Isaiah 9:2-7
I was an Emergency Medical Technician during my years as a pastor in Ohio in the early 1980s. EMTs are trained to arrive at an emergency and stabilize the person injured or sick and then take them to the hospital. When there was an emergency, the siren went off and we were called. We drove to the ambulance, waited until we had enough volunteers, and then went to the location of the call. We lived almost 30 kilometers from the nearest hospital so we were trained to stabilize the patient until we arrived at the hospital. We were trained to understand that when we arrived, the emergency was over. I remember going to car accidents, a man who cut his leg up with a chainsaw, people who had strokes and heart attacks, all sorts of injuries.
What I particularly remember are the calls in the middle of the night. Most times these were not accidents, just someone who was sick and in the middle of the night, fear got the best of them and they called for the ambulance. These people who called us at night could easily have called earlier or waited for the morning but there is something scary about the night that increases our fears.
I have experienced this myself, being sick at night and unable to sleep. As I lay in my bed, in the dark, the discomfort seemed to grow and grow until I did not think I could stand it any longer.
As a boy I sometimes had to walk through the woods from my grandmotherâs house to my house in the dark. As I walked, I imagined all sorts of scary animals lurking, ready to pounce on me.
One summer when I was in seminary, I had a job as a night watchman in a big, mostly empty factory. I had to walk around with a key and insert it in various boxes spread throughout the facility to prove that I had made my rounds and not slept in my chair. I was in my early twenties, but I was still a bit spooked as I made my rounds in the dark with a flashlight, imagining that I heard steps and sounds of someone in the huge rooms of the factory ready to attack me.
I have driven through the night several times in my life and it is a struggle to stay awake and alert. It gets more and more difficult but then when dawn comes and light comes up over the horizon, then I felt awake and could drive with much more ease.
For most of us, being in the dark is scary and when light comes, it is most welcome.
It is this universal image of light coming into darkness that Isaiah used when he wanted to communicate a message of great hope that was given to him by God.
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
In the course of this prophecy given by Isaiah some seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus, he reveals what the situation was when people lived in darkness, how it will change when the light comes and then tells us who it is that has made this change.
What was the situation when people lived in darkness?
In verse 2 Isaiah used two phrases to indicate the situation, walking in darkness and living in the land of the shadow of death.
Walking in darkness indicates a people living out their lives without an intimate knowledge of God. God seems distant and removed. There is an understanding that God exists but he is unknowable and unreachable.
Living in the land of the shadow of death is the universal condition. We walk through this life with the reality that death constantly hangs over our heads. This was the primary problem for the writer of Ecclesiastes that led him to exclaim,
âMeaningless! Meaningless!â
says the Teacher.
âUtterly meaningless!
Everything is meaningless.â
We live in the darkness with all of its unknowns and fears and apprehensions. We enjoy life one day and the next someone we love dies. We see good people suffer and evil people prosper. Rich and powerful men take what they want and the poor suffer. Good people, evil people, rich people and poor people all face the same fate, death. We observe what we can see around us and it does not make sense. If there is a god, it seems he is either asleep, occupied elsewhere, impotent or does not care. The most suitable response seems to be (Isaiah 22:13)
âLet us eat and drink,â …
âfor tomorrow we die!â
In verse 4 Isaiah says that in the darkness, people are burdened by a yoke, with a bar across their shoulders and the rod of their oppressors on their backs.
This looks back in the history of Israel when they were captive in Egypt. They worked but did not reap the benefit of their work. They worked not by choice but served as slaves for those who ruled them. The yoke speaks of suffering they endured and the rod speaks of suffering inflicted upon them. This verse speaks of all the suffering experienced by Israel in the past and in the present.
As Isaiah spoke this prophecy, Israel was under threat of occupation by the Assyrians. The days when Israel was a united nation and powerful were long past. Those listening to Isaiahâs prophecy lived with the sword of the Assyrians hanging over their heads.
In verse 5 Isaiah speaks of the fear of war and in the minds of his hearers, the fear of the Assyrian army coming to conquer.
Every warriorâs boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
In Assyria it was common speech to talk of cities and countrysides dyed red with the blood of enemies and of the army marching through the blood of their enemies. Even today with all the attention of the world press there are atrocities. In the days of Isaiah, there were no restraints on what an army could do.
