Keep sharing good news without ads.
No description available
So, this morning, I'd like to focus our attention on, really, that the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was to bring in an eternal kingdom. And this is by the Lord Jesus Christ. And His birth is so significant.
He came to die. That was the purpose. His focus was the cross and for the joy that was set before Him. But what is that joy? That is His eternal kingdom. So, at the end, He's going to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
So, if you look at Isaiah chapter 9, go with me there, please. It's a great text this morning. It could speak, it really speaks of the first advent. All the way up to verse 6. But if you look at verse 7, it can also speak of His second advent as well.
And among theologians, they call this a double prophecy. It speaks of both. But first, He must come, and He did come. Aren't you glad He came? If He didn't come, we'd all be in trouble, folks. We'd be eternally damned and well deserving of it.
A lot of people don't see it that way, but we're lost in our sins without hope and without God. And God took the choice, as has been prayed this morning, to reach out to us in grace. But here in our text this morning comes from Isaiah chapter 9.
It's a wonderful text. Isaiah is considered the Prince of Prophets. In this ninth chapter of Isaiah, I would like to read, as you follow verses 1 through 7, these seven wonderful verses that are well familiar to us.
I'd like for us to break it down this morning, the best I can. There's no way I can break it down verse by verse, but we'll look at it the best we can. Because there's so much packed in here, of course.
It's God's eternal word. Isaiah the prophet is speaking here to the godly remnant of Israel. The nation of Israel. And in verse 1, in the New King James Version, it reads 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 Naphtali, and afterward more heavenly oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan and Galilee of the Gentiles.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, and 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.
Wonderful verse here. We're going to focus a great deal on. But verse 6, 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.
Those actually go together. Some has it Wonderful, Counselor, but it's really Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and of the increase, it's a very important word there, 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.
What's going to perform this? Notice God has a zeal for something. It's really his glory. He has a great zeal for his glory. The zeal of the Lord of the armies, the Lord of hosts, will perform this. No question about it.
It's going to happen. Let's pray. Father, we look to you as our Father in heaven this morning. We thank you for your holy presence among us. And in that, there's great love and great joy, great peace, great grace, great fear.
Father, today, forevermore, we do glorify you. Lord, help us not forget where there's theology, it always ends in doxology and praise and worship to you. And Father, thank you for, we do glorify you for giving to us your unspeakable gift to redeem men, to reconcile us back to you through one mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, your beloved one and beloved Son, and whom you're well pleased in.
So, Lord, how we rejoice, not only that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Father, we rejoice today that he has been born in us through the work of your Holy Spirit. Because without that, Father, we would be gone astray and lost forever.
Thank you for your grace. And Lord, we thank you for this. Now we pray, as we look to you and look to your word, that Lord, you would give us the minds and the hearts that we might be opened by your Holy Spirit to see things that we've never seen before, that we might be taught of your Spirit to live as we've never lived before, in a dark, dark world.
So, Father, we pray that the light of Jesus Christ would so shine in us that when they see us, they don't see us, they see Jesus. Lord, that's our prayer. We desire people to see Jesus in us.
Jesus, be Jesus in us, in me.
Resurrection power, fill us this hour. So, Father, we would be careful to give Jesus Christ all the praise and all the glory. And in this we pray, amen. Isaiah chapter 9 really details for us perhaps the most classic prophecy regarding the coming of Jesus Christ.
It's a great text here before us. And not only with his first advent, but with the second advent as well, as I mentioned. So when you stop to consider the Christmas message, there are all different ways that you can go at it and look at it.
And I thought perhaps it would be worth our while this morning to examine an Old Testament prophet's viewpoint of the birth of the Messiah, the Christ, the Savior of the world. And then, Lord willing, next Lord's Day we'll be examining and looking from the New Testament writer, primarily from the book of Luke, Luke's gospel, of the fulfillment of that, of this prophecy in Luke chapter 2, which is a very familiar verse during this time of year as well.
It's a great text, isn't it? Both texts, but Luke chapter 2 is actually the fulfillment of what Isaiah speaks here seven centuries before Jesus ever entered into the world. Think of that. 700 years before Christ came and was made flesh.
Not created, but came into and entered into this world through the womb of the virgin. He was made man. And then, that's 700 years, and Luke chapter 2 tells us, so we're going to be looking at that, Lord willing, next week.
But here, Jesus' glorious birth is prophesied, and Luke 2 is fulfilled. But first, we will look at our Lord's coming from the prophet's viewpoint, which I think is going to be remarkable for us this morning.
I believe it's going to feed your soul as well as it's fed my soul. I've already studied it, and it's still feeding my soul as I'm speaking to you. So, to see what really was happening in Isaiah's day with the nation of Israel, it's important for us to see the preceding verses in this way.
We will be able to understand and appreciate the first seven verses of Isaiah chapter 9. So, you have to look at that. So, in studying this, I've learned a great deal. It's a very interesting parallel to our own day of the dark times.
And also, we see that when Jesus, in the fullness of time, that Jesus came into this world, God sent forth His Son, the times were very dark then. There was gloom, a thick cloud of darkness. In Isaiah's time, it was very dark.
So, we see dark times in history, but right before Jesus came, we'll look at it, it was a very, very dark time. So, it does parallel to our day. And it's interesting to note that times will get darker before His second advent.
But the light has come. And we are to extend grace, right, in the gospel, because this is the age of grace. But then, when Jesus comes back, it's going to be the day of judgment. And grace will end. So, in studying this, also I've learned that in the day in which Isaiah gave this pronouncement regarding the Messiah's coming, the Savior's birth, and again, was very much like our day.
