SERMON TITLE: Come, Child, Come
TEXT: Isaiah 9:2-7 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 12-24-19
It’s great to be with all of you at Gateway Church for our Christmas Eve services. And one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and I love you too.
For the past few weeks — here at Gateway — we’ve been looking at some passages in the Old Testament book of Isaiah that describe what the Christmas season is all about. And we’ve also talked about how this is the season of Advent. And — what the word Advent means — is that this is a season of longing. This is a time of expectation. A time where we’re to anticipate — not only the celebration of the birth of Jesus — but we’re also to anticipate his return to earth. Where — with great hope — we hunger for our Savior and King to return and establish his Kingdom of Peace on earth.
And our text — for this Christmas Eve — is really a culmination of all the others we’ve looked at in this series. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 9. We’ll be looking at verses 2-7.
And while you’re finding Isaiah chapter 9 — something I’ve said in previous weeks — is that I know not everyone believes we need a Savior. There are many who look at the problems in our world, and believe it’s solely up to us to figure out how to make all of the wrongs in our world right. And if this is you — you may celebrate Christmas — but you see the holiday as a nice excuse to take some time off from work and spend some extra time with family — even if it means getting dragged to church. And I’m sure you like the idea of slowing down for a few days but — for you — there’s no significance in the birth story of Jesus — because — you don’t believe our world needs a Savior.
Now — and I’ve said this before as well — I love how Christmas is a time when we all try to slow down. Schools take a break. Families get together. We give each other gifts. We sit around and watch classic Christmas movies and reminisce about what Christmas was like for us as kids. It’s really a beautiful thing how the Christmas holiday draws people together.
But even with all of these good things, what’s often missing is that we’re all in need of God’s greatest gift to us — a child who was born. Without the importance of Jesus — God’s Savior — born as a child — coming into our dark world to shine the light of the Good News that God saves sinners — when we lose the importance of Jesus’ birth — Christmas ultimately becomes meaningless.
And while gift giving and slowing down and spending time with family and friends are all wonderful things, the Christmas season is really about the coming of God in our midst — God coming to us as a child.
Now to set up our text, I want to give us all a quick overview of who Isaiah is and what his book is all about. And — if you’ve been here during this series — bear with me as I help us all understand what’s going on in Isaiah’s day when our passage takes place.
So what do we know about Isaiah? Well he was a prophet — which means he spoke on behalf of God. And we know that he lived during the 8th century BC ( John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66, The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids MI: Eerdmans, 1998), 8.) — which means he lived quite a few centuries before Jesus was born. We also know that Isaiah spent most of his time in and around the city of Jerusalem.
Now — at this point in history — the Jewish people are divided into two nations. You may have heard about the twelve tribes of Israel. Well these tribes eventually decide they want a king like all the other nations. And so a man named Saul became the first king of Israel — but he didn’t turn out to be a very good king. Next came David — you’ve probably heard of him — he’s known for defeating the giant Goliath. And then David’s son — Solomon — was king.
Now after Solomon, there’s disagreement over who should be the next king and the nation of Israel ends up dividing into two nations. Ten of the tribes join together and they keep the name of Israel — they’re in the north. The other two tribes join together and take the name Judah — they’re in the south. And for some time, neither nation experiences external conflict — until the Assyrians show up.
The Assyrians come from the north — invade and conquer Israel — and send most of the Israelites — who weren’t killed during the invasion — off to go live in foreign lands. And the Israelites — who were left behind — eventually intermarry with the foreigners who occupied their homeland — so that’s what went on in the north.
Now in the south — in the nation of Judah — which is where Isaiah lived — things were a little better, but not much. And Isaiah spends a lot of time trying to get the people of Judah — and particularly the king of Judah — to see that — if they don’t turn back to God in faith — things are going to go for them — like things had gone for Israel.
But the king — and the people — refuse to listen to Isaiah. And God tells Isaiah to go to these rebellious — unfaithful people — and say, “‘Keep listening to My words — the words of God — through this prophet, but don’t understand. Keep seeing, but don’t perceive. Isaiah — through your ministry — their hearts will be made dull, their ears will be made heavy, and their eyes will be made blind.’ Why? ‘Because they’re not willing to worship only Me.’” God says, “You keep preaching — Isaiah — because judgment is coming for them because they’ve abandoned Me.”
And isn’t that such a heartwarming — gives you the holly and jolly feels on the inside — kind of story? Merry Christmas everyone — judgment is coming! That’s not holly or jolly! It’s pretty dark, right? Hopeless. Bleak. A bit more than a lump of coal in the old stocking. But even in this dark and hopeless and bleak situation, Isaiah promises the last thing anyone would expect — a child will come. And this child will bring hope and peace and joy and love to our world. Isaiah promises again and again that a Savior will come.
And here’s how Isaiah describes the One to come in our passage — Isaiah chapter 9. Beginning in verse 2.
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. (Isaiah 9:2 ESV)
The people in Isaiah’s day were living in darkness — deep darkness. Spiritual darkness. Emotional darkness. Relational darkness. They’ve witnessed the destruction of their relatives in the North by the Assyrians. And — though they may not believe it — cause they’re going about life — thinking their future’s bright — having no idea that they’re walking around — stumbling — in darkness — they have no idea that their own destruction is coming.
And we have a way — don’t we — of denying the darkness of our world? Well not all of us — but there are many folks — maybe you know some — who ignore the darkness of our world. But life can have a stumbling around in the darkness — stubbing my toe against the coffee table — kind of feel to it, can’t it? Yet God — in his tender mercy and love for us — sent light to shine in our dark world.
But you may be wondering, “Well where’s the light?” You’re well aware of the darkness — the despair — the hopelessness this world can dish out.
