Isaiah 9:1-7 theme verse Is 9:6
The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.
In this twenty fifth Sunday after the Pentecost, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, on the first Sunday of Advent, we decided to live in hope, while preparing His second coming and this week, on the second week of the Advent, through Isaiah 9, we would like to meditate on peace which our Lord brought to learn few lesson.
1) The Book of Isaiah which is the text for today, is a prophesy written by the prophet Isaiah, who was active in Juday, especially in Jerusalem, for about 50 years during the four kings of Judah, I mean, Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, from 739 to 680 BC. Its historical background covers the long period from the fall of Israel by Assyria, via the fall and exile of Judah by Babylonia, to the post-exile period, from the 8th century BC to the 6th century BC.
(1) In the chapter 1 through 39, it prophesied God’s judgment against Judah’s sin
(2) and in the following chapter 40 to 55, it prophesied God’s recovery from the exile to Babylonia
(3) and finally, from 56 to 66, it prophesied the post-exile period.
Its theme is the prophesy regarding God’s judgment against the sins of Judah, while also interwinding the messianic hope, that is, His first coming, suffering, and glory of the Messiah, and the Messiah’s reign and His kingdom, after His second coming.
2) First, to look at the historical context of Isaiah 7-9, in which today’s text is written, in Isaiah 7, succeeding from his grand father, King Azariah (792-740 BC), also known as King Uzziah who expanded the territory of Judah through wars with neighboring countries, promoted construction, agriculture, and livestock farming, and by building the trading port of Elath, developed the country in all aspects, even though in his old age, he became arrogant to covet the position of priest, and was stricken with leprosy and also his father, King Jotham (750-735 BC) who began to rule the country as regent for his father, King Azariah, who had been stricken with leprosy, expanded the temple, fortified the cities, and won a battle against the Ammonites, Ahaz became the king of Judah. However, strangely, King Ahaz continued to worship idols throughout his life and perhaps because of his sins, during the time he reigned as king, Judah suffered greatly from external invasions, its territory shrank, and many people died or were taken captive, leaving his people's lives in a state of unspeakable devastating.
Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia, in 745 BC, the Assyrian general Tiglath-pileser III (745-727 BC) ascended to the throne of Assyria, after killing the previous king. And then he subdued all other powerful countries, such as the Medes, Persians, Babylonians, the countries of Asia Minor, the Hittites, Urartu, Syria, and Phoenicians, and made Assyria the largest empire in her history.
And at this time, in northern Israel, after Jeroboam II, who had reigned the longest (41 years) among the kings of northern Israel, died, his son Zechariah became king. But he was killed after 6 months by Shallum's rebellion, and then Shallum was also killed by Menahem after one month. Then Menahem ruled for about 10 years and passed the throne to his son Pekahiah, but General Pekah from Gilead rebelled, killed Pekahiah, and ascended to the throne, after swearing allegiance and pay tribute. But when Tiglath-pileser III died, he soon formed an anti-Assyrian alliance with King Rezin of Aram, and then invaded Judah to bring Ahaz to their side. So, after a great victory, he plundered Judah, killed many people, and took them as prisoners, but he could not overthrow Ahaz's throne. And also after this, Edom and Philistia also invaded, plundered, captured people, and took many cities and villages.
In this situation, God gave Ahaz courage through the prophet Isaiah, saying these allied forces were nothing more than a smoking piece of a stick (Isaiah 7:4). However, Ahaz did not believe in God and asked the king of Assyria for help to deal with the allied forces of Israel and Aram.
So, in 732 BC, Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria invaded Aram, destroyed Aram, killed King Rezin, and scattered the people to all over the Assyria. And then he invaded Israel and took over the northeastern region of Israel, namely Trans-Jordan and the entire land of Galilee, and scattered the Israelites in that area also to all over the Assyria. At this time, Hoshea, who was a subordinate of Pekah, killed the king and after swearing to pay tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III, became the king of Israel. But, when Tiglath-Pileser III died in 727 BC, he stopped paying tribute to Assyria and adopted a pro-Egyptian policy.
So Shalmaneser V, who succeeded Tiglath-Pileser III as king of Assyria, attacked Israel, captured and imprisoned King Hoshea, and seized the city of Samaria. But, since Shalmaneser V died abruptly, Sargon II, the chief commander of Assyrian army, inherited the throne and conquered Samaria in 722 BC, three years after its siege. The he relocated the Israelites throughout Assyria and filled the land of Samaria with people forcibly moved from other countries, so that the northern kingdom of Israel disappeared.
3) And Isaiah chapter 7 through 9 can be divided into three paragraphs.
(1) First, in chapter 7 verses 1-9, God said to the prophet Isaiah, that taking his son named Shear-jashub, meaning “a remnant will return” which refer to that “there will be a remnant of Judah preserved from even this destruction,” he told King Ahaz, who was facing the threat of alleyed force of Pekah of Northern Israel and Rezin of Aram, that they were nothing more than two smoldering stumps of firebrands, so not to be afraid or discouraged, and that Ephraim, that is, Israel, would be destroyed and would never be a nation again, so that if he did not firmly believe, he would not be able to stand firm.
(2) And then in the second paragraph from 7:10 to 8:10, when Ahaz refuses to ask a sign from God, God told him that the virgin would conceive and give birth to a son and that he would be called Immanuel, and that before the child knew how to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings would be desolate. Then, God again said to Isaiah to name the second son, “Maher-shalal-hash-baz,” meaning “Hurry! Plunder!” which prophesied that the land of Judah would be trampled by Assyria. Here the prophesy on Immanuel was the revelation on the Messiah Jesus Christ, the Son of God, yet at the same time, the ambiguous revelation in the near future, about King “Hezekiah” who was the son of Ahaz and saved Judah from the power of Assyria, as 2 Kings 18:7 said that the LORD would be with him.
