WEBVTT 00:00:00.359 --> 00:00:05.772 Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah Isaiah chapter 9, isaiah, chapter 9. 00:00:05.772 --> 00:00:17.321 For those of you that are new here, you can turn to page 600 or so, probably right in that area. 00:00:17.321 --> 00:00:22.765 You'll get to the front of Isaiah and just flip over a few more pages and you'll find Isaiah, chapter 9. 00:00:22.765 --> 00:00:29.102 Few more pages and you'll find Isaiah, chapter nine. 00:00:29.121 --> 00:00:36.195 At Christmas time we come together largely to celebrate, and there's no better way to express that celebration than in the songs we sing. 00:00:36.195 --> 00:00:44.063 We call them Christmas carols and listen to some of the titles, even one that we sang this morning Joy has Dawned. 00:00:44.063 --> 00:00:54.381 But titles like Joy to the World Hark the Herald, angels Sing, christians Awake, salute the Happy Mourn, go Tell it on the Mountain. 00:00:54.381 --> 00:01:00.808 Good Christian Men Rejoice O Come All Ye Faithful, joyful and Triumphant. 00:01:00.808 --> 00:01:05.596 These titles all speak of celebration befitting this season. 00:01:05.596 --> 00:01:19.260 Even the word carol brings an understanding of celebration into it, because the word carol comes through the French language, out of the Latin, which means to dance in a circle. 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:27.427 So to sing a Christmas carol would have originally meant a song of celebration that included movement and dance. 00:01:27.427 --> 00:01:30.355 We don't do that so much these days. 00:01:30.355 --> 00:01:41.924 We don't dance in circles around our carols, but we sing with the same spirit of celebration, and it's not just the music that fits a mood of celebration. 00:01:41.924 --> 00:01:46.352 Our towns and cities are filled with lights and decor. 00:01:46.352 --> 00:01:49.766 We drape decorations all over our houses. 00:01:49.766 --> 00:01:51.111 We have them here. 00:01:51.111 --> 00:01:58.367 Even our clothing is filled with a depth of richness that we don't typically wear at other times of the year. 00:01:58.367 --> 00:02:05.668 We'll feast on food in the next coming days that's specially set apart for this time of year. 00:02:05.668 --> 00:02:13.408 All of this in celebration as we remember the birth of Christ, who's come into this world to deliver humanity. 00:02:14.480 --> 00:02:25.872 And this morning I want us to look at Isaiah, chapter 9, and to feel the sense of jubilation and celebration that comes in this announcement of the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 00:02:25.872 --> 00:02:32.592 It's a prophecy in Isaiah, fulfilled, of course, in the life of Christ, as we read the Gospels. 00:02:32.592 --> 00:02:37.491 But let's listen to this as we get this picture of the coming Savior. 00:02:37.491 --> 00:02:43.893 And the first thing I want us to notice here in chapter 9 is the audience of good news. 00:02:43.893 --> 00:02:47.099 The audience of good news, the audience of good news. 00:02:47.099 --> 00:03:00.512 At the end of chapter 8, as we were looking at it together last week, we realized that there were people who were not putting their faith in God, who were determined to live their own life of self-will and determination. 00:03:00.512 --> 00:03:07.572 And the prophet spoke about those people that they would live under a devastating darkness. 00:03:07.572 --> 00:03:14.294 So just back up a little bit into the very end of chapter 8, and you'll see this in verse 19. 00:03:17.181 --> 00:03:25.989 When they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the spiritists to chirp and mutter, shouldn't the people inquire of their God? 00:03:25.989 --> 00:03:28.723 Should they inquire of the dead? 00:03:28.723 --> 00:03:38.611 On behalf of the living, go to God's instruction, and if they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. 00:03:38.611 --> 00:03:44.288 So here were these people who were looking for answers outside of God. 00:03:44.288 --> 00:03:48.735 They were looking to their mystics, to perhaps even their scholars. 00:03:48.735 --> 00:03:57.979 They were looking to those who purported that they could communicate with the dead or with the spirits for solutions, and they recognized they were in difficult times. 00:03:57.979 --> 00:04:00.508 That's why they were looking for answers outside of themselves. 00:04:00.508 --> 00:04:06.171 But as they were looking for these answers, they went to the wrong places. 00:04:06.171 --> 00:04:08.443 And where did it leave them? 00:04:08.443 --> 00:04:10.549 It left them in the dark. 00:04:11.853 --> 00:04:17.386 Verse 21 expresses that They'll wander through the land dejected and hungry. 00:04:17.386 --> 00:04:23.584 When they're famished, they'll become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 00:04:23.584 --> 00:04:32.509 They will look to the earth and only see distress, darkness and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness. 00:04:32.509 --> 00:04:35.928 You can't help but catch all these dark words. 00:04:35.928 --> 00:04:49.221 It's gloomy, it's thick darkness, it's distress, darkness, its distress. 00:04:49.221 --> 00:04:59.305 Living a life that rejects God's way and God's word eventually ends up full of emptiness and dissatisfaction, a lack of fulfillment, pangs of longing that turn eventually into anger and even bitterness. 