Small Presents Are the Best
As kids, we thought that the biggest present under the tree was going to be the best present under the tree. We knew that the medium size boxes were clothes so we didn’t get excited about those. And the small boxes were usually extras and add-ons that went with the present in the big box. It’s funny how as we get older we start looking forward to the smaller boxes because they might have jewelry or gift cards or, in my case, books. The best gifts don’t always come in the biggest boxes.
The Paradox of Christmas
This points us to the paradox of Christmas. When God decided how he’d save his people, he chose to do so in a way that would seem backwards to the world. His plan isn’t the plan any of us would’ve come up with. His plan is enigmatic or inexplicable to human wisdom.
The paradox of Christmas is that God’s biggest gift to the world came in a small package. Instead of sending an army, he sent a baby. Instead of sending a warrior, he sent a child. Instead of sending a rich and powerful king, he sent a poor and feeble boy. God’s rescue plan is unlike any other rescue plan ever devised. Victory would come through defeat. Glory would come through humility. Power would be displayed in weakness. God would come as a child.
Last week we studied Isaiah 7:14 and learned about the birth of this child. Next week we’ll study Isaiah 11:1-10 and learn about the kingdom of this child. Today we’re going to study Isaiah 9:1-7 and learn about the person and work of this child. Verses 1-5 tell us about the work of the child: He will bring light and victory. Verses 6-7 tell us who this child is: He will be God. The main point of our text is that God will send light and victory to his people through a child who’ll rule as a divine king.
Context of Isaiah 7-9
Isaiah 9:1-5 says that God will overcome the darkness with his light. Before we look at those verses, let’s set this passage in its context in Isaiah. Last week we learned from chapter 7 that God sent the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz in order to tell him not to fear and not to trust in help from Assyria, but to rather trust in the Lord. The Lord even offered to confirm his promise with a sign, but Ahaz rejected it. Though he sounded pious, Ahaz’s heart was full of unbelief. He trusted his plan instead of God’s promise. He looked to Assyria for help instead of the Lord.
The Lord gave Ahaz a sign anyway (7:14). This sign was for a bigger audience than Ahaz. The “you” here is plural, referring to David’s whole dynasty. God will give the “house of David” a sign that he is with them. The sign would be that a virgin will conceive and have a son. The sign was thus a sign of salvation through weakness, not strength. Ahaz called for an army; God called for a child.
Chapter 8 tells us that, because Ahaz and Israel followed their own way instead of God’s, God would lead them into darkness (vv. 21-22). Because they looked to Assyria for help, the Lord sent poverty, confusion, and darkness. Because they refused the light of God’s truth, all they can expect is darkness. They’ll become the prey of the nation they trusted in. The thing in which they hoped will lead to their undoing. This is often the case with us as well.
God Will Bring Light
But the story doesn’t stop there. Judgment and misery won’t have the last word. God doesn’t leave his people in darkness. He promises to send light (9:1-2). Zebulun and Naphtali were two of the northern tribes of Israel. These verses say that something spectacular is going to happen in the northern most parts of Israel.
It’s very likely that within months of Isaiah’s message to Ahaz, the Assyrians invaded Israel and conquered the northern tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. Israel’s persistent idolatry and breaking of God’s law finally led to God’s judgment. The darkness of the evil Assyrian army descended on the northern tribes. They killed, pillaged, and enslaved the Israelites of this region. Within ten or twelve more years, they captured and conquered the entire northern kingdom of Israel. This is why there was “anguish” and the people “walked in…a land of deep darkness” (vv. 1-2).
How can a land lost in darkness “be made glorious” (v. 1)? How will light shine in northern Israel again? Matthew tells us (4:12-16). Jesus began his public ministry in Galilee, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. God’s light in Christ shone first in the very areas that the Assyrian conquests began. The sunrise of God’s salvation in Christ was first seen in Galilee. The first area of Israel to fall would be the first to rise. The first area to see his judgement would be the first to see his salvation. The first area lost in darkness would be the first to see his glory.
