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About Jesus Steve Sweetman Isaiah 9 To
Us A Child Is Born (ch. 9:1 - 7)
In
verse 1 we see the
Verse
1 speaks of "gloom and distress" that Zebulun and Naphtali had
experience. This is probably
do to the attack by the Assyrians on this part of the northern kingdom
in and around 735 B. C.. Verse
1 predicts a day when these two lands will be restored.
In Matthew 4:15 and 16, Matthew
quotes this verse. He says
that Jesus, at least in part as I see it, fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy of
this land being "honoured".
The very fact that Jesus spent most of His time walking the
western shore of the I
personally see an end time fulfillment of this verse when Jesus returns,
restores The
term " Verse
2 speaks of the people living in darkness and under the shadow of death.
These people are those who live in the land
of Verse
3 speaks of the day of the return of Jesus.
The lands of these two tribes, and really, the land of all twelve
tribes, will be enlarged and secured.
There will be much rejoicing in that day.
Verses
4 and 5 continue on in this vein of the restoration of these two lands.
The mention of a Midianite invasion that Israel
fought off in victory is meant to symbolize the victory of Israel
in the last day. This
Midianite invasion took place in Israel's past. Verse
6 is one very well known verse. We
read it every year at Christmas, but really, this verse is more about
the return of Jesus to earth in victory than it is about His birth, even
though there is mention of His birth.
Verse 6 is what we call a Messianic prophecy, predicting the
coming of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse
6 begins by saying, "for unto us a child is born".
Even though Christians relate the word "us" to
themselves as they read this at Christmas, the word "us"
really refers, first to the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali, and then to
Israel in general. If you
read John, chapter 1, you will note that the Messiah, that's Jesus, came
to Israel. His mission was to
Israel, not to the world. His
death was for the world, but His birth and His ministry was to Israel. There
isn't anything really wrong with thinking the word "us" can't
refer to Gentile believers, because in the long run, the birth of Jesus
touches us all. That being
said, in context, "us' refers to Zebulun and Naphtali, and in
general terms to Israel. The
term "child is born" speaks of the humanity of Jesus.
He was born into humanity as a human.
The
term "son is given" in verse 6 refers to Jesus' divinity.
Jesus was not the son of Joseph.
He was the Son of God. His
mother was human, His mother
was Mary, but His father was not human.
His father was God Himself. So,
in the first part of verse 6 we have a clear picture of who the Messiah
is. He is both human and
divine. "The
government will be on His shoulders".
We need to ask, "in context, what government is Isaiah
speaking of here". It's
got to be the government of Zebulun and Naphtali, and if these two
tribes, then all of Israel. So, the Messiah will lead
the government of Israel
at some future point to when Isaiah predicted these words.
I ask, "has this yet happened"?
The answer is, "no".
The Messiah of Israel has never been the king of When
thinking of the Jewish Messiah as being King of the Jews, we need to
understand that the Bible predicts the return of Jesus to the city of Jerusalem, where He will rule over Israel. Yet beyond His rule over
Israel, He will rule over all the nations on earth.
Verse
6 gives a number of titles or job descriptions given to the Messiah.
The first is "Wonderful Counselor".
Some suggest that Wonderful is an adjective to Counselor,
meaning, the Counselor is Wonderful.
That could be so in English but the problem is that Hebrew had no
such thing as an adjective. I
believe Wonderful and Counselor are two separate distinct
characterizations of Jesus. He
is Wonderful and He is also Counselor.
The
term "Mighty God" clearly shows the Deity of the Messiah.
He is God, but, He is the God of warriors.
The Hebrew translated as "Mighty" here, or,
"Almighty" elsewhere, means "army".
The Messiah is the "God of armies".
We see Jesus in that roll when He returns to earth.
You may recall that Jesus could have called on a heavenly host of
angels to rescue Him from death. This
heavenly host is a heavenly army. The
term "Everlasting Father" also clearly portrays the Messiah as
God. A more accurate
translation would be "the Father of Eternity".
Again, this speaks of the Deity of Christ, the Deity of the
Messiah. The word
"Father" portrays the idea that the Messiah, although being a
son, demonstrates the protecting and caring aspects of a Father, not
only for a time, but for all of eternity.
The
last title given to the Messiah here is the "Prince of Peace".
The word "Prince" is a military word in Hebrew.
This tells us how the Messiah will eventually bring eternal peace
to this planet. Peace will
come by victory of war, as seen in the last great battle that ends this
age. So,
I think you can clearly see, verse 6 is more about the return of Jesus
to earth than it is about His birth.
This is a nice verse to
read at Christmas, but we should understand, Christmas isn't exactly
what this verse is all about. Verse
7 tells us that the kingdom of the Messiah's rule of peace will have no
end. So, the rule of peace
may begin during the thousand year rule of Christ, but it doesn't end
when the thousand years is up. It
continues into the days of the New Heaven and the New Earth.
