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I'll be reading today from the Book of Isaiah in chapter nine, starting in verse one. That's page 680 in the Black Bible. But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. But in the latter time, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness  on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in Battle Tumult, and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. For to us  a child is born, to us  a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor,  Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. This is the word of the Lord. We have a common practice here at Faith in recent years of closing our service with this blessing and charge, go in peace to love and serve the Lord. My question is, how do we go in peace? with turmoil all around us. The American fireside poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, touched on this theme in his 1863 poem in the context of what was going on in 1863. You at least know what happened in 1863, don't you? He says, heard the bells on Christmas Day, their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet, the words repeat. of peace on earth, good will to men." That's the first of seven verses of what became a very popular Christmas carol, each verse ending,  peace  on earth, good will to men. You recognize the source of that statement, don't you? The account in the Gospel of Luke, the angel's response after the angel of the Lord announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, joined by a multitude of the heavenly hosts. praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace,  goodwill toward men. The theme is picked up in many carols, especially Silent Night, that we sing every Christmas Eve by candlelight, sleep in heavenly peace.  Sleep in heavenly peace.  Longfellow's poem sounds promising. But it was  written with a backdrop of deep personal tragedy  and the national anguish of the Civil War. Two years before this,  his wife's  dress caught on fire in their home. She was burned so badly, she died the next day. Longfellow was right there. He jumped to action. He threw himself on her trying to beat out the flames.  He ended up getting severe burns on his face, which I'm told is the explanation for why I always grew a beard after that to cover up the scars.  unable to attend her funeral because of his own injuries. Two years later, his son Charlie joined the Union Army and was shot through the shoulder, seriously injured, but he did survive and lived another 30 years. But the whole nation, and South, was living daily with death and life-altering injuries. And that December in 1863, with the perspective of loss and despair all around him, Longfellow wrote this poem seeking peace  in the tunes  of the Boston church bells.  Listen to these verses reflecting the context of the Civil War. These  verses are not in  the hymnal. It's not in our hymnal anyway. The song is it.  you don't ever sing these verses.  But it's the tension between the reality on the ground and the promise of the church bells.  Then from each black accursed mouth the cannon thundered in the south, and with the sound the carols drowned of peace on earth, good will to men. It was as if an earthquake rent the hearthstones of a continent and made forlorn the households born of peace on earth, goodwill to men. And then a verse that is in the song as it's usually sung, and in despair I bowed my head. There is no peace on earth, I said, for hate is strong and mocks the song. of peace on earth, goodwill to men. Well, what has changed since 1863? Where is the promised peace? Well, just looking back briefly in history a little over a hundred years, World War I, the war to end all wars. Oh, no, not quite. World War II, this is the 84th anniversary, if I'm counting right, of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Korea. Vietnam, multiple wars in the Middle East, now in Ukraine, Israel, Gaza, Syria, Lebanon, the Sudan, in much of south central  Sahara,  south of the Sahara in Africa. uh Sub-Sahara, I meant to say. Numerous places all over the world, but that's just our narrow slice of history. uh Things that our grandparents, great-grandparents  lived through. What about the constant wars since the birth of Jesus? What about the successive kingdoms rising and falling with great violence  in the Old Testament era? Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Greece, Rome, millions slaughtered in unending wars.  We're told the 20th century surpassed them all. How's our progress? 20th century was the worst of all, yet Vladimir Putin and others seem to be on course to make the 21st century competitive with the 20th century for the darkness. But our text says,  for to us  a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. In other words, he'll be in charge. He'll be in control. In His name shall be called wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government, a just, righteous government for a change. And of peace there will be no end. On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forever. The promise is not vague. The prophet does not stutter, nor is this an isolated text. The promise of peace is interwoven throughout the biblical text, finding fulfillment and development in the life and ministry of Jesus, but with some troubling questions that we have to address. Longfellow did his best. to bring the poem to a more hope-filled ending with his last verse, which  as we sing it, we do feel maybe a little better,  then peel the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth he sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men. Yet, as a New England  Unitarian, that was Longfellow's oh  effort to blend the colonial, evolving deism of Franklin and Jefferson into some form of Christianity, but still denying the Trinity and the deity of Christ. And so that hope, if their beliefs are true, that hope is cut off at its root. promise of our passage, the incarnation of God through the birth of God the Son, Jesus Christ is denied. So what hope for peace is found? And what's the source of that peace in Isaiah 9, 1-6? How is it possible that we will see Isaiah 9, 7 fulfilled, which says, peace there will be no end? And from our perspective of history and human efforts toward peace, we might ask, how naive, how naive is that to believe that? Before we look at this passage, I want you to see the trajectory in Isaiah of the promise for peace. If your Bible's not open, would you please open it to Isaiah? We're going to look at the first few chapters. If you don't have one with you, you should find one under the seat in front of you and turn to the first part of Isaiah.  