Please turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 9. If you look at this in your own Bible or in a few Bibles, you can also find this passage both in Swahili and in English on the back of the sermon outlines which are in your bulletins. Before we begin reading from Isaiah 9, I want to give you the background, the context of this passage, because this passage that we're going to read contains one of the clearest prophecies, one of the clearest words concerning the coming of the Christ, the coming of Jesus Christ, which would take place hundreds of years later. But before we look into that, I want to give you just the background, not of the whole book of Isaiah, which is nice and long, but just of the previous chapter, Isaiah chapter eight, because it speaks of a time of deep darkness and gives solemn warnings to those who are not looking to God for help. Isaiah chapter eight. contains a prophecy against Israel, also known as the Northern Kingdom or Samaria, and a prophecy against Syria, also called Damascus. That's after its capital city. This is capital then as it is now. And a prophecy against the kings of these kingdoms, men named Pekah and Rezin. It is addressed to Israel, speaks of this people several times. And what happens in history is this. Israel, the northern kingdom, entered into a military alliance with Syria, their neighbors who did not worship God, against Judah, their neighbors to the south who did worship God. And so the king of Judah went over their heads. Kind of like a regional power calling on the United States or Russia or Iran for help, the king of Judah appealed for help to the king of Assyria, which is an immense empire to the east. And the king of Assyria was somebody with the very entertaining name of Tiglath-Tileser III. I'm serious, that was really his name. Now this decision, Isaiah says, will blow up in their faces. The decision to gang up on Judah will blow up in the faces of Israel and of Syria. And what in fact happened in history, some of this is recorded in scripture, some of it is not, is that Assyria took advantage, as superpowers often do. They didn't merely come in to protect Judah, but they conquered the Syrians, took the Israelites into captivity permanently, captured cities all the way down the Mediterranean coast, and took the whole area known as Galilee, or Galilee of the nations, into captivity. Now Isaiah takes these events, takes this, warns them of what's going to happen, and he has a lesson, first of all, for Israel. A lesson for Israel. He says that they trusted in men, foreign men who did not worship God, rather than trusting in the Lord their God. He says further that they feared men, their cousins, the men of Judah, rather than fearing the Lord, their God, they should have trusted the Lord rather than trusting men. They should have feared the Lord rather than fearing men. There's a good lesson for us right there. We'd stop there. That'd be a good sermon. But he goes on to say this, that God has become the stumbling block of Israel and Judah. He gives a very strange prophecies. He says the Lord will be for both houses, for both kingdoms, for both Judah and Israel. He says a sanctuary, a stone of offense, a rock of stumbling, a trap and a snare, and many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken and they shall be snared and be taken. See, the ancient people, whether they were in Israel or Judah or elsewhere, had to make a choice, just like we do. They had to choose just like we do. Would they trust in the Lord to take them safe through the threats that were around them? Or would they look elsewhere? Would they look for something else, for someone else? And Isaiah goes from that to say that there is a lesson for anybody who's willing to listen, for anybody who's willing to listen. Isaiah then addresses those who are willing to listen. He says, bind up the testimony, seal the teaching among my disciples, those who are willing to listen to my preaching, Isaiah's preaching. He says, I will wait for the Lord who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. He says, don't look for insight from astrologers and those who speak for the dead. He says, look to the word of God, the written word of scripture and the faithful word of the prophets. He says, if they will not speak according to this word, it is because they are doomed. He literally says it is because they have no dawn. Those who I say is saying those who in times of trouble look elsewhere for help than the Lord, their God have no hope. He says, when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. but they will receive no answer. They will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness and gloom of anguish. They will be thrust into thick darkness. Isaiah says that the end of those who look elsewhere than God for help will be in a word, the darkness of death. But that brings us to chapter nine. Now we'll read simply verses one through seven. Your God's word. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken, as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire, for to us, A child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 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 with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah, going from chapter 8 to chapter 9, going from the prediction that within a few years, and it was within a few years, the people of his day would suffer greatly, to going to chapter 9, speaking of this child who will come, is giving us a contrast not of places, but of times. Now, sometimes the prophets are very clear. They will say these guys over here are good and those guys over there are bad. This nation is good and this nation is bad. This nation will experience blessing and that nation will experience cursing, but not so here. See here in chapter 8, Israel and Judah alike have among them those who trust God and those who don't. It's not a difference of nation versus nation. Isaiah has just warned Israel and Judah both that bad things are coming for their unbelief. Here, the contrast is between the way God dealt with his people and the world in the former time, meaning Isaiah's days, and the latter time, meaning a time that comes Surprise, surprise later. Everything in these verses is about this latter time, whatever that will be, and Isaiah doesn't know, even if it is phrased in the past tense, it says you have done this, you have done that, but it is speaking about the latter time. He speaks, then, of the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. Now, if you are a good student of the Bible, you will recognize these strange names, for some reason not popular among Christian parents for their children. These strange names belong to two of the twelve tribes of Israel. And they are actually the two most northern tribes, two