Luke 2:25

Isaiah 9:6 states, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom, to order and establish it with judgment and justice, from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

Lord, we do ask that you would open our hearts and our minds to receive from your word this morning. We pray that by your Spirit, you would direct us, guide us into all truth, and teach us all things. Holy Spirit, we pray that you would quicken our minds and our hearts because your word is spiritually discerned. Continue to use the tool of your living word to transform us.

It is your desire to make us more like you in character and likeness. You created humanity, God, to bear your image, and we pray that we would be just that—image bearers reflecting your glory, your goodness, your peace, your joy, and your patience. Make these realities manifest in my life and in the lives of my brothers and sisters here this morning.

I pray for anyone here this morning who may say they are not entirely sure that they know you yet. Reveal yourself through the pages of your word, and do exactly what you promised to do: draw people to yourself, Lord. We praise you, we worship you, and we thank you for that doxology that we just sang, that catechism, that we believe you are God and that you raised from the dead.

And that you have the power over life and death and to bring resurrection and eternity to us. We thank you for that. We pray, God, that you would cement those truths in our minds and our hearts, and that we would walk with steadfast faith in you. For we ask this in Jesus' name. And all God's people agreed and said, "Amen."

You can be seated.

In about the year 1405 B.C., a little over 3,400 years ago, a people called Israel, named after one of their forefathers, prepared to enter a piece of land that God had promised to their father Abraham. They stood at the border of that land, and their leader Joshua, a newly ordained leader of the nation, told the priests of the people who bore the Ark of God, which represented the very presence of God, to go and stand at the edge of the Jordan River. This river stood between them and the land that God had promised they would inherit.

As they stood there at the edge of the Jordan River, the Bible describes in the book of Joshua that it was at that time of year when the Jordan River overflowed its banks and was filled with floodwaters. The priests of the nation of Israel went and stood there, and Joshua said, "Okay, stand in the water." As soon as they stepped into the water, the Bible describes that the waters parted, and the children of Israel were able to cross over, for the second time in their history, on dry ground to enter the promised land.

They knew that coming into the promised land would not mean it would just fall into their hands; they would have to go and take possession of the land. God gave a great promise to Joshua and to the nation: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, it is yours. I've given it to you." They understood that they needed to actively go in and take possession of the land.

One of the other things they knew, having seen it happen over the many years of walking with God, was that God would mightily and powerfully show up for His people. So, they entered into that promised land right around 1405 B.C. and came to the first of many cities that they would encounter.

As they came to take the land, the city of Jericho, God gave them strange orders about what they were to do. They were instructed to go and walk around the city without saying a word. They were to do this for seven days, walking around the city silently. On the last day, they walked around it quite a few times. Finally, at the sound of the trumpet, they cried out to the Lord, and they were able to take the city of Jericho miraculously. They witnessed the might of God powerfully.

From that first city, Jericho, until the last city they would conquer, Hazor, they took possession of the land. They watched as God went before them and dispossessed their enemies, allowing them to inherit the land. It only took seven years, from around 1405 BC to roughly 1398 BC, to take possession of this great land, their inheritance, the land that we now call Israel once again. They came in and found their rest.

For nearly the next 700 years, they occupied their possession. They held their possession firmly. The history of the Bible tells us that there were times when some of their enemies would come in and occupy certain regions or territories of that land. However, they were never fully removed from the land that God had promised to them for seven centuries. They held the land that God had given to them.

Every time an enemy would come in and take a piece of their inheritance, God would raise up a deliverer or a judge, and ultimately, they would reclaim their inheritance once again. It was always God who did it. They had the opportunity to see the mighty power of God, as it was ultimately Him who would be the deliverer of His people.

They held the promised land for 700 years until the 8th century BC, which is the historical context of this passage of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 9. Right around 730 BC is when these events were taking place. The children of Israel had been in the promised land for 700 years, holding the possession that God had given to them. But when we come to this period of time,

At the time that Isaiah prophesied these words, the nation of Israel, located in the region called Judah, had a king by the name of Ahaz. They were right at the edge of a dark period in their history, on the verge of losing the land they held as their promised inheritance from God. They were about to enter a really dark and silent night season as the people of God.

