Light in a World of Darkness

Lest you think that this is a boast on my part, I will tell
you instead it is a bluff. I have no intentions. I don’t
even have notes for point number three. Purposely, I left them
out. We will not get there this morning. We may not even get
to point number two. To open up with, I have a confession
to make before we even begin this morning. confession is that I love Handel’s
Messiah. I know that Handel’s Messiah
isn’t for everyone, because while I was a dating man, I took my
wife, my wife to be. And we sat through it and my
contention is that I think every Christian, every person ought
to sit at least once, have the privilege to sit entirely through
Handel’s Messiah, for some, that’s all it takes is once. I understand
that. Handel’s Messiah, if you’re not
familiar with it, is literally scripture set to music, but it
is what many have would probably characterize as light opera.
And even for me, there is another operatic piece that I even remotely
consider enjoyable to listen to. But for me, Handel’s Messiah,
it just does it. There’s something about it. It
is Scripture set to music, but the music is of such a kind that
it, like nothing else, captures the mood of the text that it
is carrying. It was written by George Frederick
Handel in 1741. It’s an interesting scenario
that he found himself in and that in God’s providence produced
this piece. He found himself suddenly after
composing for a number of years, 30 plus, to be poor and penniless
and really standing or staring at a debtor’s prison. He was about to be thrown in
jail because he couldn’t pay off all of his debts. He was
depressed because of it. He was destitute because of that. He was sleepless. He found himself
at a crisis point in his life for the first time. And two letters
that he received that summer changed everything. One was a
letter from a friend that challenged him to come to Ireland. And to write a series of music
and perform a series of music, number one, for a hospital, but
secondly, for prisoners. prisoners that were in jail. Somebody had the grace and goodness
to seek some kind of blessing on their behalf. And they figured
that their hearts might be encouraged by some music. And since Handel
would come cheap, they sought out Frederick Handel.
There was another letter that he got that summer. It was a
letter from a friend who in times past had written lyrics for him.
And in the letter, Handel opened it and he didn’t find, in this
case, lyrics per se. Essentially, what it was was
a Bible study. And his friend, his friend Jennings,
literally poured out Scripture to him and laid before him the
Gospel through the Old Testament and into the New. And it’s those
passages that formed the framework for Handel’s Messiah. It is said
that Handel went and locked himself in a room and one week later
came out with what we know as the first portion, which for
many people is enough. The first portion of Handel’s
Messiah. It’s an interesting tradition,
if you’ve never been in an audience where Handel’s Messiah is being
performed. There’s an interesting tradition
at the end of it when they sing the hallelujah chorus. If you’re
not familiar with any other portion of Handel’s Messiah, most people
know about that. And at the end, remember at Handel’s
Messiah, when they sing the hallelujah chorus, everyone stands. But
isn’t just the grandeur of the moment, the way that this rising
to the feet came about was when this finally was given in the
audience of the king. After the king heard this lengthy
production, when he finally heard Handel’s Messiah and at the conclusion
heard the Hallelujah Chorus, the king couldn’t help but stand.
And since everybody in the audience, no one sits when the king stands,
everyone else stood. You see, the king knew that he
was in the presence of a far greater king. That’s what you
get from Handel’s Messiah. And that’s why I say everyone
should go at least once. But when you go, the best way
to experience Handel’s Messiah is with an open Bible in your
lap. Because it’s thoroughly scriptural and in order to really
take in all that Handel’s Messiah has to offer, you’ve got to take
the texts in their context. The genius of Handel’s Messiah
isn’t just the music. The music is incredible, that’s
true. But it isn’t just the music.
