Turn in your Bibles with me to
the book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah in chapter
7. Chapter 7 of Isaiah, please.
Let's look at this together and see if we can't enter into the
prophecy that Isaiah was instructed by God to give to the people
then, and see the meaning of that prophecy, Isaiah chapter
seven, verse one. Now in scripture, God sends his
prophets to his people, and the message that he gives them has
a historical context. And the historical context has
a spiritual meaning, and this is what we see here. There's
a historical context, and I want to try to help you understand
that, at least in outline form, so that we can appreciate what
happened in history and see God's grace in the spiritual context,
the meaning of the prophecy, which is what's important. Because
if we see the meaning of the prophecy, then we will be able
to see the meaning of Christmas, which is what people are... Sometimes
people are wanting to know the meaning of Christmas, and many
people think they understand the meaning of Christmas. It
turns out that in today's world, and probably for hundreds of
years, the meaning of Christmas has been obscured. If you were
to ask people what they think of Christmas, they would think
of it as a time where people give gifts to one another. And
it's a time where we need to learn to give gifts to one another.
In fact, there are movies about this. Christmas Carol is one
of them, where there's a man who is very greedy. And he learns
at the end of the movie, he has to, He has to honor Christmas
by giving things and stop being stingy otherwise he's going to
end up in a sad condition at the end of his life. That's not
the meaning of Christmas. That is the way it's interpreted
because mankind loves to focus on mankind. Mankind loves to
focus on what they can do in order to be good. That makes
them feel good and it makes other people think highly of them. But that is not the meaning of
Christmas. Okay, so here we have God's word
and the mention of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
verse one of chapter seven, Isaiah chapter 7, it says, it came to
pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah,
king of Judah. So we have one king named Ahaz,
and he's the king of Judah. Judah was the tribe, the son
of Jacob, and these people who were born descendants of Judah
lived in the place here that Ahaz was king over. And he was
also the son of David. So David, if you remember him,
had many children who were successively kings over these people, Judah. David's first son, who was king,
was Solomon. He was king over all of the children
of Jacob, which were called the 12 tribes of Israel. But in time,
his next son was harsh, and the 10 tribes of Israel separated,
and there were only two tribes left in the land of Judah, Benjamin
and Judah. So that's what this king, King
Ahaz, is king over, the land of Judah. So it says, it came
to pass in the days of Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the son of
Uzziah, the king of Judah, that Rezan, king of Syria, And Pekah, the son of Remaliah,
king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it,
but could not prevail against it. So Syria was an avowed enemy
of the people of Judah and of Israel. But since these 10 tribes
had separated from the other two tribes, they had created
their own kingdom And the king over them at this time was called
Pekah, P-E-K-A-H. But he was not a son of David.
He was the son of a man named Remaliah, who was a captain.
And Remaliah, the captain, overthrew the king before Pekah. And now
Pekah, this son of Remaliah, is the king in Samaria, which
is the capital city of Israel. So we have Judah, we have Israel,
and their capitals. Judah's capital is Jerusalem,
Israel's capital is Samaria, and we have this other nation
called Syria, and their capital is Damascus, and their king is
called Rezin, R-E-Z-I-N. And then it says that these two
kings, Pekah and Rezan, Pekah of Israel and Rezan of Syria,
were coming against Judah and their king, which was Ahaz. Now the reason they were coming
against them is because they wanted to stop them from being
a kingdom. Pekah and the king of Syria,
Rezan, were both greedy to control the people of Judah and to put
them as their slaves. And Ahaz, the king of Judah,
was a very, very, very wicked king. And yet he was king over
Judah. And so these two countries, Syria
And Israel, which is also called Ephraim, Ephraim was the head
tribe in Israel in those days. So Ephraim, or Israel, and Syria
are coming to war against Judah. Reason, the head of Syria, Pekah,
the head of Ephraim, or Israel, are coming against Ahaz, the
wicked king, and all the people of Judah. Okay, so that's the
context here. And it says in verse two, it
was told the house of David, now this would be Ahaz and all
those who were of David's household, it was told the house of David
saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. These two countries
had joined forces in an alliance in order to overthrow Judah.
