Beloved, would you pray with me once again? Father, we praise you as we come to your word. And Father, I pray that you would use me and use these words that I bring to set the hearts and the minds of your people upon your Son, Jesus Christ. Not just here in worship, but throughout their days. Encourage us, challenge us, rebuke us, and draw us closer to you. Father, I pray that your word would build our faith. And if there are those in our midst that do not have faith, Father, I pray that you would use your word to draw them to faith. And in all things, I pray that you would do this either through me or in spite of me. And this I pray in Jesus' name, amen. for someone like me, who is an avid fan of the writings of C.S. Lewis. The movie Shadowlands is one of those landmark films that tells us a little bit about the man behind the books. But for those of you maybe who aren't quite as familiar with the movie or the idea from Lewis's writings, let me kind of just endeavor with me for just a little bit to kind of bring you up to speed, if you will, as to the movie. The movie essentially relates the life of Lewis in his adult years. of his meeting of Joy Davidman Gresham and ultimately their marriage and then after that the crisis that he faces with her death three years after their marriage to bone cancer. The sad thing is, like Hollywood, the movie doesn't really tell the rest of the story. And it leaves you with the questions of what Lewis might have been going through during this time of trial and this, if you will, this crisis of his faith. But the movie itself, the title at least of the movie, grasps this idea that is found in a number of C.S.S. Lewis' writings of the Shadowland and what this idea is. For Lewis, essentially, his idea was recognizing that when we go through difficult times, it's like walking through a time of a shadow. It's a valley of the shadow of death, this notion that is found there. But it's more than that as well. For him, for Lewis, when you contrast even the brightest and most wonderful day here on earth with the glories of heaven, that even the brightest days of earth pale in comparison and are nothing more than really a shadow land, a place that we live and we walk as we travel towards, for believers, that glory. David would write in Psalm 39 verses 5 and 6, Behold, you have made my days but a few hand breaths. My lifetime is nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath. Surely a man goes about his life in a shadow. Surely nothing, or for nothing, they face turmoil. Man heaps up wealth, but he has no idea who will gather it in. David's son Solomon would write in Ecclesiastes 6.12 about the same idea. For who knows what is good for a man while he lives? The few days of his life are in vain. It passes like a shadow, and who can tell? What will be after him under the sun? What will take place after he dies? What will happen to those things that he labored for? We can go on with this idea of the notion of the shadow of our lives. throughout the scriptures. We see it over and over and over again. With this kind of idea in mind, I think it's important for us to recognize that the Bible tells us an awful lot about what it's like to go through difficult times. Times of distress and despair. Times of depression. Times where nothing seems like it's going to go well in this world. And I think the reason the Bible spends so much time dealing with that, in fact, more psalms are psalms of lament than any other kind of psalm, is because our lives here in this world are oftentimes characterized by despair and distress and discouragement. It's like living in a shadow land, a land of shadows. We have our ups. But more often than not in our life, we walk through our times of despair as we face that. Now you may be saying to yourself, Pastor, that's an awful depressing way to begin Advent as an Advent season. And I would say to you, if you ask me that, you're right. That is an awful depressing way to begin an Advent season. But you see, we have got to begin there. If we're going to, even for a moment, step ourselves or try and step ourselves into the sandals of those who have gone before us. To get a sense of what it was like to live in the land prior to the coming of Christ. The people had been in despair. The people had been in this time of longing and anticipation, hoping for this time of Christ's day. Zechariah, who was the father of John the Baptist, not the prophet Zechariah, but the The father of John the Baptist describes the coming of the Messiah in this way. He said, in the sunrise is finally coming into this world to give light to those who dwell or those who sit in darkness. recognize that this time that he lived in, and the time and the eras that have gone before that, that preceded that time, were like walking through the land of a shadow, waiting for the sun to rise and to come up. Peter writes of the prophets of the Old Testament, searched carefully and inquired as to the day of the coming of Christ. It's 1 Peter 1.10. Why? Because Christ is the radiance of the glory of God, this Hebrews 1.3. He is the light that shines into the darkness which the darkness cannot comprehend. That's John 1.5. Paul would write in the book of Colossians 2.17 that all of the Sabbaths and the festivals, and the regulations, all of the forms of religion that are found throughout all of the years that are covered by the Old Testament. He said, all of these are but shadows, whose substance, the thing that makes the shadow, belongs to Christ. Paul, as an apostle, oftentimes as he's writing, he's pulling from things to make illustrations that people can relate to. He's writing to a Greek audience, and I think many