of the most important tribes. They were great warriors in their day. And those tribes were tribes of warriors who fought against the enemies of God's people in the days of Moses, in the days of Joshua, and in the days of the judges. In her great song, Deborah, speaking of the conquest of the enemies of Israel, says Zebulun is a people who risk their lives to the death. Naphtali, too, on the heights of the field. These are great warriors. And yet in Isaiah's day, they will be overrun and taken captive by the Assyrians. They were among those who, in Isaiah's time, were utterly conquered and deported. And when the Assyrians replaced them, the nation later was known as Samaria. A question, when did God show grace to Samaria? Come back to that in a minute. He goes on then to speak of Galilee of the Nations. He has made glorious the way of the sea, meaning the Sea of Galilee, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Nations. What is this Galilee of the Nations? It is the ancient name for the western and southern shore of the Sea of Galilee. It's spoken of even in the book of Joshua, the king of Goyim, which if you know your Yiddish means nations, the king of nations in Galilee was captured by Joshua. It must have been long before Isaiah's day, very long before the days of Jesus, a place of mixed peoples, a place where Israelites were there, yes, but other tribes were coming from all sorts of different places, including Syria. And it's spoken of as having been captured by Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria. He came down and captured Ejon, Abel-Bath-Meachah, Januwa, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. Let me ask you another question. When did the grace of God come to Galilee? In this passage, God promises Light, He promises peace, and He promises increase. First, God promises light. We read in verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, or if you're reading King James, the shadow of death, dwelt in the shadow of death. On them has light shined. No longer darkness on the people who are in rebellion against God, but light. No longer death, but life. No longer the shadow of death. The phrasing is the same as Psalm 23 that we sang from. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you are with me. No longer silence from God, but a profound and healing word. You remember that toward the end of chapter eight, the people were looking upward and hearing nothing, receiving no blessing, getting no answer to their prayer. And so they look downward. and we're swallowed up in death. The promise here is that our upturned faces will not be met with silence, that we will not gaze on a brazen sky, as it's put in Deuteronomy. God will speak. He will speak not just to Israel, but to the world, and he will speak a better word than we have ever heard before. Let me ask you. When did the light of God come? Secondly, then God promises increased in verse three. You have multiplied the nation. You realize this? Do you think about this? You've multiplied the nation. This is a big deal for people who are coming through war and heading into more war. You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest. And they're glad when they divide the spoil. You remember that back at the very beginning of the creation, the command of God in an unblemished world to not only human beings, but to the whole physical creation was multiply. multiply, be fruitful and multiply. And then when the curse of God came in for sins, he didn't take that away. But he says to Eve, I will multiply your pain in childbirth. And this command to be fruitful and multiply and increase in the earth is repeated after the flood. in this covenant of recreation that God makes with Noah and his sons. And what we see throughout scripture is that increasing in number is a great blessing, and decreasing in number is a great curse. The promise is made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I will make your descendants like the sands of the seashore and like the stars of the sky, in number they will not be able to be counted. We see promises in Deuteronomy. If the people are obedient to God, he will not only multiply them, but he will multiply their livestock. And he will not allow the wild animals, which kill people and kill livestock, to multiply. And we sing of this promise in Psalm 144. May our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields. May our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing. We see the great blessing of God on the children of Israel when they were in Egypt, that even though they were slaves, yet they multiplied and became more numerous than the Egyptians. We see the great blessing. Excuse me. We see the great command rather to the Jewish people as they're entering exile in Babylon. He says, take wives and have sons and daughters, take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters multiply there and do not decrease. In other words, God is saying, even when you were in a place of captivity, you are to act like it's the garden of Eden and have kids. And we see then among the judgments pronounced by God and His faithless people in Hosea, they shall play the whore but not multiply, for they have forsaken the Lord. Now, by the way, what does this say about people who will not rejoice in children, who even make a virtue out of having fewer and fewer children as a nation? I'll leave it there. Let me ask you, though, when do we see the people of God increase. God then promises peace in verses four and five, no more oppression or enslavement. He says in verse four, for the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. Now, there's at least two places in Scripture where the people of Israel fight against the people of Midian. And it was a little unclear to me what she's talking about. There's a time at the very beginning of the conquest when it seems like practically all of Midian is wiped out. But then there's later on under the leadership of Gideon versus Midian. Gideon versus Midian. That sounds good, doesn't it? Under the leadership of Gideon, the people of God whittled down to a tiny army of 300 or so surround the camp of Midian. break their jars, hold up their torches, shout on their trumpets, and God sends the people of Midian into a panic, most of them kill each other before they run away. The yoke of his burden, the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken, as on the day of Midian. There will be no more slavery, as there was in Egypt. There will be no more lower status, as there was in Babylon, and later in occupied Judea, there will be freedom. There will be, furthermore, no more violence. He says for every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. It reminds me of the psalm that speaks of God breaking the bow and burning the