Sermon - Isaiah 9:2-7 – God Promises a Messiah

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

Sermon - Isaiah 9:2-7 – God Promises a Messiah

Eagle Rock Presbyterian Church

December 23, 2007

Today we have arrived at the fourth and final Sunday of Advent. We have been looking at the Book of Samuel to understand why Jews in the first century were looking for the messiah, the Christ, and why many in the first century thought they had found one in Jesus of Nazareth and thus were called Christians. In the Book of Samuel we have been following David who was anointed by the prophet Samuel and became the ideal of what an anointed one, a Christ, should be. Last week we heard God’s promise to David that his descendants would occupy his throne in Jerusalem forever. Today we will see that hope for the Davidic dynasty continues, even though two hundred years later David’s successors were not always up to the task.

Will you pray with me? God Most High, your only Son embraced the weakness of flesh, to give us power to become your children; your eternal Word chose a dwelling among us, that we might live in your presence. Grant us a spirit of wisdom

to know how rich is the glory you have made our own, and how great the hope to which we are called in Jesus Christ, your Word made flesh, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, in the splendor of eternal light, God forever and ever. Amen.

Isaiah 9:2-7 ² The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness-- on them light has shined. ³ You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. ⁴ For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. ⁵ For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. ⁶ For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

As God had promised, David’s Son Solomon built a massive temple in Jerusalem for the Lord God of Israel which seemed to confirm God’s promise that a descendant of David, the anointed one, the messiah, the Christ would always sit on David’s throne in Jerusalem. But after Solomon’s death the kingdom ruled by David’s children was much reduced in size, power and wealth. The northern ten tribes broke away when Solomon’s son Rehoboam became king. This plunged the region into a period of internal instability and subjected the nation to external military threats. By the 8^th century BC the northern kingdom had been destroyed. Only Judah with her Davidic king in Jerusalem remained as an independent nation.

King Ahaz was a direct descendent of David and sat on the throne in Jerusalem. When the Assyrians attacked the northern tribes Ahaz refused to come to their aid. Instead he formed an alliance with Assyrians which left him on the throne, but as a vassal to the king of Assyria. King Ahaz was required to appear before the throne of Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria, in Damascus to pay homage to the Assyrian gods at a bronze altar. Ahaz was also required to make a replica of this altar and to place it in the Temple of God that Solomon had erected in Jerusalem. No longer would the Lord God of Israel be only god worshiped in Jerusalem. Ahaz permitted pagan religious practices to take place in his capitol and even offered his own son as a human sacrifice. Later generations would regard Ahaz’s apostasy as the worst Israel ever saw.[1]

Would God keep his promise to David when David’s descendents behaved so badly? This is the question that bothered the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah was the Prophet of God as the Assyrians destroyed the northern kingdom and made Judah a vassal state. The religious charter of the nation was threatened by Ahaz’s actions as the new Assyrian religion took hold. The covenant that God had made with Moses in the wilderness, that the nation should always obey God, was forgotten. The government counted on the covenant with David to continue regardless of what they did. Even if the nation began to worship other gods they assumed that David’s dynasty would continue forever. But if Assyrian gods were permitted into the Temple, would the promise God made David continue?

The prophet Isaiah said no. Isaiah told Ahaz not to form the alliance with Assyria, but instead rely on the faithfulness of God as his ancestor David had done. When Ahaz refused, Isaiah prophesied that a young woman, a virgin, would conceive and bear a child who would symbolize God’s faithfulness if only Ahaz would trust God. But Ahaz refused and sent tribute to the Assyrians.

Isaiah watched as the nation abandoned its God. He saw it become a place of injustice as God’s law was ignored. No longer were the poor and the needy, the widows and orphans cared for as they should be. But he foresaw the day when a descendant of David would be born with full authority in Jerusalem who would return the nation to its God. Isaiah’s hope was that when this child matured he would dispense justice fairly as a Wonderful Counselor. He would have the strength of a Mighty God to overcome the nation’s enemies. He would reassure and protect them as a great tribal leader, an Everlasting Father. And he would bring to the nation great peace and prosperity as the Prince of Peace. Isaiah was predicting that a messiah, like David, would come and return the nation to its religion and faith in its God. This messiah would restore the Mosaic covenant and would rule the nation with justice and righteousness. This messiah would free the nation from oppression and bring about a period of peace and prosperity. This messiah would do what the prophets had always hoped for, be a faithful king who would do God’s work in the world. Isaiah was confident that his faithful God would provide a messiah from the Davidic dynasty for a nation that desperately needed one.

But the messiah Isaiah hoped for did not come during his lifetime. When Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC even the Davidic dynasty seemed to have come to an end. It must have looked to the people at that time that God had completely abandoned them. The nation had not cared for the poor and needy. The nation had not been faithful to God. Did God turn his back and reject his people? Was the covenant between God and his people finished? The prophets said no. Our God is a faithful God. They looked back and remembered that God had promised to that descendant of David would sit on the throne forever. They remembered Isaiah’s prophecy that child of David would be born and named “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. They believed that a faithful God would send this messiah soon. So they waited.

They waited nearly six hundred years hoping and believing that God would send his promised messiah, a descendent of David, born in Bethlehem, the shepherd of the sheep, an eternal king who would rule with justice and righteousness and bring about peace and prosperity, anointed by God, who would slay the giants facing us, forgive our sins, and comfort us in our time of grief and loss. For six centuries the faithful people of God waited for the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ. Then one evening in a field near Bethlehem a group of shepherds saw an angel. The angel told them "Do not be afraid; for see-- I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11).

The shepherds quickly made their way into Bethlehem where they saw a newly born baby wrapped in bands of cloth and laying in a feeding trough. They told the baby’s mother what they had heard, this is the Messiah whom God had promised, and his mother pondered this in her heart. Meanwhile the angels returned to heaven where they praised God and joined in singing “Glory to God in the Highest.”

This Advent season we have been waiting for coming of the messiah into our lives. We see the world around us abandoning God. We see injustice as the rights of the poor are violated. We see a world a war with the threat of terror reigning over us. We are waiting for a messiah who will search for us when we are lost and bind up our wounds, who will slay the giants that are facing us, forgive us when we sin, and comfort us when we grieve. We are waiting for the coming of our king who will rule the world with justice and righteousness and will bring about peace and prosperity for all. Our wait is almost over. When you come tomorrow evening do not be afraid because I will have some really good news for you. The Messiah we have been waiting for has arrived. He is Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is time to spread the good news that Messiah has come to bring Joy to the World. He was born and placed Away in a Manager, in a Little Town of Bethlehem on a Silent Night as Angels were Heard on High during the First Nowell as Shepherds Watched their Flocks by night. So as you meet your family and friends this Christmas tell them of the good new and great joy you have found in Christ who slays the giants we are facing, forgives our sins and comforts us when we are grieving. So tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, invite your family and friends to church to find the true joy of Christmas. Come all ye Faithful to worship and adore him, Christ, Christ the Lord.

All glory to you, great God, for the gift of your Son, whom you sent to save us. With singing angels, let us praise your name, and tell the earth his story, that all may believe, rejoice, and bow down, acknowledging your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

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[1] John Bright, A History of Israel 3^rd Edition, (Philadelphia: Westminster Press 1981) 276-7.