And at this point God would have been perfectly justified in walking away forever from the Jewish people and all of humanity. All of humanity rejected and rebelled against God and God had every right to exercise His right and just response to that selfishness and rebellion and just walk away. But that is not what God did. Instead of responding by walking away, God responded with an amazing promise. Instead of promising to walk away from humanity forever, God made a promise to take a step toward humanity. We see this amazing promise revealed through the prophet Isaiah is Isaiah 9:1:
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.In Isaiah 9:3-5, the prophet proclaims that God has made a promise to the Jewish people and to all of humanity. A promise of His presence in the form of a rescuer. And as a result of God’s promise of His presence in the form of a rescuer, the Jewish people would experience the joy and the numerical, material, and spiritual blessings that come from being rescued and reunited in the relationship with God that they were created for. The Jewish people would be freed from the burden of oppression from other nations that came as a consequence of their selfishness and rebellion.
Isaiah then reminds the Jewish people of a story that is recorded for us in a letter in the Old Testament of our Bibles called the book of Judges. In Judges 6-8, we read the story of a man named Gideon, who God raised up to lead the Jewish people during a period in their history when they were oppressed by another foreign nation, called the Midianites. And the Jewish people were very familiar with this story. The Jewish people were very familiar with the idolatry and rebellion that marked the Jewish people in that story. The Jewish people were very familiar with the fact that God told Gideon to march against the Midian army with only 300 soldiers. The Jewish people were very familiar with how the Jewish nation stood by and watched as God delivered the Jewish people against overwhelming odds by His might and power.
And now, God is promising to bring another deliverance from oppression through another rescuer. Once again, God is promising to enter into their story in a powerful way. Once again, God is promising His presence to be present with the Jewish people. And the Jewish people were expecting that God’s presence would be present through another leader like Gideon. What the Jewish people did not expect, however, was exactly what Isaiah said next, which we read in Isaiah 9:6-7:
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.Now almost all of us are at least somewhat familiar with these verses. We are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because we have received a Christmas card or a coffee mug with these verses written on it. We are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because we have listened as a radio or T.V. station read these verses as part of a commercial. But place yourself in the shoes of a Jewish person some 2700 years ago. You do not have radio or T.V.; you do not have the gospels or the writings of the New Testament. From your perspective, God seems to be distant and disinterested. You are not seeing God’s presence and activity in your lives. There were unanswered prayers. There is a decline in the health and the wealth of the nation. The Northern part of the Jewish Kingdom has already been conquered and you fear that you are next.
And here comes a prophet from God that is promising that God’s presence will once again be present in the lives of the Jewish people through a rescuer. And the prophet then tells you that God’s promise of His presence will be in the form of a baby born to the Jewish people sometime in the future. How would you respond? What would you say? Really? I mean seriously Isaiah, what do you mean that a child will be born to us and that the government will rest on His shoulders? I mean a minute ago you are talking about the story of Gideon as an example of deliverance from oppression, and now you are talking about a baby doing the same thing? How is that going to work?
You see, God’s promise did not involve a repeating of the past. Instead, God’s promise was radically different in both scale and scope. God’s promise of His presence was not going to be achieved through a rescuer that would lead the Jewish people into a war to overcome oppression. This would not be might making right. Instead, God’s promise of His presence would be achieved by God humbly entering into humanity as a child. God’ promise of His presence would be achieved by God taking on flesh.
And God’s promise of His presence would result in One who would rule over all humanity. God’s promise of His presence would result in One who would give wondrous counsel that is unfailing in the depth of its wisdom and insight. And God’s promise of His presence through a rescuer would be God in a bod; this King, this Messiah, this Rescuer, would not be a man who would temporary sit on the throne. This Messiah, this Rescuer would lead for all eternity. And most importantly, God’s promise of His presence would result in One who comes in peace and who establishes peace between God and between men. God was going to fulfill the promise that He made to King David to usher in a kingdom where humanity would have the opportunity to experience an eternal state of peace with God and one another. A kingdom that would be firmly established and sustained through justice; a kingdom marked by what is right and noble.
Isaiah then explains that God’s promise of His presence is an ironclad promise, because the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. Now this word zeal conveys the sense of having a consuming concern for another’s best and an unwillingness to allow anything to hurt or destroy another. Isaiah is revealing for us the reality that God’s passionate pursuit of humanity and His promise of His presence will not be derailed by anything. You see, God’s promise of His presence is not simply to bring a king among kings. God’s promise of His presence is to bring the king of kings. God’s promise of His presence was a promise to be present; to enter into humanity. And that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is all about God’s promise to reveal His presence in the most radical way imaginable, so that all of humanity could know that God was real and that God was present and active in the world.
As with any promise, however, a promise made is a promise kept. A promise isn’t a promise unless the promise is kept. A promise that is not kept is meaningless and even worthless. Or worse yet, a promise that is not kept, could, at its core, be deceit at the deepest level. So the Jewish people, after hearing God’s promise through Isaiah waited for God to keep His promise. And they waited. And they waited. Some waited longer than others. For over 700 years they waited. Any many gave up on God’s promise. Many continued to walk away from God and viewed God’s promise as meaningless and worthless. Because a promise made is a promise kept.
Next week, we will discover that God is a promise maker and God is a promise keeper. We will discover how God kept His promise. And we will discover when God fulfilled the promise to provide an opportunity for all humanity to experience God’s presence.
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