Chapter 9 verse 2 is a great promise about light those who sat in darkness have seen a great light and right after that We have this, for unto us a child is born unto us the sun is given.
And the government shall be upon the shoulders. That's a great advent first. And then beyond that, I want you to look at one more.
And this is actually in chapter 120 chapter 11 verse one
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
Now if you have a pencil or a pen in your hand right next to that verse I want you to write 5 letters.
Because that's the word that's used for branch. In that very important. Word and we'll be talking about that in a little bit.
So Isaiah gives them hope. He gives them hope to trust in him so that when the Assyrians show up, they are able to do exactly what they need to do and believe in God and survive and they do survive but There's something else going on in Isaiah and what happens by verse, chapter 39 is you realize that This reformation has only been skin deep.
And that's kind of shown in what happens to Hezekiah. Because hiszekiah kind of falls down and he doesn't quite get upright.
Then the book changes from chapter 40 to chapter 66 and this is millennial hope. This is how God is going to change the heart of the nation for good.
And it's going to be a lasting hope and it's going to be a lasting reformation and it's going to change their hearts and change their lives and right in the middle between I'm not good at math, but I think it's right in the middle between chapter 40 and chapter 66 you have Chapter 53 which is the answer.
Because that branch in that light in that child. Is going to become the Messiah who dies.
For all of mankind and is raised again from the dead. That is the millennial hope not only for Israel because this all has to do with Israel, but for all of mankind.
So Isaiah is a great book. And so here we are talking about light. And. I'm going to be looking at this verse in chapter 9.
And we'll go slowly a little bit because there's some things here to be explained but before we do that let's bring.
Heavenly father you have loved us so much I mean we've already talked about You giving us our Lord Jesus Christ, but there is so much.
Intertwined in all of this. And it's the idea of light. It's the idea of life.
It says that in him was life. In that life was the light. Of men. That light shines in the darkness in the darkness.
Has not and cannot overcome it. And so we thank you for that light. We thank you that this time of year we can think about what that means and and what these passages meant.
In allow you because of your great mercy and your great love for us just to reform our hearts to wake us up to move us on to help us celebrate even greater because of who you are and who our Savior is.
So we thank you in Jesus name. Amen. So starting at the beginning, what did this verse mean to these people who received it?
What kind of hope did this possibly give them? Started. Verse one in chapter 9, but there shall be no gloom for her who was an English in the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebul in the land of Nathali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea the land beyond the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles.
And then we have our verse, the people who walked in darkness, that would be these people have seen a great light.
Those who dwell dwelt in the land of deep darkness on them a light has shined. Now, what's interesting about this verse for these people is the way the verse starts, there shall be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
Why were these people in English? And that's what is explained in the verses just right above it in chapter 8.
In verse, where are we? 19. These people have had a history.
They have not been all being God. And therefore there is gloom and there is anguish in their life.
So God is going to be promising them. Light and it goes like this in verse 19 it says and when they say to you when the people say to Isaiah Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter.
Should the people not Should not a people inquire of their God? Why would they go somewhere else for answers?
And then he has the cry here. To the teaching and to the testimony. If they will not speak according to this word, It is because they have no dawn.
The idea here is that the people were not interested in going to God. And as a result of that, will see there was gloom in their life.
There will be, he says, there will be no dawn. Now, where should they have gone? It says right here.
Isaiah is going to say to them, go to the teaching and go to the testimony.
And the people refuse to do that. You know, if the people wanted answers. They had this thing in Israel.
It was called Truth and Light.
It was called Truth and Light and it was carried in the pouch that the high priest wore. They needed a question for anything, will it snow tomorrow?
All they had to do was go ask him. He could tell him 100%, whereas in Milwaukee you never know.
But he could tell them a hundred percent whether or not it was going to snow. He could tell them how the stock market, I, whatever the question was.
It was called Truth in Light. The earum and thumbn, that's literally what they mean truth and light.
The problem was you had to go to God. You had to go all the way down to Jerusalem.
Now, just for the sake of, I used to work with children, you know, and sometimes you just don't get it out of your blood.
So we're going to put Jerusalem right in here.
But from where they were, up in this part of the country. It was like a 75 to 90 mile trip to go down to Jerusalem.
Why do that when you can just
Go to a medium. Why do that if you can go to somebody who's close at hand in the next village?
You see that was the problem, right? The convenience of it. But what they didn't realize and what they won't realize is that the real problem is in here.
It isn't just the convenience. There is something about mankind because of sin that we don't want to go to God.
We'll make excuses that to go to, oh yeah, yeah, I'll go to God.
