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Isaiah 9:1-5
I'd like to minister to your hearts this morning, and I appreciate Brother Keith bringing it to my attention, of rather than seeing it from the birth of Christ, from our perspective, let's look at it from God's perspective.
Or rather, as the prophet Isaiah spoke of it in his prophecy. So go with me very quickly. And our text this morning comes from Isaiah chapter nine, the ninth chapter of Isaiah. And I would like to read as you follow these verses, and this will be a two-part series.
I'm not gonna get this all in one sermon, so we're gonna break it up in two parts, but I would like to read verses one through seven, one through seven. Today, we will cover God willing, one through five, and next Lord's Day, we will look at these two powerful verses, verse six and seven.
But let me read all of it to you today. And as you have opened up God's word with me, you can follow along. Isaiah, the prophet is speaking here by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. He speaks to the godly remnant of Israel.
So hear the word of the living God. I'm reading from the New King James translation. And the word of the Lord says this, nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed. As when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Nephthali, and afterward more heavenly oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
For you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel of fire.
And verse six gives us the awesome prophecy of the virgin birth of Christ. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, some take out the comma, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Verse seven, of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end upon the throne of David and over his kingdom. To order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
May God bless the reading of his awesome, everlasting word from our ears to our hearts this morning. Please bow with me in prayer as we seek our Lord's face and favor in this time of worship. Our Father in heaven, we thank you.
We thank you, Father, for your son, your one and only son in whom you're very well pleased in, and you have spoken to us by him in these last days. Today and forevermore, Lord, we glorify you for giving to us, as the apostle says, your unspeakable gift to redeem us, to reconcile us back to you through this one glorious mediator, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved son.
Lord, oh, how we rejoice, not only that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, but that he has been born in us by your Spirit. It's a work of grace, a work of your Holy Spirit. And Lord, we do thank you for this.
We rejoice, no matter what circumstances we're facing, we can rejoice in this. And now, Lord, we pray as we look to the Word, the Word of life that you have given unto us, that our minds and our hearts might be open to see the things, Lord, that we've never seen before, and make them real to us by your Spirit, that we may be taught of God to live as we've never lived before in a dark world, Lord, to shine as lights in darkness.
Thank you for the light that came into the world, the light of the world, Jesus Christ, shine through us, we pray. And we will be careful to give you the glory, all the glory and all the praise. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen and Amen.
Amen.
It's told of a story that's very, very real and true. It's not fictional. I heard this from the preacher Adrian Rogers, and I'll try to summarize this short but brief, but it's true. During WWII, out in the ocean, there were many battleships and aircraft carriers.
They sent out one of the aircraft carriers or several of the aircraft carriers, I would say, sent out several planes over the ocean, and this was at night, dark night, in the ocean to survey, to find the enemy.
And the planes went out several miles. There were several of them, pilots that were sent out and on this mission. I don't know all the details of it, but as I can recollect, Adrian Rogers telling this story, the battleships and the aircraft carriers, after they sent the planes out, recognized that the enemy was nearby in submarines, Japanese enemy.
And they had to, in order not to be spotted by the enemy, they had to shut down all the lights in the ships, especially the aircraft carriers that sent out these planes. It's a tragic story, really, but there's a point I have to make in this beginning story.
So they radioed the planes and the pilots, and they said, we're going to have to shut down the lights. There's going to be complete darkness. We cannot allow us to be seen by the enemy. And the planes, even through the navigations, as they went out far, they could not find their way back, especially when the ships, the aircraft carriers, cut off all the lights.
And unfortunately, all the pilots perished at sea because they could not see any lights whatsoever when they came back, or to find their way through, to find their home landing to the aircraft carriers.
Now, I tell that story is because we're talking here in Isaiah 9 about a time of deep darkness, but there is light. There is hope that appears. All the aircraft carrier would have had to do is cut the lights back on.
They would have found their way back and landed the planes, but they could not because they had to cut the lights off. This is what's happening here in Isaiah 9, folks. The lights are off. There's no light.
It's a time of darkness. It's Isaiah's really details. The details here are perhaps the most classic prophecy regarding the coming of Jesus Christ, his first advent, and I will say it's not only his first advent that's in view.
