Peter Barnes: Isaiah 9:1-5 (NO AUDIO)
(16 December 2018)
SERMON NOTES: LIGHT SHINES IN THE DARKNESS (Isaiah 9:1-5)
Recall the immediate context – Isa.8:21-22. Then in chapter 9 we have the proclamation of the coming of the Messiah. Verses 6-7 are the highlight, but let us look now at the lead-up to those verses.
1. There will be light in unexpected places.
– 9:1-2. It is written in the perfect tense, but it is the so-called prophetic perfect, where the future is so certain to God that it can be written as though it were past.
– Matt.4:12-17. God does not choose the most promising people to bless; He chooses whom He chooses.
– Isa.60:1-3; Acts 26:18; 1 Peter 2:9. What is the life without Christ like? John 3:19.
2. There will be joy at the expansion of the nation.
– 9:3. The nations is multiplied, expanded, restored in a far greater way.
– Luke 2:10-11. That is a message of joy.
3. There will be victory that leads to freedom and peace.
– 9:4; see Judges 7:2.
– the death of war – Isa.9:5. This is not just a victory, but the final victory, of peace everlasting. Ps.46:9-10..
God will achieve a surprising victory in a surprising place. In a place of anguish and defeat and darkness and oppression there will be light and joy and freedom and peace.