Isaiah 8:19-9:4
PastorNathan
P. Kassulke“The Light Has Dawned”
Third Sunday after Epiphany
Sunday, January 29, 2023
It’s pretty easy to take light for granted, isn’t it? Just about any room that you and I might walk into, if it is too dark for us, all we need to do is flip a switch. In some rooms, we don’t even need to do that. The switch senses our movement and turns the lights on for us. We can see; we can find what we need; we get where we need to go. It is easy to take light for granted, but that doesn’t make light any less important or any less useful.
The verses in front of us today from the prophecy of Isaiah use the contrast between light and darkness as a picture that teaches some very important truths. And this is far from the only place in Scripture where that is the case. The Bible uses the contrast between light and darkness to picture good and evil, safety and danger, knowledge and ignorance. And these verses, along with the other readings in our service today, invite us to rejoice because the light has dawned.
The prophet Isaiah spoke God’s word in a challenging time in the history of his people. Isaiah was a prophet to Jerusalem and to the southern part of the Promised Land, to Judah. But so much of his ministry was announcing God’s anger against the wicked kings who ruled over his chosen people. So much of his ministry was addressed to kings who would not listen to what God said. And it is unsurprising that as the leaders refused to listen to God’s Word, many of the people followed their lead.
King Ahaz was one of these wicked kings. You might recall the prophecy of the virgin having a child. That was recorded in Isaiah chapter seven. That was a message that God sent to Ahaz when he refused to follow God’s instruction and he refused to ask God for a sign through which God wanted to display his love and power. Ahaz continued to stop up his ears against the words of Isaiah, really the Word of God from Isaiah his messenger. God had promised safety and deliverance, but Ahaz did not listen. Ahaz sought an earthly ally in the powerful nation of Assyria. Assyria was powerful against Syria and against Israel, and the Assyrians went so far as to threaten Judah also. And while God would not let Judah be destroyed in this instant, their sin and unbelief was most certainly going to lead to their destruction.
And that is the sort of darkness that Isaiah describes in this prophecy. Distress, darkness, gloom, and thick darkness describe how deep and abiding was the unbelief of the king and so many of his subjects. Instead of listening to God, they sought out spiritists and mediums, people who claimed the power to speak with the dead and to tell the future. Sure, they wanted to know. They wanted a glimpse into an uncertain future, but God’s people should have known that this was not the place to look for light.
And so there was no light. The people did not turn to the law and the testimony. They did not focus on the message that God had given through the prophets. They could never have certainty. They could never find hope. They remained in deep darkness.
They probably didn’t even listen as the message of light and hope was given. The land of Naphtali and Zebulun, the extreme northern reaches of the Promised Land had so often been trampled by invading armies and humbled by that legacy. But at some point it would be glorious. God would bring light into the darkness. He would shine joy and celebration and hope on it.
And that is exactly what God did. Many years, even centuries later, that same area became the home base for the ministry of Jesus. Galilee of the Gentiles had been cleared out and resettled by the Assyrians. It was a land away from Jerusalem and the Temple and all that the Jewish believers held dear. Into that land came one who could heal every disease and every sickness, one who preached the good news of the kingdom of God. Into that dark land came the light of the world. And with his call to repentance and with his invitation he made disciples who followed him into the light. He made believers who would have in their hearts the light of life. In him, God kept the promise that he had made to sinners through Isaiah in the dark land and at a dark time.
And that should be no surprise. When God makes a promise, he keeps it. This is how the promise was stated by Isaiah: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned. Like so many prophecies, God speaks as if what he predicts has
already taken place. A light has dawned in his prophetic message. It was as good as done in the time of Isaiah, and it was done in the time and by the ministry of Jesus Christ. A light has dawned in fulfilment of God’s prophecy.
And that is good news for you. It is good news because you know darkness. You have been in darkness. And of course I am not talking about the particular land of Zebulun and Naphtali. And I am not saying that you are turning to mediums and spiritists the way that the people of Isaiah’s day were. But I do know, and you know it, too, that there is darkness that lurks deep in your heart. There are many times when your thoughts and attitudes are not centered on the Word of God. Instead, you turn elsewhere. You allow your feelings and emotions to determine what you do. You let people around you sway your decisions and influence your life choices. Perhaps some gathered here even look to places other than God expecting to find information there that he simply has not given, like horoscopes or psychics. If that’s not you, still don’t give yourself a pass. The darkness of any moment is a reflection of the darkness in which you were born, and the only reason your life is not complete darkness is that God caused his light to dawn.
Yes, the same light that dawned in the land of Galilee has dawned in your hearts. Just like the rising sun chasing away the darkness of gloom and night, Jesus Christ came to chase away the darkness of sin and death. His life and ministry amply demonstrate that his focus was on God and his Word and his direction. The one thing we know from his younger years tells us that he was in the Temple learning and paying attention to that Word. He placed his confidence in God and God’s plan all the way up to offering his life as a sacrifice for sins. And now the crucified and risen Lord has called us to be his own. He has brought us into his family by faith and through baptism, and he feeds our souls with the sacrament of his own body and blood. In other words, he allows us to live in the light. And it is a light that brings us joy now and forever.
Did you catch the pictures the prophet uses? He talks about joy at the harvest or the joy of returning home from battle victorious. The long and hard work is done. The dark times are over with. Joy and rejoicing remain. We have the light that dawned in prophecy and fulfillment. That same light has dawned in our lives so that we might have eternal joy. And that light is something we can share.
See, the world around us is a dark place. There are many who live in darkness, in the shadow of death. Some have never even heard God’s Word and others have rejected it for something, or for anything, else. The prophet’s description of distress and starving—that description applies to those modern situations as well. Isaiah wrote, and then they will look down to the ground, but I tell you, they will see only distress, darkness, and the gloom that brings anguish. They will be banished into thick darkness. This is the hopelessness of anyone without Christ. This is the hopelessness of sin and unbelief. And all who follow that path to the end of their lives will be banished in the thick darkness of eternal death and hell. And you know the light. You can point others to it. You can tell your neighbor or your friend or your relative. You can invite them to church where you see the light and share the light with fellow believers. You can be the one through whom they hear the amazing news: the light has dawned for you.
We may take light for granted all the time. It is in our rooms and at our fingertips at the push of a button or the flipping of a switch. But we dare never take this light for granted: Jesus Christ, the light of the world. The light has dawned in prophecy and in fulfillment. It has dawned in our hearts and lives, and it has dawned for a world of sinners. May it continue to bring us joy, a joy that will never end.
The Text: Isaiah 8:19–9:4 (EHV)
19When they tell you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists, who whisper and mutter,” shouldn’t a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20To the law and to the testimony! If people do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them. 21They will pass through the land, distressed and starving, but when this takes place and they are starving, they will be frustrated, and they will curse their king and their God. They will turn their faces upward, 22and then they will look down to the ground, but I tell you, they will see only distress, darkness, and the gloom that brings anguish. They will be banished into thick darkness.
9 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for the land that was in anguish. In former times, he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will cause it to be glorious, along the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, in Galilee of the Gentiles.
2The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.
3You have multiplied the nation. You have increased its joy. They rejoice before you like the joy at harvest time, like the celebration when people divide the plunder.
4For you have shattered the yoke that burdened them. You have broken the bar on their shoulders and the rod of their oppressor, as you did in the day of Midian.