This is, we've been going through a series in John, but today it's Christmas Day, so we're taking a break from our series and I'll be looking at Isaiah chapter 9.
So if you have your Bibles or your phone apps, open it up to that and we'll be looking at that passage.
If you don't have a Bible or a phone app, there are some Bibles at the back, by all means grab one.
If you don't have a Bible at all, then take that as our Christmas gift to you.
Alrighty, as we go into this Christmas Day, I think it's really important just to point out something that's significant, but that we live with like it's not really true, not really there.
And that is that we live day by day with the truth we choose not to believe in, alongside the lies we choose to believe in.
I know Donald Trump has said there's truth and there's alternate truth, but that's not true.
There is truth and there is lies.
And I think it's amazing how easily and how regularly we choose to live with lies.
We know what the truth is, but we choose to live with lies.
I find it particularly amazing on days like today, now if your kids don't know this, then I apologise,
but a Christmas Day, we have this day where we either celebrate the birth of Jesus or the arrival of Santa.
I won't go any further than that, just for your kids' sake, but go home and tell them the truth, parents, please.
You know, we have this thing, and it's amazing because as a Christian who actually believes what I believe on the basis of evidence,
I'm told not to actually present that.
I mean, I'm discouraged from presenting what I believe to be true and what I can actually see from evidence.
At the same time, I'm not allowed to crush the dreams of people who have chosen to believe an alternate truth or a lie in this area.
It happens in a lot of different areas.
We've had the last couple of years, one of the big issues in our society has been the issue of gender and how we understand that to work.
Shifted mightily away from the truth we know to the lie we would choose to believe.
There are a whole bunch of other different areas like this.
I mean, I think your comment, Beth, this morning about how in a talk about not realizing there were going to be so many kids there because at 9 o'clock there weren't.
I mean, that might be another truth or lie.
Is that too close to the bone to say, you know, when church starts is actually versus when people arrive?
No?
Maybe that is too close to the truth.
It's a bit uncomfortable, isn't it?
But, you know, I do welcoming regularly, and my record for people who have arrived after the church has started is 71.
I count.
Yes, I count.
Now I'm going to shame you.
No, I'm not.
I'm not going to shame you.
No, but it's, you know, there are a whole bunch of ways that we approach this, and we just go with it.
We actually have the truth that we can actually choose to believe in, but we so often choose not to believe in it, versus the lie we actually choose to believe in.
And this passage in Isaiah is a point at which Israel, on our behalf in a sense, because they're the first, the forerunners of us actually realizing something about ourselves.
But this group of people actually chose to live and believe a lie about themselves when something was blatantly true.
And so what we have in this passage is an account of how God is actually so fed up with Israel that he actually says, that Isaiah actually says in verse 17 of chapter 8,
The Lord is hiding his face from Jacob.
This is a nation who is described as being in the darkness of gloom, distress and darkness.
They're fearing the attacks of Assyria from the north.
They're scared for their lives of Assyria.
And so what do they do?
Well, God actually points out to Isaiah what they're going to do instead of actually coming to God himself.
What they're going to do is this.
In verse 19, God says to Isaiah,
And when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter.
People who actually inquire of spirits, or actually the spirits of, specifically the spirits of dead people, the necromancers.
Bit of an old-fashioned word, but that's what it's about.
That's what people will choose to do.
There's a truth that they could actually believe in and trust in if they were willing to.
The truth that God has always shown himself to be faithful.
Or there's the lie they choose to believe, and they run to it.
I've got to say that this issue of going to mediums is a huge thing.
One of the last jobs I had as a physio, I used to work in a nursing home.
And there were a whole bunch of people that used to come together for lunch around midday.
And we'd sit in the lunchroom and just chat about various different things.
And I can tell you now that I was the only person in that room of more than a dozen people regularly.
I was the only person in that room who hadn't actually been to see a medium.
And a number of them saw mediums regularly.
So when we're talking about this stuff, the truth and the lie, I've got to tell you, this is ingrained into us.
It is there.
And God is pointing it out to Isaiah 700 years before Christ.
We're talking 2,700 years ago.
This is what people like.
And this is how he sums it up.