It is his second advent that's in view as well. Let me say this at the beginning here, the introduction. When you stop to consider the Christmas message, there are different ways that we can go at it, and I thought, again, perhaps it would be worth our while to examine the Old Testament prophets' view of the birth of the Messiah from the prophecy viewpoint, from God's viewpoint.
Here we will look at our Lord's coming from the prophets' viewpoint to see what was really happening in Isaiah's day when the nation of Israel, and it's important for us to see the preceding verses, as we know, as you know, as well as I do, context is keen, and to understand the context, we must see the text before that we may appreciate these verses from Isaiah.
So in studying this, there's a very interesting parallel I'd like to bring to your attention of our day, and in the day which Isaiah gave the pronouncement regarding the Messiah's coming and his first advent at his birth, very much like our day in the light that came out of darkness, and Isaiah's day is the same light that we announce to a dark world today.
In fact, Isaiah, I would like to say, could well be, or should I say, have been a 20th century preacher from the indication of these verses that we shall look at. So the days in which we live are very dark.
They're very troublesome and trying, aren't they? Let's be honest. Dark times are here. But these are very dark times in Isaiah 9 as well. Taking back to our time period during the Christmas, the world is in a mad frenzy.
I work in retail. I deliver milk. Traffic seems to be bumper to bumper now, and as people are out Christmas shopping, and it's like everybody is in a big frenzy to rush to the retail stores. But when you really look around the world, it isn't anything to be merry about, and honestly, there's much gloom in the world, isn't it?
It's a feel-good, fuzzy, warm kind of false celebration that we see about us. It's very shallow, and just listen to the radio, and listen to some of the so-called Christmas songs. Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, Frosty the snowman, the Grinch.
Is this really about Jesus? People say, yeah, but children need to hear these things. But what are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them the true meaning of Christmas? And when it comes to Jesus, his name, sadly, is blasphemed, and Jesus becomes a joke to a lost and dark world.
Matter of fact, the very day after Christmas, it's like the frenzy stops, and the Christmas songs that they hear, it's mingled with Rudolph and Frosty and all that nonsense, with actually good Christmas carols, which we need to point people to the truth, the source of the truth.
But the Christmas songs stop, and everyone is in deep debt, and spending, overspending. Beloved, sadly and tragically, in this devil-ordered world, the God of this world, Jesus is mocked, and it's dark, it's gloomy, and such was Isaiah's day.
Actually, if you look with me in chapter 8, look at verse 19 through 22, and you get a glimpse of this. And when they say to you, seek those who are mediums and wizards. Sounds like our day as well, doesn't it?
Seek the mediums, seek the wizards, who whisper and mutter. Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? These people are in darkness, total darkness, to the law and to the testimony.
If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
No light.
They will pass through, it's hard-pressed and hungry, and it shall happen when they are hungry, and they will be enraged and curse the king and their God and look upward. Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom and anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.
Darkness.
Chapter 8 speaks of darkness. And we see that Isaiah's day was very much like our day in which we live. Yet in the goodness of God, in the grace of God, the love of God, the Bible tells us in Galatians 4 .4, that in the fullness of time, the fullness of time, whose time?
God's time. God's timetable. God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law.
Redemption.
I couldn't help but think, as Brother Keith was teaching this morning about, man's fall was a very dark time. Man is in darkness. And we were all in darkness until Jesus, the light of the world, appears.
Great was the fall of man, but greater is the rising of man through Jesus Christ in redemption. You must see that. As bad as the fall was, greater is the rising up of man in Jesus Christ in His redemption.
So here we see darkness. We see the world that had no room for Christ, even in Christ's day when He was born, our Lord came and entered this world in the poorest condition. The most lowliest way, He condescended, humbled Himself, and was born.
Here He is, the King of the universe, born, made flesh, in a feeding trough, in a dark world. In a world where men love darkness rather than light. So exactly at the right moment in God's timetable, in His history, at the right strategic point in the history of God's man, the God-man Jesus Christ arrived.
So in verses 21 and 22 of Isaiah 8 gives to us that dismal picture of those who were frustrated, they're desperate, they're angry, they're seeking mediums and wizards. And Isaiah had predicted regardless, regarding the nation of Israel's future hardships.