These days began about 200 years before Isaiah's prophecy. Around 1000 BC, the nation of Israel decided to take a king for themselves. Prior to that time, God had been their king and leader. However, they stood up and said, "We want a king like the other nations around us. We want an earthly leader." So, God gave them a king, and they had a king named Saul for a period of time. Then God raised up a new king, King David. David was a great king over Israel whom God blessed in significant ways. He saw the uniting of the people from all twelve tribes of Israel.

After David, his son Solomon took over. God used Solomon to establish the nation as a prominent entity in that part of the world during that time. Following Solomon's reign, another king, Rehoboam, came to power. Rehoboam was a fool; he refused to listen to the advice of his counselors. When he first became king, his older advisors warned him that his father had ruled the nation with a heavy hand. They advised him to lighten up if he wanted the people to follow him.

However, Rehoboam's younger friends urged him not to heed the older advisors. They suggested he tell the people that if his father was heavy-handed, he would be even tougher. So, he followed their advice. The people responded negatively, leading to a revolt. Under Rehoboam, the nation split around 930 BC, just about 200 years before the prophet Isaiah. The nation divided into two kingdoms: ten tribes gathered in the northern part of Israel, taking the name Ephraim. They were sometimes referred to by another name, with their capital city called Samaria. In the southern part of the nation, where the capital city of Jerusalem and the temple were located, there were two tribes: Judah and Benjamin.

They called their territory, their region, Judah. In the north was Samaria, and in the south was Judah. The nation experienced division for 200 years, and that division continued to increase tension among the people, especially during the reign of King Ahaz.

When Ahaz was king, around 730 BC, the northern ten tribes formed an alliance with the nation of Syria. This alliance was specifically aimed at attacking Judah, removing Ahaz as king, and reclaiming Jerusalem. Ahaz found himself in a precarious position as he began his rule. One of the first challenges he faced was the threat of attack from his own brothers in the north, who had decided to come and destroy him. There is hardly anything darker than a family feud.

During this time, God sent the prophet Isaiah to deliver a message to King Ahaz. At the start of his administration, Ahaz was pulled in different directions as he faced the impending war from the north. Isaiah urged him to trust in the Lord, assuring him that God would establish him and raise him up if he put his faith and confidence in Him. Isaiah reminded Ahaz of how God had delivered the people many times before and that it was God who had given them the land.

However, Ahaz was torn between trusting in the unseen God and relying on the tangible resources he could see. Many can identify with that struggle. In the midst of this turmoil, Ahaz decided it was too difficult to put his faith in God and trust that He would deliver him. Instead, he sought help elsewhere.

While the northern ten tribes had allied with Syria, Ahaz chose to establish an alliance with Assyria, the rising political power of his day. The Assyrian Empire was the dominant force in the world during the 8th century BC, and four kings of Assyria during that time expanded the empire and built its territory. Ahaz figured that relying on the Assyrians was his best option for assistance.

And so he set up an alliance, a confederacy with them, and they came to his aid. Between 730 BC and 720 BC, they came and destroyed most of Syria. They dispossessed or removed the people living there among the northern ten tribes. For the first time in Israel's history in the Promised Land, they lost a huge portion of their inheritance. That which God had given to them, that which God had delivered into their hands, all they had to do was walk in and take it. For the first time in their history, it was removed from their hands, and they were removed from their land. They became, at that point, what we refer to commonly as the lost tribes of Israel.

The Assyrians did this interesting thing, which I refer to as the Assyrian relocation program. They would come in and take over a region, and in order to integrate the people they had overtaken into their way of life and culture, they would disperse those people into other parts of the empire. They removed them from their friends, from their family who spoke their language, from their culture, and from their religious practices. They would put them into the rest of the nation, where they would kind of be dissolved. Then, they would relocate other people from different parts of the empire into that region to start mixing.

By the time that Jesus came in the first century AD, that region was now called Samaria. The Samaritans were a mixture of part Jewish and part various other pagan peoples because of what took place by the Assyrians in the eighth century BC. The land that was their Promised Land, the land that God had given to them as an inheritance, was taken from their hands in that decade between 730 and 720 BC.

The king of Assyria, a man by the name of Sargon II, realized that he was having a pretty good run conquering peoples. The people who had hired him to be their ally in Judah had a pretty nice land. If he held that land, he could move down into Egypt and Ethiopia and take over northern Africa, what we know of as modern-day northern Africa. That was the only thing that stood in his way of increasing his empire. So, like any king of the day, he broke his alliance with the people of Judah. By 700 BC, not only were the northern ten tribes displaced, but at the end of Sargon and then Sennacherib, the situation had further deteriorated.

