Sermon Transcript
But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Jebus and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he, 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 the land of deep darkness On them has light shone. 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. 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.
Thanks, Carrie.
Every time we turned around, they were at it again. The Midianites, those people that lived beyond the Jordan River, 7 years they tormented us, drove us from our homes, forced us to seek shelter in caves. They swarmed our fields like locusts, stealing our grain, our animals, and our women.
Our hope. Every time we planted, they swarmed. Everything we had, they took. So, I was hiding. I was threshing wheat in secret so they couldn’t steal it from me, and an angel appeared, and he said, the Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.
Mighty man of valor? Who is he talking to? I’m no warrior. Yet he said, I would go with my might and I would save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Me, Gideon, the weakest brother from the weakest tribe in all of Israel, and I would be the one to deliver Israel from Midian’s oppression?
But that’s just it. It wasn’t my might. It wasn’t my valor that would win the victory. God promised he would be with me until the end, and he even proved it to me with a sign, the fleece. No one can control the dew of the ground like that.
It must be God. And if God is the one calling, who am I to ignore God? So I believed, and when the time came, I sent out the call to fight. I blew the trumpet and the message traveled throughout the land, through every tribe, all the way to the northern border, as far as Zebulun and Naphtali, and 32,000 men came prepared to fight.
But God said, no, that’s too many. If you fight with an army of that size, everyone will believe that the victory came because of their own strength. So men were sent home. One by one, they were sent home until only 300 remained. 300 men against the entire army of Midian.
But that night, with only 300, Armed with only torches and trumpets, we took our stand. And with shouts of, a sword for the Lord and for Gideon! We prevailed.
And that night, I learned what it meant to trust. Not to trust in our own strength, not to trust in our own numbers, and not to trust in our own abilities, but what It means to trust in the Lord who saves.
Do you remember that story? Gideon, the battle of Midian, when all of Israel felt like there was no hope against the vast Midian army, God provided a victory with only 300. Israel was surrounded, had their crops destroyed, no hope, and And yet, hope came from the smallest son in the smallest clan. But I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, I thought we were gonna be talking about Christmas prophecies today.
It’s the name of our sermon series right now. How does the battle of Midian connect to Christmas? Well, I’m glad you asked. We are in our 2nd week of the Christmas Prophecies series. And let me just clear something up real quick from Dan’s sermon last week.
The appropriate time to begin listening to Christmas music is, in fact, July.
Today, we’re gonna take a look at a familiar passage that is often read in the time leading up to Christmas. That’s Isaiah chapter 9. Now, the story of Gideon and the battle of Midian takes place about 300 to 400 years before the time of Isaiah and can be found in the book of Judges. Where in Judges, kids? It’s Judges 6:7.
As we walk through Isaiah 9, we will see how Isaiah connects the harsh social and political conditions of Israel and Judah in his day to the challenging conditions found in Gideon’s time. Isaiah is writing to people who are under constant attack, a people who have lost harvest after harvest, a people who have lost hope a people who are walking in deep darkness. And Isaiah connects back to the battle of Midian to provide hope, and we will see that Isaiah tells the people in their darkest days that the light is coming, but the light is different than expected, and the light is unending. That’s the light is coming, the light is different than expected, and the light is unending. First, the light is coming.
For the people Isaiah is ministering to, it’s a time of spiritual darkness and they are feeling it, a time of oppression where there is lack of food and the looming threat of attack from surrounding territories. There’s even a threat of attack from within. For the history buffs out there, a little bit of context: Israel is ministering to the kings of Judah in in the time after the divide of Israel. Remember, after the death of King David, Israel’s greatest king, his son Solomon reigned over a golden era of prosperity for Israel. But after his death, the kingdom was divided in 2.
Of the original 12 tribes of Israel, the 10 tribes to the north formed the Northern Kingdom, which we call Israel, and the 2 remaining tribes in the south formed the southern kingdom called Judah. Now, we’re between 700 and 800 years before the birth of Christ, and it’s a time where Israel and Judah are both constantly threatened by Assyria and other surrounding areas. And when Isaiah delivers this message to King Ahaz of the southern kingdom, the northern kingdom has united with the surrounding territory of Aram and is planning to attack Judah. So Isaiah tells Ahaz, Trust in the Lord for protection. Ahaz refuses.
