Isaiah 9:1-7
Hope and Fears, A gift and A Certainty
Isaiah 9:1-7
I preach as never sure to preach again and as a dying man to dying men.
Baxter, R., (use)
Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (use)
Approach
It's the coming together of people in warmth and love at the coldest and darkest time of the year in the only life and home we will ever know.
Copson (Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association) 2016 (use)
He came not just to make equality possible on earth but to make eternity possible in heaven.
Platt, D., 2017. Counter Culture: Following Christ in an Anti-christian Age. (use)
Old Testament points us to Jesus. New Testament reveals.
1 Kings 8:27
But can you, O God, really live on earth? Not even all heaven is large enough to hold you, so how can this Temple that I have built be large enough?" (use)
Hopes and Fears
Isaiah 9 v.1-5
1. There will be no way for them to escape from this time of trouble. The land of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali was once disgraced, but the future will bring honour to this region, from the Mediterranean eastwards to the land on the other side of the Jordan, and even to Galilee itself, where the foreigners live. 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. They lived in a land of shadows, but now light is shining on them. 3. You have given them great joy, LORD ; you have made them happy. They rejoice in what you have done, as people rejoice when they harvest their corn or when they divide captured wealth. 4. For you have broken the yoke that burdened them and the rod that beat their shoulders. You have defeated the nation that oppressed and exploited your people, just as you defeated the army of Midian long ago. 5. The boots of the invading army and all their bloodstained clothing will be destroyed by fire. (use)
A Darkness and Great light
I knew myself to be so horribly guilty that I remember feeling that if God did not punish me for sin, He ought to do so.
Spurgeon (use)
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? (French Artist)
Gauguin, P., (use)
I intend to live forever, or die trying.
Marx, G., (use)
Death waits for no man – and if he does, he doesn’t usually wait for very long.
Zusak, M., (use)
Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (use)
Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (use)
Great Joy as God Wins the Victory
As in the past God has Broken yokes and the rod, defeated the oppressor
Judges 7:4
Then the LORD said to Gideon, "You still have too many men. Take them down to the water, and I will separate them for you there. If I tell you a man should go with you, he will go. If I tell you a man should not go with you, he will not go." (use)
A Gift
Isaiah 9 v.6-7
A child is born to us! A son is given to us! And he will be our ruler. He will be called, "Wonderful Counsellor", "Mighty God", "Eternal Father", "Prince of Peace". His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David's successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time. The LORD Almighty is determined to do all this. (use)
A Child
Genesis 15:5
The LORD took him [Abram] outside and said, "Look at the sky and try to count the stars; you will have as many descendants as that. (use)
Genesis 1:26-27
Then God said, "And now we will make human beings; they will be like us and resemble us. They will have power over the fish, the birds, and all animals, domestic and wild, large and small." So God created human beings, making them to be like himself. He created them male and female, (use)
Given not created
A son
Philippians 2:6-7
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. (use)
As our Ruler
Philippians 2:9-11
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, (use)
The Names
His name - This is not to be taken for a description of his name, but of his glorious nature and qualities.
Wesley, J., 1765. Explanatory Notes. (use)
Wonderful Counsellor
Wonderful in action, lacking not in understanding
Psalm 78:11-13
They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them. He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand up like a wall. (use)
Isaiah 40:13
Who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord, or instruct the Lord as his counselor? (use)
Mighty God
Proven through the history of the people of Israel as recorded within OT.
Deuteronomy 10:17
The LORD your God is supreme over all gods and over all powers. He is great and mighty, and he is to be feared. He does not show partiality, and he does not accept bribes. (use)
Daniel 3:29
And now I {Nebuchadnezzar} command that if anyone of any nation, race, or language speaks disrespectfully of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, he is to be torn limb from limb, and his house is to be made a pile of ruins. There is no other god who can rescue like this. (use)
Eternal Father
On the one hand, this makes sense: identity is the hot issue of our age. On the other, it makes no sense at all, because your identity is, we keep being told, whatever you want it to be.
Freeman, H. 2017. Identity is the issue of our age. Guardian. (use)
Where then can we find our identity?
Psalm 139:13-16
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. (use)
Matthew 6:8-9
Do not be like them. Your Father already knows what you need before you ask him. This, then, is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured;" (use)
For he is our Father Forever.
Prince of Peace
Colossians 1:21-22
At one time you were far away from God and were his enemies because of the evil things you did and thought. But now, by means of the physical death of his Son, God has made you his friends, in order to bring you, holy, pure, and faultless, into his presence. (use)
Romans 5:1
Now that we have been put right with God through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (use)
A Certainty
Isaiah 9 v.7
His royal power will continue to grow; his kingdom will always be at peace. He will rule as King David's successor, basing his power on right and justice, from now until the end of time. The LORD Almighty is determined to do all this. (use)
Heaven is not coming apart at the seams by inattention. God is never at wits’ end with his heavenly realm. He sits. And he sits on a throne. All is at peace and he has control.
Piper, J., 2013. Doctrine Matters: Ten Theological Trademarks from a Lifetime of Preaching. (use)
Jeremiah 31:35
This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name: (use)
Matthew 4:13-14
He [Jesus] did not stay in Nazareth, but went to live in Capernaum, a town by Lake Galilee, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. This was done to make what the prophet Isaiah had said come true: (Fullfilment of 9.1) (use)
Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach his message: "Turn away from your sins, because the Kingdom of heaven is near!" (use)
Romans 5:6
For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose. (use)
Ephesians 2:6
In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world. (use)