*Below is Pastor Andrew’s teaching outline from Sunday’s sermon, not a word for word manuscript. This is meant as aid in seeing the thought and direction of the sermon.
A time of waiting:
I never grew up celebrating Advent. We did Christmas sure, but the meaning and anticipation of Advent wasn’t a part of my tradition
Until I went to seminary and the theological meaning collided with a bit of a physical reality:
Seminary felt a little more real the wait for class to be done and work to break for that one week I would head home for Christmas.
There was a great expectation as week by week traditions and life brought a clearer sign that the break was soon to come.
So too when we come to Advent each year it is in humble expectation of thew glorious gift of the Birth of Christ that has brought us a true and lasting rest and peace.
This year as we move from week to week looking forward to this coming King we have highlighted some of the aspects of this coming king that the people of God longed to experience.
Prophet and priest
This week we come to the penultimate expectation: King
-As we move throughput the scripture this is the primary expectation that is retold time and again since the promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7.
Today we are going to take some time and really live in the moment of this promise of a coming King, whom the shepherds worshipped and the Magi travelled thousands of miles to behold based on a start in the sky.
Again the prophecies and promises are numerous, but again since it is the Advent season I felt Isaiah was the proper landing ground for us this week:
So turn to Isaiah 9
Quick Isaiah Over view:
-Prophesied during the end of the Northern Kingdom (100yrs before Judea)
-Isaiah is sometimes referred to as the Gospel of the OT
-Filled with Messianic Hope
So even today as we open this time we come to the hope for a people lost in darkness is a King:
-First who brings light-
I. The King Brings Light
Isaiah 9:1–2 ESV
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. 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. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.
–Isaiah 8 shows the world of Israel having lost their way. No longer trusting in the Lord alone but turning to the ways of the world and to sin.
-Chapter 9 is the hope in the midst of hopelessness
-They have been walking in the darkness lost in a world of their own false teachings and ignorance, and yet God will not leave them in the dark
-His people will see a great light:
-They have been walking in the darkness lost in a world of their own false teachings and ignorance, and yet God will not leave them in the dark but ill bring the light to them and not only them but to the nations:
-The Messiah would bring hope to the ends of the earth (Galilee of the nations highlights this truth)
-Of course we see this throughout the Gospels:
in Matt 4 Jesus begins his ministry in just this location Living in Capernaum and preaching around the sea of Galilee which by Christs day features a large Gentile presences and the way to the nations.
So into this hopeless state the Christ has come to bring light into their darkness:
John 1:4–5 ESV
In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
Lighting the advent candles-each week the light gets bigger, slowly the darkness is cast off, until Christ comes casting away the darkness and bringing light to all who believe.
What does this have to do with a coming King:
-Well in this case it reveals the coming King would bring light to a people in darkness.
-He not only brings light but is the light and this light will set them free,
And so this new King we will see brings victory-
II. The King Brings Joy
Isaiah 9:3–5 ESV
You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 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. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.
Our text moves forward from the hope of light to the joy of victory.
-This light is a light of victory over darkness
So we see the King is prophesied as one who will bring the joy
-He brings others to him (we see the beauty of the nation expanding)
-We see the joy as if the time of harvest (God has provided)
-We don’t get the full impact in our context
-He has freed his people
-Illustration of Gideon defeating the Midianties (Judges 6-7)
-Interestingly they were defeated not first by the sword but by the light.
-The King brings victory and with it celebration
Think of the great VE Day celebrations in the 40’s.
-But this is not a one time victory for us it is a continual victory
-There is then a joy that comes with the knowledge that our King not only has saved us but secures us:
He is the one who brings the victory-the text ends with the warriors tools of warfare are done away with for He is the one who reigns.
For the King who has brought light and joy now brings peace.
III. The King Brings Peace
Isaiah 9:6–7 ESV
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
This is one of the most famous Texts of the advent season, but it is important that we see the king in light of the context we have been unpacking.
The Child born here is the one who brings light and joy. The verse that come before are tied directly into these verse and the hope we have in the King who would be born.
So who is this King who brings Light and Joy
1. He Is born King (Matt 2:2)
The wise men come seeing his star and echo the fact he is born King
He will be born and will grow up, but from his birth he is King
He is born for His people
2. The Text gives us 4 couplets to describe this King a coupling of the divine and human:
a. Wonderful Counselor
i. The term for wonderful is connected with one who does the supernatural signs (divine)
ii. The word counselor is one who gives wisdom (Human)
b. Mighty God
i. Mighty is a term associated with great military strength
ii. God is God (A secure feature that this king is not any ordinary King)
c. Everlasting Father
i. Everlasting showing the reality that he is without beginning and end (He will never cease to be)
ii. Father – A term we don’t tend to associate with the Son of God but one that is an important aspect of his role as the King. The king is the father to his people (Think in terms of the funding fathers, or Washington as the father of our nation)
d. Prince of Peace
i. Prince -Earthly ruler
ii. Peace -An eternal state that no earthly king can bring
These 4 couplets gives us a great picture of the breadth of the wonder of the king who was to be born to save, with a description so beautiful you would expect it to fill us with a great sense of joyful expectation for his coming.
And from these four descriptions we see the fruit of His reign will be
Isaiah 9:7 ESV
Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
Let it sink in: his kingdom grows and is one of eternal peace
There will be perfect justice and perfect righteousness in Christ
And it is the joyful passion of the Lord to accomplish it.
Our God came to us as a child to free us from the darkness of sin, and in so doing give us an eternal Joy in him, but to do so we see in scripture he had to die.
Isaiah also prophesies about the suffering this servant king would endure for us.
-It cost him much to give us everything.
As we see in the opening chapters of Revelation:
Gospel conclusion:
Revelation 5:5–14 ESV
And one of the elders said to me, “Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.” And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth.” Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!” And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.
The great king of the earth let himself be killed to bring forth the salvation of the nations.
He was born to die, but he died to live.
-He is the true and lasting king because he defeated death, but to defeat it he had to die.
Our King died to bring us out of the darkness and bring us the light
-The said reality is people will still choose the darkness
-Don’t choose the darkness
-The great King of peace and life offers salvation to all who believe:
John 1:29 ESV
The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
and whose sins are forgiven:
Matthew 4:17 ESV
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
For those who don’t know this great king the opportunity remains, come and worship, repent and believe the hope remains.
For those that do:
He do not fear the world because our God is King over all creation
We do not fear death because our God is King over death
We do not fear the dark nights of the soul for our God is the king and comforter of his people
We live in light of the everlasting peace of our God.
All that he has said has come to pass so may we trust that the final promises are as equally ours as the first:
close
He has come and will come again:
Revelation 22:12–16 ESV
“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Our King Rules and Reigns. May we live in light of the Kingdom that is to come.
He is worth of our Worship adoration and joy, for we were once not a people, but by the grace and kingship of Christ he has brought us together bought by his blood to be his bride and queen.
