518: From Darkness to Dawn | Dave Sloop

Thank you, Bob. Good morning, everyone. Well, we are continuing our look at the Gospel through Isaiah's eyes in this Advent season. Before we get to the text that we're going to be looking at this season, this is obviously Christmas time. Probably many of you are thinking about the gifts that you want to give to the ones that you love the most, which has caused me to reflect on the best kind of gifts. What would you say are the best kind of gifts? I think that the best kind of gifts are the ones that we give to people that meet one of their deepest longings, but that they weren't thinking to ask for. It is the surprise gift.

And that got me thinking about the best time I pulled off a surprise gift. And I want to show you a picture to give you a hint of what it was. Now, I have told this story before. I'm not going to go through all the details of this story, but this is the day that I proposed to my wife, Melissa. And this was the place that we actually met—Serenac Lake, New York, a Young Life camp. We were both on Young Life staff when we met. And I took her back there, and just so you know, we had never discussed getting engaged. This came completely out of the blue, which can be a little bit risky if you aren't quite sure where you stand. But I went for it. And we were just chatting and kind of reliving our first defining-the-relationship conversation that happened in that same location. And I said to her, "What would we say today?" And I got down on one knee and asked Melissa if she would spend the rest of her life with me. And you can see from the look on that face, it was joy, and it was surprise. Why? Because it was the fulfillment of all of her deepest longing.

Now, you might be thinking that I'm talking about myself, but the fulfillment of her deepest longing—let's look at that next picture. She's just, now you're going to see this next picture, my face changes here. I'm starting to feel a little bit like, let's look beyond the gift to the one who gave it. And so I thought maybe if I just get in her face, that would change things. It didn't. Even when I hugged her. And then we kept walking. I mean, she just couldn't take her eyes off that gift. But it is so fun, not just to receive a gift that you were longing for, but to give one to someone that you know is going to be so filled with joy at a gift that they just weren't expecting.

The Gift of Salvation

And what we're going to look at today in Isaiah 9:1 through 7 is precisely this kind of gift. It is the gift of salvation that comes to an unsuspecting people who are walking in darkness. It is a gift that is aimed at the deepest longing of a people who didn't even think to hope or ask for it. Every single one of them was longing for it, but none of them were looking for it. And this is precisely how salvation shows up.

And as we look at Isaiah 9:1 through 7, he's going to answer some questions about salvation for us because salvation is one of those words in Christian circles. We use it so frequently that I think sometimes it loses its punch. It loses its meaning. What is salvation? How does it arrive? What does it bring with it? And how can it become mine?

Isaiah is going to answer these questions in three primary places that we're going to look at this morning. He's going to show us the place of salvation. Secondly, he is going to show us the product of salvation—what happens to those who experience it? What is the subjective reality for the people who embrace this gift? And then finally, he's going to unveil his plan for salvation. In verses 1 through 2, he's going to tell you that he will save. And in verses 3 to 5, he's going to tell you what that salvation experience will be like. And in verses 6 and 7, he's going to reveal how he will bring about all of these benefits to the ones who receive it.

The Place of Salvation

So let's look first of all at the place of salvation. We're going to read verses 1 and 2, but before we do, I've put up there on the slide that the place of salvation is both subjective and objective. There is a subjective reality that Isaiah is pointing to, an experience of inner darkness. There is also an objective place that Isaiah is pointing to, Galilee of the Gentiles. And both of them are significant and have implications for us today. But I want to begin just by looking at this subjective experience that Israel was experiencing.

Starting in verse 1, it says:

But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

Skipping ahead to verse 2:

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them the light has shown. — Isaiah 9:1-2

Do you hear the words? Do you hear the subjective reality of this people? Gloom, anguish, darkness, and then he for effect says deep darkness. The actual Hebrew word there is "death shadow."

Can you think of another place that word might have shown up? Psalm 23:

Even though I walk through the valley of the death shadow, he is with me. — Psalm 23

This people was having a bad day. I mean, they were in a bad place. What is God doing? He is wrapping a gift for a people who are in pain. And this in and of itself teaches us something wonderful and fundamental about the heart of God. He sees suffering. It moves him. He hears the cries of his people and he actually does something about it.

But when we ask the question, why were they suffering? His compassion and his kindness will only compound and get bigger.

If you notice in verse 1, here's how Isaiah starts:

But there will be no gloom. — Isaiah 9:1

This is a continuation. You're not supposed to start sentences with "but." But this is a continuation of what was happening before. So let's flip back to verses 20 to 22 in chapter 8:

If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn, meaning light. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their god. — Isaiah 8:19-22

They look at their circumstances and they look up, but they don't look up for help. They look up with contempt to the one who should have fixed my life circumstances. They're angry at God. They're not looking to him for help, but with contempt.