Reading through Isaiah this summer, I  notice again that you're kind of on a roller coaster ride because you've got judgment and hope and judgment and hope and judgment and hope just  all  one goes to the other and back and forth it seems and where are we going to end up here? this glorious promise of salvation and the coming of a righteous king,  and yet the divine judgment that is necessary on Israel and the surrounding nations. Judgment seems to be the dominant theme, but judgment with a call to repentance  and a message of hope. So  take a look at Isaiah 1 and verse 4. Oh, sinful nation! of people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly. They've forsaken the Lord. They've despised the Holy One of Israel. They're utterly estranged. And then the hope of Isaiah 1, 18, come now, let us reason together, says the Lord, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool. Isaiah 2, 4, it's inscribed on the United Nations building in New York City. And this sure looks hopeful. He shall judge the nations and shall decide disputes between many peoples.  and they shall beat their swords  into plowshares  and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. Well that's hopeful, but two verses later,  verse 6, for you've rejected your people. More chapters of condemnation and judgment, descriptions of their  bold sin against God that deserve condemnation on the day of the Lord, a day of judgment. Turn to Isaiah 6.  Isaiah is in a vision  of being in God's presence, seeing and hearing the angels saying, Holy Holy, holy  is the Lord of hosts.  The whole earth is full of his glory. And he's terrified, and justly so. Woe is me, for I'm lost. I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts, and he knew what God said to Moses, no one shall see me and live. He's a dead man. except for God's extension  of grace.  Even as a prophet of the Lord, he is unclean and unacceptable and needs the salvation that only God can give. How can we then get back to Isaiah 1, 18 or forward to the fulfillment of it? Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Through these passages that reveal God's uncompromising holiness and the necessary judgment for sin, God begins to unwrap for us,  one piece at a time, this gift of a glorious plan of salvation fulfilled in the birth of Jesus,  the incarnation of God, taking on Himself the fullness of humanity without which  there will be no peace. Two more stops on the way to our text today. Isaiah 714. It's  an unusual text with an apparent dual application to King Ahaz of Judah as a sign from God.  Judah was threatened by an alliance between Israel, the northern kingdom, and just remember now Israel has had a division between the northern tribes  and the majority of the tribes and Judah to the south, which is Jerusalem  and uh surrounding area. Judah to the south is threatened by an alliance between Israel, the northern kingdom, and Syria, pretty much the same place it is today, to attack and defeat Judah. Now God promised that that in fact wouldn't happen, that the tables would be turned uh and uh both Israel and Syria, the co-conspirators, would be defeated by the rising power of that time, Assyria. So it says, therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel. The promise of a son is more than a sign to King Ahaz of ancient Judah, whose son Hezekiah would eventually succeed him,  one of the relatively good kings. This is a much greater sign of the coming Messiah, one of the great prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, who some 730 years later was conceived by and born to a virgin from Nazareth named Mary. And that's the text quoted by the angel to Joseph in  Matthew.  Obviously troubled about Mary's pregnancy, but trusted God's messenger who said, Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.  She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.  for He will save His people from their sins.  And this took place to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet, behold, the virgin  shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name, Emmanuel, which means God with us.  His name,  Emmanuel, reveals that by His virgin conception and birth, Jesus was fully God from eternity past.  the Son of God, but fully human  as the Son of David, born to a virgin from Nazareth, Mary. Fully God, fully man, the birth of Jesus fulfills this promise, God, with  us.  Now one more stop on our move toward chapter 9. We're going to go to chapters 8 9. We're going to go to chapter 11 for a moment. Jeff opened up this for us last Sunday. You could go back and  listen to it or uh if you weren't here or if you were, listen to it again. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch from the root shall bear fruit. Now I just want to make this connection so we see all this coming together. The northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed 720 years or so before the coming of Jesus.  