The genius is in the lyrics. The issue is, though, that Handel
didn’t write the lyrics. God wrote the lyrics. Handel’s Messiah opens with this
exceedingly solemn, instrumental, almost depressing, but certainly
seizing And it captures the mood of the human struggle, the struggle
with sin, the struggle with self and flesh, the struggle with
the difficulties that we experience in life. It captures that. And
the opening phrase is comfort. Comfort to my people. And then
beginning Peace by peace and verse by verse, coursing through
Old Testament prophecies of Christ, it declares, it proclaims Christ. And it lands eventually on the
passage that I want to consider this morning. The Messiah, interestingly
enough, is proclaimed or performed usually at Christmas. And that’s
appropriate, but the tradition was Easter. But it is, in a sense,
a Christmas performance. It proclaims Christ, the Christ
of Christmas. But the interesting thing about
the song that that I want to focus in on today, the song that
essentially Handel took and adapted into music was a song that was
written by Isaiah 700 years before Christ ever walked the earth.
It was a prophecy. It was a prophecy of a coming
king. It was a prophecy of one that
was going to come and was going to lighten the world. Let me set the context for you. Context is fairly simple, and
I want to do this as simply so even the youngest members of
our audience will know how I’m parking this passage. Listen
to me if you would, little guys. Remember the people of Israel.
They had clamored for king. They asked God for a king, even
though God was their king. We’ve been studying it in Sunday
school. And God provided them kings. He provided them some
good ones, David and Solomon. But most of them were rotten
kings, lousy kings. And in time, two kings, Jeroboam
and Rehoboam, decided that they both wanted to be king. And they
split the kingdom. And that’s that’s the setting
that we find ourselves in when we come in a little closer to
look at the passage that we’re going to look at this morning.
We come to a divided kingdom. We have in one kingdom, Israel
and her king and Israel, we know of from our study, almost always
sinful, chronically sinful. Right. Always dipping into new
idolatrous practices. All of their kings, not a one
of them was good. Every single king they had did
evil. A bad situation. And then, in
addition to Israel, you have another kingdom called Judah.
And Judah, they weren’t perfect. They had a lot of good kings
and they even had some evil kings. But Judah tried to serve the
Lord. They constantly battled with
the forces around them, with Israel and with idolatry and
with the other nations. They constantly battled to stay
focused on the Lord, to serve the Lord in faithfulness. And
all of a sudden, onto the scene, to God’s little country called
Judah, bursts this prophet. Suddenly. God gives them a prophet
named Isaiah. Some of you are familiar with
Isaiah’s ordination service. Isaiah suddenly finds himself
face to face with Almighty God and God commissions him out to
go and speak on his behalf. And immediately after that commissioning,
Isaiah begins. Now we even come in closer and
we begin to see the context of the passage at hand. Isaiah goes
out in a sense to comfort, pardon me, to confront and to comfort
Judah’s King Ahaz. Ahaz is a good man, not a perfect
man, but he’s a good man trying to serve the Lord, struggling
all the way. And Isaiah wants to confront
him about bad decisions he’s made and rebuke him about the
bad decisions he’s made. Because of the sinful decisions
that Judah had made, they literally at this moment are facing attack. They’re facing attack from Assyria,
or as we know it, Syria, and they’re facing attack not only
from a godless nation like Assyria, they’re facing attack from their
sister country, Israel. This was an unprecedented and
ungodly situation. And because of it, Judah is literally
seeking the Lord. They want to know how on earth
the Lord could possibly give them over into Israel’s hands
and serious hands. But precisely, precisely because
of their sinfulness, God does seem to be giving them over into
Israel’s hands and into serious hands. And that’s exactly the
context that we come into, that God wants to give them hope that
there is going to be trouble. They will be chastened. They
will be scolded. But there’s hope. If you’re in
the book of Isaiah, turn to chapter seven. Just following the commissioning,
his ministry to Ahaz now just begun. Look at verse 10. The Lord spoke again to Ahaz,
saying, Ask for yourself a sign from the Lord your God. Make
it deep as Sheol or high as heaven. He challenges Ahaz and says,
You want me to prove myself? Ask me. I’ll do anything. Ahaz,
in some kind of a false humility, says, I will not ask, nor will
I test the Lord. which is a moot point because
he’s already testing the Lord by his behavior, by his encouragement
into sinful practices, by his allowance of sinful practices.