And then listen to this:

And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress, darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness. — Isaiah 8:22

They will look to the earth. What does that mean? They look to God with contempt, but they look to earth for answers. I'm looking to the world around me to satisfy and fix my broken, messed up circumstances. But instead of finding help, they find distress, hunger. And then notice these words: darkness, gloom, anguish, thick darkness. These are the exact same words that he borrows again in verses one and two.

What is the point? These people are not just victims of circumstance. They are rebels who are reaping what they have sown. They are receiving the just consequences of their sin and rebellion. And God's light shines there. Does that expand the compassion and the love and the grace of God for you? I hope that it does.

The Nature of God's Grace

See, the point here is not just that the light is going to shine in the darkness—in people who are suffering. The point is the light is about to shine into a darkness that is deserved. His love and his grace are about to come to a people who were not looking for it. They were not asking for it, and they made no effort to change. They were still looking to the earth and in that darkness. That's where God shows up.

By the way, their darkness is your darkness too. It's the same today. This is a universal darkness. Paul would put it this way in Ephesians chapter two:

As for you, you were dead in the sins and trespasses in which you used to walk. — Ephesians 2:1

We are no different. What is this? This is grace. It is the unmerited, undeserved favor of God extended to a people who were not asking and did not deserve it. That is the subjective reality into which this light shines.

The Geographic Reality

But I also want to look at the objective historical geographical place that Isaiah is pointing to because this is significant.

In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. — Isaiah 9:1

Or more literally, Galilee of the Gentiles. This light was going to shine into a real place at a real time in history and geography. And Isaiah tells us it's going to be Galilee of the nations and the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali.

Now, those were two tribes of Israel and it's referring to the land apportioned to them. And it is the northernmost part of Israel. And as a result, it was the least desirable place to live. I mean, this was a melting pot. This wasn't like Jerusalem, pure Jewish. This bordered the Gentiles, so it was a melting pot. And it was a place of spiritual insignificance.

I mean, this is why when Nathaniel said to Jesus, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" That was a saying back then because it was an overlooked place. You would never expect anything good to come from there. It's like Buchanan. No offense if you're from there. But Nazareth was a town of like 200 to 400 people. It was a nothing town. And God decided, I'm going there. That is where my salvation will be born in this place of obscurity where no one was looking.

Why? Salvation always comes to the margins before it goes to the masses. If you watch Jesus' ministry, that's what he was like. The marginalized people felt so loved and embraced by him.

He says that this salvation would come to Galilee of the Gentiles. Let me tell you why that's significant. They were the furthest north. This was the place in a serious backyard. And therefore, when God allowed Assyria to overtake Israel to oppress them, those two tribes would have been the first to experience it. And therefore, the judgment that Israel felt was felt deepest and longest in that place. And God says, that's where I will bring my salvation first.

Here's the point. God never allows darkness as an end in itself. Darkness is always a prelude to the light. The darkness is not what disqualifies us from receiving the gift of salvation. It is the exact opposite. Darkness is really the prerequisite for salvation.

In Hosea chapter 2 and verse 15, we have a prophet, Hosea, who's speaking to a similar people who are in complete spiritual rebellion and idolatry against their God. And he pronounces judgment to them. And then in verse 15 of chapter 2, this is one of my favorite verses. He said:

The valley of Achor is the valley of trouble. It's a valley that they were walking in because it was the bed that they made. They were lying in it. They were there and it was their fault. They weren't victims of circumstance. The valley of trouble has become the door of hope. — Hosea 2:15

You see, our darkness is the doorway through which his deliverance comes. It's not that we go to the dark to find him. It's that we are in the darkness and God uses that darkness to bring us to the complete end of ourselves. And it is only then when we begin, when he can get to us, when he breaks through and he comes to rescue. That is the place of salvation.

The Product of Salvation

But secondly, look at the product of salvation starting in verse 3. What does it produce? He says, you have multiplied the nation. In other words, salvation is not going to stay in Galilee. Where's it going to go? It's going to go to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. This thing that God is about to do is going to be an ever-expanding kingdom that will not stop until he returns. He's going to multiply the nations.

By the way, this was always the promise. Israel overlooked it, but they were to be a light to the Gentiles. Abraham's seed was to be a blessing to the earth. It was not just a Messiah for the people of Israel, but through the people of Israel, the Messiah would come to bless the earth. And a movement was starting from Galilee to the ends of the earth of salvation, and it was going to expand rapidly.