The light that came out of darkness and of Isaiah's day is the same light that we announce to a dark world today, as Isaiah prophesied it. But in fact, Isaiah could well have been a 20th century prophet in our day, a preacher in our day, from the indication of these verses that we shall look at.
So, the days in which we live, like I said, are very troublesome, aren't they? They are. Let's be real about it. And they're trying, and they are dark times. But during Christmas, the world is in a mad frenzy.
Have you ever seen that? Yes. They're in a mad frenzy. They will literally run over you. On the highways, and the byways, and in the supermarkets, and the retail. I've worked in retail since 1983. I have seen mad people, folks.
Believe me. And of all kinds. And if you've worked in retail, you know what I'm talking about. I've literally dealt with people thieving and jumping over me, and running out the door to people that has threatened me with knives over something ridiculous.
It's the kind of world we live in. They're naturally acting the way they are by nature. They are without God, without hope. So we are to extend grace with common sense. God gives us common sense to protect ourselves, but God will ultimately protect us, right?
Well, it's a mad frenzy world.
I know you see this.
There's a rush. It's almost like a frenzy this time of year. You know what I'm talking about. When you really look around the world, it isn't really anything to be merry about. They don't have anything to be merry about.
It's just a feel-good, fuzzy, warm feeling. I was listening to a radio station. It was a Christian radio station. I happened to turn on it as I was driving the milk truck by listening to Christmas music.
And they had this little interview with the station, the Christmas station. It was playing all these songs, all about Santa Claus and Frosty and Rudolph. Somebody interviewed this young woman, and she said, Oh, it makes me feel good and have this warm, warm, fuzzy feeling inside.
That's the world, isn't it? I mean, they want to feel good. That's what they live for. It's a feel-good mentality. They live their best life now, right? As some false teachers teach. It's really ridiculous, but it's kind of a false celebration.
And like I said, turn on the television, turn on the radio, look around you. You see everything that's celebrated that's not Jesus. Jesus is kind of like a footnote they couldn't throw in there. His name is blaspheme, right?
We see His name blaspheme. He's a joke. Really, at this time of year, to a lost and dark world. As a matter of fact, the very day after Christmas,.
You'll see this.
Right now, there's Christmas stations playing all these Christmas music, and the frenzy starts, and it's like an accolade and a buildup. And then the day after Christmas, the songs immediately stop. We're back to the same old, same old.
But you know, to the believer, it's a lot different, isn't it? It's like we focus on not only the birth of Jesus Christ once a year. We focus on the birth of Jesus Christ all the time. We focus on the resurrection, not only at Easter time.
We focus on the resurrection all the time. It's part of us. It's part of our... because Christ is in us, the hope of glory. And the world sees it completely different. Naturally, they're without God. They don't have the Spirit of God living within them, so they're not going to look at us.
It's odd. That's natural. So, you see, during this time of year, it's a frenzy. It's sad, tragically to say, and it's in a devil-ordered, demonic-controlled world, isn't it?
Jesus is mocked.
He's still mocked. It's a dark, gloomy time. And such was in Isaiah's day as well. If you look at verses 19 -22 of chapter 8,.
It explains this.
Before chapter 9, He starts prophesying. I like to look at verses 19 -22. And when they say to you, seek those who are medians and wizards who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
To the law and to the testimony. That's to the law of God and God's Word. If they do not speak according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them. And He's referring to the law of God. Now, He's talking about mediums and wizards and those who whisper and mutter and talking about those who communicate with the dead.
This is demon activity. Do you not see demon activity in our day today? It's everywhere. And it is placed about the world as the norm. This is the days in which we live. Verse 21, they will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry.
And it shall happen when they are hungry that they will be enraged and curse their king and their God and look upward.
You see this.
This is pretty much Romans chapter 1, really. It's a judgment. Verse 22, then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness. This is a dark world.
Notice the gloom, the anguish, the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into darkness. So He is speaking of a very dark time. A very dark time. Yet in the goodness and the grace of the love of God, the Bible tells us in Galatians 4, verse 4, that in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law.
Another translation says born of a woman. I like this one better actually. Born of a woman. Born under the law. So in a world that has no room for Him, Jesus came. You know the story in Luke there. There was no room in the end.
And it was so crowded and a frenzy even at the time of Jesus and He was born in a lowly stable. Our Lord came and entered into this world into the poorest of the poor in a homeless condition. And He lived like that most of all of His life, 33 years.
The most lowest way in a manger stall. So in a dark, dark world, in a dark world where men love darkness rather than light as Scripture says. So exactly at the right moment in history, in the right time, and at the right strategic point in the history of man, Jesus Christ arrived and it was in perfect timing of God the Father that God the Father would send Him into this.
There was no mistake. The timing was absolutely perfect in God's sovereignty. But see you see verses 21 and 22 of Isaiah gives us that very dismal picture, doesn't it? Of those who were frustrated. They were desperate.
They were angry as Scripture says there. You see this world. Don't you see angry people? People frustrated.
People desperate.
People without God. Without hope. Even to the point of blaspheming and cursing God. Using His name in vain. You see this everywhere. All because they refused to accept the truthfulness of what the prophet predicted regarding the nation of Israel's future and the hardships that they were undergoing.
Everything looked black. Everything looked hopeless. But if you notice in verse 1, another translation says, but the gloom will not be upon her. It's the same thing nevertheless. That is an intervention.
