We are about two weeks away from Christmas. How’s everyone doing right now? Could you use a little bit more of anything? Do you need a little more time? Time to finish Christmas shopping… time to get to all the parties and family gatherings…? Do you need a little more money? Money to pay for all that shopping and all those parties? Do you need a little advice… a little direction? Not just when it comes to what to buy your parents… but what to do as the end
of another year draws to a close with so many dreams and goals unrealized…? Do you feel strung out and worn out by how crazy this time of year can feel? Maybe you need a little strength… strength that just doesn’t seem to be there for you to do everything you need to do… Maybe you’d just like a little less family drama this time of year… for some of you family doesn’t provide the safety and security it should… and you just wish you had some stability…
Maybe the thing we all would like a little more of this Christmas is peace… peace from the shopping and parties and deadlines and family demands… peace in this world – – one week without a new headline from Paris or California or Syria… or maybe even just peace from your own troubled and frenzied mind and heart…
What do you need a little more of this Christmas? Well… might I suggest Jesus? Shocker! Right? “The pastor says that a little more Jesus is the cure for what ails ya!” – – And yet… I’m
not talking about a little more Jesus… I’m not talking about Jesus filling in a few gaps…or picking up the pieces of a few broken plans or promises in your life… I’m talking about a lot more Jesus… In fact, I’m talking about Jesus growing so big and bold in your life that he is all you can see… he is all consuming… Jesus governs every aspect of who you are… your identity… your purpose in life… your destination in eternity… all of it… What you need this Christmas is Christ
In God’s Word from Isaiah today we heard words that promised to give people… people who like us felt the need for a little more of… well… everything… promised to give those people exactly what they needed as God promised a Ruler for his ancient people.
Now maybe it’s important to understand why that was such a big deal. 700 years before Jesus was born God’s people were living in two different countries called Israel and Judah. There had been a time, under King David and his son Solomon, when the nation was united and the kingdom was prosperous and the people were faithful and… well… things were good. But civil war… and unjust kings… and unfaithful people… had turned David’s throne from a symbol of pride to punchline… the nations around them saw that things were not going well and laughed at them… they were a joke. And their kings…? Well, even the people would have to admit the kings left something to be desired… they were no David.
In Israel – in the northern kingdom – every single king who ruled defied God and led the people down a darker and darker path… until finally that part of the nation was swept away by invaders. And Judah… in the south… well… they we’re really much better off. Isaiah in fact spent his entire ministry warning the kings who ruled and the people of the kingdom that judgment was coming for them too. The failure to uphold the nation in justice and righteousness meant that this kingdom too would be ripped from the kings who sat on David’s throne… and the faithless people would be ripped from the land and taken into exile.
Between the everyday pressures and problems of life… and the doom and gloom message of Isaiah… the people must have felt like they could use a little more direction… and strength… and stability… and well… peace.
And yet among the many warnings Isaiah gave the people in his ministry we also find jewels of good news shining like diamonds in the dirt… and here in Isaiah chapter 9 is one of them… a promise… a glimmer of hope for a kingdom who would be governed by someone who was worthy… a Ruler for David’s throne who would bring everything they needed. And who was this promised Ruler on whose shoulders the hopes of the kingdom would rest?
A child. A son. Yes… he would be one of them… and yet… more than them… he would be called Wonderful Counselor – the ruler who needed no counselors but instead was our counselor… who would advise and direct the people of his kingdom… And he would do so with strength as none other than the Mighty God himself… he’d also be called the Everlasting Father
– the one from whom all people trace their life and in whom all people find eternal life. And he could offer that because he was… he is… the Prince of Peace. His kingdom would be one where the war was won and peace reigned supreme.
And all of this would be accomplished how? Well… not by a grand national army or a collection of mercenary soldiers… and not by diplomatic maneuvering or political pandering… no… this kingdom… this reign… this dominion of justice and righteousness that would never cease and would only increase… it would be brought about by the will of the Almighty Lord of Hosts himself zealously working to bring this peace to his people.
And what Isaiah describes in these verses is what the hearts of the believers in Isaiah’s day looked ahead to… and it’s the same thing we look back on in our day to see… A promise kept… a prophecy fulfilled in the fullness of time… We see an angel appear in the city of Nazareth and tell a young virgin girl: You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. (Luke 1:31-33).
Yes we see what was promised… what was fulfilled… as we see Jesus born to bring peace to
this world through his kingdom. A kingdom that was misunderstood by so many during his
life… and even today. Not a kingdom of this world… but a kingdom within the hearts of all who see in this child… who see in this son the face of God himself… and who find in him a peace earned by a cross…
A cross where Jesus would not be called “Wonderful”… but “wretched”… not named as the prince of Peace and Almighty God, but as a liar and a fraud… a false king whose only crown was made of thorns and who’s only throne was that cross…
But for all who shook their heads at him and laughed that day… and who still do today… the joke’s only on them… because it was from that cross that Christ’s kingdom arose. Through his death God’s peace came to this world… and his kingdom of mercy and grace would never stop increasing from that moment on… more would come to know him as he counseled them with his Word and assured them of the peace he won. More would be added to his kingdom and brought under his righteous reign… and Jesus would become for them… for us… not just a missing the missing piece but the whole puzzle… he would become everything for us as he rules for us from heaven and rules in us by faith.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. That child has been born… his peace is yours… Do you need a little more direction… a little more strength… a little more family stability… a little more peace…? Well look no further… Jesus rules over this world and over you and me… and he supplies what is needed – for us, the citizens of his eternal kingdom. At Christmastime…? Sure… from that time on and forever. Amen.