of those in the Greek audience would have understood the notion of the parable of Plato's cave, and this idea of people trapped in the darkness of the cave, only seeing silhouettes. And Paul's kind of pulling on that idea and correcting it and giving it definition to say that this light outside of the cave, that's Christ. The silhouette is just a shadow. That's Christ that gives us meaning to all of these things that were done. So the word advent, meaning coming, is a time of anticipation. For 4,000 years thereabout, the people had walked, trapped in a land of darkness, a land of ongoing night, ever since the fall of Adam and Eve. waiting for the dawn of the sun to come up and shine light into this world. The promise of the Messiah had been given. It had been given all the way back in Genesis 3.15 and then little by little by little throughout all of the scriptures we find these little promises of the coming of Christ. But even as Isaiah is writing, it's still more than 700 years away. It's coming. He's writing to encourage the people, just letting you know, folks. It's been a long time. And we still are waiting for this Messiah to come. But do understand, do understand, He's still coming. Just don't count time as we might count time. Recognize that God will bring His Messiah about in His timing. So Isaiah writes to the people, but there will not be darkness for whom or for the one who was in distress. Now the word that we translate there into English as darkness implies not just simply a darkness of night or a darkness because we happen to turn off the lights in a room without good windows or things along those lines. The word in Hebrew that refers to the darkness refers to a type of darkness that would be created. A type of darkness that was created by God. A type of darkness that was imposed upon the people by God's hand as a form of judgment upon them. And this language of distress literally can be translated as to be hemmed in, to be cornered, to be pushed into the spot where there is no escape from that darkness. Have you ever had a nightmare where in that nightmare the darkness is on both sides and it's kind of creeping in like in a creepy movie that it might happen and it gets darker and darker and darker gradually and then finally you're engulfed in that darkness. Or perhaps you have faced a time of difficulty or trial in your life, whatever that may be, and you realize what it is that you are about to face is something that you do not want to face, but it's inevitable. And there is no way to escape it. It just gets closer and closer and closer again, and you try and escape the distress, but nothing that you do can pull you away from it. That's the idea that Isaiah is expressing here. You're caught between a rock and a hard place and there's no place or no way for escape. Isaiah is describing the world in which the people lived prior to the coming of Christ, waiting for Christ's deliverance, but recognizing that darkness was all around them. So Isaiah is saying to the people, That promise is coming. That promise will come. He continues. He said, now in the former times, the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, He made, that's God in judgment, made insignificant. Now both of these are tribal regions of Israel, and they're located on the north and the eastern side of the nation. During the times of the Old Testament, they were difficult places to dwell because they were on the borderlands of, well, their enemies. And so when the enemies would invade, they typically faced the brunt of the attack. Judges 1.30 even records that when Zemulon went into the land, he did not drive out the residents of Ketron. And when, in Judges 1.33, Naphtali went into the land, they did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh or Beth Anoth. And as a result, those people would end up as forced labor, but not only where they forced labor, they were there. And they kept their idols. And their idols became snares and temptations to the people. They became stumbling blocks for the people who lived in the lands. Further on, again, the invaders invaded. So, typically, to face those invaders, the soldiers from Zebulon and Naftali were called up. You find in Judges 4.6, for example, the Barak. He's gathering his armies. He's gathering the 10,000. From whom does he do? from the two border nations. Similarly, Gideon does the same thing, calling soldiers from these two tribes. And later on, as Israel is beginning to fall as the northern nation, Ben-Hadad, this is 2 Kings 15, 20 and 29. They were the first to face him and the first to be defeated by him. And they would become the first of the groups to be taken into exile into Assyria. Eventually, eventually, this region would once again be established under Jewish control. But even when that happened, they had a reputation for being rebellious, for being ornery, for being a bit backwoods and stubborn, but also being a place where there were Greek and Roman establishments all over, so that the culture was mixed. We know that area better today as the region of Galilee, the region where our Lord happens to come from. But Isaiah will continue. He doesn't leave them with this being broken down language. But he continues in saying, but in the last days, in the former days, this was your judgment. But in the last days, they will be glorious. The way beside the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Goyim, Galilee of the nations, Galilee of the Gentiles, you could render that, will be found to be glorious. As we read on, as we go through Isaiah, we'll discover that what Isaiah is pointing to is that it will be here in Galilee, that the Messiah that was promised will