God sums it up to Isaiah in verse 22 of chapter 8.
And they will look to the earth.
That's their choice.
They will look to the earth.
Not to him.
They will look to the earth.
But behold, this is what they'll find.
Distress and darkness.
The gloom of anguish.
As these people of Israel are faced with the crisis of Assyria coming to invade them,
they look to everything and everyone but the one who can rescue them.
The truth we choose not to believe versus the lies we choose to believe.
They actually have an end point.
They lead somewhere.
God is hiding his face from these people.
Why?
Because they are people who look to the earth instead of heaven.
A people who look to the earth instead of heaven in a world that looks to the earth instead of heaven.
And this anguish that these people are heading into is not the fact that they're caught up in this global conflict scenario where now Assyria is on the rise.
The anguish in the world is directly a consequence of rejecting God.
This is the gloom that we find ourselves in in this world.
But as Assyria is given this message by God, it does not end there.
You see, he gives this image of the anguish of gloom and darkness.
This kind of darkness, gloom, depressing sort of bad newsy sort of thing going on.
But then he actually breaks into that image with a kind of almost a sunrise type theme.
And we read in verse 2 of chapter 9.
I'm into chapter 9 now.
The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Darkness and gloom.
And suddenly light is dawning.
Isaiah's prophecy, as he begins to prophesy to the people, the message to the people, projects himself forward into the future.
It's described as a new dawn.
And he does it, if you notice that, he actually does it in past tense.
Now this isn't meant to mean that it's already happened.
What it's meant to mean in terms of prophecy, in the language of prophecy and how the kind of the code they used to do it is,
past tense means this is such a certainty that Isaiah can declare it as though it has already happened.
In verse 2, the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
This is what is definitely coming for them.
Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
Something is going to happen that will turn darkness to light, that will turn anguish to joy.
And there are three reasons given in this passage for it.
You'll see the three fours in beginning verses 4, 5 and 6.
For the yoke of the burden is lifted.
The burden is lifted.
Now if we're looking in an earthly direction, then we'd see this perhaps reading in this context as Israel's return from exile.
But historically we know that this didn't actually solve the problem of the darkness.
Even though they did return from exile after 70 odd years, it still didn't resolve the issue.
They still lived in an oppressed state.
So the people of God saw this prophecy and they looked beyond their return.
They anticipated something else, something bigger.
Something perhaps, or something definitely, I can say, to do with their relationship with God.
The reason that they went into exile wasn't because Assyria just happened to be mighty at the time and God was on holiday.
It was because God raised Assyria up to punish Israel, to remind them of who he was.
They were living in a state where the burden was on them to maintain their relationship with God and they could not do it.
They kept failing.
They anticipated something else as they saw this prophecy, something bigger.
And Jesus said,
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
When we think about this prophecy and we start to see a resonance in the life of Jesus,
the one who said, yet that burden of the law is too heavy for you to bear.
You cannot bear it up.
So I have come to take it from you.
The burden is lifted, is the first four.
The second one is the fighting is over.
Again, if we were looking in an earthly direction,
then the end of conflict would be our expectation that Assyria would either be conquered
or by another power, or actually God would actually intervene in some significant way.
The passing of war, violence, and the fear and instability they bring into our lives.
But again, historically we know this didn't come to pass.
Israel remained a tumultuous place right up until the arrival of Jesus.
And we know that even during the arrival of Jesus, Israel was occupied by the Romans.
And still, even now, in that area, let alone the rest of the world,
war, oppression, threats of violence are very real.
So what's going on here?
I think we're going to see a little bit more in the name of Jesus,
one of the names that Jesus is given in this passage.
What's going on here?
What kind of peace is this child going to bring?
Well, in John 14, 27, Jesus said these words to his disciples,
Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give you.
Not as the world gives do I give to you.
Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them not be afraid.
Let them be afraid.
Jesus breaks in and says, I'm actually the peace bringer.
And I'm going to bring a peace, but it's not a peace that you're thinking about.
It's not actually a removal of the Romans,
but it's actually a peace between you or me and God.
And how does this come about?
Well, we find out.
The third four is a child will be born.
The child.
