Rev. David Holwick ZQ Book of Isaiah series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
December 19, 1993
Isaiah 9:1-7
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I. Politician Free in '93?
A. Ad: "How to keep Bill and Hillary's hands off your money."
1) Same with any politician, of any party.
B. Israel had a long string of crummy kings.
1) Hezekiah fairly good, but only interested in own skin. 39:6-8
2) The nation longed for someone better, someone like King David.
II. Walking in darkness.
A. Darkness of death. 9:2
1) Society's view of death changing rapidly.
a) Almost preferable if in any degree of pain.
b) Not joyful goal, but end of existence.
2) Dr. Kevorkian, and proposal of experiments on people just
before they die. (Newsweek)
a) He agreed not to kill people - for the holidays, anyway.
3) Groups of dying people don't dare talk about heaven.
Seen as "denial." #327 (part)
B. Darkness of yokes and oppression. 9:4
1) People feel oppressed by many things.
a) Drugs. Legalize? Millions more addicts.
Drugs are bad just from being illegal.
They sap strength, will to live.
b) Fear in the streets.
IRT atrocity.
Women from Hawthorne Gospel killed, parents forgive
killer.
Few have this strength.
c) We are slaves to whatever controls us.
2) We need to be delivered.
(From the October 1987 Readers Digest)
Normally the flight from Nassau to Miami took Walter Wyatt
only sixty-five minutes.
But on December 5, 1986, he attempted it after thieves had
looted the navigational equipment in his Beechcraft.
With only a compass and a hand-held radio, Walter flew into
skies blackened by storm clouds.
When his compass began to gyrate, Walter concluded he was
headed in the wrong direction.
He flew his plane below the clouds, hoping to spot something,
but soon he knew he was lost.
He put out a Mayday call, and a Coast Guard search plane flew
out to lead him to an emergency landing strip only 6 miles away.
It never found him, because suddenly Wyatt's right engine
coughed its last and died.
The fuel tank had run dry.
Around 8 p.m. Wyatt could do little more than glide the plane
into the water.
Wyatt survived the crash, but his plane disappeared quickly,
leaving him bobbing on the water in a leaky life vest.
With blood on his forehead, Wyatt floated on his back.
Suddenly he felt a hard bump against his body.
A shark had found him.
Wyatt kicked the intruder and wondered if he would survive the
night.
He managed to stay afloat for the next ten hours.
In the morning, Wyatt saw no airplanes, but in the water a
dorsal fin was headed for him.
Twisting, he felt the hide of a shark brush against him.
In a moment, two more bull sharks sliced through the water
toward him.
Again he kicked the sharks, and they veered away, but he was
near exhaustion.
Then he heard the hum of a distant aircraft.
When it was within a half mile, he waved his orange vest.
The pilot dropped a smoke canister and radioed the cutter Cape
York, which was twelve minutes away:
"Get moving, cutter! There's a shark targeting this guy!"
As the Cape York pulled alongside Wyatt, a Jacob's ladder was
dropped over the side.
Wyatt climbed wearily out of the water and onto the ship, where
he fell to his knees and kissed the deck.
He'd been saved.
He didn't need encouragement or better techniques.
Nothing less than outside intervention could have rescued him
from sure death.
We are a lot like Walter Wyatt!
#1792
III. God will intervene.
A. Light comes, even when we're in darkness. 9:2
1) Gideon's victory, which will lead to a total victory. 9:4
Jdg 7:22f
2) God's victories are not always easy to foresee.
They just hit you.
B. The plan is fulfilled by a child. 9:6
1) He will be from Galilee. 9:1
a) North was cut off at the time.
b) God's goal is to reunite.
c) Beyond expectations: Gentiles will be included.
d) N.T. ties in with Jesus. Matt 4:13-15
2) He will be perfect leader. 9:7
a) Total stability.
b) Unending peace.
IV. Titles of the Messiah. 9:6
A. Wonderful Counselor.
1) One name, not two. Notice symmetry.
2) Counselor can mean plans of a king.
a) The Messiah's plans are in chapter 11 and 24-27.
3) Can also mean a king who understands.
a) Jesus understands what we go through, because he did.
B. Mighty God and Everlasting Father.
1) Divine titles.
2) Highly unusual for human leader to be called God.
a) Violates Jewish religion.
b) Key is incarnation: Jesus was both God and man.
3) As God, he is powerful enough to help us.
a) As Father, he is compassionate and protective.
C. Prince of Peace.
1) Best promise of Christmas - "peace on earth."
2) His rule will bring wholeness and well-being to individuals
and society.
3) Still not complete. It awaits the Millennium.
V. Accepting Jesus.
A. Isaiah 9 tells what God is going to do.
1) There is also something we must do: accept his Son.
Five years ago Time magazine carried the following news item:
The post office in Troy, Michigan, summoned Michael Achorn to
pick up a 2-foot-long, 40 pound package.
His wife, Margaret, cheerfully went to accept it.
But as she drove it back to her office in Detroit, she began to
worry.
The box was from Montgomery Ward, but the sender, Edward Achorn,
was unknown to them, despite the identical last name.
What if the thing was a bomb?
She telephoned postal authorities....
The bomb squad soon arrived with eight squad cars and an
armored truck.
They took the suspected bomb in the armored truck to a remote
tip of Belle Isle in the middle of the Detroit River.
There they wrapped detonating cord around the package and, as
they say in the bomb business, 'opened it remotely.'
When the debris settled, all that was left intact was the factory
warranty for the contents:
a $450 stereo AM-FM receiver and a tape deck console.
Now the only mystery is who is Edward Achorn and why did he send
Michael and Margaret such a nice Christmas present?
We gasp with shock at the thought of a costly stereo in pieces,
yet many reject the far more costly gift of God's son.
It is easy to ignore him now - but what will you miss out on?
#1819
B. Prepare for the coming of the Son.
A Poem by Margie Knight:
'Twas the night Jesus came and all through the house
Not a person was praying, not one in the house.
The Bibles were left on the shelf without care,
For no one thought that Jesus would come there.
The children were dressing to crawl into bed,
Not once ever kneeling or bowing a head.
And mom in her rocker with baby in her lap
Was watching the Late Show while I took a nap.
When out of the east there rose such a clatter,
I sprang to my feet to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash
Tore open the shutters and lifted the sash!
When what to my wondering eyes should appear
But angels proclaiming that Jesus was here!
The light of His face made me cover my head --
It was Jesus returning, just as He said.
And though I possessed worldly wisdom and wealth,
I cried when I saw Him in spite of myself.
In the Book of Life which He held in His hand
Was written the name of very saved man.
He spoke not a word as He searched for my name;
When He said, "It's not here" my head hung in shame.
The people whose names had been written with love
He gathered to take to His Father above.
With those who were ready He rose without a sound
While all the rest were left standing around.
I fell to my knees, but it was too late;
I had waited too long and thus sealed my fate.
I stood and I cried as they rose out of sight;
Oh, if only I'd known that this was the night.
In the words of this poem the meaning is clear;
The coming of Jesus is now drawing near.
There's only one life and when comes the last call
We'll find that the Bible was true after all.
#2577
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