The Zeal of Love • Isaiah 9:1-7
30:21 Teaching begins
Notes
One of the hard things about Christmas is that I can’t teach anything new. Any scripture I come up with everyone will go, “Ah, I know that one. What’s for lunch?” I accept that. So I’m not teaching anything new.
This year we don’t need something we haven’t heard before. We need the ability to keep going. Our times are hard and they’re getting harder. Do you find it harder to keep going, to keep depending upon Jesus? Do you lose heart? You think, hey, I believe in Jesus, I should be a lot happier than I am. I’m worried and stressed. Some Christmas.
Fortunately for us God is really into Christmas. His big project is making lasting peace on earth. What motivates Him is the zeal of love.
I’m reading in Isaiah 9:1-7.
1. What made me think of these verses is how they describe our world right now. I’m reading the verses just before in chapter 8:19-22.
A. People are seeking some kind of higher knowledge because the times are so dark. It betrays a great lack of knowledge of how to deal with these times. What knowledge there is in this world is not enough. People figure it’s got to be somewhere else beyond us. They look in the wrong places. The dead don’t know what to do. They have all failed. There’s no encouragement there.
B. You see the failure because the people are famished.
1. That could be literal. We live in an age of famine. We are the blessed 1% who get enough to eat every day.
2. There’s a metaphoric hunger that’s worse. You can eat more than you need, but there’s a famine on for satisfaction. We have more of everything we could want but it’s not enough. We still deal with the curse of God on this world, that everything man does is futile. It’s all for nothing. There is no satisfaction.
C. People get angry.
1. They look up and curse God and the king. What are they doing about things? God’s out there somewhere and doesn’t care. The government only care about themselves: profiting from their jobs, making rules for everyone else, not for themselves. Protecting themselves and putting all others at risk. So no joy in what’s above.
2. They look to the earth and there’s darkness and anguish, the gloom of anguish. It’s dark and depressing. There are no answers anywhere. People are hemmed in by problems on every side and groping for any kind of solution. But there’s nothing there that works.
3. So this anger born of frustration and dissatisfaction is hopeless. It’s gloom because there is no hope on the horizon. Only darkness.
2. But as I say, God promises the opposite of gloom. That is called peace.
A. The people who walk in the shadow of death will see a great light. God is going to dispel darkness. When you have light you can see your way around obstacles and difficulties.
B. You will multiply the nation. More light, more life.
C. Increase gladness in Your presence.
1. It will be like a good harvest. You work hard, and you bring in the year’s work, and you’re relieved. You’re going to survive another year because the harvest was good. It will be like spoil after a battle. You won! You’re still alive! And there’s all these riches besides.
2. But this isn’t to do with having enough food or even your own life. It’s because you’re rich in God’s presence. He is with you, for you. You are satisfied in the one who has all resources to give life: God.
3. Peace, especially since there’s no more enemy oppressing them.
A. Behind the gloom, the famine, the despair, the anguish and the helpless anger, there is a person Isaiah calls the oppressor, who yokes people to pull burdens and whips them.
1. He mentions him in Isaiah 14:4-7 that you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers; he who struck the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he who ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted and no one hinders. The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.
2. Isaiah refers to Lucifer, the fallen angel. The devil is the god of this world and he rules harshly. The real power of the gloom, the hunger, the helplessness is a spirit that no man can overcome.
B. This means that the essential problem of this world is not political, economic, or environmental. The problem is spiritual disconnect from God who gives life. If we are disconnected from God we are dead spiritually.
C. But God will overcome as at Midian. You’ll remember that Midian was innumerable as locust and Israel had no power against them. God defeated Midian in a way that demonstrated that it was Him alone and nobody else. He established relationship with Gideon. Then it was God’s plan executed God’s way so that Israel would know it was God and not because they were able. So God will overcome by restoring relationship with man in a way that exalts God and not men.
4. God is going to solve the disconnect and the oppressor by giving us a child.
A. He will be a human being because that’s how children come into this world.
B. The government will be upon the child’s shoulder. He personally bears the burden of rulership. That indicates duty and responsibility.
1. This child uses his power to benefit others. He does not beat His own people.
2. He bears their burdens, their griefs, their sorrows, and their sins. He bears these all away so that they are restored to relationship with God.
3. As He bears their sins He also removes His people from the dominion of the oppressor. He breaks the bonds to that yoke. He frees His people to live new lives governed by Him.
5. This child is also a Son. The Son has a glorious name above all other names, the name of God Himself.
A. Name doesn’t refer to the letters making up the name of the Son. It’s not “who He is”, as much as “what He is”. Name describes His quality, His essence, His character. This is not saying He will try to be these things. These titles describe who He really is. The child who is to be born is Himself God.
B. His name first of all is Wonderful.
1. Literally it’s Miracle, or Wonder. That’s defined as the transcendent power of God coming into human existence and accomplishing what only God can do.
