Message Information
- Key Scriptures: Isaiah 9:1-7, NASB
- Series: Jesus in the Old Testament (2024), no. 11
- Date: Sunday, December 22, 2024 (Morning)
- Venue: Central Baptist Church — Lawton, Oklahoma
- Speaker: Jared Byrns
- Audio File: Open/Download
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Waiting for the King
Over the last few weeks, Janie has been talking to the kids about waiting. And that is something we all have to do. It is something we all have to get comfortable with, even if we do not like it.
As much as I, at times, wish the world in some ways would be like the world my grandparents lived in or grew up in, there are other aspects of it that I am good with being like it is. I like Amazon Prime, and they did not have that in the 1930s. I like that two-day shipping. I like that I can successfully avoid going to the store from the week before Halloween to the week after New Year’s—unless my wife needs something last minute, and then I have to prove my love to her by going to the store.
Between Amazon and Walmart, we can get most things we want in two days. If you think about where the world was a hundred years ago, that is miraculous. But still, that two days of waiting—sometimes this time of year it turns into more like six days of shipping—can feel so long. You wait and anticipate, and even though two days, or even six days, to get whatever you want from the other side of the planet is miraculous, it can still feel like the longest period in history, depending on what you are waiting on.
I want it here right now. The worst thing is when I am waiting for days and days, waiting on a package to arrive, wondering why it has not arrived. Then I will say something to Charla: “When is this Amazon package going to get here? When is this going to be delivered?” And she will say, “It was delivered a week ago. It is there in the classroom.” The package has been there the whole time. Why didn’t somebody tell me? It had my name on it. They did not know what was in it. They just laid it there for me.
Sometimes the package has been there the whole time, and we did not even recognize it. Over the last several weeks, we have been looking at places where the Old Testament points to Jesus. This morning, we are going to look at a passage in Isaiah chapter 9 that describes the coming of the Messiah. The people of Israel were waiting, waiting, waiting for this Messiah to arrive, and they continued to wait even after He arrived, not realizing He was already here. They were like us, waiting on the Amazon package that is right there, waiting to be opened.
The Old Testament devotes a tremendous amount of space to the coming of the King, the coming of the Messiah. Still, some people missed it. But our King is here, and we are going to read about His coming in Isaiah chapter 9.
Starting in verse 1, it says, “But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; they will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
God Taught Israel to Expect the Messiah
As I mentioned a moment ago, the Old Testament devotes a lot of space to the coming of the Messiah. God taught Israel to expect the Messiah’s coming. If you read through the Old Testament, you cannot go very far without finding something that is pointing to the coming of the Messiah. This passage is no different.
Now, this prophecy differs a little bit from most of the passages we have studied previously as we have been looking for examples of Jesus showing up in the Old Testament. As we have looked at some of these stories and some of these prophecies, what we have seen is God working in circumstances that were going on right then. God was doing something in that moment, but He was doing it in such a way that it also pointed to a future coming of the Messiah.
In just about everything we have looked at up to this point, there has been the immediate fulfillment of what God was talking about, that they understood, and then there has been the ultimate fulfillment that they did not understand until the Messiah came. But this is different. In this prophecy, God is talking about one thing. It is not Him leading a trail of breadcrumbs through history where people would eventually figure out what He was talking about.
This is something that, when Isaiah spoke it and when the people read it or heard it, they knew God was talking about the coming of the Messiah and what it was going to be like. God is very explicit in the fact that He is describing the Messiah. A lot of times, when we talk about Jesus coming, we pick up at verses 6 and 7. But if you go to the beginning of this part of the prophecy in verse 1, He is talking about those who were in anguish in earlier times. It is clear that He is hearkening back to something else.
If you go to chapter 8, He is talking about the struggles Israel was facing at that time. What God is doing here is drawing a comparison. Especially when He mentions Zebulun and Naphtali, He is talking about parts of northern Israel that had really been hit hard by circumstances.
These were among the tribes that were first attacked and carried off by the Assyrians after the kingdom split. They had not known a good king. They had not known a righteous king in several hundred years. They had suffered plagues and famine. When we talk about the days of Elijah and the days of King Ahab, when it did not rain for years at a time, this is the part of Israel that was hit by that.
They had been hit time after time after time. And even then, they were facing attack. They were facing oppression at the hands of the Assyrians and other people. They were not having a good time. They were not experiencing peace or prosperity. They were not experiencing anything good.
God is comparing their current circumstances to what He was going to do. He was preparing to send One who, He says in verse 1, would make it glorious for them. They would have understood that this was a future King. They would have understood that this was the Messiah. Not only was the Messiah coming for Israel, but for those who were particularly suffering, God had a plan in mind for them. Out of this place that was so oppressed, out of these people who were so beaten down, was going to come the glorious King that He talks about.
