Introduction
One of the signs that Christmas is near is the appearance of lights all around the city. Perhaps you see them first in shops and then in homes where there are lights around windows or on trees and bushes outside as well as inside on Christmas trees. First in one or two homes and then on more and more as we go through November and get into December: more and more lights to lighten up the dark nights. I used to grumble and complain if I thought they appeared too early, but now I think, ‘Why not? Why not put up the lights as soon as possible if they lighten up the darkness?’ And it’s a sign that Christmas is coming.
In the reading from Isaiah, the Lord spoke through the prophet about a time when the people walking in darkness will see a great light; and how a light will dawn on those living in the land of the shadow of death. This passage of Scripture is a prophecy about Christmas. It’s about the coming of Christ into this dark world. And the coming of Christ into this dark world is described as the appearance of a great light. It’s the dawning of light, the dawning of a new day. The time of darkness is over, because the light has come to lighten up the world.
Darkness
In the Bible, darkness is often associated with sin and wickedness and evil. So, in Acts 26, when Paul is describing his conversion on the road to Damascus, the Risen Lord Jesus spoke to him about how Paul will turn people from darkness to light and from satan to God. Darkness is associated with satan, who is evil, and light is associated with God, who is good. And we live in a dark and sinful world, where people perform deeds of darkness.
The Bible also associates darkness with sorrow and suffering and death. So, in Isaiah 9 Isaiah refers to the land of the shadow of death. He’s referring to a land of dark shadows, where death reigns.
And darkness is also associated with ignorance. People are in the dark, because they don’t know the way out of this dark world which is full of evil and suffering. They’re in the dark about God and they need to come into the light.
When Isaiah spoke about people who were walking in darkness, he was referring in part to the terrible things which God’s people were about to suffer when the Assyrians invaded the northern kingdom of Israel. You’ll remember from your knowledge of Old Testament history that the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two: the northern kingdom kept the name Israel, while the southern kingdom was known as Judah. And because of the persistent unbelief and rebellion of the people in both kingdoms, the Lord sent the Assyrians against the northern kingdom; and he sent the Babylonians against the southern kingdom. The land was overrun by their enemies and the people were taken away into exile.
And in Isaiah chapter 8, Isaiah announced how the Lord was going to send the Assyrians against the northern kingdom. He compared the Assyrians to a mighty flood which will sweep through Israel and into Judah. Prepare for battle, he said. And then he added: ‘and be shattered!’ So, no matter what they do to prepare for battle, they will be defeated. They will be destroyed. Darkness was coming on them, because of the Assyrians. And near the end of chapter 8, he refers to mediums and spiritists. You see, instead of turning to God, they turned to mediums and spiritists. They were in the dark about what to do and where to turn for help.
And so, when Isaiah says that the people were walking in darkness, he was thinking in part about the darkness that would fall on the Israelites when the Assyrians attacked them and none of them knew where to turn for help. But Isaiah’s prophecy applies not only to the Israelites in the past, but it refers to all people everywhere. We know that’s the case, because in Matthew gospel, he quotes Isaiah 9:1+2 at the beginning of the Lord’s public ministry. The people living at that time were living in darkness, because all people everywhere are living in a dark world which is full of sin and evil and people don’t know what to do about it. But Christ has come as light. He has come to save us from the darkness all around us.
We all know that there is darkness all around us. Just listen to the news and you’ll hear stories about wars and terror and terrible crimes and fear and anxiety and sorrow and suffering and hunger and disease and death. And if we think about our own personal lives, we can think of our own sin and shortcomings and the misery we bring on ourselves and on other people. And we can think of the trouble that darkens our lives. One day everything seems bright, but then something happens and a darkness descends over us.
Years ago I read a book called, ‘Seven Theories of Human Nature’. I then saw that there was a new edition of the book which had a new title. It had become ‘Ten Theories of Human Nature’. I see on Amazon that there’s a more recent edition which is now called, ‘Thirteen Theories of Human Nature’. Anyway, each edition describes what various great thinkers and religions have said about human nature. So, it starts with the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. What did Plato say about humanity? What did he have to say about what we are and what the purpose of life is? Then there’s a chapter about Karl Marx, the father of communism. So, what did he think about human nature and about the purpose of our existence? Then there’s a chapter on Sigmund Freud, the Austrian who was the founder of psychoanalysis. He wrote many, many books about human nature and the human mind and about the way we think and the way our minds work. So what did he say about this subject? Then there’s a chapter on Jean-Paul Sartre, the French existentialist philosopher who wrote about the human condition. And there’s another chapter on B.F. Skinner, the American behaviourist psychologist who studied human behaviour and how we’re conditioned to behave in certain ways. And there’s another chapter about Konrad Lorenz, another Austrian, who studied the behaviour of animals to help him understand how humans work. In the later editions of the book, there are chapters on Confucianism and Hinduism and Islam and Immanuel Kant, who was a German philosopher, and Charles Darwin and Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher.