Again, these prophecies had some bearing on the immediate circumstances of God's people.
And in some way, Cyrus was actually the deliverer,
who was later named in Isaiah,
who will actually bring them out of exile.
But he's not the man who can fulfill these promises.
They're too big for him.
They're too far reaching.
They're actually eternal in scope.
So there was always a hope for something better.
Always an expectation for something more in the hearts and minds of God's people.
The hope of a saviour.
And here Isaiah is saying, keep hoping.
He's coming.
At that point when he comes,
the reality of anguish in all its forms
will be seen to have a conclusion.
And because it has a conclusion,
this gloom will be replaced with joy.
And this saviour will do it.
Man, Israel must have felt they were caught up in the tides of forces
way beyond their control.
Will powers rising and falling and sweeping them up in their wake.
But this saviour,
regardless of what is going on in the world around us,
regardless of what we fear,
what we struggle with,
this saviour will have the power to do it.
And we know because God named him before his birth.
Gave him four names.
That's pretty good going.
I don't know about you guys,
but Joe and I struggled to name our first child.
Our first child he called Tom.
Did you have arguments?
No, we had discussions.
No arguments.
But I think it was like five days in the hospital.
He only got his name on the last day as we left.
Is that right?
So he was called Baby Patterson for five days in this hospital.
And you imagine every time the nurse comes in and reminds you,
because they're doing obs like multiple times a day,
and they just keep reminding you, Baby Patterson.
Has the baby got a name yet?
No.
And you know the way that names work now?
It seems like we name our kids more as a reflection of ourselves
and as a reflection of the character of the children,
not like things were done in these days.
There was an expectation that a name would impart character
or at least reflect the character of someone.
So we called Tom, you know, Tom.
That means twin.
You know Joe's a twin.
We called Hannah, Hannah,
because Joe's a bit dyslexic,
and it doesn't matter which way you spell it.
It works out the same.
You just, you know,
and then there's all these hybrid names that people are using now,
and you don't know how to spell them at all.
It doesn't matter which way you spell it.
I don't know.
But, you know,
so names are a little bit different, aren't they?
But when we look at this passage,
the names are significant.
There were three reasons for joy,
and there are four names for this joy giver,
and the four names speak to the character of this saviour,
what he is going to be like,
what he is going to do.
They tell us who he is.
They tell us what he'll accomplish.
And the first one is wonderful counsellor.
Wonderful is a specific word.
It means amazing.
I mean, I call Joe this all the time.
I say she's wonderful all the time,
and she is.
She's an amazing woman, beautiful.
I used to call her precious,
but then the Lord of the Rings came out
and kind of made that a bit creepy.
So I switched to wonderful and beautiful,
and it's better.
And, you know,
wonderful still has this meaning of amazing.
It's someone or something you deeply admire,
that you delight in,
but it's more than that.
This particular word means beyond the power,
so wonderful,
that it's beyond the power of man to accomplish.
It's almost exclusively used of God's work,
God's handiwork in the Bible.
So wonderful,
as in beyond the power of man to accomplish.
And counsellor,
a wonderful counsellor,
a planner,
a schemer,
someone who is renowned for wisdom
and who can use that wisdom
to bring about great change.
That's the sense of that word in the Hebrew.
Linked with wonderful,
it's meant to give us confidence.
This saviour can solve the problem.
And for them,
the problem,
the Israelites,
the problem was right in front of them.
For us,
it is too.
To be God's people
and yet to be exiled
because they can't keep the law.
They were a holy nation,
a holy nation
of a holy God,
but they couldn't live up to be holy.
It's the same for us.
If you are not yet in relationship with God,
he is a holy God
and no matter how good you think you are
and how good you strive to be,
this is not the way to get there
because it is just too far.
The bar is too high.
A holy nation of a holy God,
but they couldn't live up to being holy.
But there was more.
You see,
this God has two characteristics in equal measure
and these are the two characteristics
that we find ourselves just bashing up against.
That is this.
God is a God of justice
and covenant faithfulness.
He's a God of justice
and faithfulness,
which means
God does not look over
any fault or flaw
on the one hand.