Now everything looked black and hopeless, didn't it? It does. And it looks black and hopeless today. But there is hope and there is a great light that has come. I love the intervention, the open door, but, a very important word, God breaks through.
But God, but God. A great light appears in the deepest time of history. Verse 1, as John John says, Jesus came and the beginning was the Word. And the Word was God, with God, and the Word was God. The Word became flesh, became flesh.
No other birth in the world can compare to the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. When He was born of a woman, He was the earthly son of His heavenly Father. He was the heavenly son of His earthly mother.
He was born in flesh, came in flesh, the Godhead see. Born, held the incarnate deity as Wesley says. He was fully God and He's fully man, fully human, fully divine. As Brother Jordan said, it's very hard for us to comprehend this.
One man, two natures. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. A .W. Pink put it this way, Christ is not now two persons combined together, but one person having two natures. He is both God and man.
And as many scriptures He goes on to say, plainly affirmed, possessing in Himself both deity and humanity, end quote. So, He's the God-man. He's without sin. Without sin whatsoever. Thus, the purpose and reason for the incarnation, the virgin birth, that God entered this world without the sin nature of Adam.
The man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God in human flesh. Think of it, beloved. Think with me. All of history pivots upon the birth of Jesus Christ, this one child. All of history, all that He is and all He has done,.
He is born,.
He came, He lived, He lived a perfect life, He fulfilled the law. And I want you to think of this every day. This prophecy, even being 700 years before the coming of the first advent of Jesus Christ, this prophecy from Isaiah is a glorious, truthful prophecy of the Word of God.
The prophet Isaiah pinpoints with absolute accuracy where our Lord would be born in Bethlehem, how He would be born as a virgin, to whom He would be born, the nation of Israel, through the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and to the house of David.
Why He would be born, He would be born to crush the head of the serpent and to save His people from their sins. Now I want you to think of that. This is what our Savior did. He came, He didn't have to come, but He did come.
He didn't owe it to us, but He came in grace. And to His glorious birth, I would now want us to look at this wonderful prophecy as it's found here before us in the Old Testament Scripture, written seven centuries, think of that, seven centuries, 700 years before Jesus appears, before our Lord entered into this world in which He made by His Word in the Incarnation.
As we look at these seven glorious verses, and again we're going to break this up in two parts, the Scriptures of Isaiah chapter 9, I would like to set before you three main headings, and on these three main headings we will hang our thoughts.
Two we will get today, and the next Lord's Day, God willing, I'd like to focus on verse 7 and 8. I'm sorry, 6 and 7. The first heading I have here is verse 1 and 2. There is a great illumination. There is a great illumination.
A great light comes into the world who walked in darkness. Second, verse 3 through 5, there's a great increase. There's a great increase in the nation and in their gladness of joy. And then next Lord's Day we will look at this, verse 6 and 7, the great Incarnation.
So you have a great illumination, a great increase, a great Incarnation. That great Incarnation as a child will be born unto us. Unto us a son is given for he will be mighty God. Mighty God. Unto us. God willing we will see that the Son of God, the Son of Man, a great light appears.
But first let's look at the great illumination, the great illumination. I don't know who said this, but I wrote it, I got it down here. The definition of illumination is different than revelation actually.
Revelation is sent directly from God. But illumination is something that helps us to see more clearly. There's a difference. Definition of illumination is what happens when you learn spiritual truths from Scripture that suddenly make sense.
It's like the lights come on and it moves you to action. Just like a bright light that lights up a dark room when you cut the lights on. Illumination is when the light bulb goes on in your mind after reading a passage of Scripture or listening to the Word of God that is preached or taught.
So the Holy Spirit illumines us. A lot of people get so confused. They say, I got a new revelation. Look, if there's a new revelation, there's a problem. There's heresy because the only revelation that's God's revelation is Genesis, the revelation of the 66 inspired Scriptures.
But we're talking about illumination, beloved. It's when there's a spiritual awakening. The Spirit of God shows you something from Scripture. I don't know about you, several times when I'm reading something.
From Scripture.