Each chapter of this book is fascinating, because by describing the ideas and theories of each of these great thinkers and religions, the author set out each thinker’s or religion’s theory of the universe before describing their theory of humanity. And then, each chapter contains a section called ‘Diagnosis’ which describes what each one believes is wrong with us. Isn’t that interesting? Each one understands that we’re not the way we’re meant to be and that there’s something fundamentally wrong with humanity which needs to be put right. And so, each chapter also contains a section called ‘Prescription’ which outlines each proposed solution to what’s wrong with us. So, they all recognise that there’s something wrong with us; we’re not the way we’re meant to be; and here’s my solution; here’s my proposal for putting things right.
But here’s the thing. The reason we have so many of these theories is because the proposed solutions don’t work. All these great thinkers and religions have thought long and hard about what’s wrong with us. They have thought about the darkness in the world and in our hearts and all the sorrow and suffering we cause one another. And they have tried to understand it and explain it. And they propose a solution. But none of their solutions work. We recognise that there’s a darkness in the world and in our lives, but we don’t know how to get out of it.
I came across a quotation this week by the Jewish rabbi Jonathan Sacks about the Holocaust, the state-sponsored genocide of Jews during World War II. This is what he said about it:
This colossal tragedy and crime took place in the heart of the most civilised culture that the world has ever known. A culture that had achieved the greatest heights of human achievement, in science, in philosophy, in rationalism — this was the culture of Kant and Hegel and Nietzsche and Schopenhauer, the culture of Goethe and Schiller and Bach and Beethoven. Half the signatories of the Wannsee Declaration [authorising the ‘Final Solution’ from 1942] carried the title of Dr.
So, the German nation was civilised. It was sophisticated. It was full of smart, educated people. They were not a backward people. They were not savages who knew nothing. It was a great nation. And yet in the midst of this smart, sophisticated nation, a great evil was perpetrated. This enlightened nation was responsible for one of the darkest periods in human history. And Rabbi Sacks went on to say that because of the Holocaust, we can no longer believe in man. In other words, we can no longer believe that we’re able by ourselves to get out of the darkness. The darkness is in us as well as around us and we can’t escape it by ourselves. A light from outside the world needs to shine on us. An outside light must shine on on. That’s the only way to dispel the darkness in the world and in us.
Let me mention one other writer before we turn to Isaiah. I’ve mentioned J.H. Bavinck before. He was a Dutch theologian and missionary who died in the 1960s. And he studied world religions and mission. And in a chapter of one his books, he refers to Buddhism and Islam and what they say about redemption or salvation. Again, every world religion realises that there’s something wrong with us. We’re not the way we’re supposed to be and we need to be delivered or saved from whatever is wrong with us. And Buddhism and Islam say that they know the truth and they know what we need to do. This is the road we’re to take. This is the path we’re to follow. Do this and the result will be salvation. Here’s the truth and now you’re to follow it.
J.H. Bavinck then asks what is peculiar about Christianity, because Christianity also says here’s the truth which we must follow. So, how is Christianity different from what Buddhism and Islam are saying? And J.H. Bavinck says that what makes Christianity distinct is that Christianity makes clear that knowing the truth we’re to follow is not sufficient, because while I may know the truth and the things I’m supposed to do, there’s a force within me that always pushes me to do evil. The good I know I do not do.
And that’s because the darkness is not just out in the world, but it’s in my heart. It’s in me. And therefore I can’t save myself. And you can’t save yourself. If we’re to be saved from the darkness, we need an outside light to shine on us. Because we can’t save ourselves, we need a Saviour to come into this dark world to save us from the darkness. And so, in the book on theories about human nature, there was one other chapter which was about Christianity. But Christianity is not a theory. Christianity is true. And it tells us that we can’t save ourselves from the darkness, because only God can save us and he saves us by his Son.
Isaiah 9
And so, Isaiah says in verse 1 that there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past, Isaiah says, God humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. Those were parts of Galilee. But in the future God will honour that region. And he will honour it, because Galilee was where the Lord Jesus began his ministry.
And then Isaiah says that the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. And on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. The coming of Christ into the world was the start of a new day. He came to save us from the darkness that is all around us and which is also in us. Isaiah then says in verse 3 that God has enlarged the nation and increased their joy. By sending Christ into the world, God has given us reasons to rejoice. And in the following verses, Isaiah gives us three reasons to rejoice.
Firstly, we can rejoice because God has shattered the yoke that burdens us. The yoke was an image for slavery, because a slave would wear a yoke around his shoulder in order to carry heavy burdens. And Christ came into the world to set his people free from the burden we carry. He takes away the burden of our guilt by forgiving us. And he’s able to forgive us, becasuse he himself bore the burden of our guilt when he went to the cross and suffered in our place the punishment we deserve for all that we have done wrong. He took upon himself the weight of our guilt and he took the blame for us. And so, because he has paid for our sins with his life, he’s able to give us forgiveness for all that we have done wrong.
And then, every time the Lord healed someone of their sickness during his earthly ministry, it was a sign of what he will do for all of us when he comes again in glory and with power and he takes from us all the burdens of this life, all our weaknesses, all our sickness, all our sorrow, all the things that make us weep. He will take all those things from us when he comes again and he will give us perfect peace and rest in the new and better world to come. And in the meantime, until he comes again, he helps us to carry our burdens. He gives us the strength we need to keep going so that we’re not crushed by our burdens and troubles.
