Isaiah 9:6

December 11th 2022

Isaiah 9:6

12/11/2022

#1 - Children bring hope.

Last week, we talked about how this prophecy here in Isaiah 9:6, was given within the context of a Nation coming to wage war against Israel. Israel has been turning away from worshiping the one true God, and is instead worshiping other gods. Meanwhile, 500 miles away to the north, the Assyrian Empire was gearing up to wage war, invade, and eventually take captive 10 of the 12 Isralite tribes. Of their own free will, the Assyrians sought to wage war against Israel, and God used that to enact His discipline against His children. However, we need to always remember the kind of God that God is. He is patient, kind, compassionate, and loving corrects His children when they go astray. Which is why Lamentations 3:31-33 says this:

“For the Lord will not cast off forever.

[32] Though He causes grief,

Yet He will show compassion

According to the multitude of His mercies.

[33] For He does not afflict willingly,

Nor grieve the children of men.”

Because of who God is, and how He deals with His those who love Him, He gives them a word of hope in the midst of His discipline.

And as we talked about last week ,God does things differently than humans. So while they are being disciplined through the means of warfare, what does He promise them, to give them hope? He doesn't promise them a new type of technology to better aid them in warfare. He doesn't promise that their soldiers will be strong and mighty and never turn their backs from the fray. He doesn't promise that the Assyrians will be cowardly and weak and unable to fight.

He tells them, the war is going to end, the clothes of the warriors, still stained with blood, will be burnt up and used as fuel for fire. Because unto you a child is born.

Think about that for just a moment. An empire bigger and stronger than they are, is at their borders, threatening them, all by the will of God because of their own sins and disobedience, and God tells them that a child is going to be born, and that the government will be on His shoulders. This, like I said last week, is just one more instance where God is promising the Messiah. He has been telling humanity, through the means of Israel, that the Messiah is coming. The Messiah is coming, the Messiah is coming! And He is going to be a child.

A child.

In a time of National turmoil, National war, suffering and violence; in a time of divine and perfect discipline from above against a wayward people…God promises to send a child. A baby. A helpless, squealing baby.

He did this, not only because Jesus’ incarnation wasn’t “plan B”, not only because it was the plan all along to send Jesus, but because He was reinforcing the truth that with the birth of a child, comes a level of hope that surpasses all other avenues in this world.

(A quick “time-out” before I go any further. Not having Children, is not in and of itself sinful. We don’t need to look any further than Jesus not having children. If not having Kids is a sin, and Jesus didn't have kids, then it would mean that Jesus sinned. However, the reasons why someone doesn't have children, are where sin comes into the conversation. If you refuse to have children, because of selfishness and pride, and you want nothing to distract you from the life that you have built, then you're in sin. If you don't have children because God has allowed your body to exist in such a way that creating a child is beyond you…then you aren't in sin. If you don't have children because your fear of the world outweighs your trust in God…then you're in sin. If you don't have children because the manner in which God has unfolded your life, has led you to be in a place where you are caring for someone else, or are in ministry, or are a missionary, or are serving someone else with your life…then you aren't in sin. Im saying this now, because in a few moments i'll be making some claims about having Children or not having children, that may make you think certain things.)

Alright, “time-in”. God promised to Israel, and to humanity that a Child would be born upon whose shoulders the government would rest, and reinforced the reality that a Child carries hope. A child is a promise of a future that we will never see. A child carries within it the promise of another child, and another after that. Hundreds of generations of hope and promise, are all carried within the beating heart of every child that lives.

A child carries on the morals, views, ethics, teachings and lessons of his or her parents. Our names live on in our children, yes, but so do we. The things we intentionally pass on to them, the lessons we intentionally give them, the words of wisdom we impart, the understanding of who God is, what He has done, and why He has done it, will be carried on for hundreds of years, when we teach our children the lessons that Scripture tells us to teach them.

There is hope for our families, for our future, and for society, within every single child.