His leader, who came after him as his successor, was Sargon. By the end of Sargon's reign and Sennacherib's reign, not only were the northern ten tribes displaced, but almost every single city of the nation of Israel was completely destroyed, save one stronghold. The land that God had given them as a promise, the people He had said would be more numerous than the sand of the sea and the stars in the sky, were now reduced to one city: the city of Jerusalem. That's all they had left at the end of the seventh century. Everything they had held for seven hundred years, everything they had for seven centuries according to God's promise that He had delivered into their hands, was now removed from their hands, and only Jerusalem remained as the stronghold they had in the promised land.

This prophecy that we read here in Isaiah chapter 9, verses 6 and 7, occurs just before all of that takes place, just before those thirty years of darkness come. God, in His mercy and grace, speaks to His people just before this imposing storm and darkness rises over their entire nation. He gives them this small picture or glimmer of hope beginning in verse 1.

Look at Isaiah chapter 9, verse 1. I am going to read from a different version for just a moment than I normally read from. The New Living Translation says this: "Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever." Just prior to the Assyrians destroying the northern ten tribes and almost completely destroying all of the nation of Israel, removing their inheritance from their hands, God says to the people through the prophet Isaiah, "Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever."

The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali will be humbled. Zebulun and Naphtali were two names of two tribes among the children of Israel. Their land was in the northern part of the nation of Israel, right around what is the modern-day Sea of Galilee. Zebulun and Naphtali are the ones that are going to be overtaken in this first wave of the Assyrians between 730 and 720. God says to His people, "Listen, they are going to be humbled there in the northern part of the nation, but this darkness will not go on forever." There will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road...

That runs between the Jordan and the sea will be filled with glory. God says, "Isaiah, listen, you need to tell the people. You've had this land, you've had this inheritance for seven centuries. It's never been taken from your hand, and yet there's a time of humbling coming. There's a time of darkness coming, but it won't be forever because ultimately, someday in the future, God is going to shine a light. He's going to bring His glory to this land there in the north."

In verse 2, the people who walk in darkness will see, notice future tense, they will see a great light. For those who live in the land of deep darkness, a light will shine in the future. This is going to come. Just before this time of intense darkness arrives, God says, "Listen, there will be an end to this darkness."

I don't care how old you are; at just about every age, darkness can be a fearful thing. If you're in complete darkness for any length of time, an extended period, it doesn't matter how strong you are. Even if you're not a little child, there's a certain anxiety that increases in the midst of intense darkness. Authors of thriller books know this is true. You never read a thriller book that starts out with words like, "It was a bright and sunny day." They typically start out with something like, "It was a dark and stormy night." That dark and stormy night increases the level of anxiety just in starting out and getting into the reading.

Not only do authors of thriller books understand this, but movie directors do as well. How many of you saw M. Night Shyamalan's movie in 2002 called "Signs"? Actually, "Signs" is a pretty interesting movie. Mel Gibson plays a priest in the movie who has lost his faith. There's a scene where everything is starting to intensify, and Mel Gibson's family is hiding out in the basement. You remember this whole scene? In the midst of it, these aliens or whatever they are show up, and all the lights go out. You don't know what's going on; you just hear a whole bunch of noise. There's a certain intensity level that rises. Those kinds of things don't happen.

On a day like this, when it's bright and sunny outside, they know you've got to set the tone. The right tone is just that darkness. The lights go out, and now you're watching it, but your heart begins to race.

There was a study done in 2012 by Ryerson University in Canada, and it found a solid connection between insomnia and nyctophobia. Nyctophobia is the fear of the dark. They discovered that there was a connection between not being able to sleep and being afraid of the dark. It happens like this: most people sleep at night, and so it's dark. You turn out the lights, get in bed, and go to sleep. However, because a person has a fear of the dark, they don't even realize it. They haven't classified it in themselves as being a phobia, and there is anxiety about the dark. As they lay down in this darkness, their mind begins to race. Their anxiety increases, and now they can't sleep; they can't shut their brain off.

In this research study, they found that although some people experience anxiety about a burglar coming in and other fears, what it really came down to was a fear of the dark. By simply putting a nightlight in their room, they could now sleep. This leads to an increased level of insomnia because of the phobia of being afraid of the dark.