Okay, so Ahaz's heart was moved, and the heart of his people as
the trees of the wood are moved with the wind. When Ahaz heard
that Syria and Ephraim were both coming against him, he was afraid. He and his people were afraid,
and they were bent. In their strength, they were
made weak as trees are bent by the wind. That's the analogy
God gives here. In verse three, it says, then
said the Lord unto Isaiah. Isaiah was the prophet. He was
sent to speak to the people from God. God told Isaiah to tell
them this. He says, God says to Isaiah,
go forth now to meet Ahaz. thou and Shear-Jashub thy son."
Now that's a big word, Shear-Jashub. And it has a meaning, and if
you have a Bible that has a reference in it, you'll find out the meaning
is, the remnant shall return. A remnant is a very small part
And in scripture, the remnant means God's people, his true
people, his elect people, the redeemed of the Lord. So Isaiah
the prophet is clearly the Lord's voice. He's the Lord's word coming
to Ahaz. God sent him to Ahaz, and he
says, don't go by yourself, but take your son Shiar-Jashub with
you, because when you come, The fact that you have your son Shi'ar
Jashub with you, which name means a remnant shall return, that
will underscore, it will explain the message that you're going
to give. A remnant shall return. So he says, the Lord said to
Isaiah, go forth now to meet Ahaz thou and Shearjah of thy
son at the end of the conduit of the upper pool in the highway
of the fuller's field. A conduit is what carried the
water, and at the end of that conduit there was a field, and
in that field they washed things and made them white, which was
the fuller's job. The fuller would be the man whose
job it was to clean things and he was using that water in that
field to make things white. And he says in verse 4, and say
to him, Isaiah say this to Ahaz, take heed and be quiet. and fear not, neither be faint-hearted
for the two tails of these smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger
of reason with Syria and of the son of Remilia, which would be
Pica. So God compares these two kings
to smoking firebrands, not strong, about to go out, didn't have
any strength left, and nothing to be afraid of. But there was
good reason in Ahaz's mind to be very afraid of them. Because
back in 2 Kings, it says that Pekah came against Judah and
in one day killed 120,000 men. And then took captive 200,000
men, women, and children back to the land of Israel in Samaria. So Ahaz, because of that, had
a good reason to be afraid of Pekah and the strength now combined
with Syria, but God tells him, no, you be quiet, don't you fear,
and don't be fainthearted, for these two kings are like smoking
firebrands. They've lost their strength,
they're weak like a brand of fire, and they're just smoking,
they're about to go out. God is predicting their downfall. by saying it that way. He says
in verse 5, Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Ramaliah have
taken evil counsel against thee, this is what Isaiah is saying
to King Ahaz, these two kings one of Syria and one of Ephraim,
have taken counsel, evil counsel, against you, saying, here's what
they said, let us go up against Judah and vex it, or trouble
it, afflict it, and let us make a breach therein for us, divide
them. divide them, and set a king in
the midst of it, even the son of Tabeo." So these two kings,
Syria of Syria and Ephraim, want to overthrow Judah and divide
that between themselves and set up their own king over that so
they could rule those people in Judah. And Ahaz is afraid. His people are afraid. His counselors
and all of his people are afraid because they know the strength
with which Pekah overthrew them. Already and now Syria is combined
with them and they're troubled and God says through Isaiah the
prophet. Don't be afraid of them They're wimps now Because God's
going to take care of them. He's going to snuff them out Okay? Thus saith the Lord God,
it shall not stand. Their counsel shall not stand.
Neither shall it come to pass. It's not going to happen. For
the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Reason.
The capital city of Syria is Damascus. God has seen to it
that they have this one capital, and they can't have more than
that. and the head of Damascus, their king is reason, and within
65 years, or three score and five years, it says, shall Ephraim,
the other country, be broken that it be not a people. So that's
what's happening in the historical context. You see this? These
two kings coming against Judah are going to be stopped, their
counsel will not come to pass, what they intend to do will not
happen, and Judah will not be overthrown by these two countries.