God taught them to expect the Messiah’s coming. They knew that this is who He is talking about in chapter 9. This is the coming of the Messiah. And it is a promise in particular to people who are suffering.
Hope for a Suffering People
It is not that much different from our world today. There are people who walk with God who still suffer. Somewhere along the way, we got this idea that if we walk with God, if we serve Him, if we do the right things, everything will be wonderful. You can turn on your TV this afternoon, and there will be no shortage of preachers who will tell you that if you are faithful enough, everything is going to be wonderful—from the doctor’s report to your bank account.
That is not what Jesus promised us. We are promised that in this world we will have tribulation. We will have trouble. But in the midst of that, God looks at His people and gives us a hope for the future in the coming of the King.
They understood that God was paying particular attention to His people who were struggling. This promise meant that when the Messiah came, it would especially be good news for those people in northern Israel. But He is not just saying, “There is going to come a time that is better than what you are experiencing now.” He tells them what this Messiah is going to be like.
The picture we have here is that the Messiah is the greatest King ever. There is nobody else who is going to live up to this description. He says, “Here is what it is going to be like when this Messiah comes. Here is what you are going to experience when the King comes to you.”
There are several things the Messiah was going to do or bring. First of all, the Messiah was going to bring light to the people. Verse 2 says, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them.”
I think Miss Janie has talked to the kids about how, for 400 years, the people walked in darkness. That meant they were believing God’s promise that He was going to send a Messiah. But for about 400 years, God had not spoken to the nation of Israel through the prophets. We see from some stories after Jesus’ birth that there were individuals who had received promises. They knew they were going to meet the Messiah. God was talking to individuals, but God had not sent a message to the nation of Israel.
As far as the nation as a whole was concerned, it was like God had gone dark on them. God had gone silent on them. Then, all of a sudden, God revealed Himself in the fullest way possible when God became flesh and dwelt among us. The Messiah was going to bring light. John talks about this in John chapter 1, where we get that language that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He talks about Jesus being a light to God’s people. He brought light to people in darkness.
Those of you today who know Jesus Christ experience that spiritual light of knowing God and being reconciled to God. We are born in spiritual darkness. We are born separated from Him. The only reason we have that light is because of Jesus. It is not because we are so wonderful, but because Jesus pierced that darkness.
Jesus not only brought light to us individually, but the teachings of Jesus have had effects down through the centuries that have enlightened civilizations. When we talk about some of the evils that took place in the ancient world and how those evils were overcome, it was because of the gospel. Christians were the first to look at women and say we are not going to treat them like property anymore. Christians were the ones saying, “If you are going to abandon your babies that have defects or are not what you want, then we will take them and raise them.”
Christians, because of the gospel, were the first ones to start hospitals and orphanages and universities. It was because of the teachings of Jesus Christ that the slave trade ended, not only in Rome, but eventually in the British Empire and in the United States. The teachings of Jesus Christ and His presence bring light with them wherever they go. The Messiah was going to bring light to the people.
The Kingdom Multiplied and Filled with Joy
Then we see in verse 3 that the Messiah will grow His kingdom. It says, “You shall multiply the nation.” For them, this is the idea that Israel was going to be strong and powerful. But there is a double meaning in this one, because Isaiah talks elsewhere about the Messiah bringing light to the Gentiles.
When it says the Messiah was going to multiply the kingdom, that meant there would be more in the kingdom than just Israel. He was going to bring people who were strangers and aliens from God into the fold and make them part of God’s covenant. “You will multiply the nation.” That refers to the engrafting of the Gentiles into the people of God.
Thank God that He did that, because that is most of us. We were talking at the Live Nativity the other night, and somebody asked me, “If all these characters we are portraying are Jewish, why are we having ham sandwiches in the tent back here?” Well, we are Jewish on stage and Gentiles in the tent. I do not know what to tell you.
But that is most of us. Because of Jesus Christ, the ability to be reconciled to God is no longer limited just to the Jewish people. It is for all people. The kingdom has been multiplied. The nation has been multiplied because of our Messiah.
Verse 3 also says that the Messiah will bring joy to those under His rule. It says, “They will be glad in Your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” So the Lord, speaking as though He is speaking to the Messiah, says that when the people are in His presence, they are going to find joy. It is going to be like harvest day when all the crops come in. It is going to be like when our enemies are defeated and we are able to gather the spoils of war.
Most of us are not farmers, and most of us are not going and pillaging neighboring villages, so we have trouble relating to this. But imagine the day the Christmas bonus check arrives, or tax refund day, or—I do not want to say you won the lottery—but say you found a winning lottery ticket blowing down the street. It is a running joke in our house. Charla always said that she was never going to marry a preacher. She was never going to move away from Moore. I said, “Can you tell God you will never find a winning lottery ticket just blowing down the street? Can you do that?”