And I'm praying about it, God cuts the lights on. I say, wow, I've never seen it like that before. That's illumination. But here, there is a great illumination. A great illumination, the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 1, let's look at Isaiah's day. He says this,. Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed. That gloom, what does that gloom think? Have you ever heard people say, this is a gloomy day?
Usually it's a cloudy day, isn't it? When it's cloudy, it's dark, it's dismal,.
It's gloomy.
I hear some folks in my family, oh, it's such a gloomy day. Have you heard that? How many times have we said it and we've been guilty of it, right? The sun is there, it's just the clouds have obscured the sun.
Can't see it on our side, but the sun's always shining. But the cloudy days, the thick cloud, the gloom, the darkness over the nation of Israel in Isaiah's day was like a thick cloud, folks. It was a thick, thick cloud of darkness.
And as we read in the end of chapter 8 of Isaiah, in the day is the nation of Israel, they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom and anguish. They will be driven into darkness, driven.
An enormous cloud of darkness would come and they would be driven into it. Such was the Roman Empire in Jesus' day. Secular humanism, Greek philosophy, literally suffocating the nation of Israel, nation of Israel, darkness of the Jewish religion, which at this time was a dead religion that was built upon the traditions of men.
So, there was no light there, not a single word from God. Now, it was a time also that God was silent. As you well know, 400 years, no prophet was sent, not one word from God. There was silence, darkness.
We know this. But God was at work. God was in preparation to send the great light. The heavens, in a sense, in the 400 years, was a silence from heaven. No word, again, from the word of the Lord at that period of time that would come to the people of God.
It was a time of unspeakable gloom, distress, darkness, a time when the people of God was engrossed in spiritual ignorance, a time when people were separated from God. And then in the midst of such darkness and gloom, verse 1, the gloom will not be upon her.
What's it saying? No more gloom. The gloom will be gone. No more gloom. And here we see the coming of our great Savior, as we see it from the revelation of Scripture, who would burst on the scene of the fullness of time, as I've already mentioned from Galatians 4.
Jesus would come bringing salvation and gladness to the people of God. As God says, talking about cutting the lights on, God spoke when He first created the worlds and the universe, and what was the first utterance we read from Scripture?
Let there be light.
And there was light.
God created the lights.
Because He is the Father of lights, the Scripture says. He dwells in such enormous light, we call it His glory, that no one can even approach. We get an illustration of this in the Old Testament when Moses went to speak to God face-to-face as a friend, and he asked to see God face-to-face.
He asked God this,.
And God says, no one can look at Me, Moses, and live. You can't look at God and live. Moses desired to see God and he pleaded with Him, and God says, okay, I'll put you in the cleft of the rock. It makes me think, remember what the Scripture says, Paul says, that rock is Christ.
But He put him in the cleft of the rock, and God says, you won't see my face now, but I'll pass by and you'll see my backside,.
Quickly.
And the Scripture says, the goodness of God and His attributes, God passed by, and Moses caught a quick glimpse of God. Could you imagine? He saw the backside of God quickly,.
And I want you to think of this.
As Moses came down from that mountain, after he saw God's backside, the people saw Him come, and His countenance was bursting forth with such brightness that they couldn't even look at Moses' face.
Folks, that's just a reflection,.
A dim reflection of Him.
Seeing the back quarters of God.
If we just looked at God face to face,.
It would disintegrate us. And His glory and His holiness, but that just tells you a little bit that God Himself is such, He's in such glorious light in heaven, we would have to have new eyes, folks, because we could not look at God and live.
But there is an illustration there from Scriptures that Moses, being the prophet of God that knew God face to face, caught a quick glimpse of God in His back, and was a reflection, and even the people could not even look at Moses' face.
Here to a people walking in darkness, a people living without hope, without God, as Paul says, in the world, light has come. This great light, this great illumination was nothing less than the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Jesus came in the power of perfect, of His perfect life, His perfect teaching with all the authority, and the signs, and the wonders beginning in the dark region of Galilee. The New Testament applies this prophecy of Galilee's honor to the time that Jesus Christ's first advent.
It's incredible. A lot of times you see in these prophecies, you see the prophets when they spoke under the Spirit of God that was breathing upon them, and they were writing the Hebrew down. When God gave them the prophecies, God would not explain to them the time period.