Verse 13, then he said, Listen now, O house of David, is it
too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men that
you will try the patience of God as well? God is not happy
with Ahaz for not taking him up on his opportunity to prove
himself. And so God says, let me offer
a sign. Therefore, the Lord Himself will
give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall be with
child and will bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel,
God with us. That beautiful passage that we’ve
studied in the past. In other words, God looks at
Ahaz, looks at Judah and says, here’s hope. You cannot possibly
be completely obliterated because the Messiah is going to come
from your loins. What great hope? What great hope
must have been with Ahaz and with Judah? Judah can’t perish. But, as we
will see, even though the Lord is a sanctuary to those who seek
Him, to those who seek to obey Him, He, on the other hand, is
going to drive into utter despair and confusion and frustration
the great multitude of the nation. Most of the people are going
to be consumed with darkness. And at the opening of the eighth
chapter, you get a sense of this despair. This is exactly what
Isaiah is communicating. Look at verse 21. where Isaiah says they will pass
through the land, hard pressed and famished. It will turn out
that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their
king and their God as they face upward. It’s going to get so
bad that they doubt even God. They curse their king. They curse
their God. Then look at verse 22, “…they
will look to the earth and behold distress and darkness, the gloom
of anguish, and they will be driven away into darkness.” This
couldn’t get any worse for Judah. It looked so bleak. And that
was exactly Isaiah’s purpose. Because chapter 9 opens with
hope. And with that, if you would, turn to chapter 9. Look at the
first seven verses with me, if you would, where Isaiah proclaims,
But there will be no more gloom for her who is in anguish. In
earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali with contempt. But later on, he shall make it
glorious. By the way of the sea on the
other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, The people who
walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark
land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the
nation, you shall increase their gladness, they will be glad in
your presence is with the gladness of harvest as men rejoice when
they divide the spoil, for you shall break the yoke of their
burden and the staff on their shoulders. The rod of their oppressor
is at the battle of at Midian. For every boot of the booted
warrior in the battle tumult and cloak rolled in blood will
be for burning fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us.
A son will be given to us. And the government will rest
on His shoulders and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end
to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of
David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with
justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The
zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Beginning this morning, I want
to look at three glorious aspects. Of God’s gift of the Messiah. Because that is exactly what
He communicated to Judah that day. That’s what Isaiah’s commissioning
was all about. To communicate to Judah the hope
of the Messiah. But nothing would happen the
way Judah expected. Nothing. Let’s look first of
all at the appearance of the Messiah. The appearance of the
Messiah. Go back and look again at verse
1. Isaiah there gave the hope simply
as this, there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. Passage in chapter 9 opens with
that great contrast, but all of the doom and all of the gloom
and all of the despair that was communicated in those earlier
verses suddenly comes into a stark contrast. But hope is offered. Hope is communicated. There will be no more gloom. But it’s vague. It’s undefined. It’s interesting. This land,
the land of Galilee is what is referred to here as Naphtali
and Zibilon. It was the northern part. It
was inhabited by a mixed race of people similar to the Samaritans.
And in a sense, what arose was this contempt for these people
as half-breeds. They were kept at an arm’s length.
They were the hated, even among the Jews. It didn’t make sense
that it’s these people that find themselves in gloom and contempt
and darkness. It’s the people of chapter 8.
who because of their disobedience and their constant idolatry were
being chastened with God’s wrath, His judgment and difficulty and
heartache was coming upon them. It’s this group that was so darkened
spiritually. And it’s this group that is to
be the first to receive the Messiah’s light. From a human standpoint,
it doesn’t make any sense. God had His purposes. So the
promise is simple. There will be no more gloom. The darkness that they lived
in, the darkness of calamity, the darkness of ignorance and
idolatry and sinfulness is going to be lifted. Isaiah doesn’t go into how exactly.