All of us who have little kids understand this. There comes a certain stage when your kids start to be afraid of the dark. Two of our kids, Addison and Ethan, share a room together. Ethan is one of those people who wants it pitch black; there can't be any light in the room. Addison, on the other hand, wants light; she wants the door open, and he wants the door closed. We have this little issue going on.

About a month ago, I found this little nightlight that projects a rainbow on the ceiling, and Addison's world just got better. Even Ethan was like, "Hey, cool! I like the rainbow; the rainbow can stay."

But there's that fear of the dark that people have, and here we have anxiety increasing as the nation of Israel is coming into a time of intense darkness. Darkness increases anxiety, and if darkness increases anxiety, then light—or the future promise of light—brings hope.

The future promise of light brings hope. Point number one on your outline: the promise of light is a promoter of hope. Just knowing that the sun is going to rise, the surety of the sun rising in the morning, increases people's hope. Andy knew that, right?

The sun will come out tomorrow. Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun. Just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrow. I'm not going to sing it. When I'm stuck in a day that's gray and lonely, I stick up my chin and grin and say, "There you go." Someone's going to sing it. Of course, it'll be my mom.

The sun will come out tomorrow. The future promise of light increases our sense of hope. That's exactly what God, as a good and loving Father, does here in Isaiah chapter 9. He gives the future promise of light just as they are about to enter an intense time of darkness for the nation. For 700 years, they have held the land, and it has been their possession and their inheritance. However, over the next 30 years, from 730 to 720 BC, they are going to lose virtually everything and go through darkness.

God says this time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. Rather, there will be a time in the future when the land will once again be filled with glory. Those who walk in darkness will see a great light, and those in the land of deep darkness, upon them a light will shine. Israel would experience devastation and darkness, and unfortunately, it would not be just a short little pause. It would be for a very long time, but it would end. That's exactly what God says: it will go away. One day, a great light is going to shine.

Isaiah chapter 9 continues from that point in verses 3 through 5. It speaks of an increase, rejoicing, redemption, and liberty when this light comes upon those in darkness. It will bring an increase to a nation that is going to be reduced down to one city by the year 700 BC. They have gone from being as numerous as the stars of the sky and the sand of the sea to this tiny little remnant. But God says when this light comes, there will be an increase, redemption, joy, liberty, and hope.

The prophet, through Isaiah, is building on this idea that light will bring redemption, hope, joy, and increase. It sets the mindset of wondering what it is going to be and where it is going to come from. Then, in verses 6 and 7, he gives the origin.

The source of light, increase, redemption, liberty, and joy is revealed in the prophecy: "For unto us a child is born." This light will come in the form of a little child, specifically a son who is given to the people. The government will be upon his shoulder.

Ahaz, the king of the nation of Israel during the time of Isaiah, along with the following king, Hezekiah, would rule over this nation. However, they would witness the loss and reduction of this great nation. Yet, God promises that one will come who will see the increase. The government will rest upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

Where will this light come from that brings increase, joy, redemption, and liberty? It will come through a child born, a son given. He will establish a new reign characterized by the increase of his government and peace, with no end.

Isaiah prophesies that he will sit upon the throne of David, fulfilling a promise God made hundreds of years earlier to King David in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. God told David, a man after His own heart, that there would not fail to be a king upon the throne forever from his line. This prophecy pointed to the Messiah.

Isaiah declares that this one who will come to bring a government of peace is indeed the Messiah. He will be upon the throne of David, establishing his kingdom with judgment and justice from that time forward and forever. This is the light that will come.

As the people enter a time of intense darkness, light will shine upon this region, particularly Galilee, which will be humbled by the darkness of Assyria and the destruction that follows. This light, this Messiah, will come. He is wonderful, a counselor, the mighty God, the Father of everything everlasting, and the Prince of Peace. These are remarkable attributes.

He is the fulfillment of the previous prophecy found just a couple of chapters earlier in Isaiah, chapter 7, verse 14. This well-known verse states, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel," which is translated "God with us."

Now, that verse was spoken to King Ahaz as he was preparing the city of Jerusalem for the coming invasion of the northern ten tribes and the Syrians. He was trying to get ready for this invasion, and Isaiah went to tell him, "Listen, trust the Lord." Ahaz was torn between whether he should trust the Lord or cry out to the Assyrians. God said He would give him a sign: "The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel," which means "God with us."