(3) And then finally, in the paragraph from 8:11 to 9:7, returning to the central topic of “Whom then should Judah trust?”, it is said that, “Make the LORD God Almighty your sanctuary, obeying to the law and the testimony.” And then in verses 9:1-7, which is today’s text, it is said that instead of this unfaithful ruler who would lead the nation into desperate trouble with a short-sighted defensive policy, a child would be given, and although he is only a child, the ideal reign would be established and he would put an end to all wars and establish an eternal kingdom based on justice and righteousness. This prophetic word was the prophetic revelation mainly about the Messiah, Jesus Christ, who would come later, even though I believe small portion of this revelation also refer to the renaissance of King Hezekiah too.
4) Then we would like to look at few points on today's text, chapter 9, verses 1 to 7, to learn few lessons together. First, this text says that God will glorify the despised land, by making a child be born there, I mean, the Messiah will be born in Galilee which was occupied and plundered by Assyria. And at that time, those who were suffering from darkness (מוּעָף,,muap) which refers to the deep sorrow without reason, will no longer have sorrow. And those who walked in darkness (חֹ֫שֶׁךְ,,hosek) will be given a great light, and also those who lived in the land of the shadow of death (צַלְמָ֫וֶת,,salmabet), will be given life, and those who bore a heavy yoke will be given a joy. And also God says that those who had the whip of the oppressor on their shoulders, will be given justice and those who were in war, will be given peace. As such he will restore His nation. As reading these verses, I meditated on the reason why Jesus Christ said in Mt 11:28 that “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
5) And then secondly, we would like to meditate on four name of the Messiah which are introduced in verse 6, namely, “wonderful counselor”, “Almighty God”, “everlasting Father”, and “the Prince of Peace”. First, here, the Hebrew word “פֶּ֠לֶא יֹועֵץ(Pele Yoetz””, which is translated as two names, I mean, “a wonderful one” and ““excellent planner” in New Korean Revised Version, NKRV, also can be translated as one name as the English Bibles translate it as “wonderful counselor”, “excellent planner” or “wonderful wise man”, as Jesus is the “wisdom of God” as in 1 Corinthians 1:30. And then Jesus Christ is named as the “Almighty God”, since He is the One with divine nature as Thomas confessed in John 20:28. And also He is named as “Everlasting Father”, since He is, the One who is the purpose, method, and source of all creation as Colossians 1:16 said “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things were created through him and for him.” And finally he is called as the “Prince of Peace”, since as Ephesians 2:15-16 says “His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility,” Jesus Christ reconciled His people to God and also gave peace to the humanity. Yes. He is the Price of peace to us.
6) And that’s why in verse 7, it says that when he comes, he will rescue his people from the power of darkness and transfer them to the kingdom of love of the Son of God, and will reign His kingdom with them forever, then in His kingdom, there will be endless peace, as also His kingdom will be a kingdom of justice and righteousness. Here, the Hebrew wordמִשְׁפָּט (miš·pāṭ), translated as justice refers to judge justly between good and evil, I mean, trouble and distress for everyone who does evil and glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, as Romans 2:9 & 10 says. And also the Hebrew wordצְדָקָה (tzedakah), translated as justice refers to moral righteousness or relational righteousness, which means all things are in the right relationship. So this state of justice and righteousness is also called shalom in Hebrew.
7) So that’s why Cornelius Plantinga said in his book “Not the way it’s supposed to be: A Breviary of Sin” that “The webbing together of God, humans, and all creation in justice, fulfillment, and delight is what the Hebrew prophets call shalom. We call it peace, but it means far more than mere peace of mind or a cease-fire between enemies. In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed, a state of affairs that inspires joyful wonder as its Creator and Savior opens doors and welcomes the creatures in whom he delights. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be. (p.10)” Yes. Since this shalom is God’s design for creation and redemption, Jesus Christ came to this earth to realize this eschatological peace.
8) And even that’s why Isaiah prophesied in ver. 7 that the zeal of God, the LORD of hosts, will accomplish this. In other words, Isaiah said Almighty God who is in control of all history will finally consummate His kingdom of shalom in the end, as Zechariah 6:13 said, “There was a counsel of peace between the two.”
9) And also that’s why, in the day when the Savior was born, the angels said in Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased.” Therefore, I pray that today, on the second Sunday of Advent, we may proclaim this God’s shalom in the places where we have been called, as we wait for Jesus Christ who will return to consummate this eschatological shalom on new heaven and new earth.
Key Questions as Small Group Activity
Q1 As today’s text said, our Lord came here as Price of peace and this shalom is the way things ought to be as Cornelius Plantinga said. So, after meditating what kind of way we ought to be God created us, I hope we could share our thought with our team members together to learn from each other.
Q2 In the Book of Isaiah, we saw God asked Ahaz and His people “Do you believe in Me?” and commanded them not to rely on own plan or the power of other nations. As such, after reflecting whether we believe in God or whether we rely on God totally, I hope we could share our thought with our team members together to learn from each other.
Love you. Thank you. God bless you.
Prayer Note
Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!
Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or even during the week )
Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!
Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),
please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized ).
I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon )
Please help me to live in that ( learned way of life )
I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.
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