The Humble Path
Isaiah 8:19-9:7
“Advent is the season that, when properly understood, does not flinch from the darkness that stalks us all in this world. Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light—but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness… Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness: the darkness without and the darkness within.”
~ Fleming Rutledge
Main Idea: God calls us out of our pride through the glorious gift of Jesus, who must be humbly received.
I. The Darkness of Pride (8:19-22)
Assyria was closing in on Israel, but rather than looking to the Lord & his Word for wisdom and guidance (8:20), they consulted mediums and “looked to the earth” (8:22) for the solutions to their problems. They pridefully assumed they could figure out how to get out of the darkness on their own, and it only led them into further “thick” darkness.
Advent reminds us that the state of this fallen world is darkness, representing chaos, evil, and sin in the Scriptures (cf. Jn. 3:19). While it is easy for us to focus on all of the problems external to us, we must also acknowledge the problems internal to us if we are to repent of our pride (cf. Isaiah 5-6, Ps. 130:3)
“If only it were so simple, that there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”
~ Alexander Solzhenitsyn
II. The Path of Glory (9:1-5)
Those who dwell in Galilee, most vulnerable to invasion and who dwell in “deep darkness” (lit. ‘death shadow’) will suddenly and unexpectedly have a light shine (flash) upon them (Mt. 4:12-17). This light comes from outside the world, not from within it.
This glorious light will bring about:
Joy (9:3): as in the day of full harvest & after a military victory.
Freedom (9:4): the Lord will break the yoke, rod, and staff of the oppressors, just as he did in the day of Midian (Judges 6-7)
Peace (9:5): all the necessities of warfare will go into the “bonfire of God’s grace” (Ray Ortlund)
III. The Gift of the Child (9:6-7)
How will God bring about this joy, freedom, and peace? He will do so through the most unexpected means: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given...”
“God’s answer to everything that has ever terrorized us is a child. The power of God is so far superior to the Assyrians and all the big shots of this world that he can defeat them by coming as a mere child. His answer to the bullies swaggering through history is not to become an even bigger bully. His answer is Jesus.”
~ Ray Ortlund
Isaiah indicates that this is not merely a royal birth announcement; these names (Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace) are only attributable to God himself. These names push us beyond the manger scene to the totality of the life of this promised King. Though it appeared that darkness snuffed out Jesus at the cross, his resurrection three days later definitely proves “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1:5).
The invitation of this good news is to repent of our pride that contributes to the darkness, and to step foot in faith into the light of the glorious reign of this promised child. But the only way to experience this glory is the humble path.
“There has never been a gift offered that makes you swallow your pride to the depths that the gift of Jesus Christ requires us to do. Christmas means that we are so lost, so unable to save ourselves, that nothing less than the death of the Son of God himself could save us. That means you are not somebody who can pull yourself together and live a moral and good life. To accept the true Christmas gift, you have to admit you're a sinner. You need to be saved by grace. You need to give up control of your life. That is descending lower than any of us really wants to go. Yet Jesus Christ’s greatness is seen in how far down he came to love us. Your spiritual regeneration and eventual greatness will be achieved by going down the same path.”
~ Tim Keller, Hidden Christmas
