"Isaiah9" Tagged Sermons
Prophetic literature poses three difficulties for its readers. God gives the glory child of Isaiah 9:6 to the whole nation, apart from any human parents. ‘For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.’
In Scripture birth means hope and barrenness means hopelessness, and God shows his power where hope has run out. In Isaiah 9:6, God’s barren people give birth to Christ. The child rules with strength.
Isaiah prophesied to a king, Ahaz, and a people in the northern tribes who had run out of hope. Into that darkness Isaiah 9 promises a great light, the hope of Christ. The world has secularized Christmas, and it misreads the angels’ ‘peace on earth’ in Luke 2:14 in the same way.
Isaiah uses the child as a symbol, and a barren woman conceives by God’s power alone. Isaiah 9:6 names the child Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. The minister’s job is to proclaim that child, and the church confesses him.