A good man loves his wife and family, plants his fields and before he can harvest the crop, an army comes and takes his crop leaving him with nothing. Perhaps his wife will be taken, his sons killed and his house burned. The power of an army coming through cannot be easily resisted.
The world in darkness is a world of fear, violence, suffering and oppression.
Although the circumstances have changed, darkness today is not much different. Death still strikes when and how it wants. Armies roam through the world inflicting unspeakable horror on the lives of innocents. We have made medical advances but we have not been able to prevent death. Suffering still takes place. Our daughter and her husband are working in Bande Aceh, Indonesia where more than two thirds of the 232,000 deaths attributed to the tsunami one year ago occurred. 160,000 people, 25% of the population around Aceh were killed in that disaster with some villages sustaining mortality rates of 60 to 85%.
Much of the world lives with a view of God as distant and unknowable. Much of the world lives with an uncertain hope that the dossier they present to God at the end of their life will be sufficient for them. Many in the world live with the view that there is no god and only impersonal chance has led to our existence, which means that there is nothing beyond this world at all.
Ignorance, suffering and misery abound in the world. This is still a world of darkness.
It is into this dark world, Isaiah prophesied, that light has come. After a long night, dawn has arrived.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
With the coming of light, Isaiah wrote, joy has come. Three pictures of joy are portrayed in this verse. There is the joy of a nation which sees that it is expanding, celebrating its success. There is the joy at harvest time that all the hard work and patient waiting has resulted in an abundant crop that will sustain the community for another year. And there is the joy of dividing the plunder from a successful military conflict.
We may not like the military images but Isaiah spoke of joy in a way that the people could understand. When the light comes into darkness, joy is the consequence.
For as in the day of Midianâs defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
The defeat of Midian by Gideon and his three hundred men was five hundred years back in history but the memory of that battle still lived and was the most outstanding example of Godâs ability to bring deliverance against overwhelming odds.
The light that has come into darkness has come without human effort. This act of deliverance was clearly the work of God. The yoke of suffering they endured and the rod of suffering that afflicted them have been broken, all suffering has ended with the coming of the light.
Every warriorâs boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
This is a wonderful picture of a future when the weapons of war will no longer be needed. Earlier in Isaiah, another prophecy spoke of this:
Isaiah 2:2-4
In the last days
the mountain of the LORDâs temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it.
…
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Light has come into darkness bringing great joy, the end of suffering and the end of war.
Who is this light that has come?
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on Davidâs throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The government will be on his shoulders so he will be a king. As a child he will be of human birth. As a son, he will be the proper descendent of a royal line. He will be born so he will have human parents but he will be given, indicating that he will come from the Lord.
In verse 4 those who suffer in darkness are afflicted with a bar of oppression on their shoulders. When this child accepts the responsibility of government on his shoulders, the bar on the shoulders of those oppressed will be broken.
He will be called – This phrase means that his name sums up his character, it declares who he is as a person. Listen to what he will be called and you will know who he is.
He will be called Wonderful Counselor. This is his qualification for ruling. The word here is the closest word in Hebrew for the supernatural. He will bring a wisdom far above human wisdom. His wisdom will be the opposite of the foolishness of Ahaz who brutalized Israel with his rule and it will surpass the wisdom of Solomon whose wisdom was earthly wisdom.
Mighty God. He will be the lord himself.
Everlasting Father. This will be his relationship to his subjects. He will not be just a ruler but a father. In the history of Israel, there were leaders who came and went. Israel experienced peace and prosperity for a time but when the ruler died, they fell back into poverty and oppression. This king who will be like a father to us will endure forever and ever.
Prince of Peace. The society he will rule will be one of peace. His rule will create peace. He will be at peace with God and with his people.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.
All of this is guaranteed to happen by the passionate commitment or zeal of the Lord.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty
God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
These are wonderful words. I can hear them as they are sung in Handelâs Messiah and they are beautiful. But what do we do with them? How can they affect us?
One of the interesting things to note about this passage is that although Isaiah spoke about the coming of Christ seven hundred years before his birth, he wrote about this event in the past tense.
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.