He just gives them that subtle promise. Darkness is an interesting
term in Scripture. We’ve seen it often. We looked
at it about eight weeks ago, and I want to just develop it
for a moment. Pause in your mind’s eye to consider
what is referred to when Scripture speaks of darkness. He’s not
talking about Alaska, where it’s dark most of the time, six months
out of the year. He’s not talking about a scene
where, you know, before electricity, they were without lights. I’m
not talking about that at all. It’s a spiritual condition. And
really what this is, is that the true nature of all people
isn’t just those that lived in Naphtali, that lived in Galilee. It’s the condition of all people.
who don’t know Christ, they are in a state of darkness, Scripture
declares. They are under the power of sin.
They are closed up in unbelief. They are in complete ignorance
of themselves, of their sin. They don’t even know what they
don’t know. Life is one long, dark walk. They’re ignorant of the grace
of God. They’re ignorant of salvation. They’re ignorant of even the
need of salvation. Listen to how it’s used in Scripture.
In Scripture, darkness is emblematic or symbolic of death. Job uses it on a number of occasions.
Before I go, I shall not return to the land of darkness and deep
shadow. There’s no nation that fits that
bill. He’s talking about death itself.
Job 38, have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you
seen the gates of gates of deep darkness? It’s death that he
speaks of there. Darkness is also used of misery
and despair in Scripture. Matthew 22, verse 13. It is a
realm, this darkness, it is a realm that men typically love. It is
the realm where sinful men love to abide. It is seen in Scripture
as a realm that men live in. It is the realm where sin reigns
supreme. Romans 13, 12, The night is almost
gone. The day is near. Let us lay aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Paul said
it the same way to the Ephesians. Do not participate in the unfruitful
deeds of darkness. Ephesians 5.11. It is that sphere,
as Paul goes on in Ephesians, where all the forces of evil
reign. This darkness is an evil place.
It’s a place where evil reigns. John 8.12, pardon me, Ephesians
6.12. And you know, the interesting
thing about it It is identified not only as the dominion of Satan,
this realm of darkness, but it is a realm where God is entirely
absent. John 1.5 says, This is the message
we’ve heard it from him and announced to you that God is light and
in him there is no darkness at all. So wherever God is, there
is no darkness. Therefore, this darkness is a
realm of godlessness. And that’s what he says. That’s
what Isaiah says these people were mired in. They were mired
in sinfulness. They were mired in spiritual
death and blindness. And you know what? It wasn’t
just them. It wasn’t just the people of Galilee. It’s us. This
is a symptom of us as humanity. It’s an emblem of alienation
from God. It’s the spiritual ignorance
that accompanies it. John Gill, Spurgeon’s predecessor,
said it this way. Darkness as a character fitly
describes God’s people in a state of nature of unregeneracy. This is where people are. This
is where your family who don’t know Christ, your boss who doesn’t
know Christ, your neighbors who don’t know Christ. This is where
they live. They live in a Christless, unregenerated,
dark state. They are dead in Adam, dead in
the law, dead in trespasses and sins, dead as to the spiritual
use of powers and the faculties of their souls. In other words,
what Gil says there, they don’t even have faith to exercise.
They have no spiritual life in them, no any spiritual sense,
feeling or motion. Those who are without the gospel
and they don’t even know where they go. They just wander aimlessly
through life. I said it before, one day you’ll
memorize it. Genesis three presents to us
this very scenario. This is where it comes from.
