The Victory of Christmas (Isaiah 9:1-7)
We look around at the world today and become overwhelmed by just how bad things are. Hopelessness and fear are all around us. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard Christians lament and discuss the horrid nature of this world and the society around us and then behave as if everything is just a lost cause. They view life as if all hope is lost. Or maybe they believe all hope is lost and that they’ll just toil in this barren wasteland until they die.
But that baby in a manger is a call to hope and victory. When God the Holy Spirit caused the God the Son to be born of the Virgin Mary, He brought light into the darkness, hope to the hopeless, and victory to the chaotic mess that Satan and sin have wrought in this world.
I would like to consider the story of the world as a whole before we introduce the text today. We will see the victory of Christmas if we understand that this is a massive moment in the Light’s warfare against the Darkness.
Satan, the Great Dragon of Revelation, rebelled against God along with 1/3 of the angels. There was war, and to no one’s surprise, God won. But Satan was not utterly destroyed, not yet. And then that serpent tempted Eve to rebel against God.
Adam and Eve were created in the image of God. They were His special creation. And Satan tempted them to rebel against God.
Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, which was more than a garden. It was the first temple. God walked with man in the Garden of Eden. It was the place where God and man dwelt together. Adam was commanded to protect and keep the Garden. And the work he and his offspring were to do was to expand the borders of the Garden of Eden to encompass the globe. They were to bring all the world into subjection to God.
But this didn’t last long. At the rebellion of Adam and Eve, sin and darkness entered the world. And God handed down the curses that are still with us today.
But amid these curses, God promised victory.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”” (Genesis 3:15 ESV)
The promise is that a child would one day come that would crush the head of the serpent. Yes, this child would be wounded. But He would deliver the death blow as His heel crushed the head of the serpent. This child would wage war against the darkness and have victory over it.
There was a children’s storybook Bible that we loved reading with our children. And one of the lines in it was that Jesus would make everything sad come untrue. And that is what we will see promised in our text today.
Now that I’ve dug into the metanarrative, let’s look at the context of this text in Isaiah.
This particular promise in Isaiah was given amid terrible trouble. The Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III invaded Israel. Damascus and the Northern Kingdom fought against Judah in the Ephraimite War. Judah responded by having Assyria police the area. Then Damascus and portions of the Northern Kingdom were assimilated into Assyria. In other words, they were conquered.
But things were about to get worse. Several years later, the Northern Kingdom would rebel against Assyria and be totally assimilated into Assyria. Complete subjugation was coming soon.
A child would come that would not just make things right in Israel, but worldwide. This child would conquer the darkness. His aim would not just be Assyria, it would be worldwide. He would come to destroy the darkness. He would conquer the dragon and make everything sad come untrue.
Deliverance Comes Amid The Darkness (Isaiah 9:1-2)
The people were broken and matters were getting worse. But what we see here is that there would be a time in the future in which this would not be the case. There was coming a time when “there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish”. There was now darkness, but at some point something glorious would come.
Remember, this area had been conquered. They allied with the Assyrians that they thought would help them but were completely humiliated. But in the future a light would shine.
Notice where the location of this light is.
The location is “the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations”. This is important because a significant portion of the things Jesus did were right here.
- Jesus left Galilee to be baptized in the Jordan river and then went back to Galilee to begin His ministry. This means Jesus began His ministry in “the land beyond the Jorda, Galilee of the nations.”
- Jesus’s ministry early on was in “the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations” almost exclusively.
- Jesus called His Disciples in Galilee.
- Jesus’s first miracle was turning water into wine in Cana, which is part of Galilee.
- Jesus’s home base early on was in Capernaum, which is part of Galilee.
- Jesus was born in Bethlehem, which is in Judea. But He was shown to be the Messiah during His time in Galilee with miracles, healings, and powerful preaching.
This is why Matthew 4:12-16 sees Jesus’s early ministry as a complete fulfillment of this passage.
“Now when he [Jesus] heard that John had been arrested, he [Jesus] withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fuflilled:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles–the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:12-16 ESV)
The darkness that once enveloped God’s people would give way to the glorious light that God would bring.
This seems to be the way things work. The darkest days and darkest times tend to give way to the brightest of light. God writes incredible stories in history.
Protestants often say, “Post tenebras lux” which means “After darkness, light.” And we say it because the darkest time in the history of the church gave way to the light of the Reformation. And time after time we see something similar in the history of the world.
Two world wars ushered in a time of prosperity.
The darkest period in the Bible seems to be the Book of Judges, but that ushered in a bad king and then King David who brought prosperity to the people of Israel.
And when I consider my own life, I see something similar. The dark times give way to light. And I would venture to guess that you have seen something similar in your own life.
We live in a world where governments around the globe commit atrocities in their own land and in other lands. And this includes our own country. I don’t believe for one second most of the things that our own FBI and CIA tell us. And I think most people feel the same way.
Christians are being slaughtered across the globe by Islamic people and atheist regimes.
Drug and alcohol addiction as well as suicide are on the rise in America. All three of these things are due to hopelessness. When it abounds in a country, those things rise.
News report after news report tell us that our prisons are overcrowded. Arkansas, in some respects, is far above its stated capacity.
Our country is so pornified that 10 year olds feel the need to identify their selves by who they have sexual desire for. How perverse do we have to be for a 10 year old to have those kinds of thoughts?
There are a lot of reasons to say that life is bleak right now.