00:04:59.305 --> 00:05:12.732 And Isaiah speaks to these people and he's got something to say to this audience and it's a wonderful, wonderful announcement we'll get into, but notice who he speaks to. 00:05:12.732 --> 00:05:29.766 Nevertheless, the gloom of the distressed land will not be like that of the former times, when he humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, but in the future he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land of the east of the Jordan and to the Galilee of the nations. 00:05:29.766 --> 00:05:35.000 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:41.107 A light is dawned on those living in the land of darkness, of darkness. 00:05:41.107 --> 00:05:43.348 Here. 00:05:44.410 --> 00:05:51.516 Isaiah speaks in chapter 8 about gloom and humiliation, darkness and death. 00:05:51.516 --> 00:05:58.721 But it's not the end of the story. 00:05:58.721 --> 00:06:00.103 This isn't the final word to these people that are in this condition. 00:06:00.103 --> 00:06:10.891 We can rejoice that Isaiah has more to say to us than just judgment, that God speaks to us also about mercy and not solely about this judgment. 00:06:10.891 --> 00:06:19.685 And Isaiah, chapter 9 and verse 1, makes a profound shift away from that judgment toward hope and light. 00:06:21.148 --> 00:06:34.072 The Word of God has these wonderful movements as it pivots away from the realities of sin and judgment into the remarkable news of God's activity of grace and mercy. 00:06:34.072 --> 00:06:40.603 Just listen to a couple other ones that pivot so strongly as this one Ephesians 2,. 00:06:40.603 --> 00:06:52.252 You're dead in trespasses and sins in which you previously walked in the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the disobedient. 00:06:52.252 --> 00:06:59.613 And we too previously lived among them, in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts. 00:06:59.613 --> 00:07:09.322 And we were, by nature, children under wrath, just as others were also were, by nature, children under wrath, just as others were also. 00:07:09.322 --> 00:07:10.124 Gloom and doom, darkness and despair. 00:07:10.124 --> 00:07:11.706 Judgment worthy what's the next phrase? 00:07:11.706 --> 00:07:20.423 But God, who is rich in mercy because of his great love that he has had for us. 00:07:20.423 --> 00:07:26.571 You can't ask for a stronger movement of contrast than that. 00:07:28.995 --> 00:07:36.973 The scriptures tell us that God's word isn't just a message of judgment, it's a glorious message of hope. 00:07:36.973 --> 00:07:47.702 And to people sitting in darkness, to people sitting in gloom, to people who have been looking everywhere but God for an answer to the things that are troubling their lives. 00:07:47.702 --> 00:07:53.321 God comes and says there'll be a message of hope even for you. 00:07:53.321 --> 00:08:13.612 Some years ago, when I was a new believer, living up in Plattsburgh, where it's cold up there like it is today here a lot more I was speaking to a lady about her soul and as I was talking she said are you calling me a sinner? 00:08:13.612 --> 00:08:19.069 And I said to her I said well, it's not me that's saying that you are. 00:08:19.069 --> 00:08:20.291 It's the Word of God. 00:08:20.291 --> 00:08:27.002 But if you don't think that you're someone who's disobeyed the Lord, I really don't have much to say to you. 00:08:27.002 --> 00:08:33.623 But if you will admit that you are, I've got a lot of glorious things that I can share with you. 00:08:33.623 --> 00:08:39.580 You see, the scriptures tell us that Christ Jesus came into this world. 00:08:39.580 --> 00:08:44.289 The purpose for Christmas is to save sinners. 00:08:44.289 --> 00:08:49.721 I mentioned this at Bonu's dinner party a couple nights ago. 00:08:51.163 --> 00:09:13.327 In 2005, the BBC, on one of their radio programs, had a little competition and it was called the Reduced Nativity Competition and they invited callers to call in and to try as best as they could to give a 30-second summary of the nativity Now? 00:09:13.327 --> 00:09:26.464 Could you do that with all the moving parts of Herod and the shepherds and you know, the manger scene and the movement of Joseph and Mary and all of that to Bethlehem and the birth of the baby and all these things? 00:09:26.464 --> 00:09:34.091 30 seconds, you've got 30 seconds, go Well, the Bible can answer that question in three seconds. 00:09:34.091 --> 00:09:37.801 Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. 00:09:37.801 --> 00:09:40.384 That's the nativity right there. 00:09:40.384 --> 00:09:41.807 Three seconds. 00:09:43.730 --> 00:10:03.543 And so the audience of the news that we're about to share is not the audience of the worthy, it's not the audience of the righteous, it's not the audience of the perfect, it's the audience of those who have made the gloom and the darkness, because they have been the ones who have done this right. 00:10:03.543 --> 00:10:17.293 So it's a message for us all, because every single one of us have obviously tried to look for answers to life and the problems that we face by not going to God for them. 00:10:17.293 --> 00:10:21.886 We thought we've had the ability, we thought our friends have had the answer. 00:10:21.886 --> 00:10:50.092 We've looked to others around us, we've gone all sorts of places but to the God who created us, and the result of that has just been the same kind of gloom and darkness and hopelessness that's described here in Isaiah's prophecy To us, to us people in the dark, is this message Now let's look at it To the people living in darkness? 