2. His life will be marked by miracles, like His birth. Isaiah spoke of a virgin bearing a son who would be Immanuel, God with us. The angel told His mother that she would bear a son and she said how shall this be since I have no relations with a man? She was engaged and a virgin. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” So the pure birth of the Son is a miracle.
3. Isaiah 35:4-6 Say to those who are fearful- hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. No one can restore sight to the blind except God.
C. Then His name shall be called Counselor.
1. This Son gives good counsel and makes strategies that never fail. That means He accomplishes what He sets out to do, and nothing can stop Him.
2. The oppressor is smart and wiser than any man. But the Son has all counsel and might because the Spirit of the Lord will be upon Him: Isaiah 11:1-4 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
3. The understanding of the Lord is without limit, so the Son does not guess. That phrase counsel and might is important because it’s used in only one other place, Isaiah 36:5 and the context is war. So when the Son makes war He wins because His counsel transcends all other counsel and always prevails.
4. The Son chose to win the fight with the oppressor by weakness and foolishness. I’ll come as a human being, far below the oppressor. The oppressor took advantage and plotted for the Son to be put to death. The Father put all our sins upon Jesus as He was dying. He took our sins with Him to death. Because it was unjust for the innocent Son to be murdered, the Father raised Him from the dead.
D. The Son is also the Mighty God. How mighty? He rose from the dead. Yes, the Father raised Him from the dead. So did the Holy Spirit. But it says in John 10:17-18 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.”
E. The Son is the Eternal Father.
1. The Son reveals the exact character of the Father. John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
2. What we learn from the Father is that He loves us. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. The Son communicates the love of the Father to us.
3. John 14:9-10 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.”
F. Prince of peace.
1. The result of miracle power and counsel and power and the will of the eternal Father is to make peace and increase it.
2. There is no more disconnect in relationship with God because disconnect equals death, darkness, hunger, dissatisfaction, helpless anger, despair, burden, and unceasing beating by the oppressor.
3. The opposite of that is wholeness, life, light, hope, fulfillment, freedom, healing, honor and glory forever. That’s what peace is.
4. The government of the Son is not obnoxious, selfish, deceptive, oppressive, just the opposite. It is peace, established in righteousness. The Son fulfilled complete obedience to all the demands of the law of God. He also fulfilled all the curses in the law for disobedience, because He made peace by the blood of His cross. The government rests upon His crucified shoulder.
5. And the Son will uphold His government upon His resurrected shoulder forever. It is the throne of David, but it’s the kingdom of God, that will never fall or pass to another.
6. We know that God will do what He says here.
A. Because He has already done a lot of it.
1. Almost 2000 years ago God gave His Son to be born as a child.
2. Where the Son performed many of His miracles is in Galilee of the Gentiles. They did see a great light.
3. The Son has established His government by His death and His resurrection. People are coming to Him, laying down their arms, and surrendering to His government everyday. He gives amnesty to those who surrender and forgiveness. He gives His peace, not like the world gives.
4. All this the Son has done through the zeal of the Lord of hosts. Remember His disciples remembered, “Zeal for Your house will consume Me.”
B. The rest of this prophecy must be fulfilled. The Son will establish His kingdom upon the earth. Daniel 2:44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
C. This is hope that does not disappoint because the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. Can you imagine that God has given His Son but will run out of zeal and will just let evil win? I’m tired?
7. So what?
A. Christmas is really about God giving a gift and “us” receiving. Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Are you “us”? Have you surrendered your life and laid down your rebellion? I urge everyone of you to receive Jesus.
B. Think of how fabulous a gift He is.
1. We feel the gloom of this world and wonder how am I going to make it another year? The news alone aggravates and makes you feel helpless. It’s maddening. You think, I’m really tired of this.
2. But Jesus is the One who overcomes all the darkness with His marvellous light. He is your miracle. He is your strategy for your life. He communicates to you the Father’s love. Most important, He will give you His peace.
C. God is going to finish what He has begun.
1. He counselled and strategised His own work. He has pursued it with His divine power. He has made peace and He will finish His work with His zeal.
2. This zeal is the zeal of love. There’s an example of this in the book of Ruth. Ruth gleaned all harvest in Boaz’ field. At the end of harvest Naomi tells Ruth to ask Boaz to be her kinsman redeemer. That means he will have to marry her. So she dresses in her best and anoints herself with fragrance, and speaks with Boaz. He says yes, I will redeem you. There’s just a little legal detail we have to solve but if I can do it, I’ll do it. So Ruth goes home to Naomi with Boaz’ gift, a large amount of barley to show that he means business. Naomi asks how did it go, my daughter? Ruth tells her everything, then Naomi says, Ruth 3:18 “Sit still, my daughter, until you know how the matter will turn out; for the man will not rest until he has concluded the matter this day.”
3. Boaz did not rest and got down to business because he loves Ruth. The Father is getting down to business, too. He won’t forget us, He won’t drop us. He will give us what we need when we need it. He is zealous to finish His work because He loves us.
4. If you need zeal, receive God’s love. That love is all wrapped up in Jesus. Receive Him.
Let’s pray.