The fall of humanity in Genesis three is where the whole thing
comes from. And from Genesis 3, we saw that
we are not only temporally vexed. That’s where all the difficulties
of life come from. The pain of childbirth, the sweat
of the brow, the frustrations of trying to plow your field
and finding nothing but weeds. All of life came from that. Not only are
we temporally vexed, we’re inherently sinful. That’s where all the
sinfulness comes from. I have my parents to thank for
my lousy genes that gave me an achy back and a cataract eye
and all the other things that we struggle with. You’ve got
your own struggles. But what we inherited from Adam
is this tendency, this proclivity, this almost being sold out to
do what’s sinful. We’re inherently sinful. Not
only are we temporally vexed and inherently sinful, we’re
physically dying. Sitting at the table last night,
we were sharing prayer requests and talking about one particular
situation. And the kids asked, is so-and-so
dying? And I said, you know, in a sense,
we’re all dying, right? We’re all dying. Some a little
quicker than others. Some don’t even know how quick
it will be. But we’re physically dying. We’re not long for this
world. Even as our psalm this morning said, We’re temporarily
vexed. We’re inherently sinful. We’re
physically dying. But the worst of all, we’re spiritually
dead. We come away from Adam as his children,
spiritually dead. We live in a darkened condition.
One described it this way. These people were in the region
in shadow of death, which denotes not only great darkness, but
a great danger. It’s a man that’s desperately
sick and not likely to recover. He’s in the valley of the shadow
of death, though he’s not quite dead. So the poor people were
on the borders. They’re literally on the borders
in the throes of death itself. But the amazing thing in the
midst of this passage where Isaiah wants the people to know what
desperate condition they’re in just as soon as he has them there.
Just as soon as they see what desperate straits they’re in,
they’re literally on death’s doorstep. Isaiah offers them
a glimmer of hope. He offers them a light in a dark
place. He says there’s hope for the
gloom and the anguish in the midst of the darkness and the
gloom and the despair. There’s hope. But this hope is
incredibly undefined in this passage. It’s overwhelmingly
vague. He just says there will be no
more gloom. And you know what the people thought? What they
likely thought, perhaps they even wondered, is God just simply
going to put us out of our misery? Because that’s one way to have
no more gloom. Is God just going to put us out of his misery?
But his next thought says, no, he shall make the land, the land
that he had previously shown, disfavor. He will make this land
glorious. There’s a promise there. There’s
hope. There’s help that is implied. But what? Clues are piled on top of clues,
but the clues don’t seem to add up to anything. Nothing of substance
and Isaiah cryptically adds one thing after another. He says
cryptically that help is going to come by way of the sea on
the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. And
you know what? If that’s all they had to hang
their hope on, it’s a faint glimmer. They don’t know what to do with
it. There’s nothing concrete, nothing on which to build their
confidence. But that’s not all there is. There’s more. There’s
much more. Look at verse 2. The people who
walk in darkness will see a great light. That’s a promise. It’s
an absolute guarantee from God. They are going to see it. Those
who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. What is that light? Isaiah doesn’t tell us, not here.
He doesn’t say what the light is. He just says that it’s going
to be a light shining in a dark place. The sad thing is, in a very real
sense, this never happened. Never came this light Perhaps
they watched for a while, but they likely gave up watching.
Because from this point on, you know what Judah experienced?
They experienced oppression from the other nations. They experienced
war. They experienced bondage. They experienced death. They
experienced destruction of their cities. They experienced captivity.
They experienced slavery. That’s what they got. Second Kings 1529, an evil king
by the name of Tiglath-Pileser, king of Assyria, came and captured
Eshon, Abelbeth, Mecca, Genoa, Kadesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee. That’s what they got. Was that
the light that Isaiah was speaking of? No. Second Kings 17. In the ninth year of King Hosea,
the king of Assyria captured Samaria, carried away Israel
into exile to Assyria. He settled in Hilla and Habor
on the River of Gozan and the cities of Medes. That’s what
they got. And you know what? If you look
at this and you’re Israel and you begin to look at this and
see time after time, your hopes are dashed. You look at this
passage and you say, what’s it all worth? You know what Israel
has done with this passage? They attribute this passage to
Hezekiah. The he was their light. He was
one of the best kings we had. That’s our light. That’s the
best we can do. But you know what? God doesn’t
make empty promises. God wasn’t going to be daunted,
not by a heathen kingdom. How does Scripture use this passage? Is it ever used? Is it ever fulfilled
anywhere else in Scripture? You bet it is. If you would turn
to the Gospel of Matthew. The Gospel of Matthew, if you
would, chapter four. Jesus has come, Jesus has been
born, Jesus is now ministering, John the Baptist is conducting
his ministry. John the Baptist runs afoul of
one of the local authorities who has arrested him. And we
pick it up in chapter four, verse 12. Now, when Jesus heard that
John had been taken into custody, he withdrew into Galilee and
leaving Nazareth, he came and settled in Capernaum, which is
by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. And Matthew records
succinctly, but exceedingly profoundly, this was to fulfill what was
spoken through the prophet. It’s the whole purpose of it.