He continues, "You have increased its joy." I want you to listen for this four-fold repetition. You've increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest as they are glad when they defied the spoil. Do you hear that? Joy, rejoice, joy, glad. It's a new subjective reality. He is supplanting and replacing the subjective reality of their darkness with a new subjective reality of walking in the light. And the best way to describe it: delight, joy, gladness.

See, their judgment will become joy. Their anguish will become abundance. Their gloom will turn into gladness. That's what salvation produces—a kind of joy. He gives two metaphors to describe this joy. He says, "It's joy as if the harvest has come." In other words, pointing to this deep satisfaction that my needs are met. And he says, "It's joy as if they're celebrating the spoils of victory." There's some kind of victory coming.

But I want you to notice something. He does not say, "I'm going to give you a victory. And what you're going to rejoice in is the victory." He's not saying, "You're rejoicing in your provision." Where are they rejoicing? See, those are just metaphors, but where's the real rejoicing happening? Before you. The stuff that God gives, the victory that he brings, those are great. They are rejoicing in God. He is their treasure. That's what the light produces—an abiding and deep joy in God himself as treasure.

He continues. And there's going to be—you're going to see in verses 4, 5, and 6—they all begin with the word "for." Each one builds on the verse before it. And here's what this first one said: "For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian."

What is he talking about here? He uses the words yoke, staff, and rod. A yoke was something you put an ox in. It's in a sense you put that ox in bondage. That ox becomes your slave. And with the staff, it is what a master would use to push his slave in the direction that he wanted him to go. It wasn't the direction the slave wanted to go, but he was yoked. The yoke is the evidence of your slavery. The staff is what this evil master uses to make you do things you don't want to do. And then the rod was used. It was punitive. He beat you with it. This whole picture is the tyranny of oppression that they had lived under.

And what God is saying here is I am bringing your oppression to a close. The day of your suffering is coming to an end. And he says he's going to break it as in the day of Midian. By show of hands, who knows what he's talking about? What happened in Midian? Midian had a judge whose name rhymed with the town. Gideon. Gideon was the one that rose up in Judges chapter 6 to deliver a people who were just like this people Isaiah was talking to. They were in bondage because of their sin. And he rose up Gideon to set them free. And he said, pull together an army. He gets together an army of 32,000 people. And even with that significant army, they were massively outnumbered like three to one by this other great army. And God says it's too many. And he whittles it down to 10,000. And then he whittles it down to 300 men. And then God says, okay, now let's go fight this battle.

Why was God doing that? It's so silly what they do. They break torches. They light them, break jars. They lift up torches. It's the silliest plan. And God brings about complete victory over their oppressors. What was he teaching them? Salvation belongs to the Lord. You don't help. You receive it. As my teacher Tom Nelson used to always say, I've said this probably a dozen times from this pulpit: The only thing you contribute to your salvation is your sin. You bring the darkness. He provides the light. And he's saying the kind of victory that I'm bringing you is a victory in which you will only receive. You don't participate. That's what I'm going to do.

He goes on to say the next four in verse five. He says,

"For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire."

What are you talking about here? I think what he's pointing to here is that the weapons of warfare are no longer necessary because the kind of freedom and victory that he is talking about is one in which he abolishes not just their oppression but war forever. Listen to what he says in Isaiah 2 verse 4:

"And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks... nation shall not lift up sword against sword. Neither shall they learn war any more."

God is saying, "I'm bringing about a salvation. A salvation is coming to you where everything is redeemed, where the wolf will lie down with the lamb and nations won't fight against you." Wouldn't this be wonderful, by the way? It's coming. He's going to do it when he comes back. That's what he's pointing to.

One more four, in verse 6. These are the benefits. These are the products of salvation. It brings joy. It frees us from oppression. And then he's going to tell us how he's going to do it. We're going to look at God's plan for salvation.

God's Plan for Salvation

And I want to read this to you in verse 6. He's been saying some big things. He's doing away with war. And then he says,

"For a child is born to us a son is given."

It is not what you'd expect. But here's the first thing that we see. His plan is not some military strategy. His plan is not some moral code. His plan is not some new philosophy. His plan is a person. Not just any person. His plan is a person that's going to come as a baby. You know why? Because he wants you to know, salvation is from the Lord. In Isaiah 11, he's going to say,

"A little child shall lead them."