Verse
7 speaks of "the throne of David".
Many Christians get mixed up on this point.
They think Jesus is ruling right now in heaven on the throne of
David. That is not so.
He does rule from Heaven, but from the right hand of God, from
His Father's throne. The
throne of David was, and will be, an earthly throne.
As King David ruled Again,
we see that the Messiah's rule will be forever.
It will not just last a thousand years. This
section ends with the words, "the zeal of the Lord Almighty will
accomplish it". Remember,
the word "Almighty" means "army".
The Lord, the Messiah is Lord of a vast heavenly army who will
accomplish what has just been prophesied.
The Hebrew word translated as "zeal" means "a very
powerful jealousy". The
Messiah has an indescribable jealousy for His people.
This is the motivation behind Him coming to earth to establish
His kingdom. The last
sentence makes it clear. What
has been predicted, will come about. The picture this last verse paints of God seems very outdated in our modern society. As seen in the eyes of modern man, this looks more like old style Greek mythology than anything else. In our so-called intelligence, we've ruled such a portrayal of God out of existence. That being said, this is the God of the Bible. Christians must understand this, but often don't.
The
Lord's Anger Against In verse 8 we see Verse 10 is a clear demonstration of the pride and
arrogance of the northern kingdom. Even
though they have been defeated in war, they arrogantly proclaim that
they will rebuild and bounce back stronger than ever.
They are relying on their own strength for their restoration, not
the Lord's strength. We
should view these words as words spoken in defiance to God.
In relation to this verse, I recommend you read,
"The Harbinger", by Jonathan Cahn.
It relates this verse in a very interesting and prophetic way to America
and 911. In verse 11 we see Rezin mentioned.
He is the king of Syria. In verse 12 we see the Arameans mentioned. The text
states that they are from the east.
These are the Assyrians who are to the east of Verses 11 and 12 are in reference to the alliance
that the northern kingdom of If Jonathan Cahn is right, and 911 and the recession
of 2008 are harbingers of judgment, then we might as well carry on this
analogy to verse 12. America
will not repent as well. Verse 13 tells us that the people, Israelis, will not
return to him who struck them. "Him
who struck them" refers to God, not the Assyrians.
We see a clear picture here.
God uses nations to judge other nations.
The one behind the Assyrian attack is not the king of Note the word "Almighty".
As I have said before, the Hebrew word translated as
"Almighty" means "army".
The Lord, is the Lord of armies. In verses 16 through 18 we see the anger of the Lord
against the northern kingdom of Israel, especially to the elders and the prophets.
God always judges leaders more severely than those they lead.
That being said, God will judge everyone in the nation, even the
fatherless and the widows. He
does so because even these under privileged live in ungodly ways.
The simple fact is this. Whether
rich or poor, bond or free, or, whatever, God is no respecter of people.
If you are ungodly, He will judge you accordingly. The last half of verse 17 is interesting.
Even after God judges Israel, His anger is not turned away. God
never allowed the northern kingdom to return as a nation again. His
judgment remains to this very day. Modern
day In verse 18 wickedness is portrayed as a forest fire.
It spreads from tree to tree until it devours the forest.
How true. You can see
this in the world today. Aided
by modern communication, wickedness creeps across our lands just like a
forest fire creeps across the floor of a forest. Verse 19 speaks of the scorched land brought about by
the fire of God's judgment. When
Verse 20 and 21 speak of civil war.
The text talks about cannibalism.
I believe this is not symbolic.
I believe this is an accurate portrayal of how bad it got when
Assyria
invaded the northern kingdom. The chapter ends by saying the Lord's anger has still
not been satisfied. He is
still angry with Israel. Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 10 speak of judgment of
those who oppress God's people in a number of ways, whether it is by
unjust means, not helping the poor, or, whatever.
God, through Isaiah, says that Israel's oppressors will have their day. Throughout
the prophetic writings you will see that one reason for God judging a
nation, whether it is Israel
or another nation, it is because there is a lack of national justice.
In this verse the lack of justice is directed towards Israel. Verse 3 speaks of judgment in terms of "the day
of reckoning". God
always has a day when any nation's actions will be accounted for.
The western world today should pay close attention to this, but
obviously, our nations are so far removed from God they don't even know
there is a day of reckoning for them I believe that all nations, as well as all
individuals, will have a day of reckoning.
Of course, that will come when Jesus finally wraps all things up
at the end of time as we know it. I
also believe that nations, prior to the day of individual reckoning,
will have their own day of reckoning when God will account for their
national sins. Verse 3 says that "disaster will come from the
altar". In other words,
the disaster that will befall the oppressor will
come from God. No one will
be able to turn back the disaster. Note that verse 4 states that even though God judges
the oppressor, His anger is not turned away.
From this we can learn that even though God brings judgment on a
nation, that does not mean his anger is satisfied.
It means that if that nation tries to rise from the ashes, God
will simply knock that nation
down again.
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