The southern kingdom of Judah and its capital, Jerusalem, was destroyed  almost 600 years before the coming of Jesus. Oh yes, there were returns from exile. Nehemiah, Ezra,  they didn't, many of them, come back and reestablish in some sense, even build a temple. But Israel was never more after that, anything less than a vassal kingdom of Persia, Greece, Rome, and Rome until Jerusalem was destroyed again in 70 AD by the Romans as Jesus himself prophesied. Not to be a nation again until 1948, but still surrounded by enemies. But this seemingly dead  stump from it was present a shoot. There was some life there. A dead stump sprouting and the promise of David  fulfilled that your house and your kingdom shall be made  sure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. Second Samuel 7 16 key text in this path.  This again is a prophecy of Jesus  who is the promised righteous king. But when and how? these prophecies of Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 11 we have this prophecy in Isaiah 9 6, today's passage, to us a child is born, a son is given, government will be on his shoulders, his name will be called, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. But to understand where this is coming from we need to understand better the historical context for this promise from chapter 8. So flip back a chapter. Assyria was the world power of the day, and Isaiah promised that Assyria, know the difference between little Syria and big Assyria,  Assyria and Israel, would fall to the Assyrians.  Now, prophecy is not just in words alone. Sometimes it's  acted out. If you want to see lot of examples of that, read Ezekiel. He's always doing really crazy things to illustrate truth that God wants to give to the people. But in three successive chapters here in Isaiah, seven, eight, and nine,  three babies are mentioned with very interesting  names.  Now, speaking of babies,  Let's put a baby up on the screen. Look at that little girl. Linda and I have just become first-time great-grandparents, and the baby has a very interesting name. I'm not even sure how to pronounce it. It's X-I-O-M-A-R-A. Xiomara is what I've been saying. I think it's a little different than I think. It's more like Xiomara, something like that. But her name means ready for battle. That's what it means. Just pray  that she fights the right battle, but doesn't she look ready for it? In chapters seven and eight, Isaiah has two sons.  They have interesting names too. Isaiah 818, behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents, symbols. How would you like to have your kids have that significance in the culture? In Israel, from the Lord of hosts, Isaiah 7.3, God tells Isaiah to take his son whose name is Shiar Jashab. He says, take him to work with you. Take him when you go out to prophesy to King Ahas. Sheer Jeship means a remnant shall return. It's a positive message, in a sense, telling the king not to be afraid. You're all worried about Assyria coming to destroy Judah. That's not going to happen. In Isaiah 8, 1 to 4, the prophet's wife bore him a nether son. God says, Isaiah 8, 3, call his name, Mirhehr. Meher Shalal Hashbaz. I have no idea how pronounce that either, but it's the best I can do. Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Now, you'd better learn this name. It's a really important name because it's the longest name in the Bible. In fact, it's the longest word in the Bible, at least the way the English translation comes through. And you might need to know that for a game of Bible trivia someday. So let's practice it. Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Meher Shalal Hashbaz. Okay, you got it. You're going to win. But wait a minute, there's nothing trivial about this.  This is serious stuff. The name means  speed to the spoil, haste to the booty, and the application is in verse four, for before  the boy knows how to cry, my father or my mother, dada or mama, the wealth of Damascus  and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria. And this was fulfilled. mean, before he can say, Dada, mama, this is going to be fulfilled. And it was. Judgment's coming. And with that threat over Israel, the clouds of doom and fear  settle over Judah and Jerusalem as well. Assyria is not done. They have their sights on Jerusalem. Be sure of that. But by God's grace, their time has not yet come. and they get a reprieve for another 135 years until they fall to Babylon. But they're still terrified. They don't know that. They don't accept that. And God said to Isaiah, do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy.  Let him be your fear. Let him be your dread. But the mood of the people is fear. Verse 19, when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and necromancers, spiritists who chirp and mutter. like Saul going to the witch of Endor, trying to get answers from the occult world. He says, wait a minute, should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? Verse 21 and 22, they will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. When they're hungry, they'll become enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold distress and darkness and gloom of anguish.  And they will be thrust into thick darkness.  And then comes the promise, our text for today, Isaiah 9.1. But there will be no more gloom for her who is in anguish. In the former time,  he brought into contempt  the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali. Do you hear the echo that I hear from John 1 of Nathaniel  asking Philip, can anything good come out of Nazareth? This is a condemned place.  Anything good there? But in the latter times,  Isaiah goes on, he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. Can you recall  the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus transforming the lives of that region of Galilee? Capernaum, Cana, and other cities.  