That is a very important word. There is an intervention in verse 1 there from the end of the chapter. And as we all know, the old scrolls didn't have chapters and verses and divisions. It was a constant flow of Scripture.
But here is an interruption. God intervenes nevertheless. The gloom will not be upon her who is distressed. Now think of that for a minute. That is God intervenes with great light. God breaks through.
The light breaks through. A great light appears in the darkest times of history. Jesus came. The Word became flesh. No other birth in the world can compare to the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. When He was born, He was the earthly Son of His heavenly Father and He was the heavenly Son of His earthly Mother.
And when He was born, He was fully God and He was fully man. What a mystery this is, isn't it? It almost makes me want to bow the knee at this moment as I'm mentioning this because He is one of a kind and a special person in many, many ways.
Fully human. Fully divine. What a mystery. Great is the mystery of godliness as Paul the Apostle says. God was manifested in the flesh. Arthur Pink, A .W. Pink says it so good. I wrote this down. He says this, Christ is not now two persons combined together.
We must get that straight, right? He's not two persons. But He's one person. He's one person having two natures. And this is so true. He is both God and man. As many scriptures He says, plainly affirmed, possessing in Himself both deity and humanity.
Yet without sin. He was the perfect man. And it's really incredible. But the God-man was without sin, the one mediator between God and man, the only one that can take us to the Father and redeem us and reconcile us back to God, to a holy God that we are not capable of reaching.
The man Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of Man, God in human flesh.
Think of that.
All of history. All of history pivots upon the birth of this child, Jesus Christ, who was born unto us. All of history. And I had a chance to speak to somebody about this not long ago. If you really want to understand the Bible, you focus on that one person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is what unlocks every mystery in this Bible. You read from Genesis to Revelation, all 66 books of the inspired Word of God, it is all about Jesus. No one else. He is all in all. All the prophets spoke of Him to come.
All the apostles spoke of Him and gave witness of Him when they were with Him. All of history pivots upon the birth of this child who was born unto us.
Isn't that glorious?
To Him we give our full attention today and every day. Now this prophecy, as I've already said, is 700 years, seven centuries before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in His first advent. This prophecy is a glorious truthfulness to the Word of God and its accuracy to the Word of God, to the prophets.
They gave pinpoint accuracy, folks. Isn't this wonderful? Pinpoint accuracy where our Lord Jesus would be born. And in Bethlehem, that's where He was born. And how He would be born. He would be born of a virgin.
The Virgin Mary. To whom He would be born. To whom He would be born. To the nation of Israel. Scripture speaks of this in detail. Through the lineage of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and to the house of David.
And also it speaks of why He would be born. To crush the head of the serpent and to save His people from their sins and to His glorious birth. Now I would now want us to look at this as it is found here before us in the Old Testament Scripture written seven centuries before our Lord ever entered into this world in the Incarnation.
So as we look at these seven verses of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 9, I would like to set before you my outline and I have three points I would like to bring out to you this morning. Very simple points, but I believe they will help us.
Now what I did, I took these points and I borrowed them from Stephen Lawson. I thought they were good. I said, man this is good. I was listening to him yesterday on this text and I said, I got to use that.
But I'm giving him credit. I'm going to give him credit on this but this is Stephen Lawson's outline. So I can't take credit for this. But first in verses 1 and 2 there is a great illumination. I like this.
Verses 1 and 2 gives a great illumination. As a great light comes into the world and walked as people who walked in darkness. Second, in verses 3 through 5, there is a great increase. There is a great increase in the nation of Israel and in the gladness of joy there is increase.
And finally, third, verses 6 and 7, we will look at the great Incarnation. I really like that. It's easy to remember, isn't it? So I borrowed it from him. I thought it was good to go by these points here and just preach upon them.
So there is a great illumination. There is a great increase. And there is a great Incarnation. The great Incarnation. A child will be born unto us and a son given. For he will be mighty God. And then it gives the names unfolding to us.
Of who Jesus is.
And identification with the names. God is a personal God. Sin entered into the world and it broke and grieved His heart. And yet He reached out.
He didn't have to.
As sin came into the world, but God made man for companionship. Oh, He didn't need man, but He made man. Man needs God. But God doesn't need us. He's all sufficient. But we need Him. And without Him we're nothing.
Without Him we would never feel complete. And that's why this world out there is chasing everything in a dream and a pot of gold on the other side of the rainbow and they find emptiness and shallowness.
But Jesus is the only one that can fulfill that emptiness that's in the heart of man. So let's look at it. There's a great illumination. There's a great illumination. I like this. What is this? The light of the world, this illumination is the light of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.
And I like this. Jesus said, I am the light of the world, right?
He did.
And then He said to the Christians, You're the light of the world.
Why?
Because the light abides in us. See, we read, as Brother Chad read this morning, even John the Baptist says, He's not that light, but he bears witness of that light. Jesus is that light. Christ is that light.
So verse 1, it says this, Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed. So like a thick cloud in this time, the gloom, the darkness over the nation of Israel, was like a thick, thick cloud, it was very dark, glooming upon this nation.
Then they, the they is the nation of Israel, and they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom and anguish, and they will be driven into darkness. This is an enormous cloud of darkness, like I said, that would come, and they would be driven into it.
This was a judgment. This was a judgment that God, you know, think of this, during the time before Jesus came into the world, okay? There was really 400 years of silence before a fresh word came from God.
The prophets spoke years back, but no word from God spoke between the word that we would divide it, Malachi, until the gospel, until John the Baptist came on the scene. He was the last of the Old Testament prophets.