He refuses to turn to the Lord, and instead, he asks for help from the king of Assyria for military assistance. Under constant threat of attack from all sides, treasures scavenged, crops destroyed, deep darkness, and in need of a significant victory. That sounds an awful lot like the impossible conditions Gideon was facing in the time leading up to the Battle of Midian, doesn’t it? Isaiah chapter 8 ends with these words: They will pass through the land greatly distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.
Distress, darkness, gloom of anguish, thrust into thick darkness. So Isaiah hits King Ahaz with chapter 9. Now, often when we’re reading Scripture, we can be in a hurry and we can gloss over the names and places and think, yeah, yeah, yeah, get to the good part.
Honestly, I’ve done that with this passage countless times. I skip right over the names of Zebulun and Naphtali and Galilee of the nations to get to the good part, the familiar part, the encouraging part. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Yes, I know that part. But today, let’s not miss this.
What is Zebulun and Naphtali? Well, they’re territories. They’re territories named after tribes of Israel. Of Israel. Zebulun and Naphtali are even mentioned in the story I shared about Gideon.
They are 2 territories on the northernmost border of Israel. But why is Isaiah singling them out? Why does he say there will be no more gloom there? And why was there so much gloom there to begin with? Remember, at the time of Isaiah, the northern kingdom had turned against the southern kingdom Judah, and Judah seeks military assistance from outside neighboring kingdoms.
And if you remember your Old Testament history, it’s the northern kingdom that falls first. They are taken into exile, and it’s Assyria that conquers them. And that happens soon after Isaiah delivers this message. We don’t know the exact date of this prophecy, but Isaiah delivers this message to King Ahaz, And King Ahaz reigns over Judah for 16 years, and Israel falls within Ahaz’s time as king. So, Israel is about to fall and is about to be captured by Assyria, and Zebulun and Naphtali, those are the 2 northernmost territories that make up the very border where Assyria is going to enter Israel.
It’s the first area to be conquered. When Israel enters its darkest days, the time of exile, it begins with Zebulun and Naphtali. They were the first to fall. They were the first to fail. One of my favorite musicals is Les Misérables, or for those of us English speakers in the room who are afraid of all those extra letters in French words, We just call it Les Mis.
You probably know this story, but out of all the times I have seen Les Mis live, I still weep multiple times throughout the show. Okay, sometimes I’ll admit it’s more than a weep. I’ve been known to ugly cry at a few moments. Maybe it’s just a line of music that stuck out in my head when I thought of the phrase, first to fall, but I’m reminded of the scene at the barricades. In the novel and in the earlier versions of the stage adaptation, Éponine sneaks into the battle zone to deliver a message from Cosette to Marius.
She sneaks through the barricade and steps in front of a soldier’s gun, taking the bullet that was intended for Marius, saving him, but dies in the arms of her beloved Marius. She is the first fall. She’s the first to die. Then shortly after, Gavroche, the young child, dies at the barricade helping the resistance. Ultimately, the barricade falls.
The barricade fails and all of the revolutionaries taking a stand are killed.
Well, if you know the story, at least 2 people survive, but we’ll save that for a different sermon illustration. For today, Basically everyone dies. But every time I watch the show, my heart sinks for Eponine and Gavroche. The barricade fails, but they are the first to fall. Everyone is defeated and basically everyone is killed, but there’s something extra heavy about Eponine and Gavroche.
Zebulun and Naphtali are the first territories to be conquered. There is certainly extra gloom and darkness in their territory, having failed to hold back Assyria. And when they are conquered, Isaiah had said, there will be no more gloom in that land. There already was anguish there, so everyone was expecting the gloom to be taken away, and they fall. It’s as if there was a prophet in Les Mis and the prophet said, there will be no more anguish.
You will experience joy and freedom. Freedom and your friends will be made glorious and it’s going to start with Eponine and Gavroche.
And then you watch them die.
It would have compounded the anguish, not relieved it.
