May it please the Lord to bless
us together tonight as we consider his word. Let's turn to the prophecy
of Isaiah chapter 9 and we'll read verse 2. The ninth chapter
in the prophecy of Isaiah and reading verse 2. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." It is, I'm sure, difficult for
us to comprehend what it must have been like in the days of
Isaiah and the ensuing days before the Lord Jesus was born to be
able to read such a chapter as this, which so wonderfully and
gloriously prophesies with regards to the birth and indeed the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ. How the people must have hung
on to some of the verses which are contained in this chapter,
because really there was that veil over their faces and they
saw things very darkly. And yet, today, we are gloriously
blessed with the New Testament and the historical account of
those things which came to pass with regard to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And yet, as we read such an account
as this, we can trace out the wonderful spiritual blessing
that it refers to. So that although in one sense
the prophecy has been fulfilled, in another sense it is there,
the words to encourage us today. Now, it was of course a dark
day in Isaiah's life and in his prophecy. They were dark days
in Israel for the most part and yet Isaiah was commanded to speak
and to record those things which we've read and we can just see
a little of the state and condition of which existed, how dark it
was and we've read And when they shall say unto you, seek unto
them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and
that mutter, should not a people seek unto their God for the living
to the dead, to the law and to the testimony? If they speak
not according to this word, it is because there is no light
in them." And how true that was. There was much darkness, there
was no light in them. And they shall pass through it
hardly, be staid and hungry, And it shall come to pass that
when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse
their king and their God, and look upward, and they shall look
unto the earth, and behold trouble and darkness, dimness and anguish,
and they shall be driven to darkness." And that was true in the case
of Israel. But it is still true today with
regards to spiritual Israel. Because until the great and glorious
light shines, and that light is in the face of Jesus Christ,
until that light shines, we are indeed in darkness, and we behold
trouble, and darkness, dimness of anguish, and perhaps are driven
to darkness, perhaps almost driven to despair. It is a situation that the Lord
brings into the life of his people to cause them sometimes to almost
despair. They will not despair, but they
may almost despair because they may have sought the Lord, they
may have desired to seek the Lord and it may have seemed darkness. There didn't seem to be any light.
And therefore they're tempted to give up. Tempted not to continue. Well, we read encouraging words
in this chapter. Nevertheless, nevertheless, what
a blessing to have a word like that. nevertheless the dimness
shall not be such as was in her vexation. When at first he lightly
afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali and
afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the
sea beyond Jordan in Galilee of the nations. There was a period
in Israel's history when the ten tribes were virtually taken
away from their place by the Assyrians. And that's really
what Isaiah is referring to here. You can read about it if you
want to in the book of Kings. We won't refer to it now. The
second book of Kings in chapter 15 gives the actual account of
this situation. But I'd just like to refer to
the words that we read in Matthew, which confirms these words. And those are found in the fourth
chapter in the Gospel of Matthew. And we read, now verse 12, Now
when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed
into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum,
which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and
Nephilim. You see he's referring to that
here. And he says that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
by Isaiah the prophet saying, the land of Zebulun and the land
of Nephilim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of
the Gentiles." Almost word for word. And then he goes on, the
people which sat in darkness saw great light, and to them
which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up. So we have the picture here referring
very clearly to the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore it is very
clear that this here in Isaiah 9 is referring to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And it is very significant that
immediately after that we read, from that time Jesus began to
preach. From that time, as it were, the
light shone. The Saviour preached the word
and that word entered in to the hearts of many and he said, repent
for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And so the Lord commenced
his ministry really with those words recorded here in the Gospel
of Matthew. And it was indeed the light that
was to shine through the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have
this statement here, the people that walked in darkness, that's
what they were like, the Israelites were like. They were walking
in darkness and they'd seen a great light and exactly the same this
is with the Church of God today. They walk in darkness until the
light shines. We've all walked in darkness.
We may be in darkness now, Because we are either in darkness or
in a light. And if we are in the darkness,
we will need the light to shine. Because we cannot produce light
ourselves. We cannot make that light to
shine ourselves. We are dependent upon the work
of the Holy Spirit. And it may be, perhaps, our earnest
cry, our earnest desire that the light may truly shine into
our hearts, so that it may be true of us, the people that walked
in darkness. They weren't sitting still, they
were walking, but they were in darkness until the light shone. They walked in darkness and they
have seen a great light. And the light is none less than
the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a beautiful description
in this chapter of the Lord Jesus Christ. How comprehensive it
is. The Prophet says, for unto us
a child is born. Unto us. Does that include you? Does that include me? Unto us. A child is born, unto us a son
is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and
his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of
his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne
of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish
it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this." Well, do we rejoice tonight? in such a truth as that, which
describes to us in some detail the greatness of the Saviour. These words truly describe the
Lord Jesus Christ. He is wonderful. He is a counsellor. He is the mighty God. He is the
everlasting Father, speaks of God, and the Prince of Peace
He is. the Prince of Peace. Now, the people that walked in
darkness. And we shall walk in darkness until the Lord shines
and we see that great light. And what a difference it makes
when that light shines. It makes a wonderful difference.