That's God's promise. And he spoke this to Ahaz, but
Ahaz was a wicked, wicked, wicked man. Why was he so wicked? Because
what he did, we should read about it, go back to 2 Kings. Actually,
go to, I think it's in 2 Chronicles. Let's go there, 2 Chronicles
28. Look at 2 Chronicles 28, verse 1. Ahaz was 20 years old
when he began to reign. He reigned 16 years in Jerusalem,
but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord
like David his father. He walked in the ways, notice
the wickedness, he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel
and made also molten images unto Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense
in the valley of the son of Hinnom, and burnt his children in the
fire, after the abomination of the heathen, whom the LORD had
cast out before the children of Israel, And he sacrificed
also, and burnt incense in the high places, and on the hills,
and under every green tree. Wherefore, the Lord his God delivered
him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smote him,
and carried away a great multitude of them captive, and brought
them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into
the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter.
Verse 6, For Pekah the son of Remeliah slew in Judah a hundred
and twenty thousand one day, which were all valiant men, because
they, Judah, had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. And
Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseah, the king's son,
and Arizk as Rikam, the governor of the house, and Elkanah that
was next to the king. And the children of Israel carried
away captive of their brethren from Judah 200,000 women, sons,
daughters, and took away also much spoil from them and brought
them brought the spoil to Samaria. So that's a summary, and that's
what God said, and that's why I was describing it that way.
So you see how wicked Ahaz was? Now turn back to Isaiah 7. Do
you see how God delivered them into the hand of Pekah and the
king of Syria? And yet here, Isaiah is telling
him, don't you be afraid of these two kings. Because God has restricted
and restrained and kept them in the boundary he has given
them. In Damascus, reason rules, he can't go outside of it. Pekah
of Samaria, and in fact, he's going to destroy Syria and reason,
and he's also going to destroy Ephraim. In 65 years, they won't
even be a country. That's God's promise through
Isaiah. And then in verse 9, I'm gonna read it again, the
head of Ephraim is Samaria. That's their city, that's what
they get. The head of Samaria is Remaliah's son, which is Pekah. Remaliah was not of David's line,
he was a captain, he overthrew somebody, murdered him. If you
will not believe, this is what Isaiah tells to Ahaz, if you
won't believe God's word, surely you shall not be established. Moreover, the Lord spake again
to Ahaz, saying, Now Ahaz was a wicked man. He didn't believe
God's word. God tells him that he's going
to deliver Judah from the intentions of Israel and Syria. And then
he goes on. He says, Moreover, not only that,
I want you to be quiet. Don't you fear. These guys are
just smoking firebrands about to go out. He says to Ahaz, Ask
a sign, ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God. Ask it either in
the depth or in the height above. Whatever you want, ask me a sign
that what I said is going to happen. Now, there was a sign in the
depths. Remember, the Red Sea opened up and God walked Israel
through there on dry land. There was a sign in the height
above when Joshua said, O sun, stand still. And God caused the
sun to stand still in the sky. And now God tells Ahaz, if you
don't believe, you won't be established, so ask me a sign. You like to
seek after the gods that are no gods, now ask the true and
living God for a sign. He made a promise, He will keep
it. And here's what Ahaz does. But
Ahaz says, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. This is
a pretend obedience that he won't tempt the Lord. Ahaz had no intentions
in showing that he would submit to the Word of God. And so he
refused to ask the sign and he He pretended the reason why he
refused to ask was that he was doing right by not tempting the
Lord, which was disobedience. And so people often pretend to
obey when they're actually disobeying God. God said, ask a sign, Ahaz
says, I won't. Okay, so it's clear he was disobeying
God. And then in verse 13, Isaiah said, By God, he said, hear ye
now, O house of David, talking about Ahaz and all those who
were loyal to him, is it a small thing for you to weary men, but
will you weary my God also? You just won't believe, you will
not obey. Verse 14, therefore, the Lord
himself shall give you a sign. So God is the one who is going
to give the sign that his word shall surely come to pass. Concerning
the fact that according to Isaiah's message, Judah would not be destroyed
by Syria and Ephraim. And Shi'ar Jashub, the son, is
the message, part of the message that a remnant shall return. Not all of Judah would be destroyed
because there would be a remnant that would be returned. And to
return means to be turned from unbelief and rebellion against
God to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in submission to his word
in the gospel. And so he says in verse 14, Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign, since you're disobedient
and you're unbelieving, and refuse to bow to the true and living
God, but serve and are loyal to idols, the Lord will give
you a sign. And here's the sign. Behold,
look at this and consider this. A virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name, her son's name, Emmanuel. Emmanuel. Now, look at Matthew
chapter one. in the book of, in the New Testament,
Matthew chapter 1. This is the sign God gave. Ahaz, wicked. His loyal counselors
and those who were obedient to Ahaz, also wicked. They served idols and they were
loyal to the idols. In fact, it's not written in
that place in Isaiah, but Ahaz actually thought that because
the Syrians were stronger than he, he said their gods are the
gods I will fear and trust. But because of that, God destroyed
him, destroyed Ahaz. So here we have the sign that
God would give, Matthew chapter 1. What's the context historically?