When are you going to go to God? Oh, don't worry. I'm going to go to, no, you're not going to go to God.
And see that really is sort of our problem too, isn't it?
It's so much easier to go to other things. And we have something today that that no other generation has been.
Confronted with or challenged with and that is such an overflow. Of information. You know it was interesting a couple of years back Was it a couple years back?
There was something that happened. And I forget exactly what it was. It was some kind of crisis in the world and people were going like crazy.
And they were going to experts. They were going online to experts and you can find anything you want to know.
If you want to know about any particular problem or whatever you can go online and you can find what your favorite singer says about it.
Or your favourite actresses about it or your famous favorite politician or your favorite Christian writer. In fact, this one I remember, a lot of people were, they were tweeting with, Matt Chandler and they were tweeting with some other guys and David Jeremiah and all these guys.
What is the answer to this thing? And I'm thinking to myself as I'm sitting there going, Well, is anybody tweeting this guy?
Are they digging out? We God has to say about it and finding his balance. Or his idea so they can find balance in their life and not be afraid and see the thing is even for us It is easier to learn about.
Jesus from someone else. Than to actually sit down and learn. From Jesus himself. But our whole world is like that.
And so. He says to Isaiah here, Tell them, go to the teaching and go to the testimony because The way they're following, there's no hope.
There's no dawn. There's no light that's going to break on them. You realize that when Jesus was talking Talking about the story the Richmond and Lazarus.
The rich man says send someone to my My father's house to warn my brothers and Abraham just says, don't worry about it.
They've got the law and the profits. And he says, no, Father Abraham, no, send some.
Because if somebody goes from the dead, they'll believe. And Abraham says, if they will not take the time.
To look at the law and the profits. They'll never be convinced by somebody even if he should rise from the dead.
It's right here. It's right here. And so he says as a result in verse 22.
They will look to the earth and behold the stress and darkness The gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.
And before that it says they'll be distressed and hungry and when they're hungry they'll be in rage.
Mad and they'll speak contemptuously against the king against the politicians and against all those people who are depending on for answers and they will also speak the same way against God.
They'll turn their faces upward and then they'll look to the earth for answers and behold all they'll have.
Is the stress and darkness. In the gloom of anguish. That was the situation that Israel was in at that time.
The kings were not providing answers for them. Their lives, they were living lives of hunger without satisfaction.
God is telling them through Isaiah this is not the way to go, but I'm going to show you.
Where light comes from. And I'm going to give you light. And I just want to take the break here and say this is exactly what happens in our world too.
Where do people look for hope? Where do people look for answers? And the thing is, is that God cries out for people who are hungry.
He cries off for people who are thirsty, cries up for people who finally come to the realization that it is not here on the earth to be found.
You can put your trust in politicians. I got bad news for anybody who has great hopes in this next election.
Neither the Republican Party or the Democratic Party is going to save. This country. It'll have to be something else.
Those people who are hanging all their hopes on that, they're going to come away hungry, they're going to come away thirsty, they can come away mad.
They're going to curse the politicians, they're going to curse God, they're going to look around and they're going to say what in the world is going on here.
Where is the direction? What is the meaning of life? Those are good questions to ask. Because that is not where any of that is found.
And so where is light? Where is light to be found?
In these verses, God also says something else. In verse 9, I'm sorry, verse one.
He says, in the former time, he brought contempt, brought into contempt the land of Zebulin.
In the land of Nethphali. But in the later time, he has made glorious the weight of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan.
Galilee of the Gentiles. Now, Let's see if I can get this stuff set up here.
OK, so Napthali. Top of Israel. Nafta is in the top of Israel, right?
And right under them. Is zebulin, like right there. Now, Zebuland is interesting because right here you have Nazareth.
And Nazareth, this straight line here is very interesting because There's actually a thing called the Nazareth Ridge.
I didn't even know that. I mean, that's what you can get from googling.
Certain things, the Nazareth Ridge. Very interesting. OK, what else have we got here?
Let's put the see a galle in here.
So why does God say he brought these 2 lands into contempt. Well, the reason is this, whenever it disaster came into Israel, to Jerusalem.
90 miles south of 75 miles south, it always came through them. Because if the Assyrians came and the Assyrians will come, they always came in this direction here.
They didn't come along the coast, that would have been over here. They came this direction. And imagine that having I for these people especially having the armies of Babylon come through the armies of Assyria come through, the armies of Syria come through and In the future there will be armies coming right through this area.
I mean It says, brought them into contempt because I'm sure the people who live down here say, yeah, nothing good ever comes out of NAFTA lie.