00:10:50.193 --> 00:10:53.883 In verse 2, they've seen a great light. 00:10:53.883 --> 00:11:01.809 A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 00:11:01.809 --> 00:11:12.163 You see, the message that Isaiah is saying is, yes, things are really bad and, yes, we can't save ourselves. 00:11:12.163 --> 00:11:17.032 Things are that dark, but there's hope. 00:11:17.032 --> 00:11:26.614 But there's hope, there's a sign of deliverance that's on the horizon, that will dawn and dispel this darkness. 00:11:26.614 --> 00:11:31.410 It'll be able to penetrate it and it'll be able to eradicate it. 00:11:31.410 --> 00:11:34.970 Something's coming that will take all of that away. 00:11:34.970 --> 00:11:38.606 The question is what is it? 00:11:38.606 --> 00:11:41.508 What is it that will bring this? 00:11:41.508 --> 00:11:49.059 Well, isaiah answers that question by talking about a child who is to come, and we'll look at that in just a moment. 00:11:49.059 --> 00:12:10.917 But this question of light coming from the darkness penetrated the hearts of the people that Isaiah first brought this prophecy to, and 700 years later, the question kept moving through generation to generation. 00:12:10.917 --> 00:12:13.312 What is this hope? 00:12:13.312 --> 00:12:14.889 What is this light? 00:12:14.889 --> 00:12:21.238 What is this dawning of dispelling the darkness of life apart from God? 00:12:21.238 --> 00:12:24.452 Well, we get an answer in the Gospel of Matthew. 00:12:25.706 --> 00:12:31.475 Matthew, chapter 4, we get this sort of travelogue about Jesus. 00:12:31.475 --> 00:12:38.495 Jesus, when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew from Galilee, or to Galilee, rather. 00:12:38.495 --> 00:12:40.200 He left Nazareth. 00:12:40.200 --> 00:12:45.990 He made his home in Capernaum, by the sea and in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. 00:12:45.990 --> 00:12:54.640 Boy, all that's starting to sound a little familiar, sounds a bit like what Isaiah talked about here in verse 1. 00:12:54.640 --> 00:13:16.630 And then Matthew gives us a commentary so that it might be spoken through the, so what has been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea across the Jordan, galilee of the Gentiles. 00:13:16.730 --> 00:13:27.019 The people who sat in the darkness have seen a great light and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, a light has dawned. 00:13:27.019 --> 00:13:29.908 What is Matthew saying? 00:13:29.908 --> 00:13:37.349 He's saying this light that's going to dawn, this light that's going to dispel the darkness. 00:13:37.349 --> 00:13:40.514 It is the presence of Jesus Christ. 00:13:40.514 --> 00:13:50.695 That's what it is, and this is the announcement that's being made, an announcement that the light is going to come. 00:13:50.695 --> 00:13:59.416 And Matthew says the light is here, it's here, and I use that term announcement purposefully. 00:14:00.686 --> 00:14:04.976 You see, the people sitting in darkness weren't given advice. 00:14:04.976 --> 00:14:11.717 They weren't given advice on here's how to dig yourself out of the ditch right. 00:14:11.717 --> 00:14:14.553 Seven ways to make your life more peaceful. 00:14:14.553 --> 00:14:18.394 Six practices that will give you rest of soul. 00:14:18.394 --> 00:14:24.216 17 tips, for it's not that at all. 00:14:24.216 --> 00:14:26.350 It's not that at all. 00:14:26.350 --> 00:14:30.335 They're given an announcement that the light has dawned. 00:14:30.335 --> 00:14:38.033 They're given an announcement that the light has dawned, and this is why in Luke, chapter 2, as we sang together, it says that there were shepherds out in the fields. 00:14:38.033 --> 00:14:40.176 They were keeping watch at night. 00:14:40.176 --> 00:14:52.148 Their flocks were there and an angel of the Lord stood before them and the glory of the Lord shone around them light, and they were terrified. 00:14:52.148 --> 00:14:58.291 And the angel said don't be afraid, because I've got some great advice for you. 00:14:58.291 --> 00:15:10.254 No, don't be afraid, because I proclaim to you the good news that will be great joy for all the people. 00:15:10.254 --> 00:15:14.259 It's an announcement, an announcement. 00:15:14.259 --> 00:15:21.479 Today, in the city of David, a Savior is born for you, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 00:15:21.479 --> 00:15:31.437 And after hearing that, suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly hosts, the angels, praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people he favors. 00:15:31.437 --> 00:15:34.504 Praising God and saying glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to people he favors. 00:15:34.504 --> 00:15:37.431 The light has come and it's an announcement. 00:15:37.431 --> 00:15:39.956 Often we think Christianity is just advice. 00:15:39.956 --> 00:15:48.784 It's not just advice on how to make your life just a little bit better. 00:15:48.784 --> 00:15:52.238 If anybody tries to give you a type of Christianity like that, reject it out of hand. 00:15:52.238 --> 00:15:58.215 It begins with this announcement, an announcement that God is actively doing something. 00:15:58.215 --> 00:16:00.698 Imagine these shepherds. 00:16:00.698 --> 00:16:12.663 If they're sitting there in the hills and they're tending their flocks and there's enemies all around them, the angels come down and say look, let's give you some advice. 