But it is right into the darkness that the light of Christ shines. Christ came to defeat the darkness. He came to deliver His people from the darkness. Those who are trapped in darkness will be set free. And now that Christ has come we see that clearly. We see the shining light of hope. He has crushed the head of the serpent and will one day finish Him off. Jesus sets the captives free.
The Victory Will Be Complete (Isaiah 9:3-5)
God doesn’t just bring joy to a bad situation. He gives complete victory and glorious joy. God is doing something far more than they could have imagined. And here, it is so sure that Isaiah speaks of it in the past tense, as if it’s already occurred.
“you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest”
Joy at the harvest is a reference to an incredibly festive time on Israel’s calendar. It was “sukkot”. We know it as “The Feast of Booths” or “The Feast of Tabernacles”. This feast lasted for seven days and had two purposes. The first is that it commemorated the 40 years of wilderness wanderings and God’s provision for the people. They would gather together in huts, temporary dwellings, that they made for a week. The second is that it celebrated God’s provision that year as they came together with the abundance of their harvest for a week long potluck.
This event was a combination of thankfulness for bountiful harvest and commemoration of what God did in the past. And it was a wonderful time. But what Isaiah was predicting would be greater than the Feast of Booths. The oppressors who took advantage of them and others would be gone.
And here’s the thing that’s wild about this. Warriors won’t even need to be supplied with provisions anymore, for there would be no more war. The victory that Isaiah here says will happen is going to be so complete that there will be no more ward. There will be no more need for the boots of soldiers. And there would be no more bloody garments.
This is similar to what is written in Isaiah 2:4.
“He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” (Isaiah 2:4 ESV)
Why would weapons of war be destroyed and recreated into agricultural tools?
Why would the clothing of war be thrown into the fire?
It’s because nations will no longer be at war with one another. It’s because the darkness will be completely defeated. This is a glorious peace that we have difficulty even imagining today. But it is coming.
Imagine living in a land that has no need of weapons because there is no war.
What if America had no military right now? It wouldn’t go well for us.
There is coming a day in which there will be no need for the military equipment. For there will be “peace on earth”.
God the Son took on human flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary. He came to bring forgiveness of sins and undo all the evil that Satan brought. He lived a perfect life for His people. And He died as the perfect sacrifice for sin. Three days later, He rose from the grave and accomplished our justification. Those people, His people are taking the gospel to the nations. People all over the globe are becoming part of God’s people. And one day, Christ’s victory will be complete. There will be no more war and no more pain.
Jesus Christ doesn’t just forgive sins, He will bring victory to the whole world. And that victory will be eternal.
The peace that is discussed here is not peace that any one has brought out yet. This is peace that Jesus will one day bring. Notice what happens as we move into verse 6.
The Victory Will Be Complete And Unending Because Of The Birth Of Jesus (Isaiah 9:6)
The rejoicing will be great because God will break the yoke of burden and oppression. The weapons of the warrior will be destroyed, and the reason for this is that a child is born.
Their time period was dark, but it would get darker. But one day a child would come that would bring light into darkness.
Many Jewish interpreters see this as being fulfilled in Hezekiah. Now, I do believe we can say that Hezekiah partially fulfilled this. But there is simply no possible way that Hezekiah can be said to bring about this peace. His peace is not this complete. And He does not fit the description of the baby that was born.
- Wonderful Counselor – this person will be incredibly wise.
- Mighty God – this is astounding…this person will be called “God”
- Everlasting Father – this is again astounding…this person will be one with the Father
- Prince of Peace – and it’s no wonder…if the people will have no need of weapons of war or clothing of warfare then it only makes sense that this person would be called the Prince of Peace.
How could all this be true of one person? It can be true because it is a description of Jesus Christ, that baby born of the Virgin Mary. God the Son took on human flesh and dwelt among us. That is how it is possible.
- God the Son—all wise
- God the Son—is God
- God the Son—is one with the Father
- God the Son—took on human flesh
- God the Son—made Himself killable and the sacrifice for sin.
- God the Son—rose from the grave
- God the Son—seated at the right hand of the Father, when He ascended—He currently rules and reigns
- God the Son is bringing about peace on Earth, this is in process now.
“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:5,8 ESV)
Through Jesus’s perfect life, death, and resurrection…through the progress of the gospel going forth to the nations…through Christ’s second coming and the Judgment Jesus will bring about—the victory is already won, but is in process now. It is already here, but not yet complete.
Jesus came, born of a virgin and we celebrate that at Christmas. God became man and dwelt among us. He went on to die and rise from the dead and in doing so He has given us hope. This hope Stephen clung to as he was being stoned to death. This hope allowed Paul after his dramatic conversion to be faithful in the midst of all sorts of sufferings. And this hope John clung to as he was in exile writing the Book of Revelation. And this is the hope that we cling to even today.
Illustration:
I’d like to take us to Narnia for a moment to illustrate what is currently happening. In The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe the people were trapped in a winter with no Christmas. Everything was bleak. But as the prophecies began to be fulfilled and the plans to conquer the White Witch were coming to pass, Santa showed up and gave gifts the children, the snow began to melt.
Everything sad was becoming untrue.
And that is what we celebrate at the birth of Christ. Evil has already been conquered, and evil is in the process of being completely conquered.
We see this in individuals as the power of the gospel goes forth. As the gospel expands and people come to faith in Christ, we see this as societies become Christian. In recent years some of the countries in Africa are calling their selves Christian nations as the gospel expands there.
This victory will be complete. We are seeing the process as it takes place now. And because of that we have hope. Jesus will conquer the serpent and His works. Jesus will destroy sin and death. And His reign will be eternal.