Grace in Galilee
The people of Galilee didn’t deserve this. This was an act of grace on God’s part. It’s not what any of the Jews in Jesus’ day would’ve expected. To understand the significance of Jesus’ decision to make Galilee his “home base,” we need to understand a few things about Galilee. Turn to the maps in the back of your Bible and try to find a map of “The Ministry of Jesus.” On the map, you’ll see that Galilee is in the northern part of Israel, on the west side of the Sea of Galilee.
Galilee was smaller than Judea in the south, but it was more fertile and populated. The Jewish historian Josephus (who actually served as ruler over Galilee for a time) said that the entire region had been cultivated, that there was no waste land, and that the smallest village had 15,000 people in it.
There were several important roads that passed through the area, so that it was said that “Judea is on the way to nowhere; Galilee is on the way to everywhere.” Judea was a mountainous and isolated region, whereas Galilee was open and easily accessible. Several foreign conquerors had made their mark on Galilee, bringing lots of people from all over the world to the region.
Isaiah even calls it “Galilee of the Gentiles” (9:1), so even as far back as Isaiah’s time, there were lots of non-Israelites living there. The mixed population in Galilee caused the Jews in Jerusalem to look down on the Galileans. They were considered irreligious and uneducated farmers and fisherman who had a questionable ethnic heritage.
Yet, remarkably, Jesus “went and lived in Capernaum by the sea” (Matt. 4:13). Jesus purposefully went and lived in a region full of working-class and ethnically impure people. He chose to live with people who had great spiritual need. The Messiah was expected to reign and rule in Jerusalem, but Jesus inaugurated his kingdom in the backwoods of Galilee. God sent his Messiah to do the majority of his public ministry among the lowly and despised people of Galilee. Ironically, the most famous man to ever live found the warmest welcome in the obscure places of the world, not in the halls of power.
Grace Can Come to Live with You
In Jesus, God came to live with people who’re far from God. Like the Galileans, we’re all born in darkness, living in a “land of deep darkness,” following the gods of our nation, and mostly ignoring the God of heaven and earth. Though the Bible says that we’re “darkened in our understanding” of God and his ways and have hard hearts that don’t want to love God (Eph. 4:18), we stubbornly assume that we’re good with God because we live a basically good life.
But the Bible says that God is holy and that his good character demands a punishment for sin. The Bible also says that God sent Jesus to die on the cross to take the punishment that our sins deserve. Everyone who puts their trust in Jesus will be forgiven. Everyone who doesn’t will receive God’s punishment for their sins in hell.
God sent Jesus to save people who know that they need saving. God isn’t impressed with outward shows of religion. He’s looking for people humble enough to admit that they can’t save themselves. He’s looking for hearts who see their need, not for improvement, but for redemption. He’s looking for hearts broken over their sin and desperate for outside help. God is only pleased with those who trust him, who put their faith in Jesus, who turn from their sins and joyfully follow him as the Treasure of their lives.
Jesus will come to live with you, no matter who you are or what you’ve done, if you’ll admit that you need him. Notice what Jesus’ first sermon was in Matthew 4:17. We must swallow our pride in order to receive the gift of God’s grace in Christ. I pray that some of you would do that this morning.
God Will Bring Victory
The next few verses of Isaiah 9 tell us that God will bring victory to his people (vv. 3-5). Isaiah says that war will end and joy will return. There will be gladness when they “divide the spoil” of their enemies (v. 3). Just as Zebulun and Naphtali had experienced the grief and despair of conquest, they’ll also experience the triumph of victory.
Verse 4 is a reference to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites in Judges 7. Just as God used Gideon to defeat the Midianites, enemies of God’s people, so God will use a greater Gideon to defeat their greater enemies of sin and death. God will “shatter the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor” (NIV) through Jesus Christ. Jesus said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:29-30). Jesus’ death on the cross breaks the heavy yoke of our sin and gives us the easy yoke of his grace. Only in him can we find “rest for our souls.”
God Will Send a Child
So far we’ve seen that “in the latter time” God will send light and victory to his people (vv. 1-5). The next two verses say that he’ll do so by sending a child (vv. 6-7). God will send a child who’ll rule as a king because he’ll be God.