Though we could be described as a people who walk in darkness — can you see the light that’s shining in our world?
Jesus called himself the light of the world. And he said that — if you follow him — you won’t have to walk in darkness any more because he will illuminate your path so that you walk towards the fullness of life that he’s promised. (John 8:12)
The apostle John begins his gospel by describing the first coming of Jesus as a light shining in the darkness and the darkness was unable to extinguish his light. (John 1:5) Jesus — was the light promised to come — the light that came to illuminate our dark world — a light that could not be defeated by darkness. Why not? Because — as we’ve seen — this coming One — who is Light — is also a powerful King. And we see the power of this coming King in verse 3.
3 You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. (Isaiah 9:3-5 ESV)
This coming King will be victorious over all his enemies — like in the days of Gideon. If you don’t know Gideon’s story, you can read about it in the book of Judges. The short version is this: Gideon is called by God to lead an army into battle against an enemy force that’s attacking God’s people — and this is a large enemy force. And God — wanting Gideon and the rest of the people to know that it’s him — God — who does the fighting for them — God has Gideon reduce his army down to a ridiculously uncomfortable small size — especially if you were one of the soldiers left in the army. You’d be looking around and think, “Hey, where’d everybody go? And why am I still here?” But God gives Gideon and his small army victory over a large enemy — and — oh by the way — they don’t even have to use weapons of war. They use trumpets, torches, and broken clay pots because — if God can use us humans — whom he formed out of clay — in his army — well — he can put clay pots in our hands and give us victory over anything.
But this coming King — in Isaiah’s prophecy — is a victorious King. And he will establish his kingdom of peace on earth. Where the peace we all long for in this world full of conflict — will be established here on earth. But this isn’t a peace we can make happen on our own — this is peace that only God’s King can provide. And living in this Kingdom of peace is guaranteed to all who worship the King.
And this promised one to come is also a powerful Lord. He will heal the sick, give sight to the blind, tell the paralyzed to stand up and walk, and open the ears of those who are deaf. His powerful presence will increase the joy of the people in his Kingdom. And they will praise their Lord and King — rejoicing like when the harvest was more plentiful than they dared imagined it could be.
And this coming Light and King and Lord has many different names. One name being Immanuel — which means God with us. God in our midst. God present in our lives. And — beginning in verse 6 — we learn more names of this child to come.
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. (Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV)
Come, child, come. This child — promised to come — was not only given the name Immanuel — but is also called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The name Wonderful Counselor means this child will do supernatural signs — like give sight to the blind, tell the paralyzed to stand up and walk, and many other things. This name also means that he will give wise advice — you’ll want to pay attention and do what he says. And this name means that this child will accomplish the wisest plan ever thought of — how to save a lost and broken world.
This child promised to come will be called Mighty God. Literally this name means “God’s Warrior.” And this is a crazy name to be given to a child. A child isn’t a warrior — a grown man can — maybe — be a warrior. But from birth — this child will be God’s Warrior — fighting God’s war — and defeating God’s — and our — enemy.
And this child promised to come will be called Everlasting Father — and — admittedly this name’s a bit confusing. Isaiah isn’t saying that this child is also God the Father — so what is he saying? Well when this child became an adult — and as he did all of the miraculous healings that his name Wonderful Counselor promised us that he would do — at times Jesus would say things like, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (John 5:34b, NLT) He said things like, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2b, NLT)
You see, Jesus is everlasting — he is eternal — he is God — but he’s not the Father — he’s the Son. But Isaiah is using the best language at his disposal to show us that this child to come will have a father-like compassion with people. He will call them child and daughter and son.
And he will have the name Prince of Peace. This was a common name given to government officials in Isaiah’s day. Officials were supposed to work for peace in their land — but just like we’ve failed to bring peace on earth — so to these government officials could not provide the peace their people so desperately desired. But not this child to come. He will bring peace on earth. And the earth — in fact — all of creation— being part of his Kingdom — will experience wholeness — perfection — peace.
And what should floor us is that God — to make his plan of peace on earth a reality — what should floor us is that God would stoop so low and humble himself by becoming a child — but he did so because of his love for us. You see, we tend to seek power because we’re afraid of weakness — afraid of what might happen if we’re vulnerable — so we seek more and more power so we don’t have to risk being vulnerable. But the Christian faith teaches — and the Christmas story specifically shows us — that God is not like us in this way.
The God who loves us isn’t afraid of being vulnerable. The God who loves you isn’t afraid of being compassionate towards you even when it caused him immeasurable pain. The King who saves gave up his power so you could know that you’re eternally loved by him. And if you respond to his love — if you turn to him in faith — believing that he not only loves you — but can save you from the darkness that’s not just around you — but is in you — if you turn to the child who was and will always be God — he will give you life and you will live forever under his protection and in his Kingdom of Peace. (This paragraph is based on thoughts from William Placher)
It’s been said, “A thousand times in history a baby has grown up to become a king. But only once in history, did a King become a baby.” (It is not known who originally said this) Who is this child whose birth we celebrate each Christmas? Is he your King? Is he your Lord? Is he the Light that illuminates your path? Is he your God? Is he your Savior? Let’s pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you for your love for each of us. May everyone who hears my voice know that you love them.
Jesus, in this dark and often lonely world — may each of us know that you are present with us. That you are near. That you care.
Holy Spirit, I humbly ask that you would open our eyes to see Jesus for who he is. Light shining in the darkness. A King who has come to establish peace on earth. A Lord who has the power to do the miraculous. The one and only God who has come to be present with us. A child born to die on a cross. Help us to turn to Jesus in faith — trusting in his faithfulness — longing for him to come again. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.
May you go celebrating the birth of the child who has come and who will come again — your Savior and your God. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. Merry Christmas. You are sent.
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