But God is faithful
to his promises
to his people
on the other.
The Israelites had a law
they cannot keep.
We have an expectation on us.
We inherit it,
which is the same.
We fall far too short
of God's character
to be able to live
and survive in his presence.
We face a God
who is a God of justice
and we are a part of a world
that cannot reach God.
So,
this is the dilemma
that this wonderful counsellor
resolves for us.
This saviour would be
a wonderful counsellor.
He would be able to solve
the problem
that we have no solution for.
The saviour had a plan
that couldn't be undone
by anyone
but God.
I don't know
if you're aware of
1 John 1, 8 and 9.
I was brought up
in the Anglican church
and so we had this
green prayer book
which we go through
every week
and it was great
for just like
pounding scripture
into you.
and one of the passages
that was irregular
was 1 John 1, 8 and 9.
If we say we have no sin
we deceive ourselves
and the truth is not in us.
But if we confess our sin
God is what?
Faithful
and just.
Those words come up again.
To forgive us our sins
and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
This is the plan
of our wonderful counsellor
to deliver us
from a dilemma
that we cannot get out of.
The Israelites before us
couldn't.
We can't.
We need Jesus.
We need this child
to rescue us.
The saviour had a plan
that couldn't be done
by anyone but God.
And so
that's who this child
would be we read
the next title is
Mighty God.
This is who God sends
himself.
This saviour
would be called
Mighty God.
And this is a huge thing
because we're talking
about a child being born.
So the people of Israel
would have got this
and I think
if we think about it too
it's a huge thing.
Not only is he wise
but he's powerful.
He doesn't rely on
others to bring
his plans to fruition.
He has the power
to see it done himself.
And it's unlimited power
because he is
the mighty God.
Isaiah's already alluded
to this in 7.14
and I think in chapter 8
as well
by calling him
this saviour
Emmanuel
God with us.
But that could just
be a name
because Joshua
shared the name
that's the same
as Jesus.
Yahweh saves.
But here
it moves beyond
the sense of
oh this is just a name
to this is
who he is.
So therefore
the Lord
will give you a sign
behold the virgin
shall conceive
and bear a son
and shall call his name
Emmanuel
in 7.14
is actually saying
more than just
give the kid the name
this
but this is God.
Emmanuel
God with us.
God in human form.
This is an unbelievable claim.
The creator of the universe
becoming a creature.
The one who is
becoming who
the one who wills
everything into existence.
But as incomprehensible
as that is
it's immensely comforting
because God
in all his power
has come to save us.
And this is both
significant
but necessary.
God is perfectly pure.
He's holy.
We are not.
We can't be
no matter how hard we try.
There may as well be
a concrete wall
between us.
No matter how hard we try
we cannot get through it.
It's impregnable to us.
So God
breaks it down
from his sight.
This promised saviour
our mighty God
doesn't wait for us
to do the impossible.
He breaks through
this wall
from his sight.
It's the only way
that wall could come down.
Wonderful counsellor
mighty God
everlasting father.
I love this.
The expression
of that leadership
of our saviour
is described
in terms of fatherhood.
Now I know
for some of you
that this concept
may not be
a pleasant
and welcome thought.
But let me just say
that as painful
as it may be
to remember
an abusive father
or a father
who has failed you
in so many ways
every one of those
jabs of pain
should remind you
that fatherhood
should be
something better.
It should be
something greater
than that.
The nature of God
in human form
is to be our father.
Father in the sense
that he is our
ultimate safe space.
A father in the sense
that he provides us
with existence
identity
family.
Think about this.
Father is integral
to giving life
to his children
and then he nurtures
them by protecting
and providing for them.
That's existence.
He gives us identity.
We are made in his image.
With our own
earthly fathers
we share DNA.
Unfortunately
it goes beyond that
because nature
and nurture are at work
and unfortunately
our kids pick up
our habits as well.
You'll know this.
What a good thing
to have a holy father
then, a perfect father
one whose habits
are not actually
going to alter
your life to the negative.
A father who we are
made in the image of
and we are being
remade in the image of
and a father gives us
connection into family.
He connects us
into his family.
We become brothers
and sisters.