So they just basically wrote down and spoke what God was telling them, but like if you look at it in verse 6, the first part of verse 6, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. That's Jesus' first advent.
Then you see in the government would be upon His shoulder. His name would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.
That speaks of His second advent.
When He will come in His glory and in all His power with all the holy angels and He will establish the kingdom forever and ever. Isn't that glorious? But the time period, there's like a double prophecy here.
You have the first advent, the second advent. Just to give a little geography here, Zebulun and Naphtali were on the border in the northeast Galilee, west of the Jordan River. Geographically, we're the first to, if you see, the first to suffer from the invasion by the Asian kings in 2 Kings 15 -29.
There was a marking of the beginning of the dark days of Israel. And then notice, it says, and when at first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavenly oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan in the Galilee of the Gentiles.
Notice with me here, the fulfillment of this prophecy in the New Testament is given to us in Matthew chapter 4 verses 12 -17. Go with me to chapter 4 of Matthew and we will see this fulfillment. Chapter 4, 12 -17.
Don't you love the Word of God? Look at this. Jesus begins His Galilean ministry. Notice what it says. Now, when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee and leaving Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, just like Isaiah told it.
Verse 14, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. Word by word, verse by verse, the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light and upon those who sat in the region of the shadow of death, light has dawned.
He is that great light. And notice in verse 17, what's the first thing Jesus started to say? Should be our message today to the people in darkness, folks. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say,.
Repent.
Repent. For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The king has come. The last days. You know when the last days began? When Jesus arrived. That's when the last days started ticking. How close are we for His second advent?
For Christ to come back in power and glory in the dark days we're living in. That should be the message today.
And say it with boldness, but tell people lovingly, Repent. Be reconciled to God. The time is near. And our time in this life is very short as well. But it's very, very near. Very near. And this is what happens.
This is what Jesus preached. It's a command from God. God commands, as Paul says in Acts 17, all men to repent. All people to repent. Must be repentance. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. The beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry.
The message was an exact echo of what John the Baptist preached. Repentance. The prophets told Israel, Turn from your wicked ways. That means to repent.
John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, as he pointed people to Jesus, he told them, he commanded them,.
Jesus said, Repent. The apostles said, Repent. Jesus' last words in the letters in Asia. To the seven churches,.
Should not the church today preach repentance? Yes. The opening word of the first sermon sets the tone for Jesus' entire ministry, beloved. John MacArthur. I love MacArthur. He's with the Lord now. He's with his reward.
But he said this about repentance.
Quote,.
Repentance was a constant motif in all of his public ministry and preaching. And in the closing charge to the apostles, he commanded them to preach repentance as well. End quote. So Jesus is the great light.
He burst on the scene in the history of a very, very, very dark time. In which we're living in as well. The nation of Israel. Verse 2, Isaiah 9. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in the land of the valley of death, upon them a light has shined. It has shined. And because of this light shining into darkness, the people respond with overpowering great joy. That leads me to the second point.
There is great joy. Great increase. Not only is there great illumination, there's great increase. A great increase. Verse 3. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. I don't know about you, but you know, great joy comes when we see the great light.
You know, just a small illustration. And we had a nice little tradition with our children. I'm so thankful. And I'm sure a lot of you do the same thing with your children and grandchildren to me and my children as well.
But as my children were little, we always loved, enjoyed going to see the wonderful lights.
Lights.
And I always would point out, whether it's lights on a Christmas tree or these beautiful lights that's in darkness, it shines more beautiful, doesn't it? And I would point that out to my children and say, you know, this is the way Jesus is.
He is the light. Every time we see these beautiful lights and these glorious lights, we should be thinking about His glorious light. Him being the light of the world. Point the children to Jesus. Not Frosty the snowman, a fictional character, or Grinch and all this stuff.
Point them to Christ. Joy of harvest. To rejoice before according to the joy of harvest. As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. That's what the Word of God says in verse 3. Dividing the spoil. Now what is this speaking of?
Let's think about this. The nation is enlarged. The people rejoice with abundance and they rejoice as gathering up plunder, the spoils, the goods, after the enemy was dead. That's how it happened. After a battle was won.
