nation (expanding her borders); bringing in the harvest; dividing the spoils (of war); shattering of a yoke, a rod, and a staff of oppression; burning the gear of war in the fire. These are not pictures of an oppressed nation: they are pictures of a delivered nation, using words like joy and rejoicing to picture how the people respond to the message given to them.

In this section, God hearkened the people back in their minds to the days of Gideon, which is found in Judges 6-8. Gideon was selected by God to judge, or lead, His people against the Midianites, who had oppressed them for seven years. Gideon rallied 32,000 troops to his side to fight against the Midianites, but in God’s view that was too many. So He allowed 22,000 to leave. But then God said that there were STILL too many, so He winnowed it down to a mere 300 men, so that the victory would clearly have to be from God. Then, Gideon and his little band surrounded the Midianite camp with torches in pots. The entire battle plan was to shatter the pots, suddenly revealing the light, to shout, and then to blow on ram’s horns. That’s what they did, and the Midian army was cut down by their own swords as they fought each other in their panic. God provided the victory that day, and God received the glory. What hope this message in Isaiah must have brought to the people of Judah at the time!

The last image that God gives through Isaiah here is perhaps the most graphic: the trampling boot of battle and the bloodied garments of war will be burned as fuel for the fire. This is because they will not be needed any more, because the victory has been won and peace has arrived. Messiah’s arrival brings a complete and total victory over the enemy.

But what kind of victory? Many Hebrew people expected that when Messiah arrived on the scene, that He would be a military or political leader who would fight against whatever nation was oppressing the Hebrew people at the time of His arrival, set up His everlasting throne as the descendant of David, and that the Hebrew people would return to that kind of prosperity and power.

But that’s not the Messiah who arrived, and that’s not the enemy that was defeated, and politics and military might had nothing to do with the victory the Messiah’s arrival declares. Instead, the Messiah’s arrival declared victory over an enemy much more insidious, much more dangerous than any political or military threat, because this enemy doesn’t live around us… it lives within us. Messiah came not to set the Hebrew people free from some government that oppressed them, but to set all of humanity free from the enemy that oppresses us all: sin. Going against God’s character in any way is sin, and it separates us from Him and kills us spiritually. But when Jesus came, He lived a perfect life and died in our place, so that we could have victory over sin and over death. Paul explained it this way in Romans:

Romans 8:1–4 CSB

1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, 2 because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, 4 in order that the law’s requirement would be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

We are set free from the penalty of sin and are offered eternal life with God in its place, because if we have surrendered our lives to Christ… if we are “in Christ Jesus”… there is no longer any condemnation for us. We are victorious over sin, having turned from it and turned to God. We don’t belong to sin any longer… we belong to God because He has given us the victory, like He did on the day of Midian.

It may sound simplistic, but the biggest battle we each face isn’t outside of us—it’s inside. Our flesh wants us to break down, to give in, to give up. And left to ourselves, we would. But Messiah has arrived, and with Him has come the victory over our worst enemy.

But ultimately, Immanuel is the arrival of God Himself, as we talked about last week.

3) Messiah’s Arrival is God’s Arrival

This is really the point of this week’s message. If you don’t get anything else that I say today, please get this: When Messiah arrived it was the arrival of God Himself, in actual human flesh—a fact that we refer to as the Incarnation. The order of the words that make up the name “Immanuel” is actually “With Us God.” It wasn’t just that it would be us and God together again. It was that because God loves us, He took the initiative to come and be with us in the Person of the Son. We could never have demanded that He come. He could never have owed it to us or been obliged to save us, and certainly not to take on our humanity and live as one of us as He did as Jesus. But He did, because He loves us. He is the promised Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6–7 CSB

6 For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 The dominion will be vast, and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

I love the theology in verse 6. It’s so simple for us to read it and jump right past it. But more than 700 years before the birth of Christ, Isaiah prophesied that a “child will be born,” and “a son will be given.” This is spot on: the child, Jesus of Nazareth, was born of a woman as a human. But the Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, was given, not born. He has always been because He is God. He was given for humanity’s sake, so that we could be reconciled to God.

And the government, or dominion and authority, would be on His shoulders. Because His shoulders bear the weight of leading, the shoulders of His subjects are unburdened, and we can follow Him with a yoke not of oppression, but of rest:

Matthew 11:28–30 CSB

28 “Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take up my yoke and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

And Messiah’s character, which was closely connected to one’s name in ancient Hebrew culture, is given with four descriptive titles:

Wonderful Counselor: having all the wisdom and knowledge of God, and able to plan the miraculous.