chariot. He will put an end to war in the world. There will be no more invasions. There will be no more soldiers raping, capturing, mutilating and killing. There will be no more nation fighting nation, and tribe fighting tribe. There will be peace. We will bring peace. And then, to tell us where all of this is going to come from, God promises a child. God promises a child. Now, I need to say another word on background. This is not the first baby in the book of Isaiah. Okay? There has already been a prophetic child spoken of. who is called Emmanuel, God with us. And Isaiah, in fact, in chapter 8, has a child. You thought Tiglath-Palizer III was an entertaining name. This kid's name, poor guy, is Meher Shalal Hashbaz, which means quick to the spoil, swift to the plunder. And he is to be a living sign of the judgment that is going to come on Israel and on Judah. But the child that Isaiah speaks of here is not born in his lifetime. This is a completely future child, one who is coming in the latter time. He speaks of a child who would be born in Bethlehem, raised in Galilee, declare good news in all of Israel, die for the sins of his people in Jerusalem, rise and reign in heaven. He speaks of Jesus Christ. Wonderful counselor. the one who, from his infinite store of wisdom, teaches mankind the way to go in public and in private. And don't let anybody tell you differently. When the gospel of Jesus Christ is heard and believed by those who are in authority, places, nations, governments, judgments, societies, communities, families, tribes get better. They become better places to be. There is more justice, less oppression. They become better under the reign of Christ, mighty God, the holy one of Israel, very God of very God, as the creed says, the second person of the Trinity will be born everlasting father, not through conquest, Or simply through having more babies, but through the preaching of his word, he will become the father of many nations. Prince of Peace, the one who makes peace between God and man by shedding his own blood, the one who makes peace between people and tribes and nations, bringing them one salvation, giving them one baptism and teaching them to worship one Lord, the one who is called Son of David. The true son, the promised descendant, whose reign never comes to an end. The one who governs all with justice and mercy. The scripture says, the government shall be upon his shoulders. And a few verses later, of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. You see, reign and rule, because Jesus is ascended, reign and rule over all the earth belong to Him. This is why Christians keep getting killed. Do you guys get that? Christians keep getting killed all over the world in practically every era of history. Not because we worship a different God, because most nations can handle worshiping various gods just fine. Thank you very much. What they can't handle is somebody saying, our Lord is your Lord. Our Lord is King, whether you recognize him or not. Our Lord reigns over the government that we are under right now. We obey this government because the Lord says we should, at least to a certain extent. Our Lord is supreme. The government shall be upon His shoulders. Of the increase of His government, there shall be no end. He came announcing the kingdom of God, his own kingdom. He reigns now over all people, over all nations, and every nation and person under heaven are obliged to bow before him. And whenever they do, his rule increases. And guess what? Peace increases, too. We worship and we are reigned over by a man who died for his enemies. What kind of kingdom does he want? We worship one who brought grace to Samaria. You remember back in chapter four of John that we've been preaching through many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony and many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe for. We have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the savior of the world. This. is the grace of God coming back to Zebulun and Naphtali. We read in Matthew chapter 4 that leaving Nazareth, he, Jesus, went and lived in Capernaum by the sea so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. From that time, Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the writer of Matthew speaks of this prophecy that God will show his light to Zebulun and Naphtali and Galilee of the nations. We see in Jesus the one who is light in a dark place. In him was life, John says, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. We see who one who is now father of a countless people. And the Word of God continued to increase and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly. Acts 6, the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. It multiplied. The Word of God increased and multiplied. We see the one who ends warfare and brings peace. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, Isaiah says, and cry to her that her warfare has ended, that her iniquity is pardoned. Paul says in Ephesians chapter 2, Paul, a man who knew what it was to fight against God, says he himself is our peace, who made both groups, Jews and Gentiles alike, into one and broke down the barrier of the divided wall by abolishing in his flesh the enmity so that in himself he might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity. Paul says also in Romans Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. This is why the whole world celebrates the coming of this child. This is who we worship. This is why we worship. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you that the son who is spoken of as coming in the latter time did indeed come. We thank You that He reigns now, wonderful Counselor, mighty God, Prince of Peace. We thank You, Lord, that through Jesus Christ we have seen light. And we pray earnestly that this light, which we see in part, but which the world does not know, does not understand, would shine more brightly, not just through us, but through all our brothers around the world, and that many would come to this light. We pray, Lord, that the peace which Jesus Christ brings, that which we experience, would be experienced by our brothers and by our neighbors and by our friends. We pray, Lord, to that end, that you would make us a light in a dark place, that we would truly live the life which You have called us to do. We pray, Lord, that there would be relief, there would be freedom, there would be peace, and there would be light among all those who call on Your name. And we pray to that end, that we would see more of and experience more of the presence of Christ, not just this week, at a time when many celebrate the Christmas holiday, but in the coming year and throughout our lives. Hear us, we pray. receive our worship, and may the light of Jesus Christ shine throughout the world. Amen.