00:16:12.663 --> 00:16:23.730 What you really need are some military advisors who can help you understand how to put in defensive works and all the trenches and the earthworks that you might need. 00:16:23.730 --> 00:16:30.552 They're going to help you sort of get ready, maybe help give you some target practice. 00:16:30.552 --> 00:16:42.941 We're going to show you where you can put up all the artillery and you know, as you collect your strength, you're going to need to devise your plans and work out a strategy to protect yourself against this enemy. 00:16:42.941 --> 00:16:57.110 And you could see the shepherds if they were just wanting to get advice like that, they'd be taking close notes in order to try to figure out how to operate against the enemy that was coming their way. 00:16:57.110 --> 00:17:01.298 But the angels don't give advice. 00:17:01.298 --> 00:17:27.337 They give it an announcement, like there would be a messenger who comes casting himself over the hills, running as hard as he can to come to the shepherds and panting and breathing, saying the war is over, the victory is won, the king is conquered, and the joy that erupts from that message is something that vice can never give somebody. 00:17:27.337 --> 00:17:32.096 It immediately casts them into the sphere of jubilation and triumph. 00:17:32.096 --> 00:17:35.972 And this is what the angels are doing. 00:17:35.972 --> 00:17:42.148 They're making a Christmas announcement, not a Christmas advice. 00:17:42.148 --> 00:17:48.799 They're telling us that into this dark world, the light of God has come. 00:17:48.799 --> 00:18:04.817 Jesus has come to bring the dawn, the dawn that generations of your forefathers have been seeking and longing for and waiting for the day when that child who is given to us will be able to bring this new life to us. 00:18:04.817 --> 00:18:08.090 This is the gospel. 00:18:08.090 --> 00:18:10.412 It's an announcement. 00:18:10.412 --> 00:18:12.571 It's not a statement of advice. 00:18:12.571 --> 00:18:29.935 The message the Word of God has to share to us who are in darkness is not how to clean up our life, how to make ourselves a little bit better, how to become worthy for God's presence, how to practice godliness in a way that somehow will make you acceptable to a holy God. 00:18:29.935 --> 00:18:31.519 It isn't that at all. 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:56.028 This is the message that we proclaim that God himself has operated against our enemies and the things that have made us an enemy to God, and he's come to destroy the works of the devil, to free us from the bondage of death and judgment and to grant us a presence with Him that is full of joy and welcome. 00:18:56.028 --> 00:19:08.971 That's the gospel that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, and Isaiah is giving us a cast in that direction. 00:19:08.971 --> 00:19:12.215 Where is this hope going to come from? 00:19:12.215 --> 00:19:15.701 This audience of darkness? 00:19:15.701 --> 00:19:24.586 This announcement of great news is going to be enacted by an agent, and here I'm going to show you this. 00:19:24.586 --> 00:19:31.922 We're going to skip just a couple verses for just a moment, because we'll get back to them for just a moment, because we'll get back to them. 00:19:31.922 --> 00:19:38.501 But let's look at what happens here, beginning in verse 6. 00:19:38.501 --> 00:19:48.275 This is the agent who will bring this good news A child will be born for us, a son will be given to us and the government will be upon his shoulders. 00:19:48.275 --> 00:19:55.829 He will be named Wonderful Counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, prince of Peace. 00:19:55.829 --> 00:20:01.981 The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. 00:20:01.981 --> 00:20:13.400 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. 00:20:13.400 --> 00:20:23.013 Back in Isaiah, chapter 7, we've been put on notice to look for a child who would express the truth that God is with the people. 00:20:23.013 --> 00:20:30.415 Emmanuel and Isaiah picks up that hope once again here in chapter and talks to us about a child. 00:20:30.415 --> 00:20:38.107 A child is going to be born who is given notice to us, to us. 00:20:38.107 --> 00:20:39.313 A child is born. 00:20:39.313 --> 00:20:40.166 To us. 00:20:40.166 --> 00:20:43.207 A son is given Now. 00:20:43.207 --> 00:20:47.571 When my grandson was born, royal, and I kind of took it as a to us. 00:20:47.571 --> 00:20:51.325 You know, and we're proud grandparents Want to see a picture Right. 00:20:51.325 --> 00:20:54.511 It as a to us, you know, and we're proud grandparents Want to see a picture Right. 00:20:54.511 --> 00:21:09.792 But we didn't say when they showed up here, to us a child has been born, this is our grandchild, not your grandchild, but this child that's born is to us. 00:21:09.792 --> 00:21:13.979 It's not just to the family that this child is born into. 00:21:13.979 --> 00:21:32.944 This is a child born to us, given to us and for us, and he presents this child as the king who has been waited for. 00:21:32.944 --> 00:21:37.290 And Luke's narrative of the birth of Jesus Christ tells us that this child is the one that all people have longed for. 00:21:37.290 --> 00:21:45.270 To us, this child is born, this child who is both human and yet God. 00:21:45.270 --> 00:21:54.448 He is a child and yet the Son of God, and these attributes that are spoken about him gloriously speak about that. 00:21:54.448 --> 00:22:00.728 He's the wonderful counselor, he's the mighty God, he's the everlasting Father, he's the Prince of Peace. 