Isaiah's Christmas Eve Song (Isaiah 12)

Well, it is good to see such a full house tonight, crowded place, and I take that as a mandate to preach for at least 45 minutes, right?

Because obviously you're here for that. I will be short tonight. I'll try to keep it 10 minutes, 15 minutes at the longest.

And as we open the scripture tonight, I'm sure many of you are guessing where to turn. Do you have a Bible with you? You're guessing either

Luke chapter 2 or Matthew chapter 1, right? The Christmas story. Well, we are going to look at the

Christmas story, but not from Luke or Matthew. I would ask you to turn with me to Isaiah chapter 12.

If you have a smartphone, you can just Google that real quick. It's going to pop up. Isaiah chapter 12.

And I'm calling this Isaiah's Christmas Eve song. Isaiah's Christmas Eve song.

It goes like this. You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you,

O Lord. For though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid. For the

Lord God is my strength and my song. And he has become my salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. And you will say in that day, give thanks to the

Lord. Call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously. Let this be made known in all the earth.

Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion. For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

Isaiah chapter 12 is a Christmas Eve song. Here we see Isaiah the prophet delighting that the

Holy One of Israel is in the midst of the people of Israel. I want to point out three things, first of all, that we should say on Christmas Day.

When you wake up in the morning and you want to say something to God, when your heart is full on Christmas morning, what should we say?

And then briefly mention why we're looking to Isaiah to get this Christmas praise.

It's good to see all the kids coming in. Thank you, Lord, for the children. So the first is in the first verse.

You will say in that day, I will give thanks to you, O Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away that you might comfort me.

Isaiah chapter 12, verse one. This is the meaning of Christmas.

The story of a baby born and laid in a manger is the story of a savior.

And the proper response, the thing for us to say in response to a savior given for us is thank you.

This is truly the greatest gift ever given, that God has given his one and only son for the salvation of people.

But we need to recognize the first part of this verse, for though you were angry with me.

God is a God of love, but he's also a God of justice. And he has anger against sin.

Because of his holy nature, there can be no sin in his presence. And yet we learn from Isaiah 12, one, though you were angry with me, your anger turned away.

How did God turn his anger away from us? The answer is simple.

That baby that was born and laid in a manger, he grew up and God poured out all of his anger upon this son as a sacrifice for sin.

And because the son of God absorbed that penalty for our sin, the anger of God was satisfied.

His justice against sin was satisfied because his anger was poured out on Jesus.

And his anger was therefore turned away from us. So the first thing we should say on Christmas morning is thank you.

Thank you for giving your son, Jesus, to take away our sin. But there's a second thing in verse two.

Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid.

For the Lord God is my strength and my song. And he has become my salvation.

In Isaiah 12, two, the prophet says that Yahweh, God, has become his salvation.

It's not just the faith of his parents or his grandparents.

He says that Yahweh, the salvation that God offers, is his salvation.

My question to you this morning is, is salvation yours? Have you been able to say,

I will trust? This is a message that God wants to hear from your lips.

It's not enough to rest on the faith of your parents. You personally need to make a decision to trust in Christ.

So we see, God is my salvation. I will trust and will not be afraid.

For the Lord God is my strength and my song. But there's a third thing that we should say on Christmas morning.

One, thank you. Two, I will trust. And three, oh come let us adore him.

It is a personal faith, but it's also something that we as the children of God, who have trusted in God, can go and tell others about.

Because not all of the world knows about the Savior. We invite others to come. So it says, with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation, and you will say in that day, give thanks to the

Lord, call upon his name. Isaiah is calling others to say, give thanks to the

Lord, call upon his name. Make known his deeds among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted.

That's my job as the preacher right now. To proclaim the name of Jesus is the name that is above every name.

There's no name like it, there's no name comparable to it. This is the very son of God, who came in the flesh.

God taking on human flesh, his name, Jesus, is the highest name. There's no other name given under heaven by which men can be saved.

But by the name of Jesus. It's a good name, it's a great name.

It is the glorious one and only name, the name of Jesus. Are you willing on Christmas Day to tell somebody about the glory of this name?

So Isaiah chapter 12 has given us three things to say on Christmas Day. Number one, we should be saying, thank you.

Number two, we should say, I trust you. And number three, we should say, oh come, let us adore him.

We should invite others to the praise of that name that is above every other name. But then you ask me the question,

Jeff, why are you preaching from Isaiah chapter 12? Didn't that happen 700 years before Jesus even came?

What does it have to do with Christmas? Why on Christmas Eve are we looking at an

Old Testament prophet? Well, many of us are familiar with the story that the children acted out today, right?

Luke chapter two, the angels that are announcing to the shepherds, Jesus born and laid in a manger.

This is history. Luke the historian wrote it down. He interviewed Mary. These are eyewitness testimonies.

But what is it about Isaiah that speaks to Christmas Eve? When Isaiah wrote his book, he wrote in many songs.

We're familiar with chapter six in the days of the king Uzziah. The year that he died,

Isaiah saw a glimpse of God. And the train of God's robe filled the temple with glory.