Hope that things in the world are going to change. Hope that God is going to use the next generation in ways He sees fit, to unfold in His world, His will, as He sees fit. And just like He used the Assyrians’ own free will choices, though they were wicked, to bring about His plan, He will use our free will choices in raising our Children, to bring about His plans. Woe to those who enact their free will against their children in wicked ways.

Deep within our hearts, we know this is true. That children bring hope, is a truth that humanity has embraced for centuries. This has led to parents succeeding, in raising their children, and it has led to parents failing in raising their children.

…..whoah. Thats a heavy claim. Pause. “You're saying, that some parents fail in raising their kids? By what standard? I tried my best, are you saying I failed?” Well, the only question I have to ask, to come to a conclusion about whether or not you have failed as a parent is “Did you teach them about who God is, what He has done, and why He did it?” If the answer is yes, then you succeeded. If the answer is no, then you have failed as mother, failed as a father, and failed as a human. You may have, and probably have, messed up in numerous other ways besides this, some ways that keep you up at night, your failures as a parent playing on repeat behind your eyes…because you are a human. All of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, (Rom. 3:23) and that very much so comes into play when it comes to raising our children. So you messed up? Get over it. Admit your faults to your child, tell them that you messed up and ask them for forgiveness. Repent, turn from your wickedness, and act how you ought to act.

But the parent who intentionally refuses to teach their children who God is, what He has done, and why He has done it, has failed in ways far beyond the sins that keep us up at night. It is setting your children up for failure, and ushering them to black gates of hell itself. “But what if I wasn't where I am now…when my children were at the age when this should have been taught? What do I do? My children are grown, I didn't have faith when they were younger, is all hope lost?” - My only response is in the form of a question: “When is the best time to plant an orchard? 15years ago. When is the next best time? Today.” Repent for your inactions in the past, and start today acting how you ought to act.

This truth, that children carry hope, hope of change, hope of a future, hope of something better, has led parents to swing in the opposite direction of not teaching them about God, and instead, they swing too far, and …they end up worshiping their children.

They see the hope that is inherent within the life of a child, the hope for a future beyond their present, and they elevate their children to the place in their heart that only God should occupy. They use the phrase “My kids are my entire world.” While that may sound nice….it is a sin. I'm sure they aren't literally bowing down before their child, but the parent who worships their child, has every action, belief, thought, and decision, filtered through their children, before it takes shape in reality. The person who worships their children thinks: “I may have made a mess of my life, but at least I have a child! I messed things up, but my children won't! In fact, their success will justify the actions I have taken in my life, so that because of them and their life, I will be declared a good parent, and a good person.”

I pray that this doesn't apply to anyone here this morning, if it does, repent and turn. If you know someone with this mentality, where their children are literally everything to them, and speaking against their child’s behavior would be the same as speaking against God in their eyes, be as patient as God was with you while you were living in sin, all the while pointing them to the truth.

This doesn't, however, change the fact that with a Child…comes a promise. Psalm 127 says this:

“Unless the Lord builds the house,

They labor in vain who build it;

Unless the Lord guards the city,

The watchman stays awake in vain.

2 It is vain for you to rise up early,

To sit up late,

To eat the bread of sorrows;

For so He gives His beloved sleep.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,

The fruit of the womb is a reward.

4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

So are the children of one’s youth.

5 Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them;

They shall not be ashamed,

But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”

Our children are one of the means that God uses to wage war against the wickedness in this world. They are arrows, they are weapons, and we have been tasked by God on high, with sharpening them, straightening them, equipping them, and aiming them directly into the heart of wickedness. When a father and son stand side by side at the gates of the enemy, the enemy shakes in fear. When a mother and daughter stand side by side to care for their families, the enemy shakes in fear. When God builds a family, then our actions as parents are not in vain. If we build our family, then we build in vain. Our children are a heritage from the Lord.