See, he was in a transitional period. See, John was that one, that forerunner, that would introduce the world to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But think of this,.
Before John came on the scene, there was 400 years,.
No word from God.
It was a dark time. The Roman Empire rose up. Secular humanism rose up. Greek philosophy rose up. The roads, the roads was being made, and God allowed all this to happen in the fullness of time. God knew that He was ordering all this and His sovereignty.
People didn't realize it, but God knew exactly.
And literally,.
As people,.
They were actually suffocating in religious darkness,.
In a sense,.
I like to put it. The nation of Israel was in darkness of the Jewish religion.
There was dead religion.
To the traditions of men. Don't you see this today? People falling into the traditions of men. People falling to religion and not the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can bring people to God.
So which at this time, there was a dead religion. Don't you see dead religion among us today? You see churches on almost every corner.
And you think,.
America has all these churches?
What in the world?
But how many churches of the terrorist are there, as Pastor MacArthur says? You and I know that God has a remnant. And they're scattered out.
I've seen them.
In different denominations. But God has them scattered. There's a remnant. God always has a remnant. And He always has a people. Sometimes we do get the Elijah complex,.
Don't we?
We think we're all alone in this. Thousands that hasn't bowed the knee to Baal. But God says, No, I have a remnant.
He does.
And so at this time, it was a dead religion. It was a time that was built upon tradition to man and not the Word of God. I'll think of this. During the Reformation period, it was the same thing.
Luther,.
It was very dark times there in the 1500s before God brought about the Reformation. God brought the Reformation. Luther would confess if he was here today speaking in German in his wonderful way, he would say, and I've seen the quotes.
I've read it. He said,.
I did nothing.
He said,.
The Word did it all. All he did,.
He went back to the truth. He didn't discover a new truth.
You know what he did?
He went back to the shelves where they placed the truth on the shelves and forgot it. But it was different in that day, wasn't it? Because it was stooped in dead religion and all they could see was the terror and the judgment of God.
It was a time of despair and all people could say, What can I do to earn my way to heaven? I've got to do this and do this. And God is frowning. So here comes false teachers like Tetzel. He's selling indulgences.
And poor people that were illiterate couldn't understand Latin. And they didn't understand the Scriptures because there was nothing written in the Scriptures. And that's why Luther was burdened to write it in German and translate it and give the common people the Word of God.
But God did the Reformation, didn't He? And this is how God does. He works in these ways. He sovereignly breaks through. But get this. In His sovereignty, and we must never forget this, and you see this all the way through Scripture, He always uses a vessel.
He does not come down because God's Spirit, right? He's over all. He's orchestrating it all. But in His great sovereignty, as He moves,.
He takes a vessel.
And He uses that vessel. And that's where you and I come in, right? There's always a means to an end. God always uses a means. That's why we're to evangelize, right? God commands us to go. There's a part we've got to do.
So here in this time period, it was very dark. And it was a time also that God was silent. And like I said, 400 years no prophet was sent until John the Baptist came. The heavens were as brass. Silence from heaven.
No more of the word of the Lord at the time period that they would come to the people of Israel. A time of unspeakable gloom and distress was upon them. And during this time period that was such engrossed in spiritual ignorance, a time when the people were separated from God.
And then in the midst of such darkness and gloom, verse 1 breaks through. The gloom will not be upon her.
God speaks.
God says,.
No more gloom.
There's a breakthrough. And here we see the coming of our great Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He came into the world. And I like to think of it. We'll look at this next week, Lord willing, too. But when the star was over Bethlehem, I really believe that that was the Shekinah glory of God.
That was no normal star. Because, see, the Shekinah glory of God in the Old Testament left the temple. And the glory was gone. But what happened? The glory came back and was shining over the Lord Jesus Christ.
That Shekinah glory came back in the fullness of time. Jesus would come bringing salvation and gladness, great tidings of great joy. That's what the angels said. Hey, this is a time to rejoice and be glad.
The good news has come. It's like God says, I think of this in Genesis. Let there be light. And there was light. That's exactly what happened. To a people walking in gross darkness, they have seen a great light.
Living without hope. People living without...
This is our world today.
Newton says we should not be angry. We should pity these people. We should burden for them. They're on their way to hell. They can't see.
They can't hear.
Their ears are dull to hear. But Scripture says it. Without hope, without God in the world, but the light's come. This great light, this great illumination was nothing less than the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Isn't that glorious? Jesus came in the power of perfect teaching with all His authority, signs and wonders. The kingdom has come beginning in the dark region of Galilee. The New Testament applies this prophecy, by the way, of Galileans to honor to the time of Jesus Christ's first advent in Zebulun and at the light where the border in the northeast Galilee, west of the Jordan River, geographically speaking, were the first to suffer from the invasion of the Assyrian kings back in 2 Kings 15 -29.
But this was the markings of the beginning of the dark days of Israel. And then notice, as when at the first He lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavenly oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles.
Now notice with me this fulfillment. Go with me. You know where I'm going, don't you? Go with me to Matthew. Matthew, the Gospel, chapter 4. Matthew points this out very specifically that this speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 4, right after Jesus was driven in the wilderness by the temptations.
And by the way, the scripture says He was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness. The Holy Spirit drove Him into the wilderness. And He won a great battle for man right there, beloved, over the world, the flesh, and the devil for you and me as a man full of the Holy Spirit.
Now, notice this. After He overcame those temptations, being 40 days and 40 nights in the wilderness, He was an overcomer. Aren't you glad, Jesus? He was the overcomer. He was the conqueror. And notice what it says in verse 12.