So, we can rejoice because God in Christ shatters our burdens. Secondly, we can rejoice because, according to verse 5, God brings peace. Isaiah says every warrior’s boot and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning. Boots and uniforms will be burned, because there will be peace. And there is peace, because God sent Christ into the world to make a lasting peace between God and us. Because of our sins, there was enmity between God and us. He was angry with us because of what we have done wrong. And there’s enmity in the world, because sin turns differences into division. God has filled the world with all this variety so that we’re not all the same. But instead of loving one another, the world is divided because of our sin. We are now suspicious of people who are different from us. We are against them. That’s why people put up those signs telling immigrants to go home. The world is divided.
But Christ came into the world to make peace. First and foremost, he made peace for us with God by giving up his life on the cross to pay for our sins and to satisfy the justice of God which was against us. And so, instead of enmity between us, there is now peace. And by his Spirit living in us, he enables us to love one another. He enables us to love people who are different from us and to love even our enemies.
So, we can rejoice because God in Christ removes our burdens and because God in Christ gives us peace. Thirdly, we can rejoice because of this child who was born. That’s in verse 6. And perhaps when Isaiah wrote these words originally, he was thinking of an earthly king like Hezekiah or Josiah. But ultimately his prophecy refers to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the child who was born ‘to us’. That is, he was born to our advantage or for our benefit. And he is a son who is given. Given by whom? Given by God. Isn’t that what Isaiah means: God has given Christ as a gift for our benefit. This speaks to us of God’s grace and kindness. The world was in darkness. We were in darkness. We were in gloom and under the shadow of death. But God has graciously and freely given Christ to be our Saviour and to rescue us from the darkness and gloom.
And Isaiah says that this child is destined to be a ruler, because the government will be on his shoulders. In fact, look now at verse 7 where Isaiah tells us that of the increase of his government there will be no end. So, Christ’s kingdom will grow and grow and grow. It will grow throughout the world. And the peace he brings will increase as well. The word for peace here is the Hebrew word shalom which conveys the idea of well-being. Peace and prosperity. Safety. That sense that all is well in the world. So, he will give that peace to his people.
And look: he will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom. He mentions David because David’s kingdom was really God’s kingdom, because David ruled over God’s people on God’s behalf. And since Isaiah says that Christ will reign over David’s kingdom, then that means that Christ’s kingdom is also God’s kingdom. He rules over God’s people on God’s behalf.
And he’ll rule with justice and righteousness. Everything he does is right and good. And he will reign from that time on and for ever. So, his rule is an everlasting rule. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Other kingdoms come and go, but Christ’s kingdom is for ever. And it will increase and increase and increase throughout the world. And we know now that it increases not by force, but through persuasion. It increases through the reading and preaching of the gospel and as sinners are persuaded to trust in Christ for salvation. And whoever trusts in him for salvation is added to his kingdom which is increasing throughout the world.
And Isaiah says about Christ in verse 6 that he’ll be known by these four marvellous titles: Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. As a wonderful counsellor, he’s able to teach us everything we need to know for our salvation. As mighty God, there’s nothing he can’t do for us. As everlasting father, he cares for us and his care for us will never end. And as Prince of Peace, he gives us perfect peace and rest and contentment in the new and better world to come.
Conclusion
And look now at the final words of the passage, where Isaiah says that the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. That is to say, God will do it.
Remember what J.H. Bavinck said? Though we know the truth and the things we’re supposed to do, there’s a force within us that always pushes us to do evil. The good I know I do not do. The darkness is not just all around us, but it’s in us. Yes, we live in a dark and sinful world. But the darkness and the sin is inside each of us as well and it prevents us from doing what we’re supposed to do.
Remember too what Jonathan Sacks said? Because of the Holocaust, we can no longer believe in man. We can no longer believe that we’re able by ourselves to get out of the darkness.
But the good news is that we don’t need to rely on ourselves, but on God. He saw our sin. He saw our misery. He saw the darkness around us and in us. And because of his great zeal for the glory of his name and for the good of his people, he was determined to accomplish our salvation on our behalf by sending his Only Begotten Son into the world as one of us to be our Great King who would lay down his life on the cross to free us from our sin and guilt and who promises us perfect peace and rest in the new and better world to come where we will reign with him for ever and for ever.
And in meantime, while we wait for his return, he counsels us from his word; and he shields us by his mighty power; and he cares for us as a father cares for his children; and he fills our hearts with the hope of perfect peace to come. And so, the coming of Christ into the world was the dawning of a new day, because he came to rescue us from our darkness and to give us the hope of living for ever in the light of God’s glory.
And so, we should all believe in the Saviour, Jesus Christ, because he’s the only one who is able to save us from the darkness around us and in us. And we should rejoice and give thanks to God for sending his Son to take away our burdens and for giving us peace and for giving us Christ to be our King and Saviour for ever.
Sermons and Stuff 