Nothing makes the devil and the world happier, then seeing people, especially Christians, that don't have children. (remember my time out, there are exceptions). Our children carry the Scriptural values and teachings we instill in them, and grow them exponentially when they themselves teach them to their children. Your grandchildren's grandchildren will live under the hope and peace and justice of the God of all creation, and carry that light into the dark and wicked jungles of this world, pulling people from their deaths, when you sit them down, day by day, and unfold for them the glorious truths of God found in His holy Word. Read your Children the Bible. Eat dinner at the table and not in front of the TV. Worship together, not just in Church, but in your home. Pray together. Let your children see you on your knees in tears praying to the God who saved you…and it will have an impact for generations!

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You see, Satan heard, loud and clear, the promise of Christ being born in Genesis 3:15. He knew from that point on, that a Child would be his undoing. Which is why he, as well as this world…hates children. Let me repeat that, in case someone may try and claim I didn't say it. The current culture we live in, and the devil, hate children.

From the Garden onward, Satan has been using the world to wage war against children. This why abortion has become so sanitized and accepted by our culture. The literal slaughter of babies, torn asunder from the safest place they could ever exist within, is celebrated, defended, and encouraged by the American culture. They see the promise of change and hope that exists within a child, and they hate the idea that their grip of power in the world will lessen when the child grows up, so they kill her before she has the opportunity to defend herself. America hates children. Our culture is the epitome of a fairy tale wicked stepmother who hates the vibrancy and youth within a child, and takes actions against them. But because we live in reality and not a fairy tale, literal babies are literally murdered.

Our culture sees the reality that a child is going to grow up and make more children who make more children, and each generation is going to have their own thoughts and beliefs, so what does Satan do? He influences our wicked culture to castrate them. He tells little girls, barely hitting puberty, to get a double mastectomy. He tells the people in this world to mutilate the genitals of children, and then they point their fingers at us and call us bigots if we stand opposed to it. America hates children.

America hates children so much so, that they throw in massive quantities, free, unfiltered, explicit hardcore pornography at every adult. It's there, free for the taking, behind every screen of every smart phone in every single person’s pocket. A few clicks, when other people aren't paying attention, and we can see and view as many men and women as we want to view, doing perverted and wicked things to each other's bodies as we want. And if that doesn't satisfy our lusts, just click a few more times until you find something that does. Our culture wants us to be fat lazy sexual gluttons, satisfied with images of strangers, because if we actually fall in love and live into the intimacy that God designed mens and women bodies to partake in, and start to have children, they know that we are going to instill in them scriptural values about truth and God, and when that happens…their wicked deeds will be exposed to light.

The devil hates children so much, that he has influenced this culture to provide government funded education to everyone, to teach children that their ancestors were smallmouth bass and that if they feel like a little girl inside, all they have to do is chop off their genitals. The education system in America hates your children.

Our culture hates children so much, that they strip mine creativity and force feed us hobbies and interests, because if we were to venture outside of their prescriptions about what media and culture is, then we will find others like ourselves, maybe fall in love, start a family, and wage war against them.

Stay inside, watch our media, eat our factory foods, watch pornography, stay sexually satiated, kill your children, castrate the ones you don't kill, and then let us educate them.

Because it is through a child that the only hope for all mankind was born, the world and the devil take our all of their hatred towards God…on children.

#2 - “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.”

God didn't just give us a child, in hopes that His parents would raise Him the right way, and He could give hope for generations and generations, the way a normal child does. He didn't have His fingers crossed, hoping that Mary and Joseph would teach Him the right things, never lose their patience, never stay up too late and then sleep in and be miserable to their children the next morning because of their own bad choices.

He gave humanity a SON.

This is why one of Jesus’ names is “Son of man”. A son, represents the family…out in the public sphere, where judgment and condemnation and reputations are built and destroyed.

