The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on December 3, 2023. The Bible verses used are Isaiah 9:2-7.
The passage we read from Isaiah is generally regarded as
being a prophecy of the coming of the Savior. Many of the phrases Isaiah
uses are ones we use to describe Jesus. Wonderful Counselor. Mighty
God. Everlasting Father. Prince of Peace. Every Christmas we
think of the words, “For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is
given.”
Those words have become so familiar to us. Sometimes
they’re so familiar that they lose their impact. But they would not have
been familiar to the people Isaiah was speaking to. And they would have
made quite an impact on those people.
Israel and Judah were in big trouble at this time.
They had enemies on all sides. They looked to the nation of Assyria for
protection, but that protection was going to come at a cost. And
eventually, Assyria would take over Israel and Judah. The situation
looked hopeless.
And when you read the book of Isaiah, most of it is
dark. It’s gloom and doom. It’s despair. Isaiah knows things
look bad, and the reason they look bad is that they are bad. And they’re
going to get worse. Isaiah what’s going to happen to Israel and Judah,
and he knows that it’s going to happen because of their faithlessness.
They abandoned God, so God is going to abandon them.
But not forever. Because, you know, one of the
greatest things about God is that God never leaves us without hope.
Never. No matter how bad things may look at the moment, there is always
hope for a better future with God. That was true when Isaiah wrote these
words. And it’s true for us today.
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on
those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.” That’s a
powerful image, if you think about it. Have you ever been walking in the
dark? It’s kind of scary, isn’t it? Maybe not so much when you’re
in your own house, although even then there’s always the chance you could step
on something or trip on something. But have you ever been outside in the
dark, so dark that you could not see where you were going? So dark that
you could not see what might be out there? And then, suddenly, a light
shines. And you can see where you’re going, and you can see what’s out
there. And suddenly things seem a lot safer.
That’s the literal image. But have
you ever had a dark time in your own life? Have you ever had a time when
everything about your life seemed dark? I suspect at least some of us
have. Maybe you’re having one now, as you look at the way the world
is. It’s hard. It’s scary. It’s depressing. There seems
to be no way out. You search for some faint flicker of light, but you
simply cannot see one. The situation seems hopeless.
That’s how Israel and Judah were
feeling. And Isaiah tells them, and tells us when we feel that way, that
our situation is not hopeless. Things may be dark now, but they are not
going to be dark forever. The light is going to come. And when it
does, it will be a great light. No matter how deep the darkness is right
now, that light is going to sweep it away. A better day is going to
come.
And in fact, it won’t be just a better
day. It will be a great day! Listen to what Isaiah says, “You have
shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod
of their oppressor.” “They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the
harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.”
Those are some pretty powerful images,
too. Have you ever been carrying something really heavy, something you
could barely lift, and then finally gotten it to where it needed to be and put
it down? That’s a relief, right? That feels wonderful.
But we all know there are times when we
carry other types of burdens. And those can be the hardest burdens of
all. Times when we have bills to pay and we don’t know where the money’s
going to come from. Times when a loved one is sick, or in trouble, and it
seems like there’s nothing we can do to help. Times when we feel like
we’re being pulled in all kinds of directions, needing to be there for our
families, needing to be there for our friends, needing to be there for our
work, needing to be there for our community and our church, and feeling like
there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done. Times
when we just feel exhausted and need to rest, but we feel like we cannot rest,
because there are too many things that need to be done.
Isaiah tells us that it does not have to be
that way. We don’t need to carry all those burdens. The Lord is
going to come, and the Lord is going to take away those burdens. The Lord
is going to give us grace and peace and love. That day is going to
come. And when it does, we will rejoice. We will rejoice like
people who’ve brought in the greatest harvest they’ve ever had.
Isaiah says it is going to happen.
It’s going to happen because of a child. A child who will be a descendant
of the great King David. A child who will establish a kingdom of justice
and righteousness. A child who will establish peace. A child who
will reign forever. A child whom we now know as Jesus Christ.
Isaiah tells them, and us, that it will happen because “The zeal of the Lord
Almighty will accomplish this.
That gives us hope. It gave the
people of Israel and Judah hope, too. But think about this. The
book of Isaiah was written, as best we can guess, somewhere in the vicinity of
seven hundred B. C. That means that the people of Israel and Judah had
to wait seven hundred years for Isaiah’s prophecy to come true.
I talked about this last Sunday morning,
but we don’t think about how long a time that is. Seven hundred years ago
was 1323. Not only were there no modern communications like the internet
and TV and even radio, the printing press had not even been invented yet.
There was no such thing as indoor plumbing. Not only were there no planes
or cars, there were not even bicycles. Columbus had not made his voyage
to the new world yet.
That’s how long seven hundred years
is. And that’s how long the people of Israel and Judah had to wait for
the Messiah to come and for Isaiah’s words to come true. That’s how long
it took for God to answer the people’s prayers.
Do you think they all kept the faith for
all those years? I doubt it. Some did. Some held to Isaiah’s
promise of the Savior. But in seven hundred years, there had to be people
who gave up. And there had to be others who at least started doubting.
They had waited, and they had waited, and they had waited. And nothing
happened. And they kept waiting, and nothing kept happening. It had
to be disappointing for them. It had to be discouraging, too.
Is there something you’ve been praying about
for a while? I suspect there is. Maybe something that’s going on in
our own life. Maybe something that’s going on in the life of a loved
one. Maybe something that’s going on in our community, or in the country,
or in the world. But I know a lot of us have been praying for
something. And we’ve been praying for a while. And nothing seems to
be happening.
I think what Isaiah would tell us is to
not lose faith. Sometimes it takes time for God to answer prayers.
Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it takes a very long
time. But don’t get discouraged. Don’t give up hope. Don’t
doubt. God has heard our prayers. God knows exactly what’s going
on.
At the right time, a light is going to
shine through the darkness. No matter how deep your darkness may seem, at
the right time a light will dawn. God will shatter the burdens that are
holding you down. We will rejoice like we’d rejoice at the greatest
harvest the world has ever known.
God’s promise to Israel and Judah was
fulfilled. The Savior came. He was and is called wonderful
counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. He is
reigning on the throne. Not everybody knows it now, but they will.
At the right time, everyone will know. He will establish justice and
righteousness forever.
God’s promises to Israel and Judah were
fulfilled. And God’s promises to us will be fulfilled, too. The day
will come when our burdens will be lifted and there will be nothing but happiness
and joy and peace.
God promises
it. And when God promises it, we can count on it. The zeal of the
Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
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