And so the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them light has shone. You've multiplied the nations, you've increased its joy. They rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they're glad when they divide the spoil. For the yoke of his burden, the staff of his shoulder,  the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. For every boot Every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult  and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. War is done! What a promise! What a promise! And this  seemingly outlandish promise of verse 7 that speaks of one on the throne of David who will rule with justice  and with righteousness from this time forth and forever. Peace at last. Let's go back to our friend, the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. As he says, despair I bowed my head. There's no peace on earth, I said. For hate is strong. and mocks the song of peace on earth. Good will to men. 25, 2600 years later. There's no peace on earth. But in one last gasp and hope for peace he ends with, pealed the bells more loud and deep, God is not dead nor doth he sleep, the wrong shall fail, the right prevail. with peace on earth.  Good will to men. I love that song and I love that ending because  I can attach to it what Longfellow in his belief system could not attach to it. Not hopefulness, not the goodness of man evolving into a peaceful people. Longfellow's evolving deism into his New England Unitarianism allowed the possibility of divine providence. Some of our founding fathers spoke a lot of providence. It's a beautiful thing to know of divine providence, that maybe God is not silent, maybe God is not just standing back and watching as we make a mess of things.  Maybe we can claim the national motto adopted in 19... 1956 in my lifetime and put on the coins in 1957 in God we trust that does not go back to our founding That's relatively new Maybe God will judge us  nudge us toward a better path Maybe goodness will overcome evil wars will end rulers will be just wrongs made right we will find peace at last But my friends such wishful thinking has no path to fulfillment We will not evolve into being better people. The promise of peace only comes  through the fulfilled prophecy of verse 6, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given. So this is a human baby. Yet this fully human baby has titles that are anything but human, that are divine. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Now I don't have time to unpack each of those terms and all the implications of these titles  except to say that they all, every one of them, point to divinity, descriptions that don't fit with Hezekiah or any of the kings of Judah. And the main emphasis here confirms the earlier prophecy of Isaiah 714, a baby is born whose name is Emmanuel, God with us.  So, I want to say to my good friend, long fellow, and to you, the only hope for peace and righteousness that can come from those Christmas bells  is in the incarnation of God, the fully God, fully human. baby Jesus. Now that of course does beg the question, if this promise has been fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, a promise that includes a peace there will be no end,  then where is that peace today? And the promise of no end to this peace begs the question, what about the beginning of this peace  for Ukraine today, in Gaza, in our cities and homes, in the hearts  of our friends and neighbors?  Isaiah has a lot more to say about the Prince of Peace. He's also the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 who came to suffer the penalty of our sin on the cross by his death. He's the resurrected Christ who gives us life. The most important peace you see is not between neighbors or nations, but with God. Therefore, since we've been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's the critical, that's the most important piece. And having been crucified for our sins and raised from the dead and ascended into heaven with parts of that promise not yet fulfilled, Jesus comes back promising to rule and reign, ultimately fulfilling the prophecy as you read on through Isaiah of chapters 65 and 66 of a new heavens and a new earth. which Peter writes about, according to his promise  from Isaiah 65, 66,  we are waiting for  new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells. And he wrote that because some were already complaining in the first century. I mean, in that first century, not long after, well, the number of decades after Jesus died, said, well, wait a minute, where is this promise?  Where is the promise of His coming?  Where is His promise of peace? All things continue as they were. 2 Peter 3, you can read the whole chapter for the detailed answer, but the heart of it is in verse 9, the Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise,  but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.  But the day of the Lord will come. God is gracious in His delay, frustrating to us, but He's gracious in His day. The day of judgment for those who reject His saving grace and  the ushering in of eternal peace  for those who put their faith in Him. That's  the outcome. Judgment for those who reject Him, eternal peace for those who trust Him. God is a God of grace,  even in this judgment. One of my favorite,  favorite quotations outside of the Bible is from Augustine, the fourth, fifth century bishop of Hippo that's in northern Algeria on the Mediterranean coast. In his confessions, first one or two pages of it, as he says, for you, God, made us for yourself. And our hearts are restless,  not at peace.  Our hearts are restless until they find their rest, their peace  in you. I invite you today to receive,  open your heart, to put your faith in the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, because in Him is forgiveness,  a fresh hope,  the hope of a future of peace,  eternal salvation, everlasting peace. m Pray with me, please. God, thank You for these  incredible promises that we might have peace with God through a child is born, a son who's given, God incarnate, crucified on the cross for our sake,  promising indeed to come again  to bring us  to peace  with You, O God. And as we partake of the Lord's Supper today, may we remember the price You paid. Grace you poured out that we might know you, that we might have peace  in Jesus.  We pray in His name. Amen. Thank you for engaging with our community by checking out this podcast.  If you would like more information about our church and ministry, you can find us at faithchurchindie.com.