Isaiah 9:1-7, theme verse Isaiah 9:6
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
During these four weeks including this week, we have been celebrating the advent season, meditating on the book of Isaiah, through Isaiah chapter 64, we asked for God’s grace after recognizing our shortness, and through Isaiah chapter 40, we were comforted by God’s promise that He will come by Himself and save us after resolving our misery, and then through Isaiah 61, we looked at the prophecy of God that the Messiah might come in His glory to proclaim the good news to the poor. This week, through Isaiah chapter 9, we would like to learn few lessons from His ministries and name.
1) As we saw already last few week, the theme of this Book of Isaiah is that the Holy God of the Israelites challenged his people to live according to the righteousness and justice of God the LORD who dwelled among them
2) Here, justice is tzadakah, derived from the Hebrew word tzaddik, and in English it is Righteousness, and justice in Hebrew is mishpat, and in English it is justice. Justice has two meanings: normative and relational. In other words, the Hebrew word tzaddik or tzadakach, which is translated as righteousness or righteousness, refers to keeping God's law, the Ten Commandments, or the moral norms of society, or having a right relationship with God or people. This word is used to refer to God. When used, it is used to express God's holiness or God's faithfulness to His covenant. Mishfat, on the other hand, translated as justice, is a divine and righteous action that promotes equality among human beings, a word used in reference to exalting the righteous and the oppressed and lowering the unjust and oppressors. Therefore, the theme of the Book of Isaiah is that God asks us humans to live according to God's laws based on a right relationship with God and to live by justice, that is, social justice that upholds the righteous and punishes the unrighteous.
3) In today's text, Isaiah chapter 9, it says that when the Messiah comes, he will establish his kingdom of righteousness and righteousness. Yet, He is the Son of God and will be born as a child, He carried the government on His should, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace.
4) When our Lord came to this land of tribulation, darkness, and suffering as a Messiah, it had now become a glorious land and light had come to shine there. And also in verse 6, it says that He was born as a baby for us and that God sent His only begotten Son to us. Here, His only begotten Son of God came to this earth is very unique. In other words, it is said that He was not born as a great king with an army and violence to destroy and defeat the evil one, rather He came on this world as a baby.This represented not only His humility, but also that He came here to take human flesh, in order to take the sin of the humanity, as Romans 8:3 and 4 says, “By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. That’s why 1 Corinthians 1:18 says that this is the way of the cross which is the power and wisdom of God and also 1 Corinthians 1:30 says that this wisdom of God brings us righteousness, holiness, and salvation. In order words, instead He overcame the violence of Satan, the evil, the sin, and the death not by the violence, rather by the way of the cross so that through which God finally brought us God's salvation. And that’s why 1 Corinthians 1:25 says that ”the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”
5) And Christ, who achieved victory through the way of the cross, was resurrected, ascended to heaven, sat at the right hand of God, sent the promised Holy Spirit, gave birth to his church, inaugurated His kingdom, and began to rule, as the government shall be upon His shoulder.
6) And in the kingdom where the Lord reigns, it says that the people who walked in darkness will see a great light. Light will now shine on those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, He will not break the heavy yoke of His people, the whips on their shoulders, and the rod of their oppressors. So that His people will rejoice before Him, because He has increased this nation and increased its joy. Because the Lord will reign His kingdom in His righteousness and justice. That is why the Lord said in Matthew 11:28, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
7) However, the Messiah who will accomplish these amazing things has four names: His first name is called Wonderful Counselor who has wonderful wisdom” as Philippians 2:6-8 says that “though He was in the form of God, did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of human beings, And being found in human form, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross so that He not only resolved our sin issue through his death on the cross, but also He earned the glory for us which we will be glorified, as the following verses 9 to 11 say that “God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name, to those in heaven and on earth.” “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” By participating in this wonderful wisdom, we not only receive forgiveness of our sins, but we also participate in His reign on earth, living a life that glorifies God. This is what Paul said in Romans 11:33, “How deep is the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. His judgments are unsearchable and his ways unsearchable.”
8) And secondly, it says that his name is Almighty God. This name refers to His divinity, I mean, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is also one Divinve God with God the Father as Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one,” so that’s why Thomas saw the resurrected Lord and confessed that the resurrected Lord was “my Lord and my God.”