Now, when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee and leaving Nazareth,.
He came,.
Now notice what it says, and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Nathilah.
Isn't that great?
To the exact prophecy of what Isaiah says. And Matthew says, hey, the Holy Spirit laid it upon His heart that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, he quotes it, the land of Zebulun, the land of Nathilah, by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 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. But don't miss this next verse. Jesus begins His earthly ministry, beloved. Verse 17, from that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Beloved, that message is still the same today. That has not changed. That is the message. And it is important, the emphasis there is the command, the command to repent, to turn, to change your mind, to turn away from your sin and turn toward God in faith.
For the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That's the message. That never changes. The beginning of Jesus' earthly ministry, His message was on the exact, was an exact echo of what John the Baptist preached.
This is what John the Baptist preached. He preached repentance. And the opening word of this sermon sets the tone for Jesus' entire earthly ministry. Notice this. You see this all the way through the gospel.
He preaches repent, repent, repent. And by the way, if you go to Revelation, He's still preaching repentance to the churches. MacArthur says this, I love this. Repentance was a constant motif in all His public ministry and preaching.
And in His closing charge to the apostles, He commanded them to preach repentance as well. End quote. So Jesus is that great light. He burst on the scene of history, of a very dark hour and time in the nation of Israel.
And we know what happened. They rejected Him, right? He came unto His own. His own received Him not. They crucified Him. The gospel goes to the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Those who dwelt in the land of the valley of the shadow of death, upon them a great light has shined. This is the valley of death beloved. We're in the valley of death but a light, a great light has come.
You can tell people that.
And because of this light shining into darkness the people respond with overpowering great joy. Look at verses 3 and 5. Back to Isaiah now. 3 through 5. Let's look at 3.
First.
You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. So they rejoice before accordingly to the joy of harvest as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
You see the nation is enlarged and the people rejoice with abundant plunder for everybody. So this makes me think of in the time of Judges and as he's referred to really in the sense of chapter 6 and 7.
You know the story. When the joy is like unto the day of the Midian's defeat of that great story of Gideon, right? You know the story of Gideon. How he defeated the overwhelmingly oppressive Midianites.
And how did he do it? Without a sword in his hand. God did not need a sword. God didn't need man's sword. It makes me think about when they came to arrest Jesus. Was it Peter that took his sword out? Jesus had put it away.
And of course, you know he blasted one of the soldiers and swiped the ear and he was really after the head. And Jesus it says in scripture, Jesus picked the ear up and put it right back on him. Powerful.
You would think right there, hold on.
This guy,.
This is not.
A normal man.
I don't know, I've never.
Seen anybody pick up a sliced ear and put it right back. That's powerful, isn't it? But Jesus didn't need his sword. Jesus said, put up your.
Sword. This is what.
Happened with Gideon. At that time Israel, and you can read the story in your devotional time. I was thinking about this and this is what he's referring to. Was powerless to save itself. And by the way you know the story it was a large amount of soldiers and God put them to the test.
Who was to be the faithful few. God wanted less numbers. He said, you've got too many. Way too many.
So they were.
Enslaved to the Midianites but then God caused the terror of himself to come on them when the light from Gideon's army of 300 men ripped through the darkness and evil forces of the Midian turned on themselves, right?
Am I right about that? And they destroyed one another. God caused that to happen. God's sovereign, he can do it. All he needed was faithful men to obey him. Oh, it didn't make sense. Just smash the lanterns and let the light shine.
And they turned on themselves and they were confused. The enemy got confused. And they turned on each other and they destroyed themselves. And what was the result? Isaiah says the oppressive yoke and the rod of their shoulders, the staff of the oppressor was completely shattered and all trampling boots, this is what Isaiah is saying, and blooded garments were destined for fire.
In verse 5. So in this victory of a multiplied nation, once again the Lord confirmed his covenant with Abraham.
To multiply.
His physical descendants.
As the sands of the sea. So he confirmed that. Another time you see this, I think it's 1 -2 Chronicles chapter 20 in Jehoshaphat. Very similar. And I love that story. King Jehoshaphat being a good king, a godly king, he cries on the Lord, a prophet speaks.
He was a godly king. He called on God. He said, our eyes is on thee. We're not going to look at this great multitude that's coming out against us. And you know how they won that battle? Just set up men to praise me right in the front.
We don't need you. God didn't need the sword. All he needed was a faithful few to praise his name. And what did they say? I believe it said something like his mercy endures forever. Praise the Lord, his mercy endures forever.
And sing praises to God. And what happened? Again, you see this, that the enemies was confused. And they sent ambushment upon themselves. And they destroyed one another. I'm leading to a point on this.
The same way that Gideon and his little band won that victory, was bursting the lantern. And the death and now I want you to think of this. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ defeated Satan's seemingly unbreakable sin and death.
Jesus confused the.
Enemy. Who would have ever thought that Jesus.
Would defeat the enemy.
On a cross? You see what I'm saying? During that time period they didn't think of the Messiah to come and die on a cross. That's why the disciples, they said, you've got to be kidding me. And now you see people today thinking, you mean to tell me that my faith in one man on the cross wins the victory?
Absolutely!
It sounds preposterous, doesn't it?
People look at you, it's foolish!
The foolishness of the cross. The message of the cross is foolishness to them that perish. But you see, that's the way God overcame. His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. That's why He's God, beloved.
And by the way, that's how He gets the glory. Whatever happens, see, God does things His way, not our way. So be of good courage on that. And get this, Jesus shattered the power of darkness by crushing the head of the serpent at Calvary's cross.
