Living in the Age of Hope
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CALL TO WORSHIP
The Psalmist said, “For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!”
I want to invite you to stand as we worship the Lord in song this morning!
SONG “Good Good Father”
ADVENT
This Sunday is the first Sunday of advent season. The four Sundays leading up to Christmas are called ADVENT which means: coming.
Each Sunday leading up to Christmas we will light an advent candle which represents one of the symbols of Christmas. And then on Christmas we will light the final candle that represents Christ.
Today is the first day of advent and today we observe the theme of hope. The coming of Christ is a great hope found in the OT biblical narrative.
Light the candle
SONG “King of Kings”
SERMON INTRODUCTION
Today we will be in Isaiah 9 and our topic this morning is hope
Let me set the context of this passage and the day in which Isaiah lived in.
Isaiah lived in a time where there was great wickedness in Israel. There was so much wickedness that judgement was inevitable sight for Isaiah. The people mistreated one another, they took advantage of one another, they oppressed one another, they went through the motions spiritually but their hearts were far from God.
Isaiah is called by God during this time to call backslidden Israel back to faithfulness to God. And if you read Isaiah, you will find that it is a very dark book that can almost get depressing. Over and over God promises that judgement is coming upon his people and all those who are wicked in His sight, BUT in the middle of all that judgement there is beacon of light that shines bright in chapter 9.
Chapter 9 is a prophecy about a day that is coming when all things will be changed from sadness to joy. When the people will be freed from their oppressors and have peace. A time when a kingdom will come that is marked with justice and righteousness. A time when a great Light will shine and the gloom would be turned into gladness.
Prayer of Illumination
Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness. But there will be no more gloom for her who was 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 situation in Israel
Isaiah 8:22 “Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness.”
These were dark, gloomy, and hopeless days for God’s people.
Israel was not dark because God had forsaken them, it was dark because they had forsaken God
It was dark because of the path they had chosen to walk down.
They had stopped relying upon God
They no longer desired His wisdom or direction,
They looked to themselves for guidance
They practiced evil deeds
They were acting just like the pagan nations around them
They had chosen disobedience and even came to a point where they no longer acknowledged God as the true God.
I want you to back up to 8:19 and see how wicked Israel had become
Isaiah 8:19 “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?”
These were the people God that were now seeking answers for life among the dead. Today we would refer to them as devil worshipers. Because any spirit that is not of God’s Spirit is an evil spirit.
These are the people whom the Lord had circumcised to show they were in covenant with Him, whom He had saved from the house of slavery in Egypt, whom He had given the Promise Land to that was flowing with milk and honey, and now they will not even acknowledge God.
BUT despite all of this, God sends them a beacon of hope
(v 1) "But there will be no more gloom”
(v 1) “in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious”
In the middle of this darkness, God’s grace is shown
And it is not just a possibility of hope, but an absolute surety of better days ahead
Look at the next verse:
The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them.
When is this verse referring to? What part of the future?
This is the same verse that Matthew used in reference to Jesus
and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great Light, And those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, Upon them a Light dawned.”
So the great hope of the people foretold by Isaiah was the coming of Jesus Christ
And the time that Isaiah is referring to is the age in which we live in today!
It is the the age in which the Light of the world had dawned
Church we are living in the days of hope!
The light has dawned!
We do not have to wonder what God’s salvation will be, we get to experience it like no other period of biblical history!
If one were to ask me had I rather lived today or 2700 years ago, I choose this day in which we live a thousand times over!
No matter how bad things get for me today, I have that hope that only Jesus Christ can bring
The entire Old Testament is pointing forward to this climax of The Deliverer that God would bring to save His people
Jesus is the great hope of Israel
And Jesus is the great hope for us today!
Isaiah then gives three reasons why these people in darkness can hope in this future
And each one of them is introduced by the word “for” (v 4,5, and 6)
For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.
1) Because the Lord will free them from their oppressors
1) Because the Lord will free them from their oppressors
Israel was under the rule of Assyria at this time
They were forced to pay heavy tribute
They were forced to serve them
They were under obligation to them.
Assyria owned them, unless they rebelled against the treaty and then they would be forced to fight.
And Israel could do nothing about it
Assyria was bigger, stronger, and had already whipped about every surrounding nation
Unless God saved them, they were hopeless
And that is exactly what God did
In 701 BC They rebelled against the treaty they made with Assyria
AND Assyria lined up around the walls of Jerusalem and it looked like certain death
But a man of God was on the throne at that time
And Hezekiah cried out to the Lord to save Jersualem from certain destruction
And in one night God wiped out 185,000 Assyrians
God saved the Holy City from certain destruction
2) Because peace will come upon them
2) Because peace will come upon them
For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
The boots and the cloak represents battle garments
And the burning of the boots is a figurative way of saying these things will no longer be needed in Israel
All of this speaks of a time of peace that would come upon the nation
Israel had spent most of their lives as a nation at war
They had to fight to possess the Promise Land
They had to fight the nations to stay in the Promise Land
But God said, peace was coming
We know that Israel has never been in complete peace
After Assyria, Babylon came
After Babylon, Rome
But there is coming a day when God’s people will find everlasting peace
A time when wars will end, and sin will be no more
3) Because a child will be born
3) Because a child will be born
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 to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.