They went about and they picked up the rings, the gold, and all the spoils from the enemy that was defeated. It makes me think about in the times of the judges. You can read it in your devotional time.
I don't have time to turn there, but you can read the full story in chapters 6 and 7 of Judges. Doesn't this remind you of this? When the joy is likened to the day of the medians. That's what the text speaks of.
The day of medians. And what's he referring to? I really believe this, but he's speaking, he's thinking about when the day of the medians defeat. A great story when Gideon defeated the overwhelmingly oppressive Midianites without a sword in his hand.
Now listen very closely.
Isn't this wonderful?
God fought the battle for them. No sword. No weapon. Now if you have God on your side, you don't need a weapon. All he has to do is speak the word, but I'm going to tell you what happens here. You know the story.
At that time Israel was powerless to save itself and it was enslaved to the Midianites and then God caused,.
You can read it,.
The terror of the Lord to come on the enemies when the light from the Gideon's army, a small band of 300 that ripped through the darkness and the evil forces of the Midian turned on themselves and destroyed one another.
It's like an implosion took place. It's like they turned on one another and killed each other. It's not the only time this happens in Scripture. You see this with Jehoshaphat. When Jehoshaphat, the king, godly king, turned to God and he didn't know what to do because of all the enemies that was coming against, but it was happening here and God always sets it up where man gets no praise and glory.
So he takes 300 men here in Gideon and as a result, the oppressive yoke and the rod of the shoulders of the staff of the oppressor was completely shattered and all the trampling boots and the bloodied garments were destined for fire.
That's what it says.
And in this victory,.
A multiplied nation,.
Once again,.
The Lord confirmed His covenant with Abraham to multiply His physical descendants as the sands of the seashore. And by the way, you see the same thing that happened to Jehoshaphat. He reminds God as he's praying and there was a prophet that comes on the scene and he speaks and says, Thus saith the Lord.
And as Jehoshaphat was praying to God, he was reminding God of His covenant word. Did not you make this promise? Did not you make a covenant?
And God always shows up, beloved.
It's glorious.
Now listen, in the same way that Gideon and his little band won the victory with bursting the lantern. You know, God gave him directions. You bust the lantern. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ has defeated Satan in the same way.
A very similar way. A seemingly unbreakable yoke of sin and death that we could not break. No matter how much willpower we can stomach,.
We can't do it.
We are unable to save ourselves, beloved, from our sins. But when Jesus comes,.
He can do it.
And He did it.
Jesus has shattered the darkness, beloved, by crushing the head of the serpent. And He did it by dying on the cross. He did it by when He cried out, It is finished.
Hallelujah.
Aren't you glad? As Wesley sings it and wrote it, and we're going to sing it, God willing, next Lord's Day. Born, hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace. He was born to raise the sons of earth. Born to give them second birth.
Through the power of regeneration. Through His blood that He shed on Calvary's cross. This is why our blessed Lord came into the world to be born, that you and I could be reconciled to God. He has you in mind.
Desires to reconcile you and me. Jesus has broken Satan's power of sin and death by the blood of His cross. It is as like, again, the dark kingdom of Satan has been routed by implosion. They turn against themselves.
And that's what happened to Satan. Satan turned his evil weapon of death on the Son of God, Jesus, by killing Him and allowing Him to be put to death. But really, this was God's Lamb.
God is really in charge here.
He allows Satan to put Him on the cross. Christ is put onto the cross. But he doesn't realize as Satan is focused on destroying the Son of God, Jesus is going to destroy the works of the devil. And his kingdom.
And we who were enslaved by Satan's grip through the fear of death, now there's no more sting. Because Jesus has taken out the stinger. It's like a lion roaring, wants to eat you. You know, children, think of it.
If a big lion comes to you, oh, he may be strong. But think about this.
Pull all of his teeth.
He's not as vicious as he used to be, right? Well, the Bible says that Satan is like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
But think of this.
Jesus has pulled his teeth. If he bites you, he'll gum you. But he sure can't cut you, can he?
You think of it.
Jesus has taken out the stinger. He's pulled the teeth of Satan. Jesus is the only one that had the power to destroy the power of Satan, and he did it. Let me give an application here, beloved. And to the darkness, God Himself will shine His everlasting light, and that is Jesus Christ.
