Here’s something really daft I’ve seen churches do at Christmas.
They’ve wanted to flag up the background to Jesus’ birth by reading out the prophecies of His birth that God gave hundreds of years earlier. And rightly so, because they’re amazing: like Micah’s about where Jesus would be born, and Daniel’s about when. And one really remarkable one is in Isaiah 9, from 600 years before Jesus: `To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be on His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end!`
An incredible prophecy; whatever was a strong monotheist like Jewish prophet Isaiah doing announcing the birth of a human child as, in fact, `Mighty God`? And only the birth of Jesus God the Son, Himself a member of the Trinity, can explain this. Unfortunately, though, many churches start their reading at the start of this chapter 9, and give no explanation of the rest. Like this:
`Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honour Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
4 For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
5 Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born…` (NIV)
And people sit there thinking, What on earth is this? He humbled Zebulun and Naphtali? As in the days of Midian’s defeat? And then perhaps they think: Well, it’s the Bible, you don’t expect it to make sense.
But it does; fantastic sense. Here’s why.
We’ve been through Isaiah 7 and 8, where the little kingdom of Judah is being pushed around by Samaria, Syria, and especially Assyria, and everyone’s heart is shaking like trees shaking in the wind; because they face the prospect of being conquered, enslaved, or worse still having their eyes put out or being massacred altogether. Late in ch8, people start turning desperately to the occult to get direction, which only makes matters far worse; as God warns them (8:21-22). Everything’s going to hell in a handcart – but next verse comes this dramatic change: There will be no more gloom, our God is coming to change things (9:1)!
Let’s look at the specifics. V1 talks about the north: why? Because the northerners were looked down on, exposed, and the Assyrian army hit them first, hit them hard and enslaved them (2 Kings 15:29). But now God says, there will be no more gloom for them, no more darkness. This isn’t like a Christmas card; this is God stepping into real issues, real hurts, real issues.
But what’s all this about being like Midian, and war, and armaments being destroyed, vv4-5? Well, first this is what they’d desperately hoped; God getting involved, just as He did when the overwhelming Midianite army (`impossible to count`) invaded Israel in Gideon’s time (Judges 7), something the Jews had never forgotten (it comes up again in Isaiah 10:26); again, God getting involved in real issues. But there’s more: `Every warrior’s boot used in battle will be destined for burning` – this is the same promise of the end of all warfare as in Isaiah 2:4, because war, indeed relational conflict generally (this is where it gets so preachable), happens where there’s a lack of the `government` of Christ whose loving power makes relationships work. `Unto us a Child is born`: this is about God stepping into our conflicts and darkness and need, to do things there. God says, I’m ready to step into these things with you; I’m not just a fairy on top of a tree.
So how does He come into the darkness? V6: things start to come right where the government of the Christ-child comes. `Government` may sound odd, but it’s what Jesus was talking about when He lived out this passage, announcing the coming of His `kingdom` in Matthew 4:12-16. And in Matthew’s following chapters Jesus’ kingdom brings truth where there’s falsehood and false religion, healing where there’s pain, direction where there’s lostness, wholeness where there’s brokenness. Wherever the kingdom, the government, of the Christ-child comes, things start to be put right!
V6 helps us grasp how, and why we worship Christ; indeed how to worship Him. There are five bases for worship here. First, He’s the `Wonderful Counsellor`. Are we in darkness and needing that? If so He’s here, He’ll point the way through and forward. Also He’s the `Mighty God`. God’s kingdom is not often enforced by His own power, although one day it will be, all conflict will be ended and the world put right. But now when we give ourselves to Him, God says, I’ll send my mighty kingdom of goodness in for you.
And then, He’s the `Everlasting Father`; He could just have been a judge, but He’s a Father. (I taught my kids that they had two fathers and that I was glad because the other was a lot better at it than I was; they were glad too, I got told once.) He’s the `Prince of Peace`; peace, that is, wholeness; coming together the wisdom of God, the love of God and the power of God flow into wondrous wholeness. (This is our Christ; let’s worship Him for these things!) And lastly, `Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end!` – pointing towards the days after the skies split open, when God says `Enough!` to all the evil in our world, and we who have stepped under His government enjoy living in the flow of His infinitely wise, infinitely loving, infinitely powerful kingdom forever…..!
And it starts now. If we ask, why did the Christ-child come?, it was for this. When Jesus started His public ministry we find Isaiah quoted again, chapter 61 this time, which says `He has sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim… release from darkness for the prisoners… to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.….` This is for us! Christ wants to step into our lives now, to bring His kingdom of goodness into our lives now!
Not, of course, that all my problems will be solved before next new year; not quite; we’re in a transition phase. God came, the Christ-child came, and He healed and put things right, yet He got crucified. But the change has started. Jesus rose from the dead, and one of the last things He said was, I am with you always (Immanuel!). God’s government is coming in. It’s not complete yet; it’s like the mystery of healing where some people get healed and some don’t (I’m an example); but it’s starting. And meanwhile Jesus says, I am with you always; whatever, He’ll be there and He’ll make what happens to us fruitful (Rom 8:28…) This is the difference the Christ-child makes: it’s not anarchy any more, it’s not dark futility any more; God’s government is coming in. And such is His skill that everything that happens to us, no matter how dark, can be turned in the end to long-term fruitfulness, sculpturing our personalities to glory beyond our wildest dreams…
So folks, if we end up using Isaiah 9 next Christmas, let’s either start at v6, or joyously proclaim the rest – because it’s great…!