Isaiah was not confused about time when he wrote this. In Hebrew writing and speaking, talking about a future event in the past tense was the strongest way possible to communicate the certainty of what would happen. Isaiah wanted to communicate how confident he was that what he prophesied would come to be.
I am amazed at this prophecy of Isaiah. He spoke of a king who would come who would be divine, God himself, who would be born of human parents. Isaiah spoke of a great mystery that even we, two thousand years after the event, cannot really comprehend. He spoke with such confidence, such hope.
He spoke about the light that would come into the world seven hundred years after he spoke the words. What Isaiah prophesied has been partially fulfilled with the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus, but we continue to wait for the complete fulfillment of his prophecy.
The darkness of this world still exists. We see it in the rod of affliction and in the yoke of oppression. We see it in the wars that continue to bring grief and mourning. We are waiting for the day described in the revelation given to John when
(Revelation 22:5)
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
We are waiting for the day when we will hear a loud voice from the throne of Jesus saying
Revelation 21:3-4
Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Light has come into darkness and we can rejoice in that. We continue to await the day when darkness will disappear, when he will wipe every tear from our eyes, when there will be no more sorrow, no more suffering.
I have run many out and back races when the course consisted of going from the start to an end point and then you would turn around and head back to the finish line. It is a wonderful feeling to get to the turning point and head back. Each step now takes you closer to the finish line. When I ran the Boston Marathon, knowing that it was just a few kilometers to go made it easier to keep on going. No matter how tired you are, knowing that the finish line is coming up enables you to keep running. A lot of pain can be endured when you know the finish line is approaching.
History is running a marathon and when Jesus was born, it turned the corner and began heading for home. As history turned the corner, Jesus promised that he would be coming back and that he would bring his kingdom in complete fullness.
We are two thousand years into the run to the finish line and getting closer all the time. For you as an individual, your lot is not much different than any of the preceding sixty-seven generations that have been running in this last part of the marathon. Most of us have fifty to a hundred years to live and then the race is over for us as individuals. We come to the end of our earthly life and then it is time for us to meet with Jesus and face our judgment.
But this current generation is fortunate because we have been born in a time when we are so much closer to the finish line than preceding generations. The probability that we will not reach our fifty to one hundred years before the return of Jesus is much higher than it has been in past generations. The probability increases each year until he will come.
Hold on to the certainty of the coming of Jesus that was expressed by Isaiah when he wrote about it in the past tense. Hold on to the confidence that this will happen because it is guaranteed by the zeal of the Lord.
We are torn in this life between living for God and satisfying our desires for what this world has to offer. It is a battle every one of us faces. It will be our struggle to the end of our life.
Resist the temptation to think that it is what happens in this life that matters most. When you are tempted, remember that you are just a few kilometers from the finish line. You can resist the temptation to live for this world for the sake of the glory of crossing the finish line that is rapidly approaching.
.
Ephesians 5
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said:
âWake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.â
Right now I know that you have your heart set on certain things. You want to get to Spain. You want to be married. You want to live a life of comfort and ease. You want to make enough money for an early retirement. You want the respect of others for the work you do. You want a promotion. You want a lot of things. I want a lot of things.
Live with one foot in eternity. When you are tempted to do what you know is wrong, remember the finish line. Remember your future.
If you have ever had a job and then received a new job but had three months at the old job before you left for the new one, then you can understand what I mean by having a foot in two places. As you work at your present job, thoughts of the new job keep coming and it becomes harder and harder to focus on your present position because you keep thinking what you will do in the new position. This is what I am talking about. Keep a foot in eternity and allow that to pull you more and more to make decisions that will be right for where you are going.
This world will not and cannot give you everything you long for. If you set your heart in finding fulfillment in this life, you will be disappointed. Lift up your eyes, know your future, run your race with your eyes on the finish line.
If you knew that Jesus was coming back tomorrow, you would live differently today. What seems so important to you would not seem so important if you knew that tomorrow would be your last day on earth. Live knowing that tomorrow could be the day when Jesus will return.
Isaiah spoke with such certainty that what had been revealed to him would happen. We are in the final stretch of history as we move in toward the finish line. Keep your eye on your certain future. Jesus is coming back soon.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.