The enemy was confused. This is how our blessed Lord came into the world to be born, and that's why He came. He was born to die in order to win us. To win His bride. Aren't you glad? Jesus has broken Satan's power of sin and death.
You don't have to fear death. You don't have to fear the grave because of the blood of the cross. It's as like the darkness, the dark kingdom of Satan has kind of routed and they turned on themselves.
Satan turned with evil weapons of death on Jesus by killing Him and destroying Him. And then He damaged.
His own kingdom.
Now we pick up the plunder. Aren't you glad of that? God says, here's the plunder. Here's the spoil. And we who were enslaved by Satan through fear of death have been released to serve God in joy. Now we serve a wonderful.
Master. Well,.
Let me get to my third point. I can camp right there. That's so wonderful. Third, the great incarnation. Let's look at the great incarnation. I pray I got enough time to pull this through. Look at these awesome verses.
Verse 6. We see the surprising conqueror. Now I like to bring this out. There's a natural yet supernatural mingling here. And He says this in verse 6. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Stop right there. That's enough. I'm telling you, that's a loaded verse. Unto us. Think of it. A child is born. You meditate on that at night time. Unto us.
Unto us.
A child is born. Unto us a son is given. Do you see that? There's the natural. There's the supernatural. One verse contains the perfect proof of the deity of the Messiah and the doctrine of the incarnation, which was the stumbling block of the Jewish people, as I mentioned.
The surprising conqueror who works the stunning victory that is here at 1 through 5 and now is revealed to be a son given described unforgettably in a string of four couplets that mingle His humanity and His deity in perfect order and in a marvelous balance.
Now, when I was studying this, I said, I almost couldn't study no more. I wanted to fall to my face and just worship. Because you see here the perfect humanity of the Savior and also the naturalness of His humanity but the supernaturalness of His deity.
His divinity. It is established here in these first words. For unto us a child is born. Then His deity that's His humanity and His deity. Unto us a son is given. The fact that He has come for us to benefit us who are basically unworthy.
We are unworthy of this. It's also established in these words. And then Luke chapter 2 verse 11 says,. For there is born to you. We'll look at this next week too. But to you. Unto you this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
The Messiah. So the surprising conqueror will be a child born, a son given. God's a given God. The mingling of Christ's weakness like a lamb and the awesome power like a lion. You can see this in Revelation chapter 5 in your devotional time.
But go to chapter 5 and you see in heaven there's a lamb but He's also the lion of the tribe of Judah. The lamb and the lion. The infinite mystery of the mixing of the meekness and majesty.
You see that?
It's so beautiful and that's why Paul says great is the mystery.
Who can.
Figure this out?
Who can understand one person.
With two natures?
You can contemplate on it. It blows your mind. It's like trying to figure out the Trinity. Try to do that.
We believe it's true.
That God is one God and three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We know that's true but that's the way it is. God is God. God is God.
God is God.
The meekness and majesty mingled together and here in the incarnate Son of God Isaiah says, and the government will be upon His shoulder. And on His shoulders this child has laid the weight of the government of His people and He at last is the answer to the quest for a perfect and lasting government.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a prophecy that's coming in the future. And I think about it many times. I say my shoulder is not big enough to handle everything but His shoulders is big enough. Whatever, how, what comes your way, how heavy it is, His shoulders can take the weight.
Only the shoulders of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus can bear the weight and the load and guess what? His shoulders will not buckle up against it.
He is,.
In Matthew 28, 18, Jesus said it, all authority, all power has been given to me in heaven and earth. That's what Jesus said. So we see the mysterious series of four cupids, I like to put it four pairs of two words linked in perfect harmony and balance, a mingling of the supernatural, the natural, of the God man, the God man.
And His name, what's the first He says? His name will be called Wonderful Counselor. Wonderful Counselor. Aren't you glad that He's the Wonderful Counselor?
He gives wisdom.
From heaven. The Holy Spirit will teach you. Now it doesn't mean that we do without counselors on this. You know what Proverbs says, there's safety in the multitude of counselors. We understand that. But we want to make sure it's from God-fearing men that give wise counsel.
A lot of times counsel is listening, not always giving answers. And then taking it to the Lord in prayer, to the one that knows it all and knows how to figure it all out. And now knows how to take it.
His shoulders can take it. But this should be translated as Wonderful Counselor. And let's look into these words a little bit. The word wonderful refers to ability, listen to this, I looked up the definitions, this is great,.
Refers to the ability to work.
Supernatural signs and the word counselor refers to implementing implementing supernatural wisdom. Now who can do that? Only Jesus. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus came both to do signs and wonders, and He did.
And He came to give perfect wisdom through His teaching. Look at His teaching, perfect wisdom.
Not one.
Heartbeat is missing from what God gave Jesus to preach. Perfect wisdom. Then it says Mighty God. Mighty God. What does that mean? A powerful warrior. That's what it means. Powerful warrior. The Messiah will accomplish the military exploits mentioned in verses 3 through 5.
The word mighty, let's look at the word mighty, was a common word for powerful men. Warriors who could carry the day by its power. It is a natural word. There's the natural, see? But the descriptive of great power.
Great power. You remember Samson. The Holy Spirit came upon him and he was full of great power. But Jesus has this constantly. He didn't fail. Samson failed. Now I believe Samson was restored to a sense, but it came at a price, didn't it?
But he failed because of his sins. Everybody else down through the ages failed. We saw Abraham. He failed here and there and he finally grew in faith. You see, but not Jesus. Jesus was the perfect. He did not fail.