It changes us. It changes our view of things. It changes Our mind, it changes
our life. I very seldom refer to any personal
testimony, but I will just mention, I think I've told you before.
Years ago, I was ill, and I can remember the place and the situation
very clearly. And I was trying to pray. And it just seemed darkness. It seemed black. There seemed
no access. My words seemed to, as it were,
bounce back at me. It didn't seem to make any impression. And it was dark. And then it
suddenly dropped into my mind, for Jesus Christ's sake. and the light shone. And it was a great light. The darkness dispersed and I
immediately realized that we approached to the Holy God, the
Holy Father, who cannot look upon sin through the merits of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And immediately I saw, as it
were, the whole panorama. And I saw how needful it was
that Lord Jesus Christ should die. How needful it was that
He should satisfy the demands of the Holy Law. And in doing
so, He had to suffer and die upon that cross at Calvary and
to shed His most precious blood. And without that, without that
death, there would be no access my condition would have been
hopeless. But there was the light. The
light shone. And therefore, it is very precious
to me, the great doctrine of the High Priesthood of Christ.
Because he it is that takes and presents our prayers to his Father. And we are accepted in him, accepted
in the Beloved. and what a light it is. Now,
if Jesus Christ is revealed to us like that, the darkness is
dispersed. However black it may be, however
impenetrable it may seem, no way. But if Jesus comes and reveals
himself to us, the darkness flies away. and we see a great light. Now, it's a wonderful blessing
for us to see the light. We all have different experiences,
we all have different testimonies. I'm not setting myself up as
any standard. I'm just giving that as an illustration of the
difference between darkness and light. And in essence, it was
a great light. It wasn't a little light, because
everything was changed. There was access to God. Access to God. My friends, hell,
we need access to God. I'm always disappointed when
people end their prayers without saying, for Jesus Christ's sake. It always seems to me so necessary
and so essential really, so that our prayers are accepted for
His sake, because the Father cannot reject them if we do pray
and come in the name of the Saviour, because He looks on His Son as
that righteous One who has sacrificed his life
to atone for our sin, so that whereas in and of ourselves we
are sinners, to realise that our sin is washed away, taken
away, cast into the depth of the sea, to be remembered no
more, forever. And we are then complete in Him,
We are clothed with his spotless robe of righteousness, that pure
white robe. There is no spot in it. No sin, because Christ has taken
away all sin. And that word is gloriously true.
There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus.
To think that there is a now in our life. And now when the
Lord has come and shone into our heart and revealed Christ
to our souls. Well, can we tonight, in our
varied ways, perhaps we think in our little way, don't despise
the little, make the most of it, because it's a great thing.
If the Lord has made Christ precious to you, Oh my friends, it's a
great light. It's a great light. There's no
light without Christ. And we know that because he says,
I am the light of the world. There is no light without Christ. And you will never really enjoy
peace, and fellowship without some knowledge of Christ. And that knowledge must be directed
to our salvation. It must be directed to that one
sacrifice for sin that the Saviour offered up His life as that perfect
sacrifice. The people that walked in darkness
have seen a great light. Well, it's a blessing if we've
walked in darkness and we've seen the great light. If we haven't
seen the great light and we're in darkness, does that trouble
us? Is it a concern to us? Do we
cry out about it? Do we pray to God that that light
might shine? Because when that light shines,
we really have the wonderful evidence of the life of God in
the soul. And that's so necessary. We don't
want to just drag on through life, hoping it will be alright
at the end. We want to know that the Lord
Jesus has died for us. We need that assurance that these
things are true. We want to know it personally.
It won't do you any good to know the person next door has been
blessed. You'll need to know that Christ is your Saviour.
You'll need to know that Christ has died for you. That Christ
has shed his precious blood to atone for your sins. And as you
stand there in darkness, guilty, burdened with a load of sin which
gets heavier every day, you will need this great light to come
and to direct you to Calvary. Oh yes, that's the place of deliverance. That's the place of blessing.