00:22:00.728 --> 00:22:07.286 And just very briefly, let's just walk our way through these names that are given to him. 00:22:07.286 --> 00:22:13.038 First of all, the word wonderful means literally not of this world. 00:22:13.038 --> 00:22:21.047 It is a very strange Hebrew word, which means that this is speaking about the realms of heaven and of God. 00:22:21.047 --> 00:22:46.576 And this one will be that wonderful counselor who will speak about things that are outside of our normal everyday understanding, that is going to speak with a wisdom that comes from God himself, that he's going to tell us things about ourselves and about God and about heaven and about eternity that we can't figure out on our own. 00:22:46.576 --> 00:22:50.734 He will be the very revelation of God. 00:22:50.734 --> 00:22:53.474 He will speak the very revelation of God. 00:22:53.474 --> 00:22:54.904 He will speak the very wisdom of God. 00:22:54.904 --> 00:23:12.458 This is why, in John, chapter 7, some of the Jewish leaders talked to some others about why didn't they capture Jesus and bring him with them into their presence, and their answer was no one has ever spoken like this man before. 00:23:12.458 --> 00:23:18.856 They were captured by who Jesus was and what he had to say. 00:23:18.856 --> 00:23:22.773 He's also called the mighty God. 00:23:22.773 --> 00:23:27.587 This is a strange name for a child, isn't it Right? 00:23:27.587 --> 00:23:35.057 I love my little grandson, but I've never said, hey, you big hunk of mighty God. 00:23:35.057 --> 00:23:39.115 He's pretty weak. 00:23:39.115 --> 00:23:43.837 He got his first bites a few days ago and his head's bobbing all over the place. 00:23:43.837 --> 00:23:48.297 My son's like trying to get the spoon somewhere near that bobbing head. 00:23:48.297 --> 00:24:08.109 Imagine saying to a little child Mighty God, he is the one who exhibits the very might of God, and we'll understand how in just a moment. 00:24:08.109 --> 00:24:16.980 He's also called the Eternal Father, or the Father of Eternity Exactly, which means he holds eternity in his hands. 00:24:16.980 --> 00:24:23.742 The destiny of eternity rests in the palm of Jesus the baby. 00:24:23.742 --> 00:24:26.217 Okay, that's what it's talking about. 00:24:26.217 --> 00:24:36.678 This is why the Lord Jesus could say that he is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but by him. 00:24:36.678 --> 00:24:36.990 Why? 00:24:36.990 --> 00:24:39.358 Because he's the Father of eternity. 00:24:39.358 --> 00:24:43.921 He is the one who controls the destiny of humanity. 00:24:43.921 --> 00:24:47.896 He's also called the Prince of Peace. 00:24:47.896 --> 00:25:09.163 Isaiah, chapter 2, tells us that the Messiah who would come would bring God's people together, but he would also bring them together with God's peace, and uses a term which we've all heard, probably shalom, the Hebrew term for peace. 00:25:09.163 --> 00:25:10.731 But shalom is more than just a cessation of war. 00:25:10.731 --> 00:25:13.815 But shalom is more than just a cessation of war. 00:25:13.815 --> 00:25:19.561 It's more than just a quiet bit of meditation near a babbling brook. 00:25:19.561 --> 00:25:23.726 It's more than just the stillness of an empty house. 00:25:23.726 --> 00:25:27.862 It's not that. 00:25:27.862 --> 00:25:41.492 What it means is that there is harmony in every aspect of life, that everything is arranged according to God's purposes, as it was meant to be. 00:25:41.492 --> 00:25:54.542 Jesus is the prince of that kind of peace To set us all right, to make us back as we were originally designed At harmony with God, in harmony with each other and in harmony with this world. 00:25:54.542 --> 00:26:05.391 His purposes are to be the one who ushers in that kind of harmony, that kind of compatibility to God's purposes. 00:26:05.391 --> 00:26:17.477 So not only these attributes, these titles that are granted to this child show us what kind of agent he is, but also direct statements about his rule. 00:26:17.477 --> 00:26:28.012 As we look at the ascension of Christ mentioned here, it tells us, before we get the names, that the government will be on his shoulders a heavy responsibility. 00:26:28.012 --> 00:26:31.803 Of course, verse 7 shows how successful he is at that. 00:26:31.803 --> 00:26:35.800 The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. 00:26:35.800 --> 00:26:44.984 He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and sustain it with justice and with righteousness. 00:26:44.984 --> 00:27:00.266 This child will bring back this world into alignment with God, and he will do so by his rule, by his reign. 00:27:00.266 --> 00:27:17.695 Gabriel spoke to Mary and seven centuries later from Isaiah's prophecy, said this Seven centuries later from Isaiah's prophecy said this You'll conceive and give birth to a son and you'll name him Jesus. 00:27:17.695 --> 00:27:26.165 He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father, david. 00:27:26.165 --> 00:27:36.930 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will never end. 00:27:36.930 --> 00:27:40.959 You see, isaiah here is looking forward, and he's looking forward to this one that we celebrate this week. 00:27:40.959 --> 00:27:58.104 Jesus Christ, he's going to establish that glorious throne and rule and reign, and this is why, within the church here, we call Jesus Lord because he is here. 00:27:58.104 --> 00:27:59.428 We call Jesus Lord because he is. 00:27:59.428 --> 00:28:01.912 The characteristics of this rule are glorious. 