Advent, December 11,
2013
Pastor Gregory L.
Jackson
The
Psalmody
Psalm
100
p. 144
The First Lection
The Second Lection
The Sermon Hymn # 76 Great and Mighty Wonder 2:2
The Plain Words of
Isaiah
The Prayers and Lord’s
Prayer
p. 44
The Collect for
Peace
p. 45
The
Benediction
p. 45
The Hymn # 558 2:9
Second Mid-Week Advent
Sermon
Isaiah 7:10 Moreover
the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying,
11 Ask thee
a sign of the Lord thy God;
ask it either in the depth, or in the height above.
12 But Ahaz
said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord.
13 And he
said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men,
but will ye weary my God also?
14 Therefore
the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and
bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
7 Of the
increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of
David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and
with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
The Plain Words of Isaiah
The Christian faith has been attacked primarily on two fronts in
the last century. One is justification by faith.
The other is the divinity of Christ. The third front has been the
humanity of Christ (in various eras) but the first two mentioned have been the
favorites in our lifetimes and before that by 50 years or more.
When we understand the Bible as the Word of God, the Isaiah
prophecies move us to faith and to greater trust in God.
Isaiah is like mine full of jewels, where they are increasingly
numerous. The verses stand out because they are often quoted and so clearly
Messianic.
When someone starts with the denial of the divinity of Christ, as
so many modern theologians do (and Biblical critics, or so-called scholars),
the verses are simply explained away.
But explanations do not work well if we look at the plain wording
of the passages.
In Isaiah 7 we are expected to believe that the prophet predicted
the birth of a king. That is all. A young woman will have a baby in the
ordinary way and that is all.
But the words alone betray this as reading an assumption into the
text. The prophet offered any miracle that Ahaz might want, down on earth or in
the heavens. That is a remarkable offer, but God knew the response in advance.
Ahaz refused the miracle in the guise of his great piety or humility.
This made God angry, because a gracious offer of a spectacular miracle
should not be refused, especially with such a show of self-righteousness.
Therefore the response of God is one designed to be unforgettable and beyond
all expectations. For that reason, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son is
not an ordinary prediction but the greatest miracle of all, the Word becoming
Flesh, dwelling among us. That is sealed with the name, Immanuel – God with us.
There we have the Two Natures of Christ, God and Man,
just as taught in Romans and everywhere else in the Bible. The Two Natures are
so clearly taught, so often taught, that we can overlook them. For instance,
Jesus said in John 4 that He was thirsty. In that regard He was completely
human. But in the same passage He had divine knowledge of the woman at the well
– the kind only God could know. His knowledge and teaching were so powerful
that she was converted and ran to tell her friends and relatives.
This is a great miracle none the less, one we should
never take lightly, because the Incarnation is the message of God becoming one
of us to reach us, to show compassion, to be an example, and to die as our
Savior, to rise as our Redeemer.
Isaiah 9 is another example of plain words expressing a
message that cannot be rationalized.
It is a baby, but Mighty God, Prince of Peace,
Everlasting Father.
And although the greatest empires have fallen, or reduced
to nothing but names, the Kingdom of Christ has grown from the beginning and
extended its reach across the world. No tyranny has been able to stop it. No
political effort can thwart it, although there have been and will be
persecutions until the end.
If someone is wondering about the truth of the Bible,
these two passages alone show how the Word of God has been fulfilled so many
times, far beyond man’s expectations.
Moreover, these are Gospel passages offering hope and
comfort to people.