That's where the burden rolls away. as we see in Christ, all that
we need. He is our all-sufficiency. Everything we need is in Christ. Let us not move away from the
importance of this truth. Let us not think there is a way
to heaven without knowing Christ. we won't get to glory and find
Christ a stranger. In fact you won't want to go
to glory if Christ is a stranger. But if Christ has shone into
your heart with light and by his grace you've seen something
of the preciousness and the needfulness of the Saviour. Then, by His
grace and favour, you'll be looking forward and anticipating the
glory of that day when you will see that man, that God, who came
and died so that you might live. Oh, the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light. So tonight, I hope we're able
to look into our hearts and find one of two things. Either that
we've seen this great light, or that we're earnestly praying
that we may have this great light. My friends, if you haven't received
it press on, pray on. It's something to be earnestly
desired. So the people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land
of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. There
is indeed that shadow, as it were, of death. Now, I know death
is in two senses, really. There's that natural death and
there's that spiritual death, where we are eternally dead,
as it were. And that's what we live in until
the light shines. The land of the shadow of death,
upon them hath the light shined." Now, just moving on for a moment,
the prophet goes on to say, "...thou wilt multiply the nation, and
not increase the joy. They joy before thee according
to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide
the spoil." You see, there's a time of rejoicing, a time of
blessing God. You know, when the light shines,
you'll rejoice. You'll bless God. And it will
be a time of harvest, a time of rejoicing. You won't be morbid. You'll be
rejoicing. You'll be thanking God for the
wonderful favours which He has granted unto you. For thou hast
broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian." You can
remember when the Midianites were destroyed by Gideon. You know what a wonderful deliverance
that was. There was a great army. My friends, there may be a great
army in our spiritual life. The battle may seem almost impossible.
How am I ever going to overcome all of the evil that is within
me, all my sin, all the badness that is within me? How am I to
overcome? How will I overcome? Well, we
may have been looking to our own strength. We may have been
looking to our own ability. Gideon had to have his strength,
as it were, in the form of an army, greatly reduced to such
an extent that he would never be able to claim the victory
for himself. The victory was clearly the Lord's. It was clearly the Lord's and
what a blessing it is. where we are brought to that
position, where we realise the victory, which it is, this is
a victory when the Lord comes and shines into our heart, it
is a victory because we have conquered, not because of what
we've done, but we've conquered because of what the Lord has
done. And that's how Gideon's men, and they cried,
you know, that word, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. The sword of the Lord and it
was the work of God. As you may know, they blew the
trumpets and broke the pitchers and there was the flame inside
and it lit up and the host of the Midianites fled. They thought
it was a great army. You see, God still conquers today. My friends, it's not our might,
it's not our ability, it's God's grace, it's God's mercy and it's
God's favour. For every battle of the warrior
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall
be with burning and fuel of fire. It's as though those evil things,
they're burnt up, They're taken away with burning and fuel of
fire. We're then able to come as it
were to the feet of Jesus and we see him then as this wonderful
counsellor and the mighty God. We have a view that we never
had before until we have in our hearts the
evidence of God's light, we will never have a true view of the
greatness of God, and the compassion of God, and the mercy of God. And it's then that our hearts
are moved to realise that the victory is the Saviour's, and
it's likeness we are more than conquerors through Him that loved
us. Oh, the love of Christ. Amazing, isn't it? You've been
there standing in darkness, as it were in the valley of the
shadow of death. Yes, you've been there. But then, blessed
with this light, as David said, we fear no evil. Yes, because
the Lord is with us. What a blessing it is then, to
have a revelation, which it really is, from the blessed Spirit of
God to direct us, to encourage us in this way and in this path. When Paul wrote his epistle to
the Ephesians, he says, Wherefore he saith,
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall give thee light. Wherefore, he saith, it may be
we have been sleeping, sleeping the sleep of death. When a blessing
of the Lord comes and says then, Arise, awake thou that sleepest,
and arise from the dead in darkness, and Christ shall give thee light. Well, the Apostle knew so well,
didn't he? There he'd been an adversary
to the Lord. There he'd been an enemy, doing
those things which he thought were right, until that momentous
occasion in his life, when the light shone. Now he tells us,
he says, that light shone above the brightness of the midday
sun. It was so bright in the life
of the Apostle. It shone right into his heart
and the effect was he fell down under the power of it. The light
was so bright. Well, it may not be like that
in our life, but it may be. It may be a wonderful light which
shines so tremendously brightly that we have to bow down And
what that does then, we have to leave behind, Paul has to
leave behind in a moment, all his old self-righteousness. He had to dump it. And he came
and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? When the light
shines, it makes us willing in the day of his power, because
it's power It's the power of God which has shone into our
heart and how true it is. We are made willing. We are willing
to do the Lord's will because we bow down. We have this glorious
Saviour who has died for us, who has given his life for us.