And He's done this. The fulfillment of these wonderful verses reach far, far beyond Isaiah's day. As a matter of fact, the land of Galilee will experience God's gracious light such that people in the land of darkness will witness the dawn of something new.
An old preacher years back, he was a Canadian preacher, H .A. Ironside, he's tremendous, said this, it is as though Isaiah could look down through the ages and see the Lord Jesus full of grace and truth, making known the wonders of God's redeeming love to those who heard Him gladly and found Him the light of life.".
How true. Doesn't God's Word say it? Brother Jordan read it this morning from John's Gospel. John 1, verses 16 and 17, "...and of His fullness.". We have all received grace for grace. It didn't say justice for justice.
As a matter of fact, if He gave us justice, we'd be in hell. He gave us grace for grace. Grace upon grace. And then it says, "...for the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.".
How about Romans chapter 8? Doesn't the Apostle Paul explain this very well in Romans 8? Verse 1 to 4, "...there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do and that it was weak through the flesh,.
God did.".
Aren't you glad? God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. On account of sin, He condemned sin in the flesh. "...that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.".
Praise His name. In Romans chapter 8, you see it's almost like the pivotal. Paul moves from the gloomy picture of the view of the struggles of our remaining sin that we struggle with constantly as Christians, and then against the remaining sin there, that sin nature that's tied to us like a dead corpse.
But in chapter 7, we see that. But to his joyous picture of the Christian life and the Spirit, he moves that in chapter 8. The believer is not living under the condemnation of the law, which is a way of expressing justification.
By faith alone in Jesus.
Puritan John Bunyan, one of my favorite... one of my very favorite poems. He wrote many great works, but I love this. He puts it in such a way that even a child can understand. This is the way he said it.
He says, "'Run, John, run.'". Sounds like a children's story, doesn't it? "'Run, John, run.'". We've all heard it, haven't we? But notice how he says it. "'The law commands, but gives neither feet nor hands.
Better news the gospel brings. It bids me fly and gives me wings.'". That's the gospel, folks. Beloved, this is what God has done in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in Him, in Christ, in Christ. He does it with glorious power by grace in Christ through the death, the burial, the resurrection of Christ, of Christ, all in Christ.
Without Christ, there's no redemption. Without Christ, there's no hope. Without Christ, there's nothing, no eternal life, no nothing. Again, everything is focused on Christ. This is why John the Baptist said it.
He said, "'Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.'". It's Him. And as John the Baptist was like a beaming little star in the night, he points to the great sun, not only the S-U-N, but the S-O-N, Him.
And you heard John. John had a prayer. He said, "'I must decrease, but He must increase.'". And then Isaiah, God brings all this in His Son, brings joy, brings peace, the peace of God, the joy of God.
If you haven't experienced this, you need to come to Christ and repent. Humble yourself before the mighty hand of God. Isaiah's Son is not in view here, actually. It's the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And by the way, we're going to look at this next Lord's Day, but we'll be looking at, "'For unto us a child is born. Unto us a Son is given in His first advent.'". Then we'll be looking at His second advent.
And as He comes as the mighty King, the mighty Counselor, His names, His titles, His wonderful Counselor or wonderful Counselor. It can go either way. Mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And this Son is a promised offspring of David.
We see this in 2 Samuel 7, verse 12 and 13. Let me read it to you. "'When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers,' speaking of David, "'I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom.'".
This is God speaking. "'He shall build a house for My name and will establish the throne of His kingdom forever.'". That's in 2 Samuel, way back in the times of David. He's the root and the offspring of David.
Isaiah 9, 1 -7. Jesus went to live in Capernaum, the land of Galilee. Matthew tells us that this was fulfilled in Isaiah again in Matthew 4, 16. Then Jesus, in John 8, verse 12, as we went through these wonderful chapters and that wonderful verse, then Jesus spoke to them again.
And this is Christ speaking. He says, "'I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.'". So wherever Jesus went, the dawning of the light and deliverance was shown.
Isaiah 60. If you go a few chapters, Isaiah 60, verse 1 -5, gives a great application to this. Notice what the Word of God says about those who has received the light, the blessings of the Gentiles. The Gentiles will bless Zion.