When a representative member of a family, acts in a certain ways in public…what does the public think about that family? When they see a child exceeding and excelling in academics or athletics or starting their own family in ways that seem really really Godly…what do we think? To whom do we attribute that child’s success? To their parents. We think “that son or that daughter is excelling in this area, in good and Godly ways, therefore we should credit their parents. We even tell parents “you did a good job in raising them, look at their life!”

This, brothers and sisters, is blasphemy. We cannot attribute any good thing in this world…to anyone but God. If a parent tries their hardest, and acts exactly how Scripture tells them to act, it is by no means a guarantee that their children will grow up in the ways in which they should. Our children, despite some parent’s wishes, have free will. Does this mean we ignore how Scripture tells us to raise our kids? By no means! We act how we should, we obey…and leave the results to God. Good kids have come from bad and evil parents, and bad and evil kids have come from good parents. We obey and leave the results up to God. We should never use our sons and daughters as barometers to determine if we are good parents.

However, just as there were exceptions to what we talked about earlier, about not having children, there are exceptions to this as well. If a son or daughter curses and screams at everyone they meet…they learned that behavior from someone. If a son mistreats and abuses women….it's because he learned it from his father. If a daughter sleeps around with numerous men…..it's because she learned it from her mother.

A son, in the Biblical usage of the word, is a representative member of a group.

Jesus is the Son of Man, because He represents us to His father. He is the penultimate example of what a human is. There is no human holier than He. No human more humble than He. No human more kind, more just, more patient, more perfect in their anger, more perfect in their thoughts, beliefs, actions and inactions…than Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate example of what a Human is. He represents us to His Father.

He represents us in our successes….and in our sins. Of those who have repented and believed in Him, He says to His father…don’t look at their sins, look at my righteousness. Of those who refuse to repent and believe, He says to His father, look at their sins and judge them.

Jesus is able to do this…precisely because He is the Son of Man. He is one of us. Jesus Christ, is the God of all reality, is fully human as well.

The Son that was given to humanity, to represent them to their God, was more than a simple human child, carrying simple human hope. He was, and is, and forever will be, God and man. Not half and half Greek demi-god. But fully God and fully Man.

Two natures within one Person. Two natures, divine and human, without division, without separation, without commingling between the two, and without change. His God-ness didn’t infect His human-ness, and His human-ness didn’t infect His God-ness.

Titus 2:11-13

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, [12] teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, [13] looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, [14] who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

Philippians 2:5-8

“Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, [6] who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, [7] but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. [8] And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

John 10:22-30

[22] Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter. [23] And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch. [24] Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” [25] Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me. [26] But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. [27] My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. [28] And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. [29] My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. [30] I and My Father are one.”

Colossians 2:8&9

“Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. [9] For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; [10] and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.”

Who Jesus Christ is, is a question that has been fought and killed over, for centuries. It is the single most important question that you will ever answer in your entire life. Who is Jesus Christ? Is He simply a good teacher? Is He God? Is He a human? Is He such a really nice and non confrontational guy who just loves everyone and is nice and squishy and soft? Is He an unmoving, cold hearted, compassionless Judge who can’t wait to punish people?

Is He the God of all reality, who condescended to us by putting on human nature, born of a virgin, lived a sinless perfect life, died and rose again for all who repent and believe? Who now sits at the right hand of the Father, continually interceding to Him on our behalf? Who will one day judge all of humanity? Is He perfectly patient and perfectly kind? Is He perfectly just and perfectly wrathful? Is He perfectly humble and perfectly bold?

This question, of who Jesus Christ is, is one that the Church has fought over. Numerous heresies, or false teachings, about who Christ is, have come and gone, over the years.

In the 4th Century, there was a teaching called “Monophysitism” which taught that Jesus only had one nature - and that was divine.

In 400ad there was a teaching named “Nestorianism” which taught that Jesus was two different people inside of one body.

In 381 the teaching of Apollinarianism was condemned, which taught that Jesus’ divine Nature replaced and supplanted His human nature.