00:28:01.912 --> 00:28:03.534 First of all, it's going to be limitless. 00:28:03.534 --> 00:28:09.421 It's going to expand and expand and expand, and it's going to create the peace that it's designed for. 00:28:09.421 --> 00:28:13.105 It's going to be a fulfillment of promises made. 00:28:13.105 --> 00:28:21.843 It's going to be one filled with principles of justice and of righteousness that are going to prevail as pillars of his everlasting kingdom. 00:28:21.843 --> 00:28:24.154 What a remarkable thing it is. 00:28:24.154 --> 00:28:42.059 So here we have an announcement made to an audience of people in darkness about a son who is going to come, a child given to us, that is unlike any of us and is going to do things none of us could ever accomplish. 00:28:42.059 --> 00:28:47.292 The question is how do we know this is going to be so? 00:28:47.292 --> 00:28:50.718 Isaiah spoke in his prophecy. 00:28:50.718 --> 00:28:54.063 How does he anchor it into? 00:28:54.063 --> 00:28:58.396 Well, the imaginations of his mind, the I think God spoke to me thoughts? 00:28:58.396 --> 00:28:59.680 What is it? 00:28:59.680 --> 00:29:02.175 Take a look at the word here. 00:29:02.175 --> 00:29:10.074 It says here, at the very end of verse 7, the zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this. 00:29:10.074 --> 00:29:12.435 Lord of armies will accomplish this. 00:29:12.435 --> 00:29:33.198 God pulls out the big title about himself the Lord of the armies, the one who's commander of the universe, the one who reigns over all principalities and powers of the air. 00:29:33.198 --> 00:29:34.881 There's no seat higher than his. 00:29:34.881 --> 00:29:37.652 What's going to make all of this happen? 00:29:37.652 --> 00:29:41.539 God will make it happen. 00:29:41.539 --> 00:29:56.585 The birth of Jesus into this world is an announcement of good news that God is acting out his gloriously gracious purposes to bring light into dark places. 00:29:56.585 --> 00:30:01.601 Our Christmas hope is dependent upon God and God alone. 00:30:01.601 --> 00:30:03.653 How wonderful news. 00:30:03.653 --> 00:30:04.637 That is right. 00:30:04.637 --> 00:30:09.461 We don't have to be like trying to shoo the darkness away from ourselves. 00:30:09.461 --> 00:30:15.290 We don't have to be trying to cut through the gloom that we've cast out because of our behavior. 00:30:15.290 --> 00:30:19.538 We don't have to work and try to achieve. 00:30:19.538 --> 00:30:27.753 God has come, he's made an announcement and His mighty arm is going to make it happen. 00:30:27.753 --> 00:30:38.852 He puts Himself on the line for this and says because I am who I am, you will receive this glorious news. 00:30:38.852 --> 00:30:42.818 The writer of Hebrews put it this way in chapter 6. 00:30:42.818 --> 00:30:47.772 God has given both his promise and his oath. 00:30:47.772 --> 00:30:54.545 These two things are unchangeable, because it's impossible for God to lie. 00:30:54.545 --> 00:31:06.121 Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold on to the hope that lies before us. 00:31:06.121 --> 00:31:22.980 You see, the things that Isaiah prophesies about are realities to those who look to God, who look to the Savior, who embrace the Son, because God said he would do these things. 00:31:22.980 --> 00:31:26.244 Now let's back up just for a second. 00:31:26.244 --> 00:31:29.414 We skipped over a little portion of this. 00:31:29.414 --> 00:31:31.380 We've talked about the audience. 00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:33.530 We've talked about the announcement. 00:31:33.530 --> 00:31:33.880 We've talked about the agent. 00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:33.955 Now let's look at the aspects of this. 00:31:33.955 --> 00:31:34.163 We've talked about the audience. 00:31:34.163 --> 00:31:34.491 We've talked about the announcement. 00:31:34.491 --> 00:31:35.240 We've talked about the agent. 00:31:35.240 --> 00:31:42.406 Now let's look at the aspects of this good news that are resulting Verse 2. 00:31:42.406 --> 00:31:46.612 Well, we can start in verse 1. 00:31:46.612 --> 00:31:58.885 In the future, he will bring honor to the way of the sea, to the land east of the Jordan, to the Galilee of the nations, honor. 00:31:58.885 --> 00:32:17.452 In our society, becoming a Christian is counted as shame, and certainly in the Roman era it was counted as shame, in fact, to talk about a Lord Jesus who was crucified would have been an extremely impossible thing for the average Roman. 00:32:17.452 --> 00:32:18.173 To accept. 00:32:18.173 --> 00:32:22.584 That a God-man would be crucified was horrible. 00:32:22.584 --> 00:32:51.173 And there is even a sort of a graffiti remark of one man who was a Christian and someone who was upset that he'd become a Christian, and it showed a half-man, half-donkey, nailed to a cross, and I don't remember the name of the man who became a Christian, but it said that this man was worshiping his God and had an image of this half-donkey half-man on a cross. 00:32:51.173 --> 00:32:55.883 That was how shameful this message of the cross seemed to be. 00:32:55.883 --> 00:33:04.061 But here we see that when God comes into a life, it's not that at all. 00:33:04.061 --> 00:33:29.306 It's to honor and to cause us to be something different, to be able to live our lives in a way that is in alignment with God, and he brings us into a greater and greater degree of that alignment as we go, as the scriptures say, as we behold his glory we looking into that, we find ourselves transformed into the image even of Christ himself. 