And out of all the darkness in all of Israel, Zebulun and Naphtali are the epicenter. It’s the center of the black hole, not only the first in darkness, but is the darkest of dark places for the people of Israel. And yet Isaiah says, the light is coming. The darkness of Zebulun and Naphtali is not— is no match for the light that will come. The people who walk in darkness have seen a great light.
And how great? Great enough to illuminate all of Israel, beginning with the darkest places, the darkest of dark places are no match for the coming light. And what does Isaiah say about this coming light? He says there will be no more gloom. There will be no more anguish.
In fact, the light will bring joy to the people who have lost crops after crops to enemies year after year. There will be joy similar to the joy you experience at harvest. To the people who have lost battle after battle, he says there will be joy similar to dividing the spoils after a military victory. In fact, verse 5 tells us that after dividing the spoils, you won’t even need to keep the military equipment because every boot and garment of war will be burned in the fire. He says you don’t need to keep the military uniform and you don’t need to stock up on military equipment because there will be no more war.
All you can see right now is darkness and anguish, but the light is coming and it will bring joy and it will bring peace. The light is coming. So what is the light that they were looking for? You know, before coming to Bridges, my wife Casey and I were part of a church that would do a children’s sermon each service. Before heading off to Sunday school, the kids would all come forward and they would sit on the steps and someone would give a really quick lesson.
And anytime they would ask the kids a question, they would all enthusiastically shout the answer and they would always get it right because it was always the same answer and it was, Jesus! Okay, they would almost always get it right ’cause occasionally they’d sneak in a tough one and the answer would be God. Or every once in a while it’d be Moses or Noah or Joseph or something like that, but Today, I promise you, the answer is as obvious as it seems, and I want your help here. Help me as if you are the kids during a children’s sermon. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
On those who dwelt in the land of deep darkness, on them a light has shone. Who is the light? Jesus! You’re so good. That’s right.
It’s Jesus. It is that obvious to us.
Today. We’ve heard the story. We’ve seen it play out in the pages of Scripture. We have the New Testament to refer to. But what— would it have been that obvious to King Ahaz, to the people of Israel and Judah 2,700 years ago?
Isaiah’s saying, the light is coming, but it’s different than you might expect. The light is different than expected. Having faced attack after attack, failed crop after failed crop, resources plundered, fortunes stolen, family members captured, persecution after persecution, and now enslaved by a foreign power, what kind of savior would they be waiting for? They were expecting a new king, a new King David, a strong warrior, mighty in battle, able to overthrow foreign adversaries with a single single blow from a sword. But Isaiah is telling his audience, that’s not what you’re looking for, or at least, that’s not what you’re gonna get.
Do not fear. The light is coming. Victory is coming, but it’s not going to look how you think it will look. First, Isaiah teases this victory. He encourages them.
He says, For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod for his oppressor you have broken. They’d be thinking clearly this type of victory will come when our new king arrives and he will be the light and he will be a mighty warrior who overthrows our enemies, elevates our kingdom here on earth. We will be the next global power, right? Wrong.
He says, 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. You will have victory, but it will be similar to Midian. Midian, who we talked about earlier, Gideon’s victory with only 300 over an entire army who had oppressed them. God made it clear to Israel at Midian that victory was his and his alone, not the strength of the army, not the might of their leader. It was God’s victory.
God is telling the people through Isaiah, you will win. You will have joy. There will be light where there is currently darkness, but it will not be by your power or your might or your strategy, and it will definitely not be at the hand of your wicked king. The victory will belong solely to the Lord. As it did in the time— in the Battle of Midian.
You can show up with an army as big as you possibly can. You could build the biggest, most efficient nuclear reactor in history, and you will still never generate enough energy to power the light that is coming. Gideon understood that the victory belonged to God. Before he died, as the people essentially were begging him to be their king. Gideon says, I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you.
The Lord will rule over you. And we see this theme again over and over. 200 years after Isaiah, Zechariah prophesies to Zerubbabel, not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And Isaiah continues to turn this idea of the Savior, of the light, on its head. Remember, Isaiah is ministering to the people of Judah.
