AND HIS NAME SHALL BE
Posted by: bhfbc <bhfbc@...>
AND HIS NAME SHALL BE
December 2, 2007
Evening Service
Text: Isaiah 9:6-7
I remember looking at some Advent banners years ago that were hung in a church as part of the Christmas decorations there. I noticed that one banner had the "Chi Rho" symbol on it. That's the one that looks like a letter X overlaid with a letter "P." This was one of the symbols for Christ used by the early church. It is taken from the first two Greek letters in Christ: the Chi, which looks like the "X", and the Rho, which looks like our letter "P.
What is memorable about this banner is that the Chi Rho letters were cut out of a dark purple material and placed on a black background. The symbol was difficult to see. I had to really look close to make it out.
This led me to think, "Isn't this what the world tries to do with Christ? Isn't that what we try to do with Christ in our own lives? No matter which way we turn, isn't someone always trying to "hide" Christ so that He won't be seen? Doesn't the world try to get Him to "blend in" with everything else so that His demands can be overlooked?"
The obvious answer, of course, is "yes." It seems that every year at Christmas there's a ruckus someplace over the placing of a nativity scene on public property, the argument being that such a religious display is offensive to some. Well, their argument is right. Christianity is an offense to other beliefs. It has always been so. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that "we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Gentiles foolishness." The world has always sought to "hide" Christ; it continues to do so in our time as well.
Billy Graham once wrote: "We hear great cries for tolerance, and yet millions show bigotry toward Jesus. There is still little room for the love of Christ in the hearts of millions of people today. There is no room for his Word in our culture where experts train our children without reverence for God and faith in the Bible! There is no room for our Lord's creed of self-denial when books and magazines feature page after page, paragraph after paragraph, of profanity and indecency, but not a single sentence regarding this ageless message: 'Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.'" (Decision, December 1987, p. 3) Dr. Graham made that observation in 1987! The situation has not improved.
Even in our personal lives, don't we sometimes try to make Christ "blend in?" Maybe we're in a situation where we don't want to stand out or be noticed, so we try to put our Christian profession, witness, and even values on the back burner for a while. It doesn't have to be anything significant - a "teensy-weensy" falsehood here, a little going along with the other guys there. After all, if someone looks close enough, they'll still be able to see Christ. He isn't gone; He's just dark purple on a black background.
God doesn't accept this! God doesn't allow Himself to be blended in or hidden. It is part of His nature to look at us and say, "You are my people, and I am your God." As Hosea wrote: "I am God, and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee." God has always overcome those whether individual or government that have sought to place Him in the background.
What is most amazing, perhaps, is that God makes Himself most known during the times when others are trying to make Him the least known. Very little of the Old Testament, for instance, was written during Israel's best times. Most of the books were written just prior to, during, and/or just after invasion and captivity! But it was during these times that His prophets were most active.
The books and letters of the New Testament were written entirely while Israel was occupied by the Roman government. The authors were usually under threat of persecution from either the Romans or the Jews or both. God continued to make Himself known even as many others were trying to stamp Him out.
In fact, God chose to become incarnate - Immanuel, meaning God-with-us - not during a period of Israel's greatness, but during a period of foreign occupation. Israel had already been occupied for more than three hundred years before the birth of Jesus. I mentioned last week that the primary reason the early church decided to begin celebrating Christmas was to proclaim the coming of God-with-us as the helpless babe. So we, along with others both past and present, proclaim the birth of Christ even while so many try to "hide" Him or "blend Him in."
As I mentioned just a moment ago, God always seems to shine brightest when it gets the darkest. So it was for Isaiah around three thousand years ago. In the chapter just prior to our reading this evening, he had written: "And they [that is, his people] shall pass through it, greatly distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth, and behold, trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness."
That is a description of great distress and darkness throughout the land. There was little or no hope; nothing about which to be thankful. Our headlines have been the same for decades now: stock markets are crashing; trade deficits are increasing; budget deficits are getting bigger; people are getting laid off. Israel's problems then were as real as ours now. Yet, look at what God directed Isaiah to record in 9:2-4: "The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and increased the joy; they rejoice before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian."
Isaiah wrote about hope in the midst of hopelessness; he wrote about the proclaimed God in the midst of the hidden God; he wrote about light in the midst of darkness. Isaiah dared to make, utter, and write a prophetic statement. Every scholar that I have read accepts the prophetic nature of this poem. The nature of this poem as future prediction with the assurance that it will come about is tied to the use of the perfect tense verbs. It is not that the people had already seen a light, which would be past tense, nor that they now see a light, which would be present tense, but the perfect tense, "they have seen, which is indicative of a prophetic vision of what will be when the messianic age arrives.
Out of the gloom of oppression there suddenly appears a great light. The double reference to darkness probably points to the tyranny of a foreign oppressor. In Isaiah 42:9, we see the figure of darkness referring to those who are imprisoned. Here, in this section of the book, the people are also captives. Darkness, gloom, death, and its shadow often portray oppression. On the other hand, the figure of light usually symbolizes deliverance and God's revelation breaking through.
What is the result of the light breaking through the darkness? Great joy. The two most significant kinds of joy imaginable were the joy of harvest and that of victory in war. In our highly planned economies, it makes little difference if a certain harvest is less one year than the next. We have surpluses frozen or dried or stored or under contract from another country. Not so the nations of old. Harvest would mean existence or possible death. Thus, the joy of harvest is the ultimate kind of joy to which the coming of the light in darkness may be compared. The joy is an exulting celebration over the light that has come to reveal the defeat of Israel's oppressors. Like a farm animal burdened with a yoke on its neck and beaten by a rod to make it labor beyond its endurance, Israel has been subject to oppressors. Now the revelation comes that the Lord would literally break those instruments in pieces, ending the burden.
In verse six of Isaiah's prophecy comes the high point of our Christmas celebration - the high point of our proclamation. In contrast to their former foreign rulers, a child will be born "to us." A son will be given "to us." This unique child will be born for the express purpose of delivering his people from oppression. The uniqueness of the Messiah is identified by Isaiah in the list of names ascribed to the child.
"Wonderful Counselor" has been variously translated as two titles, "Wonderful" and "Counselor." But the weight of the evidence is that they belong together, implying that the Messiah will be a wonder of a counselor. The meaning is considered to be that his counsel will originate in himself, not based upon the advice of others. His counsel will also include the ability to implement what is counseled - thus making the Messiah a wonder of a counselor.
Was this not made real in the life of Jesus? Who else but the Messiah could have responded so brilliantly and honestly to the challenges put forth by the scholarly and pious Pharisees and scribes? How else could he have answered the entrapping questions of payment of taxes, healing on the Sabbath, or forgiving the prostitute? Jesus was, to be sure, a wonder of a counselor.
"Mighty God" means that the power of the ruler to come will be divine in origin. It is felt by most scholars that the unique incarnation of God in Jesus Christ is foreshadowed in this name. The Messiah will have the power and might which God gives to him. The very miracle of the virgin birth testifies to God's power and might in the accomplishment of His divine will.
"Everlasting Father" is literally, "Father Forever," or "Father of Eternity," meaning that he will act as father forever. There is no end to His rule or His love. This is an echo of God's promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:16: "And thine house and thine kingdom shall be established forever before thee; thy throne shall be established forever." This was certainly done through Mary, who was a descendant of Nathan, a son of David.
"Prince of Peace" is the last title given here by Isaiah. The people of gloom to whom light and joy had come because of the oppression of war would surely rejoice to hear this attribute from the one who was to come as their deliverer. Here, again, we have reminders of earlier passages, such as Gideon's name for his altar to God which he called, "The Lord is peace." (Judges 6:24) Throughout His ministry, Jesus avoided the title "conqueror." He made it clear that He did not come to lead a military campaign to overthrow the Roman rule. He came to reconcile men and women to God; He came that we might have life, and have it "more abundantly."
The last stanza of this messianic poem, verse seven, is a summary of the prior verses, with some significant thoughts added. The new Messiah is to fulfill the longed-for succession to the throne of David. He will be new, but of the old lineage. Second, his rule will be of justice and righteousness. Third, the authority by which the new government is to rule is granted by none other than the Lord God. "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." This is not a program designed by human ingenuity. The words here imply passion on God's part. The messianic age will be of divine origin, not human invention.
So, at Christmas we proclaim the One who is God-with-us. We proclaim, as did Isaiah - in spite of the darkness, in spite of the hopelessness, and in spite of the desire of many who would like to see Christ merely "blended in" - that Jesus is Lord. The starting place for this proclamation is our own heart - our own life. Jesus Christ does not desire to be hidden or blended in within our heart. Instead, He wants to be known. "Unto us a child is born, unto us a child is given."
The Kingdom of God, announced by Jesus Christ, is a government releasing us from the bondage of our self-imposed darkness. Jesus redeems us, and he also empowers us to keep his counsel. As Messiah, Jesus has begun "a reign of righteousness" which will one day fully arrive, a day of peace - redemption and restoration of a right relationship between God and humanity. People of darkness will walk in the light with the Messiah who is their light.
[A]nd his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Rev. Charles A. Layne
First Baptist Church
PO Box 515
170 W. Broadway
Bunker Hill, IN 46914
765-689-7987
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