And angels were singing, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. In that day,

Isaiah knew his sin and he fell on the ground. He couldn't speak. He couldn't say anything. Because of the holiness of God, he was silent.

But an angel took a hot coal from the furnace and brought that coal to Isaiah's mouth and touched his lips and said, your sin is taken away.

And after that sixth chapter of Isaiah, Isaiah begins to speak. Chapter seven, eight, nine, 10, 11.

And we get to the 12th chapter we read today. Those chapters, verses seven to 12, are all one song.

And it's a song that Isaiah is singing about something that would come 700 years later.

Listen to me for a moment. Our kids like to count down the days to Christmas. And if it's the day before, they call that Christmas Eve.

But they also like to say the day before that is Christmas Eve Eve, right? And what's the day before that?

Christmas Eve Eve Eve. And that could go back seven, eight, nine days in that way.

Picture saying Christmas Eve Eve Eve 25 ,000 times.

25 ,000 times. That's 700 years worth of days.

365 days in a year, in case you didn't know. 25 ,000 eves before Jesus came.

I want you to hear what Isaiah said in this one song. The lips were touched by the coal, and he began to prophesy.

And he said in the seventh chapter, the 14th verse, you know this one. Behold, the virgin shall give birth to a son.

And call his name Emmanuel. He goes on in the ninth chapter.

That's the first thing he says. In the ninth chapter of his book, we'll read this.

This will sound familiar. He talks about a region in Israel called Galilee, which was looked down upon.

Nazareth was there. Not a capital, not an important part.

But he says this about Galilee. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.

In a few minutes, we're gonna pass a flame of fire using candles to light up this place because Jesus is the light of the world.

The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwell in the land of deep darkness, on them has light shown.

And now do you recognize these words? For to us, a child is born.

To us, a son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of his peace, there will be no end. And on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore, the zeal of the

Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Did you hear those words?

The prophet Isaiah, 700 years before it happens, says, to us, a child is born.

Refers to a human baby born. But then it says a son is given.

Jesus fits that picture perfectly. A human baby born to us, a child laid in a manger.

But more than any ordinary child, he is the son given. And he's called

Wonderful Counselor. He's called Mighty God. He's called Everlasting Father.

He's called Prince of Peace. Who is this baby that Isaiah is talking about?

The King of Kings. In the 11th chapter, we get yet another prophecy referring to David.

David's father was, kids, you know this, Jesse. And in the 11th chapter of Isaiah, we're told a shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse.

A branch from his root will bear fruit. And the spirit of the Lord will be on him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding.

The spirit of counsel and power. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes or decide by what he hears with his ears.

But in righteousness, he will judge the needy. And with justice, give decisions to the poor of the earth.

And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth. And with the breath of his lips, he'll slay the wicked.

With righteousness, his sash. And justice, the belt around his waist.

Isaiah says that there's coming one who's a descendant of Jesse, a descendant of David. But in the 10th verse, he says he's not only a descendant of David, catch this.

In that day, the root of Jesse, who shall stand as the signal for the peoples. Of him shall the nations inquire.

And his resting place shall be glorious. Isaiah 11 .10 says he's also the source of David.

He's the root of David. So he's both the root of David and the branch that comes forth from him.

How could that be? Are you following me? Jesus is fully human. He comes from the line of David.

He comes from that stump that seemed cut off when Israel was crushed and oppressed by all the nations.

But out of that stump, a human baby descended from the king,

David, rises up. He's no ordinary baby. He, in fact, is the root of David.

He's the one who made David. He's the creator. He is God and he is man. And that's the message of Christmas.

Isaiah saw it 700 years before. Prophesied three times, a virgin will give birth, a child will be born, a son given, everlasting father, prince of peace, mighty

God, wonderful counselor. He comes from David, but he's the source of David. He's the

God -man. He is Christ the Lord. Jesus is the savior of the world.

This is why I call it a Christmas Eve song because all the while, Isaiah was talking about the birth of the

Christ child. Do you know him today? On this Christmas Eve, have you said thank you?

God, you sent your son. Have you said, I trust you.

Jesus, you alone are my hope. I have no hope. I have no righteousness. I deserve nothing but your wrath, but I trust you that my sin is taken away to the cross on which

Jesus died. Are you willing to go proclaim that to your family and your friends on Christmas Day?

This is the meaning of Christmas. Let's close in prayer, and then we'll have the final grand finale tonight, which is the passing of that flame, that light represents

Christ. Let's pray. Oh, Jesus, thank you so much for the book of Isaiah.

Thank you for the prophecies. They're just amazing. A virgin giving birth.

Who would have thought of this? This comes from you, God. With you, all things are possible.

Who is this child born? Who is this son given? Teach us today. Give us faith to believe.

This is Christmas Eve, God. I pray that you have mercy on the people in this room to open blind eyes to the light of the world that's come through Galilee, but into all the earth, that we can see the glory of the king.

Jesus, thank you for coming, humbling yourself, being laid in a manger, a baby born to die, to take away our sin.

This story is so wonderful. This story is so true. We know it's true because the prophets foretold it 700 years before it even came to pass.

Thank you, God, for the meaning of Christmas. It's in Jesus' name we pray.