We already know they say nothing good ever came out of Nazareth, but also Zebul and because this is where the enemies would come from.
But imagine being those people. When these armies came through They were looting in pillaging and killing people.
And you were always the first ones on the list. Why do they have to come down through us? And they did.
So God is saying that these people here will see. A great light. He's saying that there is hope.
Now, just so you understand that these are verses that have to do with the nativity. They are said, for example, in Matthew.
I believe it's chapter 4. But it has to do there specifically with John the Baptist, but John is the one who is bringing the message of the hope that the Messiah is coming.
But even better than that is in Luke chapter one where Zechariah John the Baptist dad is filled with the spirit.
And he prophesies.
About the Ministry of John and he uses this verse again. And there in those contexts it says who lived in the the shadow of the Valley of Death.
That deep darkness had to do with death. It had to do with the destruction and that's where these people lived.
And so what God is promising them is this. And maybe they're only thinking about the Assyrians at this point.
Death and destruction is going to come down and sweep through here and this is the way the Assyrians came but he said this he said I'm going to give you hope.
And in that particular place in chapter 36 37 and 38 There was great hope that God brought.
But we know these verses to be verses about Jesus. Now this is this is the interesting thing.
What kind of light did Jesus bring in here? You know, the thing is he could have gone down to Jerusalem, right?
We know he's born in Bethlehem, but that's out where he lived.
He lived up here in Zebulum in Naftali. I'm in Nazareth.
You know, and where he hung out was right at the top of the Sea of Galilee here in Capernaum.
And so that's where most of his ministry was. And that's where he hung out.
Can you imagine the privilege of that? To have Jesus living there during that time.
Now this is where I think especially the the application comes to us. I mean these people had Jesus walking, talking, teaching.
Them all the time. I mean, they could come right up to him and they could ask him questions and Jesus could sometimes give them a direct answer or kind of a cryptic answer depending upon their faith and all that stuff.
But they had him there. What a privilege. I mean, think of who Jesus is. Everything was made through him.
There was nothing made that was made. Without him. In him was life and the life was the light of men.
He came.
To the earth and the earth was made by him. But they didn't know him. He came to his own people.
His own home and his own people received him not. But he was there. I mean I mean, how can we express our glorious Jesus?
And he was there. With them. Walking with them, living with them. Wow.
I mean, if any group of people I mean, what an answer to this, this prophecy, right?
They have seen a great light.
And one day Jesus is walking and somebody says to him, he says, Lord. And this cluster is that they say, Lord, will those who are saved be many or few?
And Jesus turns around and he says, struggle, fight. To get into the kingdom. He said because Many will want to get in and they won't be able to because when once the house holder rises and he shuts the door then you will stand outside and you'll knock at the door and say, Lord, let us in.
And he said, I'm the householder is going to say to you, I don't know who you are.
Oh, wait a minute, Lord. You preached in our streets. We sat at the table and we ate with you.
And he's going to say, Be gone for me, you workers of evil. I don't know who you are.
How is it possible? To take the light for granted. How is it possible and they were doing it?
To look at Jesus and see miracles and listen to the words he said and have your heart stirred and go, I don't need that.
Yeah, I appreciate it. You know, obviously it gave me a liver shiver when I heard that, obviously it gave me a liver shiver when I heard that, but I don't think I need that much light.
For almost 2,000 years now. We've had the light. And I still get the feeling that people say, I don't need that much light.
I don't really care. It's nice that he's here, but I see light all over the place.
I don't feel In particular, like I'm in danger, but the fact that the light is there is actually saying you're in danger but it's also saying there's hope and you should grab it.
You should invest yourself in it. I mean, when you say that, you should invest yourself. 100%.
Can you invest yourself a thousand percent? Probably not. But why not? Why not give it a try?
And I have been a pastor now for Too many decades, probably. And I walk into a church.
And I see elders in the church and I've learned the hard way never to assume. There in the Word of God.
Never to assume a deacon is in the Word of God, never to assume that people earn the Word of God.
You know they get enough light. You don't need all that light. Right? I mean, you get too much like, maybe you'll bleach out.
I don't know what happens. Yeah. You know, too much light. Let me ask you a question.
If you have too much light, then I guess you need, what do you need? Do you need a little bit more darkness, right?
Because if you don't have light, you've got darkness. Let me ask you a question.
How much darkness is too much darkness?
You don't know and I don't know, right? Let me ask you another question. How much red hair is too much red hair in your tuna?
How much human waste is too much human waste in your drinking water? Yeah, equal like, If it doesn't kill you, it makes you strong, right?
That's what Germans say. Baloney if it doesn't kill you it keeps you Now functioning and crippled and hardly able to function.
