From This Time Forth
Isaiah 9:2-7[1]
When life seems to be stuck in a
rut, it can be hard to adjust our perspective. We get so focused on the “rut”
that we can’t see much beyond that. If things keep going on the same day after
day, all we can see is more of the same. After a while, it can get to you.
After a long time, we can lose hope and wonder what the point of it all is!
That’s a challenge even in the best of times—we seem to be so wired to see
what’s wrong that we can miss what’s right. In these times, when we’ve been
facing a pandemic, an economic crisis, and political and social turmoil, it
might seem impossible to find any “good news” with which to lighten the burden.
The people about whom our lesson
from Isaiah speaks are said to be living in darkness. That wasn’t necessarily
the case for the people of Isaiah’s day. But he seemed to know that they would
face hard times in the future. Specifically, they would be conquered by a
foreign power. Not only would they experience the violence of war, they would
also know firsthand the injustice of oppression. We know from history that
after their defeat, they worked to provide for their families only to see a
substantial portion of it going to the despots who were masters of their land. It’s
very likely they saw themselves stuck in that situation with no way out. Many
of them may have assumed that this was simply going to be their lot in life.
Into the midst of that dire
situation, Isaiah announced the coming of light into their darkness, the coming
of joy into their despair. He promised in the name of the Lord that the “yoke”
of their oppressors would be broken. Even more, he promised that the violence
of war would be no more, for all the implements of warfare would be destroyed,
and even the uniforms of soldiers would be burned. Isaiah promised that a child
would be born who would bring true peace and justice to them. And the promise
was that this peace and justice would define their lives “from this time forth
and forevermore.”
Isaiah calls the one who would come to bring
this light, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace” (Isa. 9:6). Given our perspective, and our traditions of worship at
Christmas, we naturally assume that Isaiah was predicting the coming of Jesus
here. But to make that assumption would mean that his message didn’t really
apply to the people living 700 years before Jesus was born. If we read our
lesson in its historical context, it seems clear that it’s talking about the
birth of a king who would lead the nation of Judah to freedom by establishing
peace and justice. Given the setting, it’s likely that in the first place
Isaiah was talking about the birth of Hezekiah, who was known as the best of
the kings of Judah.
But even the best of kings are
still only human. Although Hezekiah’s reign was a bright light in comparison
with his ancestors, the sober truth is that the lofty promises God made to his
people through the prophet were not fully realized in that day. The fact that
even the best of the kings of Judah fell short gave rise to the hope that one
day a king would come who would truly and finally fulfill the hope for justice
that would enable all people to thrive together and that would bring lasting
peace.
That was what made it possible
that Matthew could (and I would say should) present Jesus as the ultimate
fulfillment of the promised one who would come to set things right “from this
time forth and forevermore.” As the words of the Hymn “O Holy Night” remind us,
“His law is love and His Gospel is Peace; Chains shall He break, for the slave
is our brother; And in His name, all oppression shall cease.” We celebrate his
birth because it marks a major turning point in God’s work of fulfilling his
promise.
If we’re honest with ourselves,
however, our world is still plague by warfare, violence, injustice, and
oppression. People in our own community experience these burdens in their daily
lives. What are we to make of a promise that hasn’t yet reached complete
fulfillment, even after so many years? Some turn cynical, and view lofty
promises like these as “wishful thinking.” Some turn to despair, and simply go
deeper into the darkness. Some simply try to fill their lives with all that
this life has to offer in the effort to ignore the emptiness in their souls.
But there is another way to look
at this. While it is true that the promises God made so long ago through the
prophet Isaiah have not yet been completely fulfilled, I think we can say that
what we see in the birth of Jesus is the dawning of the light. In him we have
the hope that God is not yet finished with his work of salvation. Through Jesus
we can trust that God will be faithful to keep the promises he has made—if not
in our time, on the final day. As Isaiah said so powerfully, “the zeal of the
Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (Isa. 9:7, NIV)!
In Jesus, we have the promise that
one day God’s name will be hallowed
on earth as it is in heaven and God’s kingdom will come on earth as it is in heaven and God’s purpose will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
And that means a day when all oppression is undone and all violence is banished
and all injustice is removed. What remains is the peace and the joy of life as God
intended it. The fact that we already see this light shining in the darkness
sustains our hope that God will fulfill every promise in due time. But it also
points us to the good news that God’s peace is already here for us “from this
time forth and forevermore.”
[1] ©2020 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by Rev. Alan
Brehm, Ph. D. on 12/24/2020 for Hickman Presbyterian Church, Hickman, NE.
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