We're not adrift
in the world.
We're never alone.
Never alone
at least because
God is always with us.
that we're never
dissociated
or cut off
from community
because as God's
children
we are part
of his family.
This Savior
provides us
with a connection
deeper than we've
ever known before
and we know
connections that we
love and cherish.
This is the relationship
we were made for.
The family that goes
deeper than even
our DNA.
Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting Father
and Prince of Peace.
Peace in Hebrew
means more than
simply the absence
of hostility.
It's actually the
presence of harmony.
It's a relational term.
You ever been in
that conflict where
you're in a conflict
with someone
you just can't get out of?
You just kind of
keep missing each other
and everything you say
just seems to
dig the hole deeper?
No one else is married
here?
Come on guys,
let's be serious,
yeah?
I find myself
in conflicts at times
and you just feel like
everything I do
is just like
putting petrol
on the flames.
Conflict just spirals
out of control.
Friends,
this child
doesn't just come
with wise words.
Wise words
may resolve
the dispute
but they don't
resolve the conflict
at the heart level,
do they?
He doesn't resolve
the problem
by force of might
pushing us together
to resolve things.
This only changes
the circumstances
but not the reality
of what's causing
us to conflict
in the first place.
His fatherly concern
will mean that
he will not
ignore the problem.
He reaches
beyond the problem,
beyond the surface
and he deals
with our hearts.
The problem
that holds us
apart from each
other and us
from him
is our iniquity.
Each of us
has turned
to his own way.
We're all planets
that demand
that every other
planet revolve
around us.
God becomes
the new centre
to our life,
reorders everything
and shows us
how things should
work.
God,
the new centre
with Father
and Son
and Holy Spirit
infinitely
and permanently
committed to each
other,
giving themselves
to each other,
showing us the
example of how
we too
should live.
There's no peace
with everyone
turned in on
themselves.
Father
but man,
the peace
that Jesus
brings
by transforming
our hearts,
teaching us
how to give
out
instead of
demanding
and drawing
in,
that's a
prince of
peace.
Now in all
of this,
we've gone
through all the
four names
now,
the three
fours
and the
four names,
there's only
one thing
to say
and that's
the one
driving force
behind all
of this
and let
me say
this driving
force gives
us great
encouragement,
it's right
at the end
there,
the zeal
of the
Lord of
hosts
will do
this.
The zeal
of the
Lord of
hosts
is what's
at work
in all
of this.
Now zeal
is kind
of a word
that we
don't use
that much
do we?
But it
actually
means
passion.
If you
look into
it,
the way
that's
actually
applied,
it means
passion.
So the
kind of
passion that
a husband
and a
wife will
have for
each other,
the kind
of
that
romantic
passion.
You know
what that's
like?
It gets
you doing
all kinds
of things.
It got
me vacuuming
the house
and cleaning
the bathroom
whenever Joe
came over
when we
were dating.
It gets
you doing
crazy
things.
Because they
don't need
cleaning or
vacuuming,
normally,
really.
You know
what I
mean?
Passion is
one of
those forces
that causes
us to do
all kinds
of things.
things.
The
arrival of
this child
is God's
plan for
our
salvation.
It's an
act of
love,
an act
of passion,
the kind
of love
that will
let nothing
get in
the way,
the kind
of love
that will
apply all
his creativity
to,
the kind
of love
that will
produce a
mighty act
of courage,
the kind
of love
that will
be expressed
in tenderness,
the kind
of love
that will
bring peace.
That's
God's
love for
you.
And
that's
the truth
we celebrate
at Christmas
rather than
the lies
that we
could choose
to believe.
Let me
pray.
Father God,
we thank
you for
your
saviour.
We thank
you that
this child
became a
man and
lived the
life that
we could
never live,
died the
death that
we deserved
and brought
peace between
us.
It's an
unfathomable
plan for
us,
Lord.
It's a
plan we
could never
have accomplished
ourselves
under our
own strength.
It's a
plan that
shows your
tenderness and
kindness toward
us.
And it's the
only plan that
brings peace
between us
and you.
So we
thank you
this day,
Lord.
We thank
you for
giving us
your son.
Amen.