Arise and shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people. But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.
The Gentiles shall come to your light, and the kings to the brightness of your rising. Lift up your eyes all around and see, they are gathered together, they come to you. Your sons shall come from afar, your daughters shall be nursed at your side.
Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart will swell with joy. Isn't this what happens when Jesus comes, and when He's received with gladness by faith? Because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you.
The wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. It was always God's plan to reach the world, folks. Israel just failed to do that, and we see a great transition of that happening in Acts. The book of Acts.
Let me close with this. Ephesians chapter 5. Let me bring it right to where you live, beloved. Right to where I live. Right to where you live. Ephesians chapter 5. This whole chapter is wonderful. All of the Word of God is wonderful, isn't it?
But it's broken up from verse 1 to verse 7, walk in love, and then verse 8 to verse 14, walk in light. And then verse 15 to verse 21, walk in wisdom. And then from verse 22 to verse 33, you have basically the picture of the marriage of Christ and the church.
But I would like to focus your attention on walk in light since this applies to what Isaiah says. This is the way we are to live, beloved, as children of God. This is you and me. This is the way we are to behave, to walk.
The Apostle Paul says this, verse 8, for you were once darkness. You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. And what does he say? Walk as children of light. He unfolds this. He unpacks this.
How does this look like? This is how the light looks like. Parentheses, I don't know if you notice that. For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth. Does your life bear witness of goodness, righteousness, and truth?
Verse 10, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Notice there's a warning. It's a warning here, and we are to separate ourselves because we're holy in the Lord now. And he says in verse 11, and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Expose them. It makes me think of what David said in Psalm 1. Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord.
And in his law he meditates day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so, but are like the shaft which the wind drives away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
What's the way of the righteous? He walks in light. He has the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness and righteousness and truth, finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. Have no fellowship. Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
Elsewhere Paul says, Come out from among them and be separate. Verse 12,. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. Not even to vocalize the things that they do.
Verse 13,. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by what?
The light.
The light that shines in darkness. Did not Jesus say, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. For whatever makes manifest is light.
Light.
Makes me think of an illustration. My wife used to always tell me, at a certain point the sun in front of our house would shine through the windows. And you can literally see, and you know what I'm talking about, you can literally see the little dust particles just floating in the air.
You know what I'm talking about? And my wife said, That'll preach. I said, Come on. The light. We could not see those little dust particles unless that light shined upon a dust in the darkness there. And the sunlight would just beam through to allow us to see the dust particles.
Light makes it manifest. Makes our sin manifest. And when we walk before the Lord in the light of His Word, the fruit of the Spirit, goodness, righteousness, truth, people, you don't have... Yes, we are to tell people,.
Proclaim the gospel,.
But your life should say something. Therefore He says, Awake. It's almost like a sobering word here. Paul says, Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead. He's speaking to the church here.
Wake up you who sleep.
Wake up.
Arise from the dead. And who gives us light?
Christ.
And Christ will give you light.
The light of the world. Let's pray. Father, we thank You for this time of worship. Lord, to hear Your Word. Lord, I have... Just a sense I've just scratched the surface of this great, great text before us.
Lord, You can shine the light in our dark heart. And Lord, as Christians, we are now in the light. Now we're children of light. And we are to walk as children of light in a dark world. Lord, help us to shine forth the glories of Jesus.
The grace. The wisdom. Righteousness. All the fruit of the Spirit bearing witness. Lord, we know that we cannot do these things in ourselves. As the Lord Jesus Christ says, Without me you can do nothing.
So Father, we just thank You for the Lord Jesus Christ who has come and has brought us out of darkness into Your marvelous light. Help us to shine forth this wonderful light to a dark, dark world that people that are in this gloomy, horribly dark darkness.
Lord, help us to realize that, Lord, we cannot... And of ourselves. We in ourselves cannot fix them. We cannot save them. But Lord, as they see Jesus in us, help us to point them to the Savior. To the Word of God.
And there's where the light is.
In Your Word.
Your Word. Help us to shine forth, as Scripture says. Shine forth. And then we can say as the song says, Shine, Jesus, shine through us. All for Thy glory. And we give You the praise and the honor. In Jesus' name, amen.