No longer are we our own, we are bought with a price. Our
scene has changed. We have a Master, a Master to
serve. And we desire to serve that one
who has done such great things for us. And so, may we have heard
such a word as that. Arise from the dead and Christ
shall give thee light. Shall give thee light. There's
no doubt about that. The Lord does come and he does
give light. And so here we have this statement. They that dwelt in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." The psalmist
knew what it was, he knew the situation, and he tells us in
the 107th Psalm, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and Well perhaps that describes
our present situation. We're in darkness, we're in the
shadow of death, and we're bound in affliction and iron. We seem
unable to free ourselves from the situation that we're in.
Our condition seems almost impossible. And you see, to some extent it
was like that with me. There seemed no way no access,
darkness, no good in praying really. And the psalmist explains it
a little, this is quite painful perhaps, because they rebelled
against the words of God and contend the counsel of the Most
High. What it means is, we may have
turned our back upon God. Therefore, He brought down their
heart with labour. He brings us down to a low place. He humbles us. He weakens our
strength in a way. Therefore, He brought down their
heart with labour. They fell down and there was
none to help. And in that spiritual extremity,
there is none that can help. You won't find help anywhere
but in God. And then he says, then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, they cried unto the Lord, they
cried unto the Saviour in their trouble, and he saved them out
of their distresses, and he brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death, and broke their bands in sunder. They were freed
And so it is. And when that light shines, it's
a glorious freedom. And we're so surprised that we
were in the darkness we were in when that light shines. And he says, and this is important,
O that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His
wonderful works to the children of men. For if broken the gates
of brass, And that's what it might seem like when you try
and pray. Gates of brass, they don't seem to open for you at
all. But he cuts the bars of iron in sunder. He breaks them
down. They're dispersed. There is the
entrance. And the entrance is through the
blood of Christ. That's the way of entrance. That's
the way of entrance, through the blessed Redeemer. Oh, the
light shines. What a glorious light it is then.
And then it is, you bow down and you praise the Lord, and
you enter in and you say, yes, my Lord, it is wonderful. It's
a glorious counsellor to me. He's counselled me and I've been
brought to a right understanding. Yes, the gates are brass. have
been broken. Oh bless God that he is a wonderful
saviour. People that walked in darkness
have seen a great light, and they that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined." And then
just one final reference which I often refer to, it's 2, 4,
6, easy to remember, in Corinthians, the second of Corinthians, and
the fourth chapter, and the sixth verse. And we read, For God,
who commanded You see, there comes a time in
our life when God commands the light to shine. God commands,
bless God, it is a command, therefore it's carried out, and therefore
the light does shine. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What a full verse that is, isn't
it? What a full verse it is. The glory in that. Think of this. Israel of old, viewing this verse,
the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light, and
they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them
hath the light shined. by faith, and to look forward
to that which was to come, today, by faith. We can look back to
that which has occurred, and to rejoice in these truths. You know, the Apostle, he said,
for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord. Well,
that's the preaching of the Gospel. This is the Gospel. There's no
other gospel that would do us any good. And he says then, but
we have this treasure, and it is a treasure, when that light
shines, it's such value. It is eternal good. Anything
that's eternal has an infinite value. And that's just what this
has, an infinite value. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels. to our poor old earthen vessel,
that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. You see, God will have all the
glory. He won't allow us to have any glory. That's why it all
emanates from Him. That's why He commands it in
His time and His way. He commands the light to shine.
And when it shines and reveals Christ, what glory it is. It moves our heart. It moves
our very being, we are a different person. He said we are troubled on every
side, yet not distressed. There is a hope in His mercy.
We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken,
cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life Also, Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. It's a great blessing, isn't
it, to have these things revealed to our soul. Then we understand
the wonder that such a word should be written in the Word of God
in the Old Testament and is spelt out then so clearly in the New.
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And
may that dwell, that's where we live, in the land of the shadow
of death, upon them hath the light shined. Well, I wonder
tonight if we can find in our hearts the wonderful evidence
of God's command occurring in our life. His command to shine
that light. so that no longer are we in that
pitch black, we're brought into this light. Remember, it's only
in Christ, who is the light of the world. But when that light
shines into our hearts, what joy it brings. Joy that we have
and possess the knowledge of Christ, which is far greater
than gold. My friends, may we strive for
these blessings, because they are to be received, and they
are of God's grace and mercy. It is because of His amazing
love And as they come into our hearts, we do stand amazed. And we do agree with Newton when
he said, amazing grace, amazing grace. Yes, what a great sound
it is to save a wretch like me. And we would have been there.
We would have confessed we're a wretch undone. A sinner not
deserving any favour, but then to think the Lord comes under
his command and shines into our heart and we see that great light
which is an eternal light which will never go out. To the praise
and the glory of God. Amen.