He will not fail. But the word translated God here, you got mighty, then God was absolute divine. And it was the most common word in the Hebrew Bible for deity.
So you see.
And notice the mingling of the supernatural and the natural in these names. These words show the infinite power of Jesus Christ our Savior who is an omnipotent warrior and who will someday return to earth to slay all his enemies with the sword coming out of his mouth in Revelation 19.
I tell you, people was in for a surprise. I'm telling you, it's going to be the great day of the Lord. And when he comes back, he's coming back to judge. Makes me think of Jesus quoting when he started his earthly ministry.
He quoted from Isaiah chapter 61. He said, and he quoted, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me. And then he quotes Isaiah and he goes on to say that I may preach glad tidings to the poor and heal the broken hearted and so forth.
And you notice he left out the day of vengeance of our God. And I heard a preacher say it like this and I like it. He said that one day he's going to finish that sermon and he's going to pick up and he's going to say the day of vengeance.
Right now he's Savior, but when he comes back the second time, he's going to be judge. He will be the judge of judges. He will be the king of kings and the Lord of lords and that day will come. Next is the eternal Father.
Again, a mingling of the natural with the supernatural. The title Father is obviously.
Of everyday word.
This used to really concern me. How can Jesus be a father? Well, he is not the Father. This is a name given to him and if you think of it, in scripture that Jesus looked at those and he said, who are my brothers and sisters and my sons and my daughters?
He addressed many. Rise up, daughter. As he rose the girl from the dead. They laughed him to scorn. Remember that story? And Jesus went in and he spoke a word and she came back from the dead. Called her daughter.
He said, daughter arise. He takes the role of fatherly role. That's what he's speaking of. He's not the father which people get confused about this, but he has the role of a father.
Affectionately.
Look at the next one. I have to move on here. Prince of Peace. This is a great word. A great name. Jesus reigns as the Prince. The Prince. Don't you love that word? He's the Prince of Glory. He's the Prince of Peace.
A common word for a government official, but he will be a ruler who brings peace and is characterized by peace and this is the very thing that most warlike conquered kings can never bring about. No matter how hard they try.
But I'm here to tell you today that Jesus speaks to his disciples after his resurrection. He will give perfect peace. He told his disciples constantly in John 20. You can read it. Verse 19. Verse 21. Verse 26.
In John 14. 27. I quote it here. Peace I leave with.
You. My peace.
I give to you. I do not give you to you as the world gives. See the world's got their own little.
Peace.
You know that? Of course. If you've lived long enough back in the 60s, you know this group of people called the hippies? Oh man.
Peace and love, man.
Coexist. Yeah.
Coexist.
God gave us marijuana to.
Smoke. Let's get high on it.
God made it.
Also the temple of the Holy Spirit. God doesn't want you to abuse your body. You know people would justify anything in the name of God just to get by because they love their sin. But it's not. The world's peace is different.
Far different from God's peace. Jesus gives his own peace and by the way the scripture says he is our.
Peace. Yes.
Amen. Don't let your heart be troubled or be fearful. Jesus said. What about Romans 5 .1. Therefore having been justified. You've been justified. You've got something. By faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's with God. There's also the peace.
Of God.
That he can keep you in perfect peace when your mind is stayed on him. As Brother Key said this morning, that's one of the hardest disciplines in the Christian life is keeping our minds stayed on Christ because of all the distractions that's thrown at us.
It's a battle.
Beloved. Fight the good fight of faith. Let me conclude with this. Isaiah 9 .7. The kingdom of Christ. So this is a supernatural yet this is a natural conqueror who comes to rule. He will be ruler as king of kings and lord of lords.
So what is the nature of his perfect kingdom? Verse 7 tells us. Of the increase. There it is. The increase. This is magnificent beloved. This is how it will never end. That word increase is the key word.
It means vastness. It gives a sense of ever growing abundance of multiplication. God's into multiplication. He multiplies. You ever thought about that? Notice in his first miracle he multiplied actually the water.
He turned the water into wine. How many people graciously provided for. He graciously gave. He didn't have to do it. But he did it. And he was glorified. He broke the bread and the fish and he multiplied the fishes.
He multiplied and took care of the needs of the people. He didn't have to. But he did it. That's God's goodness. Think about Genesis. I thought about Genesis 1 .28. Then God blessed him. I'm talking about Adam and Eve.
And God said to them be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth. Subdue it. God's into multiplication. How can that be true in heaven? Well, especially because you no longer have babies. But something's going to happen.
Well, after God wipes away all tears from our eyes and sin is gone and we'll be complete in him. No more pain. No more tears. No more sufferings. No more devil. Thank God.
I think.
In many respects we will continue to learn more about God's perfections in Jesus. I really believe that. We will be complete in one sense, but can anybody even in eternity throughout heaven know everything there is about the goodness and the grace and the love and the majesty and the glory of God?
It goes on forever and ever, doesn't it? And I really believe in a sense that that will be the increase in his kingdom. Now, you can check me on my translation on that, but you can see that through Scripture, we never ever stop growing.
We, even though we will be complete in Christ and perfected, even in, see, we are going to be perfected souls. God is God. Jesus is Jesus. And he's so great and he's so majestic and we will continue to worship him throughout all eternity because of his greatness and his glory and his love.
So I really believe we will never stop increasing more and more in our love for him and our passion, our knowledge and our ability to continue to worship him. Jesus will reign on David's throne. I got more verses here to go to.
