Isaiah 9:2-7
We live in a time of relative peace and prosperity. But the people of ancient Israel – not so
much. They were surrounded by hostile
nations, enemy armies, and rival kings who brought them all sorts of
trouble. Syrians, Assyrians, Babylonians,
Philistines and Midianites, to name just a few.
They brought fear and hardship, they brought violence and death. Garments rolled in blood. Oppression.
Death. Darkness.
There were many hard times, and the people of old suffered
under the cruel rod of oppressive tyrants from their own nation as well as from
others. But there were also better
times, too. That’s why, in part, anyway,
they so regarded the reigns of David and Solomon. Those were the glory days. Then, we had it good! The borders of the kingdom were vast. The economy flourished. The temple was built. The other nations gave us respect. And above all, the people enjoyed peace.
But it wouldn’t last.
The good times never kept on going.
Darkness came again. The nation
crumbled under the next empire, and the next.
The same old story of hardship, trouble, defeat, and death came to pass.
You and I live in a world of darkness, too. It’s not warring nations, so much, that cast
a shadow over us. It’s not even poverty
and disease. The people walk in darkness
today, same as we always have, because of sin.
It takes different forms. Now, we
have different battles, but the real enemy is the same. Now, we suffer in different ways, but the
enemy’s goal is constant. He wants to
destroy any goodness he can find, but most of all, faith in Christ.
We walk in the darkness of a world in which marriage and
family are disregarded and redefined, children are abused and confused, and
even something as basic as gender is fluid and subject to whims. We take the life of the most helpless and
call it a choice. The weak and poor
struggle, and are taken advantage of.
The rich and powerful get away with murder.
But the darkness isn’t just out there. It’s in here, too. We harbor anger in our hearts toward our
enemies, or even just those with whom we disagree. Our own homes become battlegrounds, and fault
lines rear their head even more over the holidays. We sell our souls to work, our health to
pleasure, and our hearts to secret perversity.
The Old Adam brings his darkness even to Christians, for we all have
him. And he loves to operate in the
darkness.
You have come this evening to a service of light. We start out with a candle, and a hymn about
the light. We have come to the setting
of the sun, and we look to the evening light.
Jesus Christ is the light of the world!
The light no darkness can overcome.
More than that, It’s Christmas Eve, and we’ll soon hold our
own little candles and sing about a Silent Night long ago. There, on a dark Judean night dawned love’s
pure Light.
And this is the joy, the miracle, the blessing, the wonder
of Christmas The light has dawned. On us who have walked in the darkness of sin
– the light of Christ has dawned. Isaiah
saw it coming 700 years away:
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.
No more sitting in darkness, walking in darkness, or
dwelling in darkness for us! The light
has dawned. Christ is born! All the darkness scatters away. For to us a
child is born, to us a son is given! And
the government shall be upon his shoulder.
But wait a minute. Wasn’t
it governments that started so much of this trouble? Corrupt kings and foreign nations invading
and oppressing the people? Not
government per se, but sinful man corrupting powerful institutions to try and
get his way and exert his will over others.
We are familiar with that same old tune, for it’s still being sung today. And woe to the Christian who seeks the
solution to his life’s problems in earthly government.
Psalm 146 warns us:
Put not your trust in princes,
in a son of man,
in whom there is no salvation.
4 When his breath departs, he returns to the earth;
on that very day his plans perish.
But in the light that has dawned this day, here comes
something different. Here comes a
different kind of prince. Wonderful
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
The worldly powers run by power and force. This prince rules in humility. The worldly powers seek their own will. He seeks his Father’s will. They rule for their own sake, their own
ends. He lays down his life for the
sheep. They fancy themselves little
gods, and crave the worship of other men.
He alone is God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.
The Light of the World, Jesus Christ, comes to bring us out
of the darkness. And he does it by
taking on the darkness head-on. The one
who appeared in the manger is the same one who goes to the cross. On that dark day the light of God’s love
shined the brightest, though even the sun darkened. And in the bright Easter morn we see not only
his victory but our own bright future- life that conquers death.
He is the light that destroys the darkness of sin and death
and hell and devil. He brings the light
of God’s grace and truth to shine in every corner of our darkness. He forgives your sins. He loves you in spite of yourself. He brings you the only hope that conquers despair.
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.
Here’s another way the Prince of Peace is different. His government, his kingdom, has no end. All the earthly powers will cease, one way or
another. Either a bigger, badder king comes
along with a bigger, badder army, or that king dies and the next king
rises. Your party wins the election this
year and loses the next. Nations rise
and all.
But the word of the Lord endures forever. The light that has dawned upon us is an
everlasting light. And of the increase
of his kingdom and of peace there will be no end. You can rely on him
always. You can trust in him forever. He will not fail you. And not even death can stop his plan for you.
This is why, my friends, we’re still gathering and singing
and celebrating the birth of a baby boy 2000 years ago. This is why we still cling to him for hope
and joy and peace. This is why Isaiah
had hope for the nations who walked in darkness, and for us who still fumble in
the shadows of sin. The light has
dawned. And that light will never go
out. His kingdom will not end, from this
time forth and forevermore. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment