Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

Many feel that we are living in a dark world today.

It is hard to disagree.

It is all around us.

From corruption in government, to war in the nations, to the mental health crisis in this country, to the lack of basic things that so many in this world don’t have.

We could go on and on about all of the things that remind us that this world is fallen.

It is not unlike the world of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah began his ministry in 740 BC.

Uzziah had been king over Judah and has just died after a long and prosperous reign.

And the years that followed were politically catastrophic in Israel

The Assyrian King, Tiglath Pileser III, was taking over the Middle East, including the nations around Israel.

They could feel the walls closing in.

The Assyrian Empire stretched from the Persian Gulf, down into Egypt.

They had more troops than anyone else

Better technology than anyone else

And they were more savage than anyone else

At this point in Israel’s history, there were two kingdoms.

They split apart a couple hundred years before over some tax disagreement.

The Northern Kingdom was known as Israel.

The Southern Kingdom, which had been ruled by Uzziah, was known as Judah.

Around 735 BC, the king of Syria and the King of Israel came to Judah’s king—Ahaz.

They wanted Judah to ally with them to fight the Assyrians.

Judah said no and as a result, the Syrians and Israelites attacked Judah and besieged Jerusalem.

Ahaz was not a wise king like his grandfather, Uzziah.

He was scared and instead of trusting the Lord, they made an alliance with the evil Assyrians.

He sent them all the money from the temple and his own treasury and he made Judah a servant-state of Assyria.

At first, Ahaz’s plan seemed to make sense.

When the Assyrians took the North Kingdom into captivity in 722 BC, Judah was left untouched.

But Assyria demanded heavy tribute from Judah.

A totally unnecessary cost because in Isaiah 8, God had already promised to save Judah without asking for Assyrian help

Within thirty years, the Assyrians would turn their brutality on Judah.

That is the dark world that Isaiah was ministering in.

A world cast into fear by a terrifying global power

A world cast into darkness by the evil of a depraved empire

A world cast into turmoil by the deaths of good kings and the unwise decisions of bad ones

It is not a world unlike ours

But in the midst of that world, Isaiah tells us that deliverance will come by a child.

And that same message is our only hope in our world this morning.

Let’s read together:

A LIGHT WILL COME (v.

1-5)

The passage begins with a statement of future fact:

There will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.

This is kind of a surprise considering how chapter 8 ended—with darkness.

Isaiah 8 shows us two ways of life.

There is the way of light

A life lived in God’s strong hand

A life that listens to God’s warnings and not the world’s panic

A life lived apart from the herd

A life of fearing God and not fearing the world

A life guided by God’s laws

A life lived in God’s rest

A life inquiring of God

A life of faith

But there is also a way of darkness

This is a life lived rejecting God’s help and strength

A life that stumbles over the truths of God and in ensnared by sin

A life of being spiritually guided by false teachers and worldly wisdom

A life of spiritual famine and wandering

A life of rage and turning your mouth against God

In the end, we are talking about a life of darkness

Darkness that is in itself a judgment for how God has been spurned and rejected

This is the spiritual state of Israel in Isaiah 8 and Isaiah 9...

This is why the opening words of chapter 9 are so surprising.

The “her” in Isaiah 9:1 is the the southern Kingdom of Judah

She has been in anguish under the Lord’s discipline, which has come in the form of unwise kings and oppressive foreign powers

She is feeling the consequences of her own sin—the weight of her spiritual rebellion against God

As verse 2 says, “The people have walked in darkness...”

The land itself has been brought into contempt (v. 1)

Zebulun and Naphtali are the Israelite territories that the Assyrian conquest began in

This area stretched from the Jezreel Valley to the north at the foot of Mount Hermon.

The Jordan River flows right through this area and into the Sea of Galilee

This was a rich region for agricultural and it was also the crossroads of major trade routes

You can see why the Assyrians are so eager to get their hands on it

But what we have here in chapter 9, is light breaking through the darkness and God promising that just as He has disciplined His people for choosing the way of darkness, He will graciously break through the darkness with His light (v.

2)

That light brings the multiplication of the nation (v. 3)

The increase of its joy (v. 3)

The joy of a full harvest (v. 3)

The joy of a victorious military conquest where the spoil is being divided (v. 3)

This is a picture of a future time when the nation is no longer under the threat of conquest

The crops are growing and they are living in peace

This is the picture of life in the land flowing with milk and honey that God promised them if they would be obedient

The yoke and the staff and the rod of Assyria will be broken (v.

4) as in the day of Midian

This is a reference to the victory Gideon experienced in Judges as he fought with the strength of the Lord

So in Isaiah 9:4, Isaiah is consoling the people by speaking for the Lord and telling them that a Gideon-like victory will come that will free them from the darkness of their own sin and the threat of invading enemies

He takes it further in verse 5 by saying that the Assyrian trampling boots and the garments of war will be fuel for the fire of His judgment

THE SOURCE OF LIGHT (v.

6-7)

All of this sounds great.

Deliverance.

Peace.

Relief.

But how will they get it?

It all hinges on this light that is appearing in verse 3.

Is the light strong enough to push back the darkness?

Who or what is this light?

We get our answers in verses 6 and 7.

A child is to be born.

A son is to be given (v.

6).

This is the third time in three chapters that Isaiah has attached the hope of Israel to the birth of this child

And then in Isaiah 9:6