That’s the southern kingdom. In the middle of Judah is the capital city of Jerusalem. The people know that the Savior will come from the line of David, as did all of their kings. And ever since David, the next king was always born in the capital city. But the light will not be born He won’t be born into royalty.
He won’t be raised in Jerusalem, trained up in a politician’s home to be the next political leader. Isaiah does not want us to miss this point. The light is not coming from Jerusalem, the mighty city on a hill. Isaiah says, the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, that’s what will be made glorious. That’s where the light will shine, or some translations say, the light will dawn.
It will begin out there in a tiny town. The Savior will not come from Sacramento or Washington, D.C. The light will dawn in McFarland. Do you remember that movie, McFarland, USA, the classic underdog movie? We know God loves a good underdog story.
McFarland, USA, based on a true story. Kevin Costner plays a cross-country coach in the middle of nowhere, a small farming community made up mostly of migrant farmworker families, a town that no one had heard of. You’d drive right past it and not even know it was there. That is, until they made this movie about it.
That’s the kind of town I picture when Isaiah says that the light is is coming from Galilee of the nations. It’s not our powerful city capital. It’s the area out there made up of people from all over, immigrants, nomads, the nations. That word, the nations, Galilee of the nations, literally means Galilee of the Gentiles, Galilee of those people out there. And in the region of Galilee, there’s this little town, a McFarland, if you will, but it’s called Nazareth.
If you’re curious what people thought about Nazareth, when Jesus is calling his disciples, Nathanael blurts out, can anything good come from Nazareth? But Scripture does not want us to miss this point. Jesus was known as Jesus of Nazareth. That’s where Joseph and Mary lived. It’s where the angel appeared to Mary and Joseph, and in case we were going to miss the connection to Isaiah’s prophecy, Luke 1 tells us, in the 6th month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.
Then to make sure we really don’t miss the connection, after Jesus is born, Matthew chapter 2 tells us that in order to avoid persecution in Judea, they Joseph was warned in a dream, and he took Jesus and Mary, and he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a city called Nazareth. Jesus lived his childhood and young adult life in Galilee, and when he started his earthly ministry, Matthew chapter 4 tells us that, and leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. Jesus started his ministry in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali, the darkest of dark territories, and that’s where Jesus shows up performing miracles. So Isaiah is saying the light is coming to bring joy and peace, and it’s coming first to the darkest, most depressed area there is, and it’s coming from this small community outside the city walls. And the people are thinking, but he’s still a mighty warrior, right?
Our valiant military leader, right?
For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Expecting a warrior, they would receive a child. Expecting a king, they would be given a son. As in the days of Midian, God will work through the humble, the meek, and the unexpected. Not the rich, the powerful, and the influential.
God will work through the outgunned, outmanned, outnumbered, and outplanned. And when it comes time to make a stand, he will be their divine right-hand man and trusted Trust me, when you’re facing a giant filled with pride, it must be nice to have the Lord of Hosts on your side because to us a son is given and the government will be on his shoulders. In the time of Isaiah, Ahaz was king. He was a descendant of David. He expected that he would rule in his own power.
Instead of relying on the Lord for protection, he decided to take action into his own hands. He put the government on his own shoulders, and he relied on his own abilities, on his earthly allies, his military prowess. But a child will be born, and the government will be on his shoulders. And this should give us hope. We don’t have to rely on our own abilities, our own alliances and negotiations with the powerful people around us.
God’s power delivered by military might. God’s people will not find redemption through an earthly fight. The government will be on his shoulders. So if our government is not going the direction we want it to, we find hope that the child who is born is greater than any government that ever existed and will be greater than any government or kingdom or principality that ever will. Will exist until he establishes his final government for eternity.
And we can find solace because God’s people will be rescued by a Wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. And when rescue comes, it will be unending, and it will increase in number, and it will increase in peace, forever and forever. The light is unending. Friends, the light did come. Jesus did come and he will come again.