Jesus had to live somewhere. And what he says is this is in
complete fulfillment of that precious passage in Isaiah that
everybody for 700 years says, where’s the promise of his coming?
Where’s the promise of this light, Isaiah? This was to fulfill what
was spoken through the prophet Isaiah. The land of Zebulun and
the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles, the people were sitting in darkness,
saw a great light. And those who were sitting in
the land in a shadow of death, upon them a light dawned. You
know what Matthew, by the endorsement of the Holy Spirit, says? that
this passage pointed explicitly to Jesus Christ. And this is
just one more of many proofs that points directly to Him. 700 years before Christ was born,
Isaiah said, here He comes. I see a light. I see a light
shining in a dark place. Matthew 4.15 and 16 declares
that Christ is the light. Christ is the light to all mankind,
not just to Galilee. It’s the only place in the New
Testament where this incredible passage is clarified for us. Here is the very scene of which
Isaiah had spoken, isn’t it? This border country, Zebulun
and Naphtali. Here they had been the victims
of countless wars and captivities. Those who had been in the little
throes of darkness and spiritual ignorance, neglected, uncared
for, unloved, like sheep that had gone astray, having no shepherd. Suddenly appears this incredible
light. By Messiah, by Jesus Christ taking
up his residence there in this little town called Galilee, this
region, That was the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. That Christ
had come proclaiming the gospel of grace. That He had come. That He was going to be the redemption
of all humanity. That’s the light. Christ, merely by dwelling there
in Galilee, fulfilled this passage. This precious passage of Scripture.
Jesus Christ is the promised light. The rest of the rest of
Scripture is merely a constant echo of this very point. John
8, 12. Jesus spoke to them, I am the light of the world. And the
light of the world, he who follows me will not walk in the darkness.
You don’t have to walk in darkness any longer. You don’t have to
wonder. where your spiritual guidance
is going to come from. You don’t have to wonder who
the Messiah is. You don’t have to wonder where your redemption
comes from. You don’t have to wonder where your salvation comes
from. God has exposed it all in giving us the light of the
world. John 12, 46, I’ve promised light into the world so that
everyone who believes will not remain in darkness. He doesn’t
want anybody to remain in darkness. It wasn’t just for them. It wasn’t
just for Galilee. It wasn’t just for the people
of Isaiah’s day. It wasn’t just for the people
of Jesus’ day. It’s for all. Because we’re all
in darkness. We’re all in despair. We’re all
in gloom. You don’t need me to tell you
that. We were rejoicing in prayer,
the men and I, before service this morning. We were rejoicing
in prayer in what God had done in our lives. And each one of
us, as we prayed, I couldn’t help but look back and think
back to that day when I was in darkness, when I didn’t know
Christ, when I was without hope, without God. This is us. He says Christ to us is no less
a light than what was promised to Judah that day. He is the
hope. He’s the only hope. Think back, if you will. I want
to take you to another passage. Think back to the account of
John the Baptist. And Jesus, their births in Luke
chapter one. Remember that in Luke chapter
one, Zacharias was promised to have a child. His wife, Elizabeth,
was going to bear a child. It was a miraculous situation.
She was old, advanced and aged. Zacharias, as a priest, went
in and he receives this promise and he doubts the angel’s counsel.