00:33:29.306 --> 00:33:37.773 Things that we once never loved now become the very heartbeat of our soul. 00:33:37.773 --> 00:33:44.050 The things that we once loved to death now become odious to us and our lives become more in conformity with our Creator. 00:33:44.050 --> 00:33:54.726 And the day is coming when we will be co-heirs with Christ, recipients of the glorious promises of God, and what that will be? 00:33:54.726 --> 00:33:59.776 That no one will ever be ashamed. 00:33:59.776 --> 00:34:02.981 The scriptures say who trusted Christ? 00:34:02.981 --> 00:34:06.795 There will never be at the end of this, boy, did I believe a lie? 00:34:06.795 --> 00:34:08.639 There'll never be at the end of this. 00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:11.411 What a waste of my existence. 00:34:11.411 --> 00:34:20.195 There'll never be a time in which we acted on behalf of Christ and sacrifice where we said, boy, that hurt more than what I'm getting back. 00:34:20.195 --> 00:34:33.699 Never, because honor will come to those who believe, not because they're honorable, but because God himself and his mercy has cast honor on us. 00:34:33.699 --> 00:34:36.844 But there's also joy. 00:34:36.844 --> 00:34:43.090 There's joy. 00:34:43.090 --> 00:34:45.275 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. 00:34:45.275 --> 00:34:46.539 A light has dawned on those living in the land of darkness. 00:34:46.539 --> 00:34:48.302 You've enlarged the nation and increased its joy. 00:34:48.302 --> 00:34:52.838 The people have rejoiced before you, as they rejoice at harvest time. 00:34:52.838 --> 00:34:55.443 And as they rejoice what? 00:34:55.443 --> 00:34:59.360 When they're dividing the spoils? 00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:05.702 Both the farmer and the soldier are pointed to as expressions of that kind of joy. 00:35:05.702 --> 00:35:23.331 When the harvest is full and complete and in the barns and security and safety are there for the coming months in which the earth itself cannot produce any fruit, you have an abundance in store to take and to eat at your pleasure and for your strength. 00:35:23.331 --> 00:35:25.494 So there's joy at that. 00:35:25.494 --> 00:35:40.054 Or there's joy when you're there on the battlefield alive still and your enemy has fled and he's left all of the things behind that were once valuable to him, that are there simply for your taking. 00:35:40.054 --> 00:35:52.420 The joy of a successful battle, the joy of a warrior won, coming in and receiving a benefit, that kind of joy, where do we cast our joy? 00:35:52.420 --> 00:35:54.724 Toward those images and those pictures? 00:35:54.724 --> 00:35:59.016 This is Christmas joy, that kind of jubilation. 00:35:59.016 --> 00:36:07.152 We won, the harvest is in, and deliverance. 00:36:07.152 --> 00:36:09.838 And here's this, verse 4,. 00:36:09.838 --> 00:36:18.163 You've shattered the oppressive yoke, the rod on their shoulders, the staff of the oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian. 00:36:18.163 --> 00:36:30.503 For those of us who don't know our Bible, midian was an enemy of the people of God, you okay? 00:36:30.503 --> 00:36:31.625 Is everything okay? 00:36:31.625 --> 00:36:41.153 Okay, all right, you okay, is everything okay? 00:36:41.153 --> 00:37:02.686 Okay, alright, louisa, is this a medical condition? 00:37:02.686 --> 00:37:06.436 Okay, all right, all right, folks, let's pray, shall we? 00:37:06.436 --> 00:37:07.318 Let's pray? 00:37:07.318 --> 00:37:19.257 Let's pray, father, as one of our steps through this moment. 00:37:19.257 --> 00:37:26.871 We pray that you would give, lord, your hand to all who are attending, the kind of care and wisdom that comes from you, lord. 00:37:26.871 --> 00:37:32.523 We pray that the 911 call might be heard and received quickly and timely. 00:37:32.523 --> 00:37:34.954 We pray your mercy, father. 00:37:34.954 --> 00:37:37.110 We pray this in Christ's name. 00:37:37.110 --> 00:37:42.978 Amen. 00:37:42.978 --> 00:37:51.257 That came to his aid and he's in the hands of those who can take him to where ready aid is able to help him. 00:37:51.257 --> 00:37:57.650 It sounds like he's coming back around and yet he still needs to be evaluated. 00:37:57.650 --> 00:38:05.369 Yeah, so let me just close off a few thoughts here talking about the joy and the honor. 00:38:05.369 --> 00:38:11.679 The reason is given in this passage because an enemy has been defeated. 00:38:11.679 --> 00:38:18.396 The Midianites were strong enemies against Israel, so strong that they despaired about over everything. 00:38:18.396 --> 00:38:41.663 And it was when God called a man named Gideon to reduce his army down to 300 people and not to carry weaponry but to carry lights and simply to cry out the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and it put all the enemies of Midian into a fleeing terror. 00:38:41.663 --> 00:38:44.516 God intervened in a glorious way. 00:38:44.516 --> 00:38:53.898 A victory that this child is talking about, that's going to come, is going to give a joy over that kind of victory. 00:38:53.898 --> 00:38:57.047 That's going to come, is going to give a joy over that kind of victory. 00:38:57.047 --> 00:39:03.945 You see, each and every one of us have to deal with death and eternity, and it can come in a moment. 