Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION:

Interest:

In case anyone is possibly unaware…we are expecting a baby in our family.

Katie is not doing a very good job of hiding that fact any longer…she is starting to stick out pretty good.

I know that she and David are excited about becoming parents, but I can assure you that Grace and I are very excited about being grandparents!

Of course, the Loves and the Palazzolos are also expecting children in their families and I have no doubt that their excitement is similar both in their immediate and in their extended families.

I know Chloe for one is awfully excited that a baby is on the way in the Love house.

The coming of a baby is an exciting event.

Involvement:

Once again, we are in the Christmas season…a season built around the similar eager anticipation of a birth…the birth of a very special baby.

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, we are going to spend the month of December this year focusing on the birth of Jesus.

Over the next four weeks, we will be tracing the birth of Jesus as recorded in four different passages of Scripture.

Context:

To begin this series we are going to turn to a passage that was given several centuries before Jesus was born…a passage, as you can see, found in Isaiah chapter nine.

I will just mention that this particular passage is in the center of a section in the book of Isaiah that runs from chapter 7 through chapter 12.

This is a section that deals with the birth and ministry of the Messiah—the Christ…the Person that we know as Jesus.

Isaiah was given prophetic revelation of the future day when the Messiah would come.

It wasn’t completely clear to him that there would actually be two parts to the coming of the Messiah, but what was revealed to Him was that the Messiah was coming.

Preview:

The particular verses that we are going to consider contain some of the most well-known words that were given to the prophet Isaiah about the coming of the Messiah.

Verse 6 contains the titles found on countless banners and referenced in numerous songs: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.

Yet there is much more in this passage than just these names for the Messiah.

What is found in these verses is a very significant message…a message that is as significant today as it was hundreds of years ago when it was first given: Hope is wrapped up in the promise of a child.

The Christmas message is a message of hope.

The Christmas season is a season of hope.

But that Hope is wrapped up in the promise of a child.

This morning we are going to try to understand this truth more fully by working to understand our particular verses more fully.

In order to move toward with this goal we will carefully work our way through the text so that we can unfold its teaching.

We will let the text speak for itself as we go through it.

Once we understand what these verses are teaching, then we will ask ourselves how the teaching of this text continues to apply to us today.

What we are going to discover is that this is a message of hope.

Hope that is wrapped up in the promise of a child.

Transition from introduction to body:

Let’s begin working our way through the text this morning.

What we need to begin by understanding that in these verses…

BODY:

I. Text: God promised hope to Israel.

In the previous chapter God had revealed through Isaiah that the nation of Israel was about to face a very difficult time.

God was about to bring the mighty Assyrian Empire down upon the nation.

A time of oppression and famine was coming.

In fact, according to verse 1 of chapter 9, two of the tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali, were already feeling the direct oppression of the Assyrians…these were the tribal territories that would have been first to fall to Assyria.

The image that is used to convey the current events is that of darkness.

Illustration

Think about a time when you have experienced a complete absence of light.

A couple of times I have experienced this in caves.

The guide took our group deep into a cave as part of a tour and then at some point…after sufficient warning every time I have experienced it…the guide turned off all the lights.

There is not even a miniscule of light…no crack under the door, no remote batch of stars, nothing.

You literally cannot see your hand an inch in front of your eyes.

The reason that the guide has always warned us in these situations before turning off the lights is that the guide wants to be sure that we are not walking around when it gets dark…to do so could be dangerous.

This is the image that God used to describe what was coming upon to the nation.

He had also made it clear that such was coming because of their great sin.

Sin had brought God’s wrath down upon them and God’s wrath was being poured out upon them through the Assyrians.

Transition:

Israel really needed a message of hope and that is what they suddenly receive beginning in verse 2 of chapter 9…

A. God promised hope to Israel of future joy

Let’s read verses 2 and 3…<read>

Did you notice that image of light?

In the midst of deep darkness God promises that He will suddenly introduce light.

Illustration

Put yourself back into that cave again.

It is completely dark…you can’t see a thing.

And then someone takes out a cell phone and turns it on.

Just the light from the screen seems brilliant shining in the absolute darkness.

If you had been in that cave and the sudden loss of light had not been planned, you would welcome the sound of your guide saying, “Hold on a moment, I am getting a flashlight out.”

Yet such a minor light is not the kind of image God uses here…God promises that He will bring a “great light” into their dark world.

And the result of the sudden introduction of this great light is joy.

Now, I want us to notice a few things.

One, God does not at this point identify the light itself…although the Source of the light is clearly God.

The exact identification of the light itself will have to wait; the immediate focus is upon the joy that the light will bring.

In fact, the joy of both the farmer at harvest time and the soldier after victory listed at the end of verse 3 is intended to convey the great joy that the people will experience when the light comes.

Two, this light will shine upon the same nation that experienced the darkness…in other words, the nation of Israel will be the recipient of the light and its coming will bring a reversal of the situation from the previous chapter—despair will be transformed into joy.

Three, this light will result in an increase in the number of the nation.

The language used in verse 3 harkens back to the promise to Abraham that the Gentile nations would be included in the blessing received by Israel.

There is a suggestion here of Gentiles being added to God’s people in great number.

Transition:

The hope that God promised is one of future joy.

That is what God promises in verses 2 and 3. What come in the remainder of our passage are explanations of why there will be future joy.

Verse 4 begins a string of three explanations that build upon one another in order to provide this explanation…notice that verses 4, 5, and 6 all begin with the word “for”; they answer why there will be joy.

Moving into verse 4 we learn that…

B. God promised hope to Israel of future joy, after oppression is ended

Look at this verse…<read>.

Why will there be future joy?

The first reason is that the oppression that the nation is suffering will end.

Illustration

When I was in high school I had to wear braces on my teeth for several years…I was born with a severe overbite and too small of a mouth.

During much of the time when I had braces I had to wear rubber bands on those braces…a band went from a post attached to one tooth to a post on a different tooth in order to exert pressure to pull the teeth into new positions.

The pressure from those rubber bands was relentless…all day long it was pulling.

Oh how I remember the brief relief that came at meal-time when I had to take the rubber bands off so that I would not swallow them while I ate…the pressure was suddenly relieved.

God promises that He will bring relief; He will end the nation’s oppression.

The reference to the battle of Midian in this verse is nod to the historical account of the deliverance God worked through Gideon in Judges 6–8.

God defeated an overwhelming hoard through a small band of 300 men.

God is promising that He will end their oppression again in the future…it doesn’t matter how small and insignificant it may seem that the nation has become.

He will end their oppression and joy will result.

Transition:

God promised hope to Israel of future joy after oppression is ended.

But God’s explanation is not finished.

Why will the oppression end?...

C. God promised hope to Israel of future joy, after oppression is ended, because peace will come

Let’s read verse 5…<read>

When the great future light enters the nation and the oppression is ended, then weapons and military equipment will no longer be needed.