Docetism, condemned in 325 at the Council of Nicea, taught that Jesus might have been divine, but had no human body. The body that people saw, was just an illusion, a phantasm.

Also at the Council of Nicea the early Church condemned Arianism. Taught by a man named Arius. He was there at the council, trying to bend Scripture to say that Jesus was a created being. That God the Father made Him. He said Jesus was not divine and not eternal. This is also when a man named Saint Nicholas, legend says, got up, walked across the floor in front of all the priests and pastors and teachers, and punched Arius in the face for his heresy.

Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, became a human, without losing His divinity. He did this…for the single purpose of fulfilling His Father’s will to save His Children. He put on human flesh, so that when the time comes for His children to stand before His father, He can represent them as one having lived their life, with all of its ups and downs, and never sinned through all of it.

Who better to speak on our behalf, who better to represent us to someone else, than someone who knows our innermost secret sins, and loves us despite them?

Who better to represent us to God, than someone who was tempted in every way that we will ever be tempted, and never sinned.

Who can ever stand in the presence of the Ancient of Days, where thousands of thousands fall in worship before Him whose robe fills the sky and whose crown contains entire suns as nothing but jewelry?

Jesus Christ, the God Man, the true Son of God and Son of Man, represents us to His father and intercedes for us on our behalf. He is the Son of Man who brings hope and peace and expectation of freedom and peace and love and joy to all that repent of their sins and believe in Him.

#3 This is the only way we can have hope

Because Jesus is both God and man, because He is fully human AND fully divine, He and He alone is uniquely capable of being a place where our hope can lie. We can place our hope for the future, our hope for our children, our hope for our Nation, our hope for our own lives, our hope for our relatives, fully and completely, without holding back without reservation, on Him.

We, here in this fallen human life, are always cautious about placing our hope upon things and people and ideas that we come across. We know that people and ideas can fail and fall and hurt us as they tumble down from the mountain top we knew we shouldn't have placed them upon to begin with.

We parents are plagued by the bad choices we have made, in regards to raising our children. We think and rethink, over and over, all the choices we have made. Asking ourselves if we did the right things, pointed them in the right way. We've lost our patience, yelled, and acted in ways that parents ought not act. We take our sins…as the final say over the hope we once saw in our children when we saw them for the first time. When we saw their eyes barely being able to open, their legs barely able to hold them up, their smiles when they started to think, their tears when their feelings were hurt. We wrongly assume that our failures as parents get the final say over our children's lives.

But we can take hope, brothers and sisters. We can have just as much hope as ancient Israel had while an invading army was on their borders. Because God gave them those words exactly when He planned to give them, exactly when He knew they would be wandering from the truth, exactly when the Assyrians would be gearing up for battle.

And there, at the precipice of invasion and destruction…a promise was given. For that is when God brings His salvation. When you realize that destruction is imminent…When you understand that you have sinned against a holy God and wrath is at your door…When you mirror the words of David and your sins is ever before you…laughing at you, mocking you, holding you down, freely offering you every lust you could ever want, to keep you in its snare…and eternal damnation is all that waits for you with baited breath…

When you realize that there is no hope to be had within yourself, your own power, your own will, your own strength, and your own know-how… Read the words of Isaiah 9:6

“For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Have hope brothers and sisters. Not because you have never sinned, but because you acknowledge that you have sinned. For we worship we Savior who knows our trials. Who is not far off atop some golden throne in the sky, looking down at us in disgust…but who lives within the very hearts of his sons and daughters, because He wants to.

In closing, I would like to read Hebrews 2:14-18

Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, [15] and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. [16] For indeed He does not give aid to angels, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. [17] Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. [18] For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.

Have hope in the child born 2000yrs ago. Have hope in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Have hope in the Son of Man, Jesus Christ. Have hope in nowhere, no thing, and no one else, apart from the incarnate Word of the God of all reality, the God-Man, Jesus Christ. Son of God, Son of Man, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Whose Government will know no end and whose Crown can never be toppled.