that the people of Judah were about to be destroyed by their
enemies for their wickedness and their unbelief in serving
idols, just like Israel served idols and their king was an idolater. But God says, no, even though
they are wicked, a remnant shall not be destroyed. I'm not going
to destroy the nation. because God has a remnant in
that nation. And here's the sign, a virgin
shall conceive and shall bear a son and she shall call his
name Emmanuel. Now let's read it here in Matthew
chapter one, verse 18. Now, the birth of Jesus Christ
was on this wise, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph,
they were engaged to be married. And in those days that was considered
marriage. They were promised before they
came together, before they were actually a husband and wife together. She was found with child of the
Holy Ghost. She didn't know a man, she was
a virgin. And yet, without a man, but by the Holy Spirit, a son
was conceived in her womb. Verse 19. Then Joseph, her husband,
being a just man and not willing to make her a public example,
was minded to put her away privily or privately. But while he thought
on these things, so here's Joseph. He hadn't yet taken her to be
his wife, but he had promised he would, and he found out she
was pregnant, and he assumed it must be by a man. But no,
it wasn't. She was a virgin. The Spirit
of God had conceived in her womb this son. And so Joseph was thinking,
how can I keep from shaming her? How can I be obedient to God?
And he thought, I'll just put her away, I'll divorce her privately. But while he thought of these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto
thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is
of the Holy Ghost, not of a man. And she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, this is what it means,
for he shall save his people from their sins. Remember she
our Jashub, a remnant shall return, his people. Now all this was
done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord
by the prophets saying, here it is from Isaiah 714, behold
a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son and
they shall call his name Emmanuel. And then he explains the name
Emmanuel which being interpreted is God with us. God with us. Who was born? Jesus. He has the
name Jesus because he will save his people from their sins. That's
why he came. But he also has this name, Emmanuel,
because he is God and man. God with us. And that's in fulfillment of
the prophecy which was given in the context of sin and idolatry
among God's people. when they were about to be destroyed
by their enemies, and they had no power over them, and they
were afraid, and God told Ahaz, don't you fear, you be quiet,
you rest, because God has promised he's not going to allow them
to destroy Judah. Why? Because he has a remnant
he's going to save, and he will do it through the sign he's given,
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and call him God with
us. Amazing, that's the story of
Christmas. God saving his people, the remnant,
from their sins when there was no reason found in them. The reason was found in God to
deliver them from their sins. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter
9, or actually chapter 8. 2 Corinthians chapter 8, I'll
put these things together in a minute. In 2 Corinthians 8, in verse
1, the apostle Paul is talking to the Corinthians and he's telling
them, that he wanted them to know the grace of God that God
had brought on the churches of Macedonia, how that in their
great trial of afflictions, out of the abundance of their joy,
and even though they were in deep poverty, had given richly
for one reason, which is because they wanted to take part in the
ministry of the gospel. They wanted to contribute out
of their poverty in the work of spreading the gospel because
it was in honor of Christ, in obedience to Him, in order that
people would hear and turn to the Lord. That's what we read
in verses 1 through 4. Let me read it. you to wit of the grace of God
bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of
affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded unto the riches of their liberality. They gave, even though
they were poor, and gave liberally. For to their power I bear record,
and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves, praying
us. They begged us with much entreaty
that we would receive the gift and take upon us Notice the words,
the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. They wanted to
take part in this. They wanted to join in this.
