Sermon Tone Analysis

The Messiah in Isaiah-Born to Rule

Spring Valley Mennonite; August 14, 2022; Isaiah 9:1-7

In these days of worldwide turmoil and political uncertainty it is refreshing and encouraging to look to the future earthly reign of Messiah Jesus.

One of the great and wonderful themes of Isaiah is the future reign of Jesus Christ on earth.

The ninth chapter of Isaiah speaks of the rule and reign of Jesus, giving details, many of which are yet to be fulfilled.

There are many believers who misunderstand prophetic passages such as these concerning Christ's reign.

Some believe only in Christ's spiritual kingdom-the unseen and invisible kingdom over which Jesus rules, and while this invisible kingdom presently exists-we are a part of it-there will be a future, literal earthly kingdom.

Others view all the prophesies regarding Israel as now applying to the Church; "God is finished with Israel", they claim.

As I said, many are confused by Biblical prophecy, and consequently are tempted to disregard it.

The thought is, "That's just too complicated!"

A word on that viewpoint: God places no premium on ignorance.

About one-fourth of the Bible is predictive prophesy.

Should we willingly ignore 1/4th of the Bible?

The Jews of Jesus' day were also confused over the question of the Messiah's rule on earth, especially Jesus' close followers.

Even John the Baptist had doubts as he sent his disciples to Jesus with the question: "Are you the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?

And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them."

Why was there a question?

Jesus did not seem to be moving toward establishing Himself as a King!

Did not scripture-the very verses we will cover this morning-did they not clearly speak of a conquering, powerful Messiah Who would subdue Israel's enemies?

Was not a restoration of the "Golden Age" of Kings David and Solomon promised?

Even Jesus' disciples asked Him repeatedly, "Is it now that you are going to establish Your Kingdom on earth?"

Perhaps an illustration will help us understand these prophesies regarding the Messiah.

When you drive toward the Rocky Mountains from the east, the first thing you see is a faint bluish-purple line on the distant horizon.

As you continue driving, the shape of the mountains becomes more distinct, and you begin to pick out individual peaks.

But it is not until you arrive at the mountains themselves that you find that you were seeing a series of mountain ranges, each range separated by valleys.

Those valleys were not apparent from a distance.

The prophet describes events in the way that we view the distant mountains.

The birth of Jesus and the events of His life, death, resurrection, and ascent into heaven are represented by the first range of mountains.

His return and establishment of His earthly kingdom to rule and reign is the second mountain range, which from a distance seemed to be part of the first range.

Prophetic events may be separated by valleys consisting of periods of time, even though the events to the prophet seemed to stand side-by-side.

We know from history that there is a valley of least 2000 years separating the birth, life and death of Jesus from His earthly return, and the beginning of events of the last days ushering in His reign from Jerusalem.

Chapter nine of Isaiah speaks of events regarding the Messiah from both His first Advent-His first coming, and from His second Advent, when the Lord Jesus comes in magnificent power and glory.

But there is an additional element which is the invisible Kingdom Jesus established when He left the earth, a kingdom of which we are a part.

There is a present application in our lives today for these verses.

Follow along as I read the first two verses of chapter 9 of Isaiah.

I. THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

There will be no more gloom; To whom is Isaiah speaking?

Generally, these words are for Judah, but few in Isaiah's day were listening.

These words were not appreciated until Judah was carried away into Babylon.

Isn't it ironic that we so often don't listen to God until we're in deep trouble?

King Ahaz had rejected the words of God and was leading the nation into a terrible time of fear and oppression by Assyria.

Through Ahaz's alliance with Assyria, he bought several years of peace, but it was a troubled peace.

Sin always brings darkness and gloom to a people.

Proverbs 14:34: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

The northern Kingdom of Israel soon fell to Assyria as Isaiah had predicted.

Two of the areas of the conquered Northern Kingdom are spoken of in verse 1.

We remember that Joshua divided the land of Canaan among the 12 tribes of Israel after he had led the conquest of the land after the exodus from Egypt.