I don't have time to go to it, but you can write this down in your devotional time. Hebrews 1, 8 and 9 talks about David's throne over his kingdom. A direct fulfillment of the promise made to David. Back in 2 Samuel, chapter 7, 13 through 16, that's a fulfillment of the Davidic covenant.
God promised David that a son from his own body would have a throne that God would establish forever and ever without end. Jesus fulfills that in reigning as his son. Well, David himself will be on his face in heaven, won't he?
Worshipping the greater Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, with all the redeemed in heaven. And Jesus will establish, sustain with justice and righteousness. His kingdom will be forever and ever. In other words, a perfectly righteous king.
Now think of this. How would you like to have a perfectly righteous king who loves righteousness perfectly and hates wickedness.
Completely?
And he will make sure that those attributes will characterize his kingdom forever and ever, protecting his people. How would you like to have a king like that? We have never known it, folks, but we will know it because it started in our heart.
This everlasting kingdom was established from the very moment Jesus came into this world and was born in a stable, in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes. He entered into the world. Now, what guarantees all this?
I've got to bring this to a closure. These things will most certainly come to pass. What's going to perform it? The zeal of the Lord. God.
Has a zeal.
What is His zeal? It's for His glory. The Father has a great zeal for the glory of His Son. You can be sure of that. He will glorify Jesus because they all work together. But the Father honors the Son.
The Son honors the Father. The Holy Spirit is applying all this. But God, the Father has a zeal for the glory of Jesus the Son. Look at it through Scripture. It's great glory. Moses wanted to see His glory.
God says, I can't allow you to see My glory. You would disintegrate, basically. That's what He's saying. You would die.
You can't live.
So He placed Moses right in the cleft of the rock. And God passed by and He saw the back quarters of God just quickly. And it was so bright upon the countenance of Moses when He came down from the mount that the people of Israel could not even look at Moses' face because of the reflection of the glory of God.
Could you imagine the glory of God? And by the way, He only saw a quick glimpse of God's backside.
Think, could any man.
Live? It would disintegrate us. And people yet haphazardly speak of God.
Like a joke.
I'm telling you people, the only way we would know who God is and who we are is by the grace and the power of the Holy Spirit in reading and studying this Word. It must come through that.
Knowledge.
Well, all that being said, let me give some application to this. Aren't you glad that Jesus is the wise counselor? We need to understand now by faith that the victory of Jesus Christ over sin, death, and the grave is total and complete.
He did it. He did it alone for you and me. No one helped Him. He went all the way to the cross alone and willingly so that all the glory would go to Him. Just as the day of medians defeat, He calls Satan's kingdom to destroy itself.
He gives us the plunder forever. So what is the plunder? Eternal life? Eternal peace? Eternal joy? Eternal righteousness in Jesus? He gives His wise counsel. We're to rejoice greatly in this and the great news.
Great joy. Great tidings of great joy. So, ask God to restore into you the joy of His salvation to your heart. To refresh you through His Word and by His Spirit. As David cried out, why my soul are you dejected?
Why are you disquieted within me? Why are you in such a turmoil? David asked these questions and then God came to him. God answered him. And He was the lifter of his head. Rejoice in the victory of Christ that Christ has won for you.
Meditate on the awesome titles that we talked about today of Jesus. Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Study it. Meditate on it. Love Him. Allow each word to have a time of your thoughts and meditation.
But most of all, as I said earlier, sound theology always leads to doxology. When we study the Word of God, it leads us to praise Him, doesn't it? It leads us to praise our God, to resolve to obey Jesus as your King, as your Lord, as your Master, and He then will be your Savior.
This by faith and by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the Supreme Ruler who has saved sinners from their sins. That's what He came to do. He came to save His people from their sin. That's the purpose of Jesus.
Submit fully to His authority and His Lordship. Look forward to the eternity with Him and Heaven will not be static. Right? Honoring. Heaven will not be boring. No way. And I would say last, most important, what good is it that we don't share it to a lost and dying world?
As I mentioned earlier, as Joel Sowell said, we're to revel in God's grace, but we're also to share God's grace. Share it with the world that needs it so desperately. Share it as much as God gives you opportunity.
Share this gospel. Go tell it on the mountain. Tell them that Jesus Christ is Lord. Amen? Let's pray. Father, we do thank You for this time of study. Time went by so quickly because there's so many nuggets and treasures here before us.
Father, we do worship You. We thank You. We praise You. Lord, we desire to love You more. We desire to love You more. Father, our sin and our fault is on our side. It's not the love You have toward us.
We don't doubt that. We doubt ourselves. We doubt the love we have toward You. So Lord, help us. Fill us with Your love. Fill us as Scripture says, grace upon grace by Your Holy Spirit. The grace that will pardon and cleanse from within.
Great grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin. And where we see this? We see it at Calvary's.
Cross. That.
Forgiving grace that Jesus You said in Your last hour, forgive them for they do not know what they do. May we extend this kind of forgiveness to a lost and dying world of our enemies, of those that sin against us.
Father, may we pray and mean it from the heart. Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. We need to have pity on these people because they're without You. And for those, Father, for those who profess Christ, they're going to have a serious, very serious.
Retribution.
Those that have the knowledge of the light, Lord, those are the ones that You need to... We pray. We know that You will.
You have.
Ways to humble them now in Your.
Justice. Father,.
At the same time, may we overcome evil with good. May we know that the gospel has the power to set people free. And Father, You will take care of those that profess Your name and do not know You. Lord, You know how to take care of them.
So Father, we ask You, help us, we pray, to be more like Jesus in our everyday life. We ask this in His mighty name. Amen and amen.