You know, in John chapter 3 it says the reason people don't come to Jesus is because they love darkness.
Rather than light. Now, That I understand lost people ought to act like lost people, right? They've got no choice.
But you want to see them open their heart to the light. But the thing is for God's people.
Where is there an excuse for that? And the longer I live, the more I wonder about that. The light has come into the world and we have to herald it and if we're not heralding it and you know I don't mean, you know, like run out to Bay Fir Mall and run through the halls, you know, like Kevin at home alone, you know.
But what about loving your neighbor. What about taking something over to your neighbour? What about inviting your neighbour over?
What about praying like crazy that God will give you these openings? That's also light. And I have a feeling that sometimes as a church we get tired of light.
You cannot get too much light. Because the more Jesus shines in the you the more you understand his love
Oh. The more you're able to show it to other people.
That I think is the Christmas message. I mean, if there's anyone here, and I sort of kind of doubt it, that doesn't know Jesus.
This is light. This is an opening of your life. This is a chance. Well, the light is shining.
I mean, I never knew what I was coming into. I mean, I came to Jesus because it was like I was wrecking my life.
I wasn't concerned about light. I was concerned about a whole lot of things. I was just working my life and I got the idea that he died in the cross for my sins and you know that song, Jesus, take the wheel, I was saying, Jesus, buy the car. Take it.
I don't want it. Do something. And I had no expectation that he was going to do anything else with my life.
Just here I am, I am in danger. And please help me. And what came out of it was like, like blessing way beyond my intelligence.
And God showing me things that I could never see. And having 2 wives that were entirely above my pay grade.
And it's just blessing upon blessing upon blessing. And I'm asking myself, how can I hold back?
How can I say I don't want any more of you? I don't want any more light.
I can't do that, neither can you. We don't know what he can do with our lives.
So the idea is we need to. Opening up.
And you know there's a verse in in Matthew.
Were Jesus says, Father, I thank you that you have shown these things to babes and you've hidden them.
From the wise and understanding. Being like babes. Little children. You know, it's that Jesus said to us, the disciples, if you don't have that kind of faith, You're going to miss a whole lot of stuff.
And I was reading a verse the other day where it says, You know, sell everything that you have and light your lamps and your lines be girded and be like those who are waiting.
For the master to come home. From the feast so that you can open the door. The minute, the second that he knocks on the door.
And I think about that kind of anticipation, isn't it like a little kid waiting for mommy or daddy to come home?
He was just, you know, running around the door, not here yet, or like a little puppy dog, just kind of doing circles and all that kind of stuff.
That excitement. That excitement. See, we mature. Ourselves away from excitement.
It's just not proper. To have excitement. I think if G, Paul says being filled with the spirit means addressing one another in sums as hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all of our strength.
I don't think that's quite reserve. I think it's just joy. I think it's just like being children.
And then Jesus says something beyond that. He says, Father, I thank you. He said no one knows the sun except the father.
No one knows the father except the son and any to whom he reveals him and he says Come to me all who are who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn for me.
And learn from me. He doesn't say learn from Charles Stanley.
He doesn't say learn from David Jeremiah. He says, learn. From me. That word, learn, is the word for disciple.
A disciple sits at Jesus feet. In the Word and allows the light of Jesus to flood his heart.
Or her heart. In the Holy Spirit is there and this is a faith thing. If you have faith, you sit there with him.
And he opens your heart.
In its light. And it's light. You know, this first is an interesting verse because
I don't think it's been fully. Fulfilled yet. Those who sat in darkness have seen a great light and also as it applies to nafta lion zebulin.
I think that there's still something coming. Isn't it part of the gospel or part of it, especially us as Plymouth brethren, right?
That Jesus is coming back. I mean, that's the jumping up and down and that's the acting like the little kid and acting like the puppy dog and he's coming back.
And Jesus told us the disciples, tell people the kingdom of God is coming and they got to repent.
But the kingdom of God is coming. If he's coming, this is a happy thing. Let me.
Let me add a couple things to this here. First of all, I mention that there's a ridge here, right?
The ridge of the Nazareth Ridge. Go look it up on Google. You'll see people doing selfies on it.
But even more than seeing selfies, now it's a great place for observation. So I brought a couple of Nazarenes with me, compliments of my uncle's collection.
Okay, are you are you from Nazareth? Yeah, OK, good. These guys are so compliant, I love it.
Yeah, he's excited. This is an amazing observation deck here. No, they are not NASA rights, okay?
They are Nazarenes. Jesus was a Nazarene, not a Nazarene.