In Isaiah’s time, they waited for a Savior to arrive, for the light to shine in the darkest corners of their known world. And we know that the light Isaiah prophesied about did come 2,000 years ago. Just as he predicted, the light came from Galilee, and it brought hope first to Zebulun and Naphtali and brought hope and peace to all who would believe in him. We have that hope and that peace now. We can live now knowing that all who confess their need for a Savior can receive that light, that anyone who admits they are not able to amass an army large enough to fight the evils of sin and hell on their own, that anyone who will proclaim that Jesus is the light of the world and that the light of the world shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it, that anyone who will confess that Christ alone can rescue us are freed from the bondage of darkness and despair.
And if that hope isn’t great enough, Isaiah was pointing to an even greater hope than that. Than that, an eternal hope. Isaiah closes this passage with, of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it, to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Christ has been established on the throne of David, and he will rule with justice and righteousness forever and ever.
And this is God’s doing, not by our hand, but through his work, just as it was in the time of Midian. And when Christ returns, his government will see no end. There will be justice and righteousness and unending peace because he is the King of Kings and and the Lord of Lords, the beginning, the end, the Alpha and the Omega. When Christ came to earth the first time, he turned the world upside down. He healed the sick, he fed the poor, he treated prostitutes with dignity.
And when he returns and for the rest of time, there will be no more sickness, there will be no more hunger, there will be no more sin or outcast in need of family or belonging. And we can have a glimpse of that hope now. As we wait in between Christ’s arrival and his return, we have hope in the cross. After all, it was Isaiah who goes on to tell us, he was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the the iniquity of us all.
Each of us has turned our own way. We have sought our righteousness in our works. We may think we’re above this, but really we’re just like King Ahaz. We have looked to our allegiances and our alliances and to our own plans to lead us to victory. Just like Isaiah predicted, we have turned to our own way.
We have turned to our jobs to build wealth and We have turned to our finances to build our security, satisfaction, and our self-worth. We have turned to our political affiliations, relying on our political leaders to usher in the kingdom of heaven in our own way, the way we want it, instead of looking to God, knowing that when God wants to accomplish his purpose, he will elevate the humble. And he can use an army of only 300 holding only torches and trumpets trumpets. We have turned to our own way instead of knowing in our hearts that to conquer evil once and for all, God sent his Son to the cross.
But thanks be to God, the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Christ has taken our iniquity upon himself, has taken the darkness that we deserve and turn it into light. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
When Christ went to the cross, he experienced the deepest darkness that we could ever imagine.
Luke tells us that it was now about the 6th hour, And there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour, while the sun’s light failed.
And the curtain of the temple was torn in 2. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having said this, he breathed his last. The sun’s light had failed. Darkness had covered the land.
Christ experienced the deepest darkness possible so that we can experience glory. Christ gave up his light so that we would not have to walk alone in darkness. Christ descended to the grave and 3 days later rose from the grave, defeating death so we can be drawn into the supernova of God’s light radiating throughout the heavens. Friends, when hope seems lost, when you’re walking in deep darkness— believe me, every time I open the news headlines, I’m reminded of the deep darkness we are surrounded by— remember that a light has dawned. Remember these words from 1 John chapter 1.
It says, this is the message we have heard from him who and proclaim to you that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
Amen. Let’s pray.
Lord God, I thank you for the light. I thank you that the light has dawned, and I thank you in the miraculous way that the light has come, that the light can draw us in. God, we thank you for Jesus, that he appeared and he first went Zebulun and Naphtali, the darkest of dark places, that he healed the sick, that he fed the hungry, that he changed our perception That he went to the cross, that he took upon himself the iniquity of us all so that all who believe in him may have eternal life.
God, I pray that if there’s anyone here who has not made that decision, if there’s anyone here who has never heard of Jesus or never accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, I pray that they do so. God, I pray that you convict our hearts to know that we will never fight the battles that you can fight. No matter how hard we try, we will never be able to reach your glory on our own. So, we humble ourselves, we bow down, and we seek first your kingdom and your righteousness. Lord, lead us to you.
We thank you for the light. And God, as we wait in between, Jesus’s coming and his return. Like a bride waiting for her groom, God, I pray that we are a church ready for you. God, we love you and we thank you for the hope that you have given us, in Jesus’s name, amen.