Each tribe had a particular area assigned to them (if you have maps in the back of your Bible, there is probably a map of this land division.)

The region to the west of the sea of Galilee was given to the tribe of Naphtali.

Just west of Naphtali was the land given to the tribe of Zebulun.

If you study the map of Israel, you find the town of Nazareth in the territory originally given to Zebulun, and the cities along the Sea of Galilee, like Capernaum, fell into the territory of Naphtali.

These regions were to be made "glorious" although they were "in anguish and treated with contempt."

These regions of Israel are among the most fertile and desirable of all the land and were the first to be populated by the conquering nations.

Many large pagan cities were established in this desirable and beautiful area.

Because there was such a large Gentile influence, in Jesus' day it was said, "Can anything good come out of Galilee?" and "No prophet could come from Galilee."

This area was too pagan, too "gentilized."

Religious Jews considered those from Galilee as second-class citizens.

Isn't it enlightening that God allowed His Son to be raised in Galilee?

One of the largest Greek/Roman cities, a metropolis named Sepphoris, was only four miles from Nazareth!

God often sees things differently than does man!

But it wasn't ONLY the regions of Galilee that were in the gloom of verse 1; the entire nation was overcome with darkness, as was the entire world.

Earth is the dark planet because sin rules.

But-into the gloom-shined a Great Light!

There would come from Galilee One who would be a great deliverer.

John 1:4-5: "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

John 8:12: "Jesus spoke to them saying, 'I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness but shall have the light of life." 2 Corinthians 4:6: "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Verses 1 and 2 speak of the first Advent, the "first range of mountains" so to speak.

II.

THE CONQUERING MESSIAH

(Read verses 3-5.)

With these verses, we slip across a 2000- year valley into a second prophetic range of mountains which speak of the future reign of Messiah.

Note that between verses 2 and 3, we cross the entire Church Age which began at Pentecost, and cross to the end of the Tribulation Period.

We find several things specifically promised in the future to the Nation of Israel:

* The nation will be multiplied.

When Isaiah was speaking, the population of Judah was being decimated by war and deportation.

Although Jerusalem was still standing, the Syrians had taken captive many Jews.

So, this was a precious promise of a coming regathering.

In addition, the promise included the aspect of even expanded borders.

In Genesis 15, God promised Abraham that Israel would possess all the land between the Nile and the Euphrates Rivers.

* Their Gladness would be increased.

To a depressed and downtrodden people, what a promise that they would again have joy.

The Jewish people have proven to be amazingly resilient.

While they have been almost universally and unreasonably hated by the Gentile nations throughout history, and many have tried to exterminate them, against all odds they have survived as a distinct people group maintaining their cultural identity.

Under Hitler, the Nazis were responsible for the deaths of over 6 million Jews.

When Messiah Jesus establishes His earthly Kingdom, there will be unparalleled gladness among the Jews, who will embrace Jesus as their promised Messiah.

This will be, as verse 3 states, like the gladness of a farmer after a bumper crop is gathered in, or like warriors dividing the spoils of battle.

* Their enemies will be conquered.

There will be liberation and freedom from all oppressors.

From the time of Isaiah, the land of Israel has been subject to Gentiles.

First Assyria, then Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, then the Arabs, interspersed with brief periods of the Crusaders, then the Ottoman Turks until World War I.

The British General Allenby conquered Jerusalem in 1917, placing the land under England's jurisdiction.

In 1948, after almost 2000 years of domination by Gentiles, and against incredible odds, Israel became an independent nation.

The stage is now set for the final events of Prophesy, although Israel remains surrounded and threatened by enemies.

Even this last week, the inhabitants of Israel were told to shelter in air raid shelters in protection from bombardment from Gaza.

But modern Israel does not represent the final regathering of the Jews, which remains in the future.

It does set the scene for that event.

What is described in verse 5 speaks of a time when all their enemies will be so thoroughly conquered that their articles of clothing will be burned, indicating that they are all dead.

I believe this is a glimpse of the great battle of Armageddon.

III.