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Day 14: Isaiah 9:2, 6-7

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.


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.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
    will accomplish this.

The people of Israel were certainly living in a land of deep darkness. They were a war-torn nation being violently crushed by the powerful Assyrian Empire. The outlook was grim. But it was into this era of fear and violence that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, giving hope of a leader who would come and rescue them, re-iterating the Davidic promise of a king on his throne and a kingdom that would last forever.

To a people who felt down and out, hope was given that this was not going to be their end.

The words of Isaiah 9:2 eventually found themselves applied to Jesus (Matthew 4: 13-16.) Jesus lived in a world ruled by the Roman Empire. And as Isaiah’s words found fulfillment in Christ, these words gave hope in the darkness then as well. Both Isaiah and Jesus knew life was hard, full of pain, suffering, sickness, and injustice. Isaiah’s words weren’t just empty platitudes offering some comfort to the people. His words were the promises of God, and as we have seen over the last two weeks, God keeps his promises.

Jesus is the light of the world. His kingdom of peace is now, but not yet. We may possess the every blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3) but the fullness of his kingdom will only be realized when he returns in glory.

We can trust that the kingdom of darkness and fear we often find ourselves living in will give way to a kingdom of light and peace.

This means for now we wait. We wait with hopeful anticipation, as the people of God have long done. We wait for the light to fully flood a darkened world and peace to displace the violence that has overtaken it.

Let us pray.

Lord, we give thanks for your word to us that comes through the prophets giving hope in the darkness. Thank you for a Saviour who knows our struggles and help us to not lose hope as we face our own darkness. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Questions

Have events in your own life or in the world as watch the news caused you to lose hope?

Is it scary to have hope because you do not want to raise expectations only to have them dashed? Do we need a longer view on hope, or be open to seeing it manifest in unexpected ways?

Isaiah gave an encouraging word to his people. Is there someone you know who could use an encouraging word this Advent season?