Sermon Central
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And Christ Came
Contributed by Howard Strickland on Dec 8, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: This message will bring hope and comfort to all.Part 2 of a Christmas series. I feel as though this message has to be read, but of course with prayer and passion.
And Christ Came Text: Isaiah 9:6
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
This prophecy of the coming Christ was given some 700 years before his birth. The prophecy of this child’s birth tells us that this lad would be special – that the child would be unique. Of course the One that Isaiah is speaking of is Jesus. According to Isaiah chapter nine, He would be called: Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
It’s wonderful to know as a believer that Christ is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace!
However, in Isaiah chapter 8 right before this great prophecy you will quickly read that all hope was gone!
The language in Isaiah 8 is ominous and dark and foreboding. People are rejecting God’s ways and are walking and living in darkness. Despair is rampant in the nation, distress is common and the pressures of an enemies attack lurks in every shadow.
The people are afraid and stressed out. Why are they afraid? Was it because they had an enemy poised on its border, the nation called Assyria, powerful and vicious? Is that why they were afraid? NO!
They were afraid because they had totally lost sight of God, and that is why God sent Isaiah, to help them recover their sight. They had forgotten the words of Isaiah 7:14 (NKJV) "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”
The days of God’s nearness – GONE - The days of God’s great works – GONE - The days of God’s glory – GONE - The days where a word from the book brought comfort – GONE!
Why? Because God’s people turned away from a loving and caring God!
Isaiah 8:19-22 (RSV) And when they say to you, "Consult the mediums and the wizards who chirp and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! Surely for this word which they speak there is no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry; and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward; 22 and they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be thrust into thick darkness.
It’s interesting that God says in verse 20 that all they need is the teaching and the testimony, in other words, just look to God’s word and become His wittiness because that’s all you will need!
The uprising of palm reading, witchcraft, séances, horoscopes and psychic fairs is not only Satanic and evil; it is just one more evidence of how lost people are around us!
This was the culture of Isaiah’s day as well as it is today!
The next several verses in Isaiah indicate that God was going to do something new and significant. These are the exact words that many people need to hear today…if they can listen…
Isaiah 9:2-4 (NLT) The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine. 3 You will enlarge the nation of Israel, and its people will rejoice. They will rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest and like warriors dividing the plunder. 4 For you will break the yoke of their slavery and lift the heavy burden from their shoulders. You will break the oppressor’s rod, just as you did when you destroyed the army of Midian.
And then Isaiah says that this will all be fulfilled because of the birth of a baby who will be named Jesus Christ.
Can Jesus really be all that? Can Jesus really do all that?
Let me say as a reminder that this whole book is about Jesus and the greatness of God. It is all about how life apart from Jesus is
- meaningless- clueless- fatiguing- empty and dark!
Without Jesus there is no reason, no purpose, no way, no path, and no hope for the future and no forgiveness for the past. That’s what we believe!
John1:1, 14 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