00:39:03.945 --> 00:39:13.809 It could come even when we're in the middle of church service and we don't know when that hour is going to hit us. 00:39:13.809 --> 00:39:23.543 But how wonderful it would be to know that you can look at your enemy called death and know that it's already defeated, know that the presence of god is not a scary place to go into but home. 00:39:23.543 --> 00:39:29.742 This is the kind of child that's going to be born, the kind of victory that's going to be won. 00:39:29.742 --> 00:39:41.817 Now, at christmas time, a lot of people think well, this is just, you know, another one of those stories that I hear all the time, and we love stories. 00:39:41.817 --> 00:39:44.777 Children are captured by them. 00:39:44.777 --> 00:39:47.117 We're captured by them even when we're adults. 00:39:47.117 --> 00:39:49.610 We love to read stories that start with once upon a time. 00:39:49.610 --> 00:40:03.557 Stories that start with once upon a time Because in the telling of those stories we feel a resonation of things within our hearts that we long to have actually happen. 00:40:03.557 --> 00:40:15.083 You know, we read about people that come and we want to experience the supernatural and we want to escape death and we want to have a love that's unmitigated. 00:40:15.083 --> 00:40:22.568 And we want to experience the supernatural and we want to escape death and we want to have a love that's unmitigated, and we want to let our lives flourish and dream and find the fulfillments of our dreams. 00:40:22.568 --> 00:40:26.753 Why do our hearts long like that? 00:40:26.753 --> 00:40:34.273 We tell the stories because they connect with those longings within us, but we know they're not real. 00:40:34.273 --> 00:40:37.112 That's why we start the stories with once upon a time. 00:40:37.112 --> 00:40:43.974 But they resonate within us because we really think life ought to be different than what we experience. 00:40:43.974 --> 00:40:54.463 It really ought to be more fulfilling than it is and longer lasting than it is and more full of harmony than it is and richer than it is. 00:40:54.463 --> 00:40:59.556 Death shouldn't have to be the end. 00:40:59.556 --> 00:41:03.099 Goodbye shouldn't be the final words we give our loved ones. 00:41:03.099 --> 00:41:11.320 Evil shouldn't triumph, and we long for a story that will be real. 00:41:11.320 --> 00:41:15.836 This is that story. 00:41:15.836 --> 00:41:22.938 This is the real story, and it doesn't start with once upon a time. 00:41:22.938 --> 00:41:37.317 It starts with, in the city of David, an announcement to real shepherds, in a real field, with real sheep, with real angels, telling them that there's some good news that's dawned into this dark world. 00:41:37.317 --> 00:41:40.195 This is Christmas. 00:41:40.195 --> 00:41:45.596 It's a story about someone from a different world who's broken into ours. 00:41:45.596 --> 00:41:57.442 It's a story about someone who did miraculous things, one who could calm the storm, who could heal people, who could raise the dead. 00:41:57.442 --> 00:42:05.275 And yet he was captured by his enemies. 00:42:05.275 --> 00:42:22.139 He was tortured by his enemies and he was put to death by his enemies so that he could tell us that there was another enemy that he was going to defeat, and that was death itself, by the resurrection from the grave. 00:42:22.139 --> 00:42:30.416 You see, this isn't just another one of mankind's longings put into pen, from pen to paper. 00:42:30.416 --> 00:42:48.344 This is a story of God's activity to punch a hole into the real life that we live, to tell us that there is an eternity and that God has come to deliver and bring light into our darkness. 00:42:48.344 --> 00:43:12.541 You see, there really is, as some of the stories tell, evil and we're under the enchantment of that evil, but there's a glorious prince, a prince of peace, who's broken the spell of that enchantment and he's going to become ours and we his. 00:43:12.541 --> 00:43:21.360 This is Christmas, and for all of us, that is light and hope. 00:43:21.360 --> 00:43:33.139 And I pray for all of us here today that we will not only just hear this story but accept the truth of this story, because it really does matter. 00:43:33.139 --> 00:43:34.856 Let's pray together. 00:43:34.856 --> 00:43:42.038 Father, we thank you for this time shared together. 00:43:42.038 --> 00:43:52.985 Thank you for granting us, in the understanding of your word, just how vital the birth of this child is. 00:43:52.985 --> 00:44:03.065 And, father, we want to pray for this dear man and his beloved family and, lord, as they have gone to places of care. 00:44:03.065 --> 00:44:12.202 We pray that you would envelop them with a peace and assurance that they're in the right hands and they'll be attended to very carefully. 00:44:12.202 --> 00:44:14.166 We thank you, father. 00:44:14.166 --> 00:44:20.416 We ask that you'd mercifully watch over him, bring him back to a fullness of life and health. 00:44:20.416 --> 00:44:33.317 And, lord, thank you for the caring hands of those in the body who are able to rush to his side and help him to walk through this scary moment with him. 00:44:33.317 --> 00:44:41.027 Thank you for how you watch over us in all these ways. 00:44:41.027 --> 00:45:01.722 And, lord, I pray that as we close off this service and as we look forward to the coming days, that our celebration in song and our celebration around a table with family will be filled with sincere joy that you have brought a Savior, for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given, and we pray this in Christ's name Amen.