9) And thirdly Jesus, who came as the Messiah and one of three person of One Divine God, is also the everlasting Father. This means that He is also the Creator of all things as the Father from the eternity, as Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” Here, I think we need to understand more deeply, I mean, although we generally attribute creation and providence to God the Father, salvation to God the Son, and sanctification to God the Holy Spirit, yet we have to know that all three persons who is also one God are involved in the work of creation, providence, salvation, and sanctification.
10) And finally, today’s text confesses the Messiah as the Prince of Peace. This means that we, who were enemies with God because of our sins, now enjoy peace with God through Christ.
11) Through today's passage, we would like to learn few things. First, in verse 1, it is said that “In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” Here, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali occupied by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali are located between the western side of the Sea of Galilee and the Mediterranean Sea. In the Land of Zebulun, Nazareth is located and the land of Naphtali is adjacent to the Sea of Galilee. As you know very well, Nazareth was the place where Jesus was grown up there after returned from Egypt where he fled to when Herod tried to kill him. And also in the Zebulun, Cana where Jesus turned water into wine as his first miracle, was also located. On the other hands, the Galilee was the region where Jesus spent most of his public ministry. In Today’s text, as the Galilean region was called a foreign country, these two regions were despised for various historical reasons, but they were glorified since the Lord came to these places. As such, if the Lord comes to us, even any situation can be transformed into a glorious life. Secondly, we would like to meditate on the fact that the government shall be upon His shoulder.
12) By the way, this theme of government is actually the motif which flows from creation to the new heaven and new earth.
13) I mean, when God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, on the final sixth day, God created human beings in the image of God, blessed them, and told them to be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth and subdue it, and also command them to rule over all living things. This cultural mandate was reaffirmed after Noah's flood, and also in 2 Samuel 7:16, God prophesied about the eternal kingdom of David. And then based on that eternal Davidic covenant, Jesus finally came to this earth, ushered in the kingdom of God, and continued to rule through his heavenly rule and earthly rule through the Holy Spirit and the church. And finally when he returns on the last day, he will reign forever with His saints. And this theme of governance is even included in the Lord’s Prayer, which the Lord taught us to pray for, “Thy kingdom come.” So, I hope all of us will live in this identity. Finally we would like to think about why we lose our peace and also what the solutions for that. First of all, (1) we lost our peace with God due to our first sins, (2) we suffer because of the tribulations that entered into this world because of our sins, (3) And also, because of our sin, we had to work hard to earn our living, since the earth was cursed and brought up thorns and thistles, sadly, (4) we are experiencing anxiety and worry and fear in our hearts, due to our heart longing for eternity, which was given to us by God, yet never satisfied until we return to God again, (5) we are suffered with uncomfortable and competing relationship, as the original relationship of helping and loving each other was destroyed, (6) we became impatient and greedy since the world constantly makes us chase after wealth and power, finally (7) we slipped awasy by the endless temptation of the evil ones. So that as a result, we are left struggling in the endless waves of our hearts, the curses, the world and the evil ones. But, since our Lord came to this earth as the Prince of Peace regarding all these things, we can enjoy the reconciliation with God and our Lord through the blood of the cross as Colossians 1:20 said, and we could overcome the world, taking heart, not being troubled and having fear, since our Lord gave us His peace as John 14:27 said and our Lord overcome the world already as John 16:33 said. And we may rejoice in Him while the Lord leads us to our desire heaven as Psalm 107:30 said. And that’s why Jeremiah 29:11 says that this peace and hope is God's will. Therefore, that’s why in Revelation 22:20, in the last verse of the Bible, when Jesus said “Surely I come quickly,” we all say, “Amen, Lord Jesus, come quickly,” and “The grace of the Lord Jesus may be with everyone. Amen.” So I pray that “Lord, please come quickly,” today, in this fourth Sunday of Advent and in the day before Christmas.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 Today's text says that the Lord has come as the Prince of Peace, but why are wars and famines constant in this world? Why do you think the reason is? So after thinking about the reason, I hope you can share your thoughts to learn each other.
Q2 And in today's text, it is said that Jesus had to not only be born as a baby in order to take on the likeness of human flesh and to bear sin in that flesh, but also in order take upon Himself the penalty for sin, death, and Satan's violence and to be crucified, He had to come as baby Jesus, the Prince of Peace as the wisdom and power of God. It teaches us that true victory over violence is not by the same violence, but victory through sacrifice and love. Taking a moment to think about why the Lord had to obey in that way, I hope that we would like to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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