Sermon prepared for Messiah Lutheran Church, Auburn WA

by Pastor Gregory S. Kaurin

8:30 traditional & 10:30 AM Holden prayer services, 7/18/04

 

Texts: Isaiah 9:1-7 & Matthew 4:12-17

Sermon:

Oracle of the King

 

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It’s impossible to read that first lesson without hearing the Messiah chorus in your head: “And the government, the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be call-ed: Wonderful… Counselor… the Mighty God… the Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

As a preacher, I find it hard to add anything to this song, to this Oracle of the King in Isaiah, chapter 9.  But really, it’s not my job to add anything; my job is to help us all to understand and apply this passage.  Like many of these passages that we’ve been looking at this summer, this is another that we’ve heard so many times, we may get the gist and the feel of it, but we don’t often stop to learn and understand it.

So, this is a teaching sermon, and you’re probably going to want to have those lessons in front of you as I preach, because I want this oracle to come alive and real for you once again, the way it has for me as I looked into its history down through the centuries, when Isaiah said it, when Matthew quoted it in his gospel, and now every Easter and Christmas when we hear it and sing it.

 

Let’s talk about four points of history.  First, we go way back to about 1100 B.C. when God called Gideon, who would be his first prophet, judge and general, all rolled into one.[1]

Israel was being oppressed by the Midianites.  The Midianites were a vast horde, destroying all the lands they conquered.  On God’s command, Gideon called an army together, but it was too big.  God kept making Gideon pare his army down, because he wanted it to be clear that they won, not by their might, but only by the hand of God.

Finally, Gideon had only 300 soldiers left.  He gave each of them one empty clay pitcher, one trumpet, and one torch.  Late at night they snuck into the enemy camp, and when they were all spread out over the perimeter, the Bible tells us that on his signal, Gideon’s soldiers smashed their clay pitchers, lifted their lit torches, and blew their trumpets.

At that moment, God used the lights and noise to strike fear deep into Midian’s army.  Thrown into panic, sure that they were surrounded, and unable to tell foe from friend, they attacked each other, retreated and fled. 

This was the “Day of Midian” that Isaiah mentioned in our first lesson.  It was the day that God delivered all of Israel from a vast murderous horde with only 300 soldiers.

 

Now, move forward in time, about 400 years to 740 BC. This is our second point in history.  In 740 BC God called Isaiah to be his prophet.[2]

Kings Saul, David, and Solomon had each ruled and died.  By this time, Israel had split into two major kingdoms.  The north Kingdom was called Israel.  The southern kingdom was called Judah.  Isaiah lived in the southern kingdom of Judah. 

Isaiah began his ministry during the time that Assyrians were slowly conquering and taking over the northern tribes of Israel.  They were demanding heavy taxes and tributes.

Besides warring against Assyria, the kings of northern Israel were dealing with all kinds of internal rebellions, plots, and murder.  They went through three kings in less than eight years, each murdered by one of their royal advisors.[3]

Finally, the Assyrian king[4] defeated the northern lands—including Zebulun and Naphtali—and deported many of these northern Israelites away to slavery in Assyria.  They were led along a road by the Galilean sea.[5]  The Way of the Sea, it was a sad shameful march, never forgotten.

 

While this all happened in the North, Isaiah lived and prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah.  Isaiah saw that his own lands might suffer the same fate, and that his own king, King Ahaz, was unfaithful, a worshipper of idols, who even had one of his own sons to be offered and burned in sacrifice.[6]

King Ahaz made alliance with the Assyrian king against the northern tribes, and sent him treasures from God’s Temple.

Isaiah heard and saw all that was happening in the north, and his own people living in fear in the south.

But then there was a ray of hope.  A birth.  Isaiah began to see a ray of hope in King Ahaz’s own new son and heir to the throne, Hezekiah.  Out of all the darkness, division, murder and betrayal, a light began to shine.

 

You see, little Hezekiah, unlike his father, was growing up secretly faithful to God.  Isaiah saw a vision and had huge hopes for him, so he began to sing this song in his heart that, unlike the disgrace of Zebulun and Naphtali in the north, and to redeem the Way of the Sea, the people who had been walking so long, 100’s of years, in darkness have now seen a great light, a new hope, for unto us, a child is born, a new son is given.