How can this possibly be? And the angel rebukes him and
says, you know what? You’re not going to say another word for
nine months. You’re going to be silent until these things
take place. You know what the first words
that Zacharias uttered when he finally spoke, when his son came
forth and he knew these things to be true? He spoke forth praise. He began to praise God for all
that he had done in bringing forth the Messiah. He doesn’t
even mention his own son. That’s not even foremost in his
mind. And he closes with these words
in Luke 1.79, that the Messiah had come to shine upon those
who sit in darkness and in a shadow of death, to guide our feet into
the way of peace. There’s the promise. Christ is
the light. Christ is the only light. He’s the only way out
of the darkness. These words It carried this image
of lighting up the path of those who had been seated all night
long in a dark ravine. Utter darkness, despair, and
all of humanity was in that darkness. All of humanity was in sin and
ignorance, dead in their trespasses and sins. No wonder Zacharias
rejoices. There’s another individual, Simeon. If you’re in the Gospel of Luke,
flip over to chapter two. Simeon, there serving in the
temple, rejoiced when he saw the Christ child. Look at verse
twenty five, there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon, this
man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of
Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed
to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before
he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Verses 27-31 present the scene
where Christ is brought in and He calls Him in verse 32, a light
of revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people
Israel. He says He’s the light. Christ is the light. Christ was
the needed light, not only to the Gentiles, but also to the
Jews. He was the fulfillment of all prophecies. He was what
everyone needs. The Gospel. The Gospel of Christ. The good news of Christ coming
into the world. That is the light. That’s the light that Isaiah
spoke of there in his prophecy. And he said it was light because
it illumines our hearts. It shows us our utter need for
a Savior. It shows us our sin. Christ and
His righteousness shows us who we really are. Not only that, it’s reviving.
Remember that second phrase there in that passage. Not only are
they in darkness, they’re in this the shadow of death. They’re literally at death’s
door and it’s reviving this light. brings us to salvation. It doesn’t
bring salvation to us for us to lay hold of. We’re condemned
prisoners in a dungeon. We’re near death. And in comes the light of Christ. There’s a second element of this
passage that I want to look at. The second glorious aspect of
God’s gift of the Messiah. Not only do we see the appearance
of the Messiah coming as light into a dark place, but I want
to look briefly this morning at the blessings of the Messiah.
The blessings of the Messiah. Look at verse three where he
says, you shall multiply the nation, you shall increase their
gladness. It’s the picture there, multiplying
the nation. The strength of these nations
in that day and age was their populations. It was their populations. And from there, the kings would
draft men to come out and to be in the armies and to serve
as warriors. And that was their protection.
There was indeed strength in numbers. You know what he says? He says that there is going to
be, as it were, another golden age for the kingdom. But in this
case, Isaiah isn’t talking about Judah. We’ve already seen that.
He’s not talking about a physical, literal Judah. He’s talking about
a spiritual kingdom. You know what? Spiritual kingdom
is going to grow as well. Your friends, your loved ones,
your neighbors. Even look at us. Can we look
back 5, 10, 15 years and even have dreamed that we would be
in God’s kingdom? And if there’s hope for us, If
God, by His grace, has saved us, isn’t there room for others? God will multiply the nation.
Population was going to grow to an extent never attained before.
God has a kingdom now that is greater far than any that have
come before. And it’s not done growing yet. Not only that, but he says, not
only will you multiply the nation, you shall increase their gladness.
That word is almost an understatement of the true joy, because when
you contrast that with the scene just prior, the darkness and
the gloom that they were in, this gladness is exceedingly
great joyfulness. It’s the joyful happiness of
the people that is pictured here. And the first image that he gives
is that of a rural harvest party. For those of you who have never
lived in farming communities, we have the privilege to do so.
And it’s an interesting thing, harvest. And maybe it’s just
that these people live closer to the earth and they take so
much less for granted because they know what it is to fail.
They know what it is to go through a season without rain. They know
what it is to lose crops to hail. Everything that they live is
according to the providence of Almighty God. And when they have
a party, if you’ve lived in the Midwest, you know that almost
every season is or every occasion is an occasion for a potluck.