THIS IS ONE OF THE REMARKABLE PROPHECIES ABOUT THE GOD-MAN
Isaiah was written in the 8th century BC
about 700 years before this son would come to earth
Yet Isaiah could see that this one event would change the world forever
Who is He the son of?
He is the Son of God (mighty God)
He is the Son of David (He is a King)
He is given to us (His atoning sacrifice)
When this prophecy is fulfilled, this Son will rule God’s people
He will bring peace
He will have all wisdom and counsel
He will be given to us and we know now as a sacrifice for our sins
He will be the greatest gift ever given to mankind and why we celebrate Christmas each and every year
APPLICATION
Sin will always bring darkness into our lives
Sin will always bring darkness into our lives
This passage begins be explaining the darkness and gloom in Israel
They had forsaken God
They no longer worshiped Him from their hearts
They chose to practice wickedness
Although our covenant with God has changed, SIN HAS NOT
It’s just as destructive today, as it was in the dark days of Isaiah
It destroys our souls
It corrupts our thinking
It corrupts our hearts
It makes us calloused and cold and uncaring and unloving
It makes us self-centered
It makes us opposite of who God is
And it ALWASY takes us much further than we ever want to go
We must be diligent to get the sin out of our lives
Sin brings darkness and many times we do not even realize it until its too late
Sin also brings judgement
“There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked”
All real hope is ALWAYS grounded in God’s promises
All real hope is ALWAYS grounded in God’s promises
Notice the references to God in these verses
v 1 “You will make it glorious”
v 3 “You shall multiply the nations”
v 3 “You shall increase their gladness”
v 3 “they will be glad in Your presence”
v 4 “You shall break the yoke of their burden”
v 7 “The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this”
It was not Isaiah, nor a victory over Assyria, nor anything else that Israel was to place their hope in. THEY WERE TO HOPE IN GOD AND IN GOD ALONE!
He was the only thing that could save them
IT IS THE SAME FOR US
Church our hope is not to be in what we can do, but in what God will do!
Our future is to be grounded in the promises of God!
It is to be grounded in the person of Jesus Christ!
That is why we gather for worship every single Sunday!
We do not come simply out of duty, but because He is all we have that matters!
And He is unfailing in what He does!
“The Lord of Hosts will accomplish this!”
If God says it, it will come to pass!
Nothing is impossible for God
And the church must keep their eyes on the Holy One of Israel
We live in the expectant days of the SECOND coming of Jesus Christ
We live in the expectant days of the SECOND coming of Jesus Christ
When prophets saw these visions from God, they could not discern the amount of time between the prophecies
So many times prophecies were given together but jumbled together different ages of time
This is common in the book of Isaiah and I think there is some of that here
“from then on to every more”
These words remind us of the eternity that is to come
They remind us that we are to live for the future, and not just for today
They remind us that this world is passing away and there will be a time when all that matters is what we have done for the Lord
They remind us of reality, a spiritual kingdom that we must make every effort to enter
They remind us of Paul’s words:
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
They remind us that our lives are to be spent serving our great God
Let us not grow weary in doing good, because our hope is not in the things of this world, but in the second coming of Jesus
They remind that christ is coming again
And that we must not let this world mold us
We are to live for the King, because He is coming again
We live in the age in which ALL the people of God can find a reason to rejoice in
We live in the age in which ALL the people of God can find a reason to rejoice in
You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
This verse explains the days in which we live
And three times it says we should be glad
That word means “joy” or “to rejoice”
I know things get hard and difficult for us
I know we all have hard days
I know we struggle with physical ailments
I know we struggle with heartache and loss
BUT DESPITE ALL OF THIS, WE LIVE IN THE DAYS WHERE THE LIGHT SHINES
And the church above everyone else should rejoice in this!
We as the people of God must remember each and every day that we live in the days in which the Light of the World has dawned
Ands we can know Him, and He saves
There is no better time to be living that today!
CONCLUSION
What did the Lord say to you through this passage today?
To hear it and not make a response is to our own detriment.
I’m not saying you must walk an isle, but I plead with you not to ignore God’s Word.
~PRAYER~
SONG “O Come o Come Emmanuel”
COMMUNION
“A child will, be born to us, a son will be given to us”
The people in Isaiah’s day would not have fully understood this, but we do.
“For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son”
Pray a blessing over the bread
Jesus said: “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Eat the bread
Isaiah said Jesus is the Prince of Peace. He is that because it is through His blood sacrifice that we have peace with God.
Pray and bless the cup
“do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.
And as they went out they sang a hymn
~AMAZING GRACE~
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