Advent 2021

Passage:  Isaiah 12:1-6

This advent we spent time in the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah 6-11.  For four weeks now we have been caught up in Isaiah’s great prophetic vision of God’s redemptive purposes in history.

Chapter 6 gave us that glorious temple vision of the Messiah and Isaiah’s heartfelt cry of repentance followed by his atonement with coals taken from the fire on the altar.

We heard the incredible promise in chapter 7 of a virgin giving birth to a child called Immanuel.  Then in chapter 9 another prophecy of a child being given and a son being born.  Finally, last week in chapter 11 we heard of a shoot coming out of the stump of Jesse bearing great fruit.

When you consider the condition of the heart of Israel, cold, hard, rebellious, resistant, and you see the righteous wrath of God, and the judgment that came through the armies of Assyria, you can’t help but be stunned by these prophetic promises of God.

Have you ever made a mess of something in your life and then by the grace of God it not only works out, but works out better than before?  Have you ever deserved nothing and then receive more than you could ever hope or imagine?

Passage:  Isaiah 11:1-10, 16

Have you ever had one of those conversations with an excited four-year-old who has so much they want to tell you and they use “and” about a hundred times as they string together one excited thought after another.

Isaiah 11 is like that.  Every single verse except verse 9 starts with the Hebrew word for and.  Just in our verses printed in our bulletin there are 27 ands in the original (19 in the ESV).

We should read this with a sort of breathless pace, with an increasing heart rate as Isaiah describes the Messianic reign with excited anticipation, piling on one detail after another.  It should be the way we think about the future second coming of the Messiah, excited expectation.

Passage:  Isaiah 9:1-7

This Advent we are considering the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah.  These prophecies were spoken over 700 years before the birth of Jesus which makes the details in them all the more staggering.  Who will refuse to believe the God who speaks about the future and it comes to pass?

Last week we were helped to understand the prophecy of a virgin birth by knowing some geography and history.  That is true for this prophecy of a great darkness and a great light.

Israel is a country divided, like ours only different.  Judah is the southern kingdom made up of two tribes under evil King Ahaz.  Israel is the northern kingdom of ten tribes under an equally evil King Pekah.

The northern most part of Israel is the region of Galilee and around the Sea of Galilee are two of the northern tribes, Zebulun and Naphtali.  These two tribes being in the far north were the first to take the brunt of any invading army.

II Kings 15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured … Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria.

The northern kingdom had been faithless, the had broken covenant with God.  As a result, God disciplined them  by the Assyrians.  When we read of the yoke and rod of oppression and being trampled under warriors boots, that’s Assyria.

But God.  God refuses to let go of His faithless flock.  God has a tenacious memory, He never forgets His own, He never forgets His covenant promises.  Even when they are beaten down and destroyed, when they are lead away into captivity, even when they have been cast out into a land of deep darkness, God’s grace never completely lets go.

Chapter 9 opens suddenly with a brilliant display of a great light.  Listen to the incredible fulfilment of this prophecy as Matthew quotes our text.

Matthew 4:13-17 Leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

15 “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus came to Zebulun and Naphtali, to the Galilee of the Gentiles.  These most northern tribes who had been plunged into darkness by the Assyrians and sin, were the first to see a great light from the Sun of righteousness.  Jesus who is the light of the world began His ministry in the darkest part of Israel.

Passage: Isaiah 7:1-16

Before our text let me give you a very brief context.  After Solomon died, Israel split into two nations.  The 10 northern tribes were Israel, which is also sometimes referred to as Ephraim and the capital is Samaria.  The two southern tribes were Judah, sometimes referred to as the house of David, and the capital of Judah is Jerusalem.  At the time of our text Pekah is king of Israel and Ahaz is king of Judah.

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In the basement of the West Wing of the White House there is a large room called the Situation Room, or War Room.  It is a place where high level secure meetings take place, often meetings filled with tension, drama and serious consequences.

Crises have a way of bring the worst and the best out of people.  Crises have a way of exposing our faith, they test what we are trusting in.  That has been illustrated over and over these past three weeks in our county.  I wonder how much prayer has ever gone on in that White House Situation Room?

What is going on in Israel is a Situation Room kind of experience, so significant that it merits a supernatural sign from heaven which has serious consequences.  The situation and the sign.

Passage: Isaiah 6:1-13

What is the most awe inspiring thing you have ever seen or heard or witnessed?

How about our sanctuary decorated for Advent. We can stand in awe before the Grand Canyon or the Grand Tetons or Banff and Lake Louise. We can listen in awe to the roar of the ocean in a storm or Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. We can be amazed at pictures of the splendor of a galaxy or the aurora borealis. What about the terrifying power of a great flood, a forest fire, a lightning storm, an avalanche, a tornado? Is anything more moving than the birth of a baby?
What have you experienced that knocked you out of your senses?
What Isaiah saw knocked him out of his senses. Encounters with God will do that. There is nothing else in the universe like it. It was a whole body experience.

He saw the Lord high and lifted up.
He heard the seraphim.
He felt the foundations shaking.
He smelled the smoke.
He trembled in the depths of his soul.
He felt the burning coals.
He heard the voice of the Lord.

Are you glad you can only read about this vision? Are you glad this was Isaiah and not you? Are we like the children of Israel when they saw Moses covered in glory as he came down from Mt. Sinai and were afraid to come near him and wanted him to stay between them and God?