They wanted to labor together with Paul by giving Paul what
was needed for the poor saints and for the spreading of the
gospel. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their
own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God, insomuch
that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also
finish in you the same grace also. Therefore, as you abound
in everything in faith," now he's talking to the Corinthians,
we see that you abound in everything in faith and utterance and knowledge
and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound
in this grace also, just like the Macedonians. Look at verse
8, I speak not by commandment but by occasion of the forwardness
of others and to prove the sincerity of your love for you know, here's
the verse, listen, you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's taking the example of those
in Macedonia, those churches in Macedonia, and he takes and
he says, why did they do this? Because they understood this. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes,
he became poor, that you, through his poverty, might be rich. You see this? What unspeakable
grace this is. Look at 2 Corinthians 9, the
same over the next chapter. And verse 15, thanks be unto
God for his unspeakable gift. Out of the context of the giving
of the churches in order to take part in the, it's called the
fellowship, the ministry, to take part in the working of the
gospel, these people joined together and they gave what they could
out of their poverty and gladly so of themselves, they gave first. And the Apostle Paul is teaching
the Corinthians to do this also. And then he points them to the
Lord Jesus Christ. Out of his grace, he emptied
himself and became poor in order that you might be made rich. What unspeakable gift this is
from God. You see? That's what the Lord
did in Matthew chapter 1. God conceived in the womb of
the Virgin Mary, a baby, that baby was none other than God
himself, born as a child, taking on our nature. Why did Jesus
have to be born? Why did the Son of God have to
be born? Why did he have to become a child? Why did he have to be born through
the Virgin Mary? Have you ever wondered those
things? Why? Why couldn't it be another way? Because we wouldn't
know the grace of God. That he made himself, he who
was equal with God, made himself of no reputation. And he took upon him the form
of a servant and was made in the likeness of men, even in
the likeness of sinful men. He had all the weaknesses of
a sinful man in the sense where he was hungry, he was tired,
he sorrowed, he felt the pain of sickness in his body because
he took our sins. All these things stacked up together
teach us this is why God had to become a man, be born as we
are born. Look at Ephesians chapter five. How much he became like us. How much did he become like in
every way? He had to be born. My daughter
had a baby. The baby is tiny now, only four
weeks old. And she spends most of the time
sleeping, or crying, or eating. The baby's very healthy. We're very thankful. But she's
absolutely helpless. And you look on her, and she
can't do anything for herself. Look at Ephesians chapter 5. Notice, he says in verse 30, we are members of his body, of
his flesh, and of his bones. The Lord Jesus Christ took on
our nature in order to be one with us in our nature. and we
could be one with him in that nature. We are members of his
body, of his flesh, and of his bones. Look at Hebrews chapter
two. Hebrews chapter two, he says
this. In verse 11, For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one. For which cause? He is not ashamed to call them
brethren. The Lord Jesus Christ had to
become a child, be born as a baby, become a child and grow as a
man, and suffer and die because he had to become one with his
people. He had to become one with them
so that they could come to God by him. He had to become one
with them so that all that God gave to him as man, they would
have in him. He would sanctify them. He would
take on their nature in every way. He would be able to feel
what they feel, experience what they experience, and meet their
needs. In Hebrews chapter 5, it says,
for every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men
in things pertaining to God that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sins. Christ had to take our nature
in order to offer gifts and sacrifices for our sins, to be our high
priest. Notice verse two, Hebrews 5.2,
who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that are
out of the way, for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity.
