The Eternal Kingdom of the Prince of Peace
Isaiah • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsthe deity and humanity of Jesus Christ and teh nature of His kingdom are clearly predicted
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Where did we leave off?
They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Judah is in a dark place. All around them is fear, frustration and famine. The text says distress, darkness, and the gloom of anquish.
Can’t seem to get much darker than that.
It didn’t seem to be able to get any worse than where they are at this particular moment.
Have you ever experienced dark moments in your life? Have you ever been in that space where it seemed as if life couldn’t get any worse?
March 1993, the blizzard that dumped 12 inches of snow overnight on Philadelphia. I was huddled against the storm in an abandoned motor lodge where I crawled through an air conditioner hole in order to escape the weather outside.
Alone, huddled in the remnants of what was once a popular stop over for visitors to the Philly area, I was swallowed up by the darkness and despair of my circumstances - hungry, fearful, frustrated, anguished by the choices I had made.
And that’s where Chapter 8 leaves us. In the darkness and gloom of a corrupt and wicked people anquished by the choices they and their leaders had made. A people who sought wisdom from the occult and rejecting the wisdom and counsel of God.
We see Zebulun, Naphtali, and Galilee as humbled lands filled with people walking in darkness, living without hope and without God in the world.
Suddenly, Good says, “Let there be light!” and there is light.
A Light in Darkness
A Light in Darkness
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. 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.
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.
The great light that they see is nothing less than the glory Of God in the face of Jesus:
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light and we know that Jesus has called Himself the “Light of the World”
Jesus revealed Himself as Light in the synagogue in Galilee stating emphatically that He was the emboiment, the fulfillment of Isaiah 61 who brings eyesight to the blind and freedom to the captives.
Jesus performed His first miracle in Galilee at Cana when He turned water into wine
And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people. So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, those having seizures, and paralytics, and he healed them. And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
This light that was radiating out in the midst of the darkness became:
The Source of Joy
The Source of Joy
A Stunning Victory
A Stunning Victory
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.
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.
For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
What is the response to breaking out of the darkness - overpowering joy!
For Judah the celebration is reminiscent of the days when Gideon, without a sword and a small unarmed army, saw the Midianites defeated by the providence and provision of God.
It released an overwhelming sense of joy that filled the nation.
In the same way, we see a woman at Jesus’ feet in the home of Simon, the Pharisee ing the filth from Jesus’ feet with her tears and her hair as she is overcome by the joy of salvation and forgiveness that Jesus extends like an olive branch to her and to you.
An olive branch that is extended because Jesus has defeated Satan and darkness through His death and resurection. We who were enslaved and anquished by our choices and the fear of death have been released to serve God in joy.
Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil,
The Surprising Conqueror
The Surprising Conqueror
Natural, yet Supernatural
Natural, yet Supernatural
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.
The stunning conqueror who works the victory in verses 1-5 is revealed to be… a child. A child given, a son born, described n a string of couplets that mingle the humanity and deity of Jesus.
The humanity of Jesus is seen in the descriptive words, a child, a son.
The purpose of the child coming is seen in the words “for us, to us”. He came because we need Him, in the same way the nation of Judah needed a victorious King to save them from the Assyrians.
He isn’t just anyu child. He isn’t just any son. He is the Child, the Son upon whom the weight of authority would rest upon. He is the final authority and all government will rest upon His shoulders and He will not buckle.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Wonderful Counselor:
Wonderful: ability to work supernatural signs
Counselor: the giving of wise advice
Jesus came both to do signs and wonders and give wisdom by His teachings.
Mighty God:
Mighty: Powerful men, usually military men or warriors
God: teh word here is the most common word in the Hebrew Bible for deity, so it clearly refers to the divine
Together these words show the infintie power of Jesus who will one day fulfill the prophecy of
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
Eternal/Everlasting Father
Eternal/everlasting: forever
Father: common
together we have the mingling of the earthly and heavenly, teh natural and supernatural coming togetehr ascribing fatherhood for all eternity. While it seems uncommon, Jesus does describe hiw disciples, at times, as sons or daughters
Prince of Peace
Prince: ruler
Peace: he will initiate peace and becharacterized by peace.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Kingdom of Christ
The Kingdom of Christ
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.
The identity of the King: Jesus Christ
The wealth of the kingdom: prosperity and peace
characterized by the never-ending multilication of prosperity and peace
some see this as also growing in knowledge/wisdom/understanding - especially in light of the fact that all our physical needs will be met - so those things we have been striving for become meaningless and the focus of our lives/heart becomes aligned more closely with Jesus’
The nature of the kingdom: prophetic, secure, holy and eternal
His kingdom will be sustained by by righteousness and justice - in stark contrast ot what we experience in our day-to-day lives.
It will be eternal - never-ending.
But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
The power of the kingdom: The zeal of the Lord Almighty
Gods zeal for the glory of HIs Son will make this happen forever, and no power in heaven or earth or under teh earth can stop it.
So a couple things to consider:
Understand by faith that the victory over sin and death and accomplished by Christ is complete. Jesus fought on our behalf, won on our behalf, and we get the benefits, the spoil of war so to speak.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
The answer to that psalm came to me slowly as I realized how far I had strayed from the King and Creator of my soul. I had lost all Hope in Him and in His Love for me.
It was as I embraced His salvation, His redemtion story for my life that I was able to walk in the forgiveness and victory that Jesus had achieved on my behalf.
As I saw the light of Jesus’ love and the Glory of God broke through my pain and teh gloom of my anquish, I was able to respond with the unspeakable joy that comes from knowing I am loved.
Know you are loved today and
Meditate on the awesome titles given to Jesus and worship Him for each characteristic they represent
Submit to the suthority of Jesus in your life! Have you been forgiven much? Does it cause you to love much?
If not, there may be a disconnect or discontent somewhere that needs to be addressed.
Live with the joyful expectancy of seeing the King of Kings in person and worshiping for eternity in His Kingdom.
Tell others about Jesus