Imagine that everything you need suddenly falls into your lap, and imagine the kind of joy you would experience over that. That is what it is going to be like in the presence of the Messiah. Not just because of physical provision, and I believe we will see that when the kingdom is finally fulfilled, but even now there is a joy we are supposed to experience because of the presence of Jesus that is in us and goes with us.
If we do not experience that joy, something is wrong. That does not mean that we never have a bad day as Christians. That is unrealistic. But I have known some people in churches who are joyless and, dare I say, downright mean. You cannot help but think something has gone wrong there. I think of one lady years ago. I could tell you stories, but I am not going to. Come see me afterward if you want to hear the stories.
As Christians, we ought to be characterized by joy because we have found, in the words of some of those early apostles who met Jesus, the One we have been waiting for. God promised that His people would experience joy in His kingdom, joy under His rule. We experience joy under His rule—or we should—today. And when His kingdom comes, the joy will be boundless.
Justice, Peace, and the Rule of the Messiah
Part of that joy is because of His presence, just because of Him. And part of it is because of what He does for us. Verse 4 says that the Messiah will establish justice for the good of His people: “You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian.”
Throughout ancient history, a lot of people took it upon themselves to oppress the nation of Israel. They took it upon themselves to oppress God’s people. It is not that different today. Whether you look at Israel or whether you look at the church, sometime go look at the Voice of the Martyrs website, and you can see that there is no shortage of people who have set out to mistreat God’s people.
I was looking at a list the other day of the 40 or 50 worst places in the world to be a Christian. Some of the places on the list were not all that surprising. But I saw Mexico on the list, and I thought, “What?” I have gone on church mission trips to Mexico. The government did not really hassle us. So I read their blurb on what is going on in Mexico. It is not the government. It is social pressure and cartels and things like that.
When we think of people mistreating the church, we think of communist governments. We think of things like those. But sometimes there are societal pressures that make it where people can lose their lives for being Christians, even in supposedly free countries. That is baked into the cake. As Christians, we are taught not to be surprised by that when it happens in this world. We are to be prepared for it. We should be willing, when necessary, to suffer for the name of Jesus.
But there is going to be a day when all of that is over with. Whatever persecution they suffer, that yoke will be broken. Whatever it has cost you—and let’s be honest, whatever it costs us here pales in comparison to what it costs our brothers and sisters overseas—He is going to more than make up for it with the justice and the joy that He brings. Just being in His presence will make it all worth it. But He promises that He will one day right the wrongs that have been done to His people.
That is important for us to know because sometimes this world is not fair. Do your kids ever overuse that word? “It’s not fair.” I like the answer from Bluey: “It’s fairly fair.” Sometimes it actually is fair, but the world is not always fair. We do not always experience justice on this side of eternity. But as Christians, that does not have to eat us alive because we know God is going to do what is right in the end.
The Messiah will establish justice. The Messiah will impose peace. Every boot of the warrior, every cloak rolled in blood, he says, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. All these things of war will be burned up.
We are not talking about pacifism in this world. We are talking about when Jesus comes again to reign. There is the initial conflict that Revelation speaks of, where Satan makes his last futile stab at power. But once Jesus stamps that out, there is no longer any need for war or conflict because all of creation is in submission to the King.
I do not know about you, but that is one of the things I look forward to most about eternity. Sometimes you have to have conflict because it is worse if you do not, but I am not a conflict guy. There are some people in my house—and I will not name names—whose motto is, “Fine, let’s blow it up. Let’s do it.” That is not me. It makes me physically ill to think, “Oh, we are going to have to have conflict now.” There is a time when all of that is going to be done, and there will be peace as the world submits to the Messiah.
He is going to rule well. Verse 6 says the whole of the government will rest on His shoulders. The Messiah will rule well. He can handle it.
Do you ever look at the news and wonder who is in charge? Oh my goodness, take this drone story by itself. We probably all have questions and theories, but I look at the drone story and think, “Nobody knows what is going on. Nobody is in charge of this. Are we looking into this?” I know there are things that, national-security-wise, I cannot know. But not only that story—it is just the latest thing I look at and think, “Is anybody actually in charge here?”
We have a whole executive branch full of people. We have 535 people in Congress. We have a judicial branch. We have states and federal and local and city governments. Sometimes you look at the world and think, “Is anybody handling this?” I tell you what: when Jesus rules, nobody is going to look at it and say, “Is anybody handling this?” He will have under control what all the human governments could not. The government will rest on His shoulders. He is going to rule well.