begin His ministry, will begin His work. It will be in Galilee of all places. that God will begin that wonderful work of redemption. You've sometimes heard me talk about prophecies in the Old Testament of the coming of Christ, and there's lots of them, but this is one of them. Micah 5.2, we read a lot at Christmastime because it's the prophecy from the Old Testament that tells us the Messiah is going to be born in the city or the town of Bethlehem. Isaiah 9.1 speaks of the beginning of the Messiah's ministry, one that will be located in Galilee, again 700 years before it takes place. And it is this place that God will bless in a wonderful way. So now as we reflect on Advent for this week and in the weeks to come, What are some of the things that we should be taking away from this idea, this notion of God beginning to work even in the midst of the shadowlands? I think first that Advent is primarily a season that is about hope. In the Old Testament, it's the hope of the Messiah that will eventually come. In our age, it's the hope of the return of that Messiah who will consummate all things and raise us from the dead and bring his enemies into final judgment. Beloved, we ground our hope in Christ. because of him that we can hope, despite how dark the shadows can seem to be sometimes in our life. Richard Baxter, who is one of the Puritans, and he wrote this about the importance of hope. He said, hope is the very spring that sets all of the wheels going. Who would preach if it were not for the hope to prevail with poor sinners for their conversion and for the discipleship of believers? Who would pray but for the hope to prevail with God? Who would believe or obey or strive or suffer or do anything for heaven? if it were not for the hope that he might obtain it. Would the mariner sail or the merchant start a business if they had not the hope of safety or success? Would the farmer plow and sow and take pains if he had not hope of a good harvest? Would the soldier fight if he had not hope of victory? Surely no man engages in business if at the outset he believes that it is utterly impossible. We need that hope. This world around us is desperate for hope. But there's only one place that that world will find hope and we are the ones that can tell the world where to find that hope. We might say that that hope is what gets us out of bed in the morning when everything in your life around you seems like it's falling apart. It's that hope that equips us to face a new day when despair is what stares us in the face when we look in the mirror. It is hope that enables us to stare into the darkness of this world, into the face of trials and whatever problems that we might have, and say to that hope, to God be the glory, so too I can persevere. Beloved, I pray that this is a time that we are focused on persevering, that we are focused on persevering through our trials and then using that perseverance to be a witness to those around us. So how do we do that? Let me leave you with this. First of all, pray. Pray that God will increase your hope or give you hope in the first place if you need that. Whatever it is that you happen to be facing, pray that God will remind you of God's faithfulness. And when you're faced with those times of difficulty, whatever, again, it may be, remind yourself of that faithfulness. Ground yourself in those things that you know to be true because your heart will lead you astray. It always does. It always will. Second of all, encourage your brothers and sisters around you in Christ to hope. You know, sometimes the despair that we face, we feel like we're alone. The reality is we're not. And you've got others all around you that may be covering it up, that may be hiding it a little bit better than others. But you've got others sitting in pews all around you that are facing despair, discouragement, frustration. Encourage one another. Encourage one another to hope. Look for opportunities to build hope in the people around you and to build them up in grace and not to tear down. Third, be optimistic in Christ. Don't fall into the role or the trap of pessimism. That's easy for us to get into as humans, I think. I've got one quote from Spiro Agnew. But it's a quote that I love. Don't be a nattering nabob of negativism. I love that line. Don't be. Don't fall into that trap. It's easy to fall into that trap. But when you do, you pull everybody down with you. Don't do that. lift one another up, because you will find as you begin to lift one another up, that will lift you up from where it is that you are at the moment. And fourth, Use words and actions to point others to Christ. For outside of Christ, there is no lasting or eternal hope. We sometimes fool ourselves by thinking that there is hope in earthly things. We sometimes fool ourselves to say, to think that if we just had this success or whatnot, that we would have a satisfying and a hopeful life. Well, folks, don't fool yourself into thinking that. Christ is the only place in which we can find hope. He's the only one that can provide light into the darkness, into this shadow land in which we live. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you. And Father, as we praise you, we come before you asking for your mercies upon us. Remind us that we are not alone. Remind us that we have been given light in Christ, that others before us only had a glimmer of. Remind us that we can share that light with others that we meet, who do not know you. And remind us that sometimes in your will, you would use that to draw others of your elect towards yourself, to your glory and praise. And Father, that we celebrate. We praise You, Father. And pray all of this in Jesus's name. Amen.