He was a Nazarene because he came from Nazareth.
Oh boy.
Remember I told you to write that word by Isaiah chapter 11
That branch that sprouts from Jesse. Is an Nassar. From which comes the word. Nasaurat.
The place of the branch. Jesus was from Nazareth. You know anything about Dutch names?
The fond something? Jesus from Nazareth, the branch. He is the branch. It was like hidden in his name and how often did people say that and they never understood what they were saying.
But there's an interesting thing here. When Jesus comes to the people of Nazareth and he says, I have been anointed to bring good news and the system.
It's all been fulfilled today and you're hearing. They get into this tussle because they're disrespecting him and he says to them, he says a couple of hard things to them and they drag him out.
And where do they take Jesus? To the cliff upon which the city was built. The Nazareth Ridge.
They took him to the Nazareth Ridge. And the thing that is so interesting, I mean this has really kind of changed the whole idea of Nazareth in my mind.
The thing that is interesting from the Nazareth Ridge is what you see.
Here's what you see that Dan is not good at art, but anyway.
This is the plane. Of Jezreel.
This is where Gideon fought. The plane of Jezreel, this huge valley. I mean, you get a look at that you go on those pictures you see this like it is just totally amazing this valley out there you go okay they grow things out there.
This is where battles have been fought. Now imagine this. Imagine this. Jerusalem is way down there.
Armies come in from here and they feel. The jet, the the valley of Jezreel.
They fill the valley of Jezreel. Now, if they're coming in from this side, And they're going what?
Southwest. You'd want to be standing down there to watch those armies coming in there, wouldn't you?
Thankfully, there's a great observation post down there. There's this hill. And the hill is called The Hill of Megiddo or
Harmagido, Armageddon. This is where generals set up their posts.
Folks, this is where
The 10 Kings. In the Antichrist in the false prophet will be standing.
As the kings from the north fill the valley as their armies. Fill the valley and they are waiting.
For the Messiah. To fight him. And this is going to be hard for everybody in Nathalie and everybody in Zabul.
What are we going to do? Seeing these armies come through, seeing the darkness, Jesus himself said that if those days had not been shortened, no human being would have lived but for the sake of elect.
The elect, those days will be shortened. And at that critical moment when it is the darkness, darkest.
There will be a sign in heaven.
And we know from Zachary and some other people that Jesus heads first. To Jerusalem. And they'll be fighting, according to Zakaria, they'll be fighting in the city and he's going to bring that to an end.
He's going to touch down. And Mount Olivet, he will stop the fighting in the city and then he and his army.
Head north. In those people who sat in darkness. In the valley of the shadow of death will see a light.
Hmm. Would you like, wouldn't you like to be standing there?
And see this verse fulfilled. For the final time. The thing about that is. Excuse me, I'm sorry.
We'll have better seats.
Because of my reading of Revelation is right, we're on horses. And we're following them.
They will see a great light. And The light that he brings, the closure that he brings, the the beginning of the millennial kingdom.
Israel will finally be the people they were. To be. They will be. His light to a world.
It'll be glorious.
So what are we supposed to do? I mean this is, that's still all prophecy, that's still all to come.
What are we supposed to do? And I've just really got One verse for you guys in closing, So much of our lives are spent in saying, Lord, what am I supposed to do?
What direction should my life take? What is life all about? What do I do? And the thing is he's in so many passages in the Bible he's already told us.
And so I'm going to give this to you on what you're supposed to be doing for the Christmas season.
All right. It says, but you are a chosen race. A royal priesthood, a holy nation.
A people for his own possession that you may proclaim. The excellencies. Of him who called you out of darkness.
Into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people, once you had not received mercy, But now you have received mercy.
Praise God for His light. And let's tell other people. The excellencies of him who called us out of darkness.
Into this wonderful glorious light who is Jesus. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you. There's nobody in this room who deserves. Any of the grace they've received.
There's nobody in this room who deserves.
A shepherd who has ventured out into the night.
To find that one lost sheep.
But our saviors done that.
You provided them for us. And so father, as we look into this Christmas season and we celebrate the light.
And so father, as we look into this Christmas season, and we celebrate the light, we celebrate the light, we celebrate the light, we celebrate the beauty, we celebrate the joy and everything. And we celebrate the light. We celebrate the beauty. We celebrate the joy and everything.
We realize that there are so many people around us. Who are still trapped in darkness and they know something's wrong and they don't know what it is.
So help us to. Talk about the excellencies of him.
Who is the light of the world? Who has this in Jesus name? Hey man.
Have a great Sunday. Enjoy the Lord and proclaim his excellencies.