It’s a time to get together and have a feast celebration, even
funerals or all day long events. Picture paints scripture, rather
paints many such pictures of heaven, a time of great rejoicing
when our gladness is going to be as the gladness of harvest.
Isaiah 25 says the Lord We’ll prepare a lavish banquet for
all peoples on this mountain, a banquet of aged wine, choice
pieces with marrow. It’s going to be a feast par
excellence. And we’re invited. It says, you shall multiply the
nation, you shall increase their gladness. They will be glad in
your presence, not only as the gladness of harvest, but as men
rejoice when they divide the spoil. You know, the picture
here is that of a battle with a fierce and hated enemy. And
when it’s all done, God gives them everything that they owned.
It’s a gathering up of everything that this evil nation possessed,
the good things, and it’s a gathering and distributing What was theirs? It’s the conqueror’s plunder.
It’s the dividing up the loot after battle. But in this case,
the spoil, the plunder is people. And Christ says that there are
going to be… He has conquered this kingdom
that Satan previously owned and he owns it now. And now he is
reaping in for himself the people out of this kingdom. Christ has
taken the prey from the previously mighty one. One Puritan said it this way,
it’s evident what Christ brings to us. He brings to us a full
and perfect joy of which we cannot in any way be robbed or deprived,
even though various storms and tempests arise and though we
should be weighed down by every kind of affliction. However weak
and feeble we may be, still we ought to be glad and joyful.
For the ground of our joy does not lie in numbers or wealth
or outward splendor, but in spiritual happiness. It’s Christ. Christ
is the light. And finally, in this last section,
what makes them so happy? Look at verse four. You shall
break the yoke of their burden and the staff of their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor. Not only is the oppression of
sin lifted, but you get this image of peace. Christ is enacting a peace treaty. But the interesting image here
is the war is with us and God. The war that we engaged in was
with God and Christ has enacted a peace treaty And he says it
relates most notably to the Battle of Midian. If you’re familiar
with Gideon’s ministry, remember Gideon went into battle and he
had too many soldiers. The opposite problem of Donald
Rumsfeld goes into battle and God says, you got too many and
he sends them back and he goes repeatedly sending back, paring
down his armies till he’s only got 300. You know how they won
the war? They went into battle with torches
and pitchers and they broke the pitchers and made a loud noise
and blew their trumpets and the enemy fled. And for Israel, this
was a glorious occasion. This was a memorable story to
be passed on generation to generation. The great work of God. And that’s what Isaiah says.
That’s exactly that’s exactly the kind of joy that we have.
Because God has done this great work that no man could do. Prince of Peace has come. Believers
have been delivered from a mighty enemy. And now there is peace. That’s what verse 5 refers to.
It’s a decisive victory. Every boot of the booted warrior.
All your battle weapons, all your battle accoutrements, even
your shoes, throw them in the fire. The war is over. Those are the blessings of the
Messiah. Abundance, blessing for all and ever growing kingdom
for our neighbors and friends. Gladness, real joy. That’s our
life pursuit, isn’t it? Everybody wants to be happy.
And Isaiah says, here’s exactly how Christ has come. And finally,
peace. No wonder. The writer of the
Christmas hymn said it this way, and you beneath life’s crushing
load whose forms are bending low. who toil along the climbing
way with painful steps and slow. Look now for glad and golden
hours. Come swiftly on the wing and
rest beside the weary load. And hear the angels sing, peace
on the earth, goodwill to men from heaven’s all-gracious King.” Isaiah proclaimed truth to the
people that day. He told them that a light was
coming. that peace was coming to them,
that there was good news on the horizon. And it’s the Messiah. It’s all about the Messiah. We’ve
seen his appearance and we’ve seen some of the blessings of
knowing the Messiah. Next week, we’ll learn the full
identity of the Messiah, the Son of God. Let’s look forward
in anticipation to that. Let’s pray. Gracious God, We humble ourselves before you
and thank you for this rich passage of prophecy, which was given
not just