It’s entirely possible that Isaiah sang this oracle publicly in the year 716 BC.  This is our third point in history, when Ahaz died and Hezekiah, 25 years old, was finally crowned as the new King of Judah. 

Young King Hezekiah immediately purified the Temple of God.  He knocked down idols.  And, at least at first, he ended his father’s unholy treaty with the Assyrians.[7]

There was great hope that a new day was finally dawning, that Hezekiah would find a way to take back the north lands and reunite Israel as one kingdom.  Isaiah sang this and the people have loved it ever since.

Isaiah prophesied that the yoke would be broken, just like on the Day of Midian, 400 years before, when Gideon defeated the vast horde with God’s power. 

It was coronation day, a day of hope that at last we have a holy ruler, at last Israel might be restored, with justice and peace, and Isaiah proclaimed all kinds of superlative titles on the new King Hezekiah, that no human being could really live up to. 

He called him “Wonderful Counselor,” a king who would rule with a wisdom like Solomon’s, able to tell right from wrong and act on it. 

Our translation says that he called him “Mighty God.”  That sounds sacrilegious, but the original Hebrew Bible actually calls him, the “Might, or Strength, of God.”  This king would rule by the authority and strength of God alone, as God’s representative on earth.

Isaiah went on to declare him in line with David’s everlasting throne, king and ruling “Father Forever.” 

And finally, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah and others saw in Hezekiah, the hope of one who at last, would establish right worship, justice for the needy, and peace for all, once and for all.

 

We can relate to all this.  When presidents are elected, or pastors called, or after some victory, or some new venture, we have variations on these hopes. 

“Maybe this is the one,” we hope, “Maybe this is the time at last.  The pendulum will swing and things will get better.  Will this be the war to end all wars?  Camelot at last!” 

I think of all the pomp and circumstance around these kinds of things and people, and it has a similar feel.  That kind of idealism.  We want Camelot.  Better than that, we want heaven.

 

We want a Wonderful Counselor, God’s Right Hand, Everlasting King and Father, Prince of Peace.  Isaiah said these enormous titles at King Hezekiah’s coronation.  We know that they were also used many times in other coronations after him. 

Isaiah knew that no human being—not even this Hezekiah—could live up to such expectations on his own, and yet Isaiah saw beyond the man, to the ideal king, and knew that that was the kind of Messiah king who would be needed for real salvation. 

 

Finally, 800 years later, our fourth and last point in history, Matthew was writing his gospel.  He looked back on Isaiah’s words and saw that, at last, in Jesus Christ, Isaiah’s vision had finally come true!

Look with me, now, at today’s gospel lesson.  Jesus had begun his ministry, but first, Jesus left the southern Judean area—where John had been baptizing—and settled in the north for awhile on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the town of Capernaum.  Capernaum was along the path and borders where the Israelites had walked as they were deported 800 years before after the fall of Zebulun, Naphtali, the Way of the Sea.

And so, Matthew saw it and wrote.  Here’s the gospel reading, at last.  Let’s all stand and read it together from your bulletin:  “This fulfilled what had been promised by the prophet Isaiah: ‘Land of Zebulun!  Land of Naphtali!  Way of the Sea by the Jordan.  Galilee of the nations!  The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light…’  From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand.’”  This is the Gospel of the Lord!  Thanks be to God.

Only in Jesus Christ was Isaiah’s vision fulfilled, the only one who could possibly fill these titles, because only God himself can fill them, and be them.  Wonderful Counselor, with the wisdom to guide and redeem all of creation for his destiny.  The Might of God, because he was God in the flesh, Mighty God.  Scripture promised that the king and father, that David’s throne would be everlasting.  Only Jesus could rule as our everlasting kingly father.  And Prince of Peace, Prince of Shalom, not just an absence of war, but a peace of soul and heart, knowing that we live and reside in God’s care, and that we are a part of his unavoidable destiny.

All this because of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is the message of Isaiah, in the flesh.  Repent, turn and believe.  Today, this passage of Isaiah has been fulfilled in your hearing.  The kingdom of God is at hand.  Having faith in him, our salvation is secure.  The Messiah has come; he is present even now, in Jesus Christ.

 

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