Who is this child? We’ve already learned from 7:14 that it’ll be a boy born of a virgin. Here in verse 6, we learn that he’ll govern or rule his people, “the government shall be upon his shoulder.” The child will be a king. But he won’t be a merely human king. The four titles Isaiah gives him makes this clear, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
The title “Wonderful Counselor” tells us that the coming One will give wondrous counsel. He will give his people true wisdom because his counsel goes beyond human wisdom. The child’s wisdom will confound the wisdom of this world because it has its origins in another world. He will have “wonderful counsel.”
This means that we should go to him for counsel before we go to the world. We should read and study his word if we want to be truly wise. It means we should go to godly men and women who know his word for counsel. We should be quick to seek advice from brothers and sisters in Christ who know his word. When seeking professional counseling help, we shouldn’t assume that secular psychology, or even many versions of Christian counseling, are actually in alignment with the word of God. The “Wonderful Counselor’s” counsel should be what we seek.
The title “Mighty God” tells us that the child will be a “mighty” warrior and that he’ll be God. This child will have God’s might with him because he will be God. His power will be so great that he can conquer his people’s strongest enemies. He doesn’t horde his power like an evil dictator. He shares it. His power is available to all who humble themselves, like he did, admit their weakness, and walk with him. Those who follow this Child-King will be mighty men and women because the Mighty God has given himself to them.
The title “Everlasting Father” tells us that the child will be like a Father to his people. He’ll be concerned for their well-being, discipline them, love them unconditionally, and he’ll do so forever because he’s the “Everlasting Father.” Our earthly Dads can only do these things temporarily because they all die. Total security and care can only come from a Father who’s eternal. Our Father in Heaven must therefore be the Rock of our lives, the One we look to for help and encouragement and love. This Child-King will fill a void in all of our lives. He’ll be a parent who never leaves because he’s the “Everlasting Father.”
The title “Prince of Peace” tells us that the Child-King will be the ruler of shalom – the Hebrew word for “peace” that means “wholeness.” He’ll be the whole man, completely at one with God and man, lacking nothing. And because he’s a Prince, he’ll share these benefits with those under his rule.
The Child Will Be a King
Verse 7 says that the child will be a descendant of King David, but that he’ll reign over his people with a kind of justice and righteousness that no mere human descendant of David could achieve. The increase of his rule will have “no end.” The peace of his government will never cease. He’ll exercise justice and righteousness “from this time forth and forevermore.”
This child won’t be a king like the other kings of Israel. He’ll be the final King, the King to end all kings. This is why so many Christmas hymns are about Jesus’ kingship. “Joy to the world, the Lord is come; Let earth receive her King.” “The King of kings salvation brings; Let loving hearts enthrone him. This, this is Christ, the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing.” “Noel, noel, noel, noel, born is the King of Israel.” At Christmas we declare that the child born in Bethlehem is a King. We declare that Isaiah’s prophecy of the coming of a Child-King has been fulfilled. We declare that Jesus is the King who rules with wisdom, might, love, and peace.
Is Jesus Your King?
Has Jesus, the Child-King, taken over the government of your life? He is the King and you will bow to him one day like it or not. Is he your King now? Have you bowed your heart and life before him? Have you been freed from the tyrannical rule of sin and Satan by submitting to him? Have you found life in his death? Have you been saved by faith in him?
The paradox of Christmas is that God’s biggest gift to the world came in a small package. Instead of sending an army, he sent a baby. Instead of sending a warrior, he sent a child. Instead of sending a rich and powerful king, he sent poor and feeble boy.
This was no ordinary boy, however. This boy became a man, lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, rose from the dead, ascended to the right hand of God, and will return to rescue his people and defeat his enemies fully and finally. This Child-King is a gracious King. He’ll give his children his kingdom, share his glory with them, remove all their darkness, and give them peace without end in a land of everlasting light and unending joy.
Because of his grace, Jesus, the Child-King, deserves our worship, our trust, and our love. Let’s sing now what we’ll sing forever in his kingdom: “All glory be to Christ, our King. All glory be to Christ! His rule and reign we’ll ever sing, all glory be to Christ.”