And by reason hereof, he ought as for the people, so also for
himself to offer for sins. And no man takes this honor to
himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also
Christ glorified not himself to be made high priest, but that
said to him, thou art my son, today have I begotten thee. As
he said also in another place, you are a priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. So in the days of his flesh,
He felt, he knew all of our weaknesses without sin. He knew our weaknesses
and this enables him to be our high priest. He knows everything
we feel. He has experienced our temptations. He knows our sorrow. He knows
our weaknesses more than any man because he knows them as
a holy man. And look at chapter four of Hebrews. He says, verse 14, seeing then
that we have a great high priest that has passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. We
have a great high priest because he came, he was born, he was
raised, he grew up, and God made him our high priest as one with
us. And so he says in verse 15 of
Hebrews 4, for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched
with the feeling of our infirmities, he can be, but was in all points
tempted like as we are yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace where he sits as king. that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Why did
he come? Why was he born? Why did he have
to humble himself and become a baby and become weak? Because
he had to take our nature and in our nature be our high priest
and as our high priest bear our sins in his own body on the tree. And this is the way all of his
people are delivered from their enemies. The sign is he would
be born of a virgin. The accomplishment of their deliverance
is that he would go to the cross. He would taste death for every
son. He would join himself to them,
he would pray for them, he would advocate for them, he would sanctify
them with his own blood, and he would make intercession for
them before God. He would be their mediator. God! in all of his divine nature,
and man, in all of his nature as man, joined in one person,
so that everything God required would be satisfied in him, and
all that man needed, and all that God would bless man with
would be given to him. And all of this in one person,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our mediator. That's why. He had to become
a man to be our mediator. If just a man were to take on
our priesthood and be our high priest, we would always wonder,
how could we know if God heard him? But because our high priest
is both God and man, we know he can't fail. He will do all
of his will. He will do everything that pleases
him, and that will is to save his people from their sins and
to deliver them from their enemies. Therefore, as God told Ahaz,
you be quiet, you rest, you rest in this. The Lord Jesus Christ
will do the work. Look back at Isaiah again before
we close here. In Isaiah chapter 9, look at
this. In chapter 9 and verse 1, after
talking about how all these things would come to pass in chapter
7 and verse 8, chapter 8 I mean, chapter 7 through chapter 8,
the Lord's talking about this, how the Lord Jesus would come.
And he would be the one who would do these things and fulfill this
according to the law of God. But in chapter nine, he goes
on. He says, not only this, he says,
nevertheless, the dimness, in verse one, the dimness shall
not be such as was in her vexation when at the 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 and Galilee of the nations. So what God is
referring to here is that in that time of history, God poured
out his anger, his vengeance on Israel, the land of Naphtali,
the land of Zebulun, which were two tribes right next to each
other on the Sea of Galilee. These were nations part of the
nation of Israel, and the Assyrians came upon them because these
people came upon Judah to try to overthrow God's people. So
God brought the Assyrians on them, and the nation of Israel
was laid waste. The land of Zebulun, which was
across Jordan in the land of the Gentiles, had a mixture of
Jews and Gentiles in it. That land was afflicted because
of the Assyrians. And these people were poor. The
people around Galilee, they were poor. And they were nobodies. They were in Zebulun and Naphtali,
not great places. They had no reputation. And so
Isaiah now is turning his prophecy to a later time. And he says
this, verse 2, and the people that walked in darkness, they
had been afflicted by the Assyrians because of their sins. They walked
in darkness. These people have seen a great
light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined. And so
now God is speaking about the time when the Lord Jesus, who
was previously promised, would come and be born. And now he's
at his ministry. He's preaching the gospel. And
in that gospel preaching, these people around Galilee, the people
of Israel, the people who were associated with that evil, wicked
king, Pekah, over Samaria, who had destroyed so many in Judah,
and taken captive so many more. And God brought the Assyrians
upon them, and their land was decimated, and the Assyrians
took them all away captive, and shaved their heads, and took
away their children, and put them as slaves. and then scattered
them around. And he says, those people in
that land who walked in spiritual darkness have seen a great light,
and they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon
them has a light shine. Now look at Matthew, one of the
plays, Matthew chapter four. In Matthew four, it says this. In verse 12, notice, it's the
same people he's talking about here in Isaiah 9. Matthew 4.12,
now, when Jesus had heard that John was cast into the prison,
he departed into Galilee and leaving Nazareth, Remember Nazareth
was where Jesus was raised. His father was a carpenter, Joseph.
And he worked there and grew up there. People knew him there,
but he left Nazareth. He came and dwelt in Capernaum. Capernaum is the city of consolation. It was that city that joined
between Zebulun and Naphtali at Galilee. And Jesus came there,
and that which is upon the seacoast and the borders of Zebulun and
Naphtali, In order that it might be fulfilled which was spoken
by Isaiah the prophet, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtalem,
by the way of the sea beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
notice verse 16, Matthew 4, 16, the people which sat in darkness
saw great light. To them which sat in the region
and shadow of death, light is sprung up. And so from that time,
Jesus began to preach and say, repent for the kingdom of heaven
is at hand. And he calls his disciples. The
Lord Jesus left Nazareth. He went to Capernaum, the place
where Isaiah had prophesied he would come. And they saw the
great light. They saw Christ who is the light. They walked in darkness. They
were blind in their sins. They didn't know the salvation
of God. He came to them. And the light shined and they
saw God's salvation. They saw Jesus Christ. The mediator
between God and men. The true comfort. The one who
would deliver his people from their enemies. The one who was
born of a virgin. That's why he came. He joined
himself. God took our nature to himself. The Son of God became one with
us. in nature and in purpose, so
that all God intended and delighted in was fulfilled in Him. And
God in His wisdom found a way to bring His people to Himself
by joining Christ, His Son in our nature, joining them to Him,
so that all that He did and all that God would give him would
be given to us. If he didn't come in our nature,
we could not go to be with God. We couldn't see God. We couldn't
know God. We couldn't be reconciled to
God. We would still be in our sins. We would die and that would
be it. We would be damned forever. And
God in his mercy sent his son. Christ in his grace gave himself.
