SERMON TITLE: The Joy of Christmas
TEXT: Isaiah 9:2-7 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 12-24-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the sermon notes here.
Merry Christmas! It’s a joy to be with all of you for our Christmas Eve services. And — as always — there’s one thing I want you to know. Regardless if it’s your first time with us or if you’re joining us at our North Main campus — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.
For the past few weeks — here at Gateway — we’ve been discovering the joy of Christmas. That — because of the birth of Jesus — we have reason upon reason to repeat the sounding joy. We’ve discovered how there’s joy for the nations because of the birth of Christ. We’ve seen the joy of Emmanuel — joy because God is with us. We’ve seen the joy of redemption — how both creation and the people of God are being renewed and have a glorious future promised to us. And we’ve seen the joy of our Savior. Again — reason after reason for us to repeat the sounding joy.
And our text — for this Christmas Eve — is a culmination of the previous weeks as we discover the joy of Christmas. If you have your Bible, please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 9. We’ll be looking at verses 2-7 together.
And while you’re finding Isaiah chapter 9 — earlier you heard words from the gospel of Luke. A familiar Christmas text regardless of how many times you’ve found yourself in a church. But I want you to know that my hope for all of us — regardless of who you are — regardless of how often you’ve found yourself sitting in a church — my hope is that you will leave here with the kind of joy we saw in those shepherds who were watching their flocks at night. Though they started off scared — when they saw the angels — after seeing the Christ child — the last we hear of the shepherds is of them glorifying and praising God. And that’s my hope for you — that you’ll find such sweet joy in Jesus that you’ll leave here glorifying and praising God this Christmas Eve.
Now to set up our text, I want to give a quick overview of who Isaiah is and what his book is all about. Isaiah is a prophet — and a prophet is someone who spoke on behalf of God. 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 700-800 years before Jesus was born. And Isaiah spent most of his time in and around the city of Jerusalem — the city — not where Jesus will be born — Jerusalem is the city where Jesus will be killed.
Now — at this point in history — the Jewish people are divided into two nations. Originally there were twelve tribes of Israel. And these tribes eventually decide they want a king like all the other nations. And a man named Saul is the first king of Israel — but he didn’t turn out to be a very good king. The next king is a guy named David — you’ve probably heard of him — he’s known for defeating the giant Goliath. And then David’s son — Solomon — is king.
After Solomon, there’s disagreement over who should be the next king and the nation of Israel ends up dividing into two nations over the matter. Ten of the tribes join together and 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 Israel nor Judah experience external conflict. At least not until the Assyrians show up.
The Assyrians come from the north — invade and conquer Israel — and send the majority — of the remaining Israelites — off to go live in foreign lands. Down in the south — in the nation of Judah — which is where Isaiah lived — things are a little better, but not much. And Isaiah spends quite a bit 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 — things are going to go for them — like things have gone for Israel.
But the king — and the people — refuse to listen to Isaiah. And God tells Isaiah to say to the people, “‘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 that’s the epitome of Christmas, right? Merry Christmas — God’s judgment is coming! No one wants to repeat the sounding joy of that news cause that’s not good joy-giving news — that’s bad news, right? All that to say — this is a dark and hopeless time for the world. But even in this dark and hopeless and bleak situation, Isaiah promises the last thing any of us would expect — a child will be born. And this child will be the reason for God’s people to be filled with great joy.
Here’s how Isaiah describes this child in our verses. We’re in 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. Spiritual darkness. Emotional darkness. Relational darkness. They’ve witnessed the destruction of their relatives in the north and — though they might not believe it — though they may be living in denial — their own destruction is coming soon.
And we have a way — like them — don’t we — of living in denial in regards to the darkness of our world? It’s getting harder to deny — but denial is still a default position for many. And — when we do notice the darkness in our world — it’s always someone else’s fault — it’s never our fault — never my fault or yours. Yet — regardless if we’re willing to see our role in the darkness — God — in his tender mercy and love for us — has sent his light to shine in our dark world.
But you may be wondering, “Well, where’s the light?” Maybe you’re well aware of the joy stealing darkness, despair, and hopelessness this world can dish out.
Though we are a people who walk in a dark world — can you see the light that’s shining?
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 you walk towards the fullness of life — a life of unquenchable joy — that he’s promised. (John 8:12)
Those shepherds saw the radiance of God’s glory surrounding them as the angels appeared. They saw the radiance — the light — of God light up the darkness of night. The apostle John begins his gospel by describing the coming of Jesus as a light shining in the darkness — a light so bright and powerful that the darkness was unable to extinguish it. (John 1:5) And — we see how his power leads to our joy — 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 child to be born will grow up to be a powerful King who’ll be victorious over all his enemies. And he’ll establish his kingdom — a kingdom of peace — here on earth. Where the peace we all long for — in this world full of conflict — everlasting peace will fill the earth. And living in his Kingdom of peace is guaranteed to all who worship the King — and this promise gives his people joy now as we await the promise to be fulfilled. And — beginning in verse 6 — we see how this promise unfolds.
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)
Look at all the reasons for us to be filled with joy. The God — who will enter into our world as a child — will be a Wonderful Counselor. The name Wonderful Counselor means that this child will do supernatural signs. The name also means that he will give wise advice — you’ll want to pay attention and do what he says. And this child will accomplish the wisest plan ever thought of — how to save a lost and broken world. What reason for us to be filled with joy.
This child will also 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 might be a warrior — but not a child. Yet — from birth — this child will be God’s Warrior. He will fight God’s war and defeat God’s — and our — enemy. Reason for us to be filled with joy.
And this child will be called Everlasting Father — and — admittedly this can be somewhat confusing. But what Isaiah is saying is that — when this child becomes an adult — he will say things like, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” (Mark 5:34b (NLT)) He’ll say things like, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9:2b (NLT))
You see, Jesus is everlasting — he’s eternal — he’s God — but he’s not the Father — he’s the Son. And Isaiah is using language to show us how this child will demonstrate a father-like compassion towards people. He will call them child and daughter and son. I wonder if you’ve experienced Jesus’ father-like compassion? For his compassion is a reason to be joyful.
And this child will be called Prince of Peace. This is 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 all failed to bring peace on earth — no government official can provide the peace we so desperately desire. But this child will come and will bring peace on earth. And the whole earth and — in fact — all of creation will experience wholeness — perfection — peace. What a reason for us to be joyful.
And what should humble us is that God — to make all of these reasons for us to be filled with joy to come to pass — what should humble us is that God would humble himself by being born as a child — but he did — he did for our eternal joy. What reasons we have to be joyful people.
You see, Jesus was born that first Christmas morning so you would know that you’re eternally loved by God. And — if you respond to his love — if you turn to Christ in faith — believing that he not only loves you — but can save you from the darkness that’s not just around you — but in you — if you turn to the child who was, is, and will always be God — he will give you life. And — no matter how dark things may be in our world or in your world — you will have his light shining in and around you — a life filled with his eternal joy. A life that repeats the sounding joy of Christmas. 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. That you are the reason for us to be filled with joy.
And Holy Spirit, I humbly ask that you would open our eyes to see Jesus for who he is. A child born to die on a cross for our sin. Help us to turn to Jesus in faith — trusting in his faithfulness — and finding our joy — and the joy of Christmas — in him. It’s in Jesus’ name that we pray. Amen.
May you go with great joy — the joy found in Jesus. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. Merry Christmas. You are sent.
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