Dev: Dec 7 - Isaiah 9:2-6

² The people who

walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land

of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.
⁴ For the yoke of their burden,

the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken …

⁶ For a child has been

born for us …

Isaiah 9

 

For the last several days, we’ve been looking at the prophecies in Isaiah 9.

 

In the passage above – and to set this in context – I left in verse 6, which is the wonderful, Christmas prophecy of “a child [being] born for us.”

 

But look at the rest of this prophecy. What is it saying to us? What is it proclaiming 700 years before Jesus the Messiah was born?

 

First, humanity is walking in darkness. Why? Because of sin. Because of sin there’s anger, greed, violence, persecution, and division. Because of sin there’s also death.

 

We hear rumors that “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all” ^{1 John 1:5} But we don’t always see much light. (Because of sin!) But with the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, the light of the world is stepping down into darkness. ^{As the familiar song sings}

 

The prophet describes what would one day happen like this: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light … on them light has shined.” Well, when “what would happen” did happen, John in his Gospel described the coming of the Messiah like this: “What has come into being ⁴ in him [in Jesus the Messiah] was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” ^{John 1:4-5}

 

Seven hundred years before the coming of Jesus the Messiah, God prophesied that it would be light. And John the Evangelist testified that it was light.

 

But Jesus’ coming was more than just mere illumination; it was the kind of light that conquered darkness.

 

Think of it like this: You have a closet in your house. When you open the door, does light from the bright family room spill into the dark closet … or does the dark closet spill out and conquer the bright room? Light conquers darkness! The dark closet is illumined. And with the coming of Christ, his light conquered the darkness of this world.

 

And conquered is the proper word. It’s a battle metaphor. And we’ll never understand what’s going on in this world until we understand that this world is a war zone and we’re not hopeful or free until the “rod of [our] oppressor” is broken.

 

That’s what Jesus came to do. He came to do battle. He fought with his blood to break the cruel oppressor’s rod. ^{A line from A Mighty Fortress} He is the Light of the World, continually conquering the darkness that seeks to swallow us.

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who decorated

two Christmas trees

this holiday season

… and both times

I had to stop halfway

and go buy more lights.

(Celebrating the

Light of the World

takes a lot of lights!)