It was out of all of his riches He laid them all aside that we
who were absolutely poor and in darkness might be made rich
and given light. Salvation. Mine eyes have seen
thy salvation. We need to see Christ. He has
to come to us. We can't go to him unless he
comes to us. We can't go to God unless God
comes to us. And he came to us in his son.
We can't even believe on the Lord Jesus Christ unless he gives
us that life and faith to believe him. Everything God requires
of us, we must go again to him to receive. And that's why he
always tells us to do things that we feel like we cannot do.
we have to come again to receive the very life we have to live,
the faith with which we have to believe, the worship with
which we ought to worship and be thankful to Him, to know Him. Christ had to become a man and
make God known to us as a man because he is in that manhood
is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. God delighted in him. He looked upon his son. He took
such great delight in him because as his son, he was also our mediator. and in His wisdom God provided
Him, and in His love and in His grace gave His Son, and Christ
in His grace and love gave Himself. He wanted to have His people,
and He has them. He has them. Bone of His bone,
flesh of His flesh, near, so near to God. We cannot be nearer
than we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He hears our needs,
He knows our needs, He advocates and intercedes for us when we
don't know them. He saved us from our sins when
we didn't know we needed salvation. He had to make it known to us
so that we would call upon Him and go to Him. What a Savior,
what a Savior, what a mediator, what a God that He would do this.
And no wonder he reproved Ahaz and told him, ask a sign. I won't. Then God's going to give you
a sign because he's not going to fail to accomplish his will.
A child will be born. He will save his people. A remnant
shall return. God's will will be done. Christ
will be exalted. This was God's will from eternity,
that as he is the son of God, he would also be the son of man.
And as man, he would be, as Robert Hocker calls it, listen to this,
the glory man. The glory man. I like to think
of that. Christ is given every crown. He created all, God the Father
created all things by Jesus Christ and set the crown of creation
on the head of his son. And the Lord Jesus Christ by
himself purged our sins and God set the crown of redemption on
his son. And he sets the crown of providence
on his son. He puts every crown on him and
we say, crown him with many crowns. the Lamb upon His throne, don't
we? Crown Him with the crown of humility,
crown Him with the crown of all mightiness, crown Him with the
crown of grace and mercy towards sinners, crown Him and give Him
all of the glory, the glory man, the Lord Jesus Christ, the God
man. What an amazing Savior we have, so capable that he can
save the worst of sinners, the weakest of sinners, those who
need someone to do everything for them. That's the Savior I
need. That's the Savior we have. And
he won't save any sinner who has strength in himself. So we
come to him, Lord, save me to the uttermost. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who took our nature, who
was born of a woman and came under the law and bore everything
the law required that we might be brought to God and made sons
of God and have the spirit of your own dear Son in our hearts
crying, Abba, Father, made children of God by Jesus Christ. What
a blessing to fulfill your eternal will to conform us to the image
of your son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you
would want to have your people so much that you would love them
and gave yourself for them to have them and to purify them,
to make them holy by your own precious blood, by your spirit
in them. And thank you, our Heavenly Father,
that you would be so giving, that you would give your Son,
and deliver Him up to death for us, that you might give us all
things with Him, and give it to us freely, not for what you
find in us, but out of your own heart, out of your own mind,
and out of your own riches of grace. What a salvation, what
a Savior. Let us realize the great gift
you've given to us, unspeakably great. and let us realize this
is all in our Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, and let us give Him
glory so that we would call Him the Glory Man, as our dear brother
Robert Hawker said, and crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb
upon His throne. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.