God has more power in his pinky than we have in every brilliant person in war strategy in the world to accomplish victory. He can do it through a baby to teach you salvation is my work. And he loves to shame the wise through foolish things.

Listen to what he says about this baby. He says in verse 6,

"For to us a child is born to us a son is given."

Notice first of all, this son is born. He's telling you this child will be of human descent. He's not just going to show up on the scene like the angel of the Lord used to. He's going to show up by natural means. But then he follows it up immediately by saying, "To us a son is given." This son is going to be born by natural means, but he's coming from somewhere else. He is a gift.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son. — John 3:16

That's the one Isaiah is talking about. He will be human, but he will be fully divine. And if that verse doesn't convince you, well, we'll get to his divinity in just a moment.

The next thing it says about him is the government shall be upon his shoulder. He will bear the weight of this new administration and kingdom that he's bringing in. It will be his responsibility. I don't have time to unpack this as fully as I would like to, but I just want to show you something about this one who would come.

Notice that the instruments of oppression—the yoke and the staff and the rod—they are transferred to a better king. In Psalm 23, what do we see?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me and your rod and your staff, they comfort me. — Psalm 23

The instruments of oppression that used to crush us—in this One's hands, they become instruments of comfort. But that's not all. Matthew 11:28 says this:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart. You will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. — Matthew 11:28

Do you see how this messianic child changes the yoke, the staff, and the rod? Those things that used to crush us are now in the hands of a Savior who carries us on his shoulders—like he says in Luke 15. Those things that used to crush us become the very instruments of our comfort and care.

The Names of the Coming Child

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. I wish I had more time. Notice that it says his name—singular—shall be called. These aren't titles. They are a revelation of the character of this individual who is both human and God. And as I said, if you doubted his infinity in verse 6 earlier, you cannot deny what Isaiah is about to tell us here.

Here's who he says this kid is: "Wonderful Counselor." Now, we don't see this in the English, but in the Hebrew, that word for "wonderful"—pele—it is almost exclusively used about God and his work. But only twice does it point to a person. Once was in Judges 13, and it was the angel of the Lord who appears to Samson's parents. And after this experience they have with the angel of the Lord, you know what they said? "Surely we have seen God." The angel of the Lord, almost always in the Old Testament, is a pre-incarnate appearance of the perfect Son of God. He shows up in Judges 13, and the only other place that this word "wonderful" is used to describe a person is Isaiah 9. He is the Wonderful Counselor.

Counselor points to his wisdom. He is the embodied wisdom of God. When it says he is the Mighty God—I mean, these words go beyond human beings. J. Alec Motyer in one of the commentaries that I read says he uses words upon words until the only explanation is this has to be God. He's the Wonderful Counselor. He is the Mighty God. He is the Everlasting Father—a forever Father, the embodied compassion and kindness and care of a perfect dad. And finally, he is the Prince of Peace.

That word for peace is shalom. Do you know what it means? Nothing missing. Nothing broken. It is a life in a world where you don't just have the things that you want most. You have everything that you need and no fear that any of those things can be taken away from you. It is a picture of God's wholeness. And it's a salvation that he's promising to bring in the future. The fact that this One is referred to as Prince of Peace means he is the agent. He is the one who brings it. And it's a peace that only God can bring, which means this is God himself who has come to visit his people.

The end of verse 7 says:

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. — Isaiah 9:7

If you go back to this passage on your own, what you will see is that every verb is modified by a subject, and that subject every single time is God. God is the one who affects every good work in this passage for salvation. And he does it without our help.

Do You Find Yourself in the Dark?

Here's the question I want to close with. And I would say that this is the question that Isaiah 9 presses on us: Do you find yourself in the dark? Be of good cheer if you do. Because, as I said before, that darkness is not without purpose. In fact, that darkness is the doorway to his deliverance. He's coming to you.

Advent reminds us that the true light has come. John tells us who that light is:

The true light was coming into the world to give life. — John 1

In Advent, we remember that light. At the cross, we remember that that light was extinguished. At the resurrection, we remember that that light can never be put out again. Salvation has come. And it has not just come to an ancient people in Israel. It has come to you. It is not a plan. It's not better living. It's a person that you can know. And if you would but open your eyes in the dark, he's there. And he's ready to receive all who would reach for him.

I pray that you would today.

Let's pray. Lord, we need you. Thank you for the light that shines into the darkest recesses of our heart. I know in a room this big, there are some people that just feel like they are beyond God's reach. That's the whole point. We all are. Your grace comes not to the righteous, but to the sinner. That's why you came. Would you give us eyes to see you today and set us free from our oppression in Jesus' name. Amen.