Only Jesus Fits the Description
They read this, and they are thinking there is a King coming. They are excited that He is coming. But there were some things they missed because they were looking for a regular human king—an extraordinary man, maybe, but still a regular human being. They were looking for somebody who was going to come in, kick the Romans out, and establish a golden age.
But there are things even in this passage that tell us only Jesus can fit this description of this conquering King who is coming back to reign. Only Jesus could fit the description. All the things I have explained here that the Messiah is going to do, Jesus has done them, He is doing them, or He promises to do them. They all fit within His list of responsibilities.
The Messiah is described in this passage in divine terms that no earthly king can fulfill. Verse 6 calls Him the Eternal Father, and verse 7 says He sits on the throne of David forever. Show me a person who can do anything forever. None of us can do that because we do not live forever.
People now live longer than they used to on average, but still, all of us have an expiration date. The Lord says it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment. Who can rightly be called eternal? Who can do these things forever? No king, no politician, no military man I have ever heard of.
It also says in verse 6 that He will be called Mighty God. Let me tell you, no prophet of God would ever apply that term to a mere man. No Jewish prophet would ever look at a human king and say, “He is our God.” You realize that is what they crucified Jesus for. That is why they were so upset and turned Jesus over to the Romans. It was because He made Himself out to be God. That was the height of offense to them. And yet here we have the prophet saying that this King will be Mighty God.
These are not terms that can be applied to a mere man. So we know this is not some leader we are still waiting on. The package is here waiting to be opened. Jesus is all the things that God promised here.
When it says “Wonderful Counselor,” it is talking about somebody who would be wise in His rule. Nobody is wiser than Jesus. Even nonbelievers, when they read through the Gospels, recognize the wisdom that Jesus had. Even His detractors in His day were in awe of the things He said—and not only that, of the times He did not say anything at all. They realized they could not outdo His wisdom.
He is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. That means it is describing somebody powerful, somebody who is God in human flesh. This cannot be an ordinary man. When it says “Eternal Father,” it does not mean that Jesus is the Father. The Bible is clear. Jesus is God the Son, and God the Father is a separate person. We can get into a Trinity discussion later, but I do want you to understand that this does not mean Jesus is the Father. What it means is that He cares and provides for His people the way a father does.
Then it says He is the Prince of Peace. He brings peace. Even in the moment that could have been maximum conflict for Him and His followers, the moment they came to arrest Jesus, His followers were ready to resist. Peter grabbed his sword, and Jesus told him to put it away. Jesus went willingly like a lamb to the slaughter. Jesus is not only a conquering King, but He is also the Prince of Peace.
Here is the thing: God not only promised that this King would come, He said, “I will deliver Him personally.” If you look at verse 7, at the very end of it, it says, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.” We talked last week in Isaiah chapter 7 about how God was showing us that when He promises something, He will follow through. And God says, “I will accomplish this.” God was eager to accomplish this.
Receive Him as King
So we have this King who has been promised, the greatest King imaginable. Only Jesus could fit His description. He is coming. He has come once, which is what we celebrate with Christmas. God the Son became a man for us and our salvation. He proved it through the cross and through the resurrection, and He ascended to heaven with the promise that He was coming again as that conquering King.
We have to understand that to be part of His kingdom, we have to receive Him as King. If you are someone who has never trusted Jesus as your Savior, that means believing about Him what He said about Himself: that He is God the Son, that He came in the flesh to be our Savior, that He was nailed to that cross to shed His blood and die to pay for our sins in full, that He rose again to prove it, and that He is coming back.
If you believe that He is everything He said He was, and you believe that He accomplished everything for us that He said He would, that He paid for our sins in full, then you can ask Him for His forgiveness. We have to receive Him. We have to acknowledge Him for who He says He is.
But something else needs to be clear: we receive Him and are saved by believing in Him, but that results in a change to us. As believers, once we have received Him as King, we have to continue to live like it. I say this because it is so easy to get swept up in what we are doing, what we want, our agenda, our plans, and our to-do list. My goodness, I have all of those things. It is so easy to get wrapped up in them.
But if you are already a believer, the question is: are you acting like He is your King? Who is your king? Is it you, or is it Him? The question for me is: who am I trying to put on the throne in my life? He has already made it clear in Isaiah 9 that He is a much better King than I will ever be.
So I want to leave you with that question this morning: who are you trying to have as your king today? That is for those who are believers. But if you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, doing all the right things and trying to serve Him is not what gets you into the kingdom.
It is recognizing Him for who He is: God’s Son, who came in the flesh to be crucified, to pay for your sins in full, and rose again to prove it. If you have questions about what He did for you, I would love to visit with you this morning and try to answer whatever questions you have. But also, right where you are this morning, if you believe what He says about Himself, you can ask for that forgiveness, and you will have it.