Mighty God: who He is and how much power He holds.

Eternal Father: how long He has been and will be, and the nature of His loving relationship with His people.

Prince of Peace: the administrator of a right relationship between the holy King: God, and His sinful subjects: man, Messiah is the royal bringer of peace.

And finally, in verse 7 we read that this Prince’s dominion will be massive, and will never cease to be prosperous and successful. His throne will be David’s throne, and from that throne He will set up and sustain His kingdom with both justice and righteousness forever. His kingdom will have no end. No one will be able to take His throne at any time. And all of this will be accomplished through God’s passionate commitment—zeal expressed in love—to His people. And since God has a passionate commitment to do it, this promise is one that Judah could rely upon: it was going to happen.

Application

John 1:1–5 CSB

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it.

This passage summarizes all three points this morning: the Word, who came in the flesh as Jesus, is God. The light shines in the darkness. The darkness did not, and cannot, overcome it. Jesus’ arrival fundamentally changed the way we see God:

John 1:18 CSB

18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.

John would go on to say in his first epistle that he was testifying in a very personal way:

1 John 1:1–3 CSB

1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—2 that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—3 what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.

In this world, we face both darkness and difficulty, injustice and unrighteousness, war and oppression... but when we trust and follow Christ, He brings light and victory, because He is God. This is what He brought at the first Christmas. We are not in darkness. We are children of light and of the day. In fact, we are the light of the world, reflecting the glory of Christ.

Matthew 5:14–16 CSB

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Brothers and sisters in the Christ: we have the light that the world needs this Christmas. We are to be those who reflect that light to the world around us with boldness, as representatives of His kingdom of justice and righteousness. Jesus is on the throne. We are not defeated. We are more than conquerors. We are victorious in Christ!

Our application for this passage is simple: to tell other people that God came to be with us on that first Christmas, that He is still with us who are in Christ, and that He wants to be with them as well. This is our mission and our calling, church. Let’s go!

Closing

If you are here this morning, and you’ve never understood the Gospel of Jesus Christ before: that because of God’s great love for us, God Himself stepped into our darkness to bring light, stepped into our defeat to bring victory, stepped into our humanity to bring salvation. And the way He brought that salvation was to be put to death on a cross in my place and yours, taking the punishment that we deserve because of our sin: a perfect and complete sacrifice to pay the penalty that we owe. And the Bible says that He rose again, overcoming death, so that those who belong to Him will defeat death as well. He offers this salvation freely, because we have no way of earning or deserving it. And what He asks of us is that we simply give up, surrendering ourselves to His lordship, turning away from going our own way in rebellion to Him, and trusting what He has done for our salvation. This is the point of Christmas.

You can give up and surrender to God wherever you are at this moment, responding in faith to the message of the Gospel. And God will be with you. And if today you have surrendered to God in faith, please come during the time that band is singing in just a moment and let us know so we can celebrate that with you. If you’re online and have surrendered yourself to God through faith in Christ, please let me know by email so we can help you as you start on this new life of faith. bill@ehbc.org

Church family: this invitation isn’t just for the lost. It’s for the saved as well. Immanuel has special meaning for us, because God is truly with us through His Spirit living within each of us who believe. And we have the testimony of what Christmas is really all about. Are we willing to share the message of hope: that unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given? This is what we are to be about church. And if you have been considering joining this church family through formal membership and would like to discuss that further, please let me know during the invitation time, so we can set an appointment to sit down and answer any questions you might have about Eastern Hills.

I’m going to invite the band to come for our time of response. If you would like to use this time to give an offering as a part of worship, please feel free to do so online. If you’d like to give in person this morning, you can use the plates by the doors as we go out at the close of service.

PRAYER

Closing Remarks

Our Ethics & Religious Liberty Ministry has asked me to remind you that this Tuesday, the 7th, is voting day for the city council runoff elections in Districts 7 and 9. District 7 is basically Eubank to I-25 from Montgomery to Lomas; District 9 is everything within the city limits south or Menaul and east of Eubank. Harold and Cathy Smith will be out at the table in the foyer with information on the latest newspaper endorsements for the candidates and with district maps and voting locations for you to pick up if you need them.

Bible reading 1 Sam 7 today

Instructions for guests

Benediction:

1 John 1:5–7 CSB

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him. 6 If we say, “We have fellowship with him,” and yet we walk in darkness, we are lying and are not practicing the truth. 7 If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.