The son that is given, the child that is born in Isaiah 9:6, is the same one that is born of the virgin called Emmanuel in chapter 7. He is also the same one that is spoken of in chapter 11. Turn to Isaiah chapter 11 and look at verse 1. At the same time when Ahaz was king, Isaiah, speaking for God, said, "There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse." Jesse was the father of King David, so when he says a rod from the stem of Jesse, he is indicating that this one who is to come will be a descendant of David.

"A branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Jehovah, shall rest upon this son of David. He will have the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, and the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by the seeing of his eyes nor by the hearing of his ears, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; his authority will be over all of the earth. With the breath of his lips, he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist."

Here, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says that the one who is Emmanuel, born of a virgin in Isaiah 7, is the same one who is the child that is born, the son that is given, who bears rule as the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. He is the same one who is the descendant of David in Isaiah chapter 11 and has the Spirit of God resting upon him—the Spirit of understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He will judge with righteousness and will destroy wickedness.

All of these great things were spoken on the eve of intense darkness, as they were about to enter a dark time and lose their grip.

On the nation, God says this darkness will not be forever. This darkness will not be forever. All of these things—Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, and Isaiah 11—are great prophecies. However, these things were spoken roughly 730 BC. Within 10 years, most of the nation would be taken from the hands of the children of Israel. The northern 10 tribes would be displaced, and within 30 years, the nation would be reduced down to one city. Within 150 years, even that one city would be destroyed, and their temple would be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. The children of Israel would be taken from their land completely, so that for 70 years, they would not even have their possession; it would be completely gone.

In the midst of that, you might think that the common knowledge of the people would be, "Well, that's it; we're done. We're toast." Yet, there was this promise of a light that would shine, given by the prophet Isaiah. So much so that after 70 years in Babylon, when another nation comes in and destroys the Babylonians, the king of that nation, a guy by the name of Cyrus, now rules over Babylon. Some of the prophets of the people of Israel go to him and say, "Hey, we just want to show you something. There was a prophet in our nation by the name of Isaiah who, 200 years ago, actually wrote your name down before you were born and said, 'Cyrus is going to be a deliverer of my people.'"

In Isaiah chapter 40, 200 years before Cyrus even knows about this, God, through the prophet Isaiah, said, "Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persians, is going to deliver my people." Cyrus responds, "Well, if it was written down by God, then I better let you go." So he lets them go, but just a small remnant—about 50,000—over the next 50 years go back to Jerusalem to try and rebuild the city. Although it might have seemed that the light was going to begin to shine, they enter into another time of darkness.

This darkness continues because 300 years after Isaiah spoke these words to King Ahaz, God completely stopped speaking to His people. The last of the old covenant prophets, a guy by the name of Malachi, wrote around 430 BC. From that time on, God did not speak another word to His people for 400 more years. They went through over 700 years of complete darkness.

Of that, there was utter silence from God; He didn't say a word to them. In the midst of that, you might think, "Well, it's all over. That's all she wrote." I think about that for a moment. Seven hundred plus years! Our nation hasn't even been a nation for 250 years. Seven hundred years, and they are in complete and total darkness.

Then things change. Things begin to change because, point number three, God always makes good on His promises. I skipped point number two, didn't I? I caught myself; you didn't have to tell me. The source of hope is a Son that will rise. The source of hope is the Son that will rise unto us. A child is born unto us; a Son is given, and He is the source of hope for the people.

God always makes good on His promises. After 400 years of total silence from Malachi until the time of the New Covenant, until the time of the first century A.D., after 400 years of complete darkness and silence, the angel of the Lord appears to a priest of Israel in the city of Jerusalem. It's recorded for us in Luke chapter 1. You can turn there if you'd like.

I'll just lay the groundwork for you as you're going there. Four hundred years of absolute silence. The nation of Israel is back in their homeland. The temple has been rebuilt; it's more beautiful than it has ever been. It's about to go through another time of complete rejuvenation and remodeling. The priests are making their rotations, serving God in Jerusalem at the temple.

The lot fell to a man by the name of Zacharias, who is going to be the priest on post to go and offer incense to the Lord. He goes into the temple to offer incense; he's the only one there. He offers incense before the Lord, and it tells us in Luke chapter 1 that the angel of the Lord appeared to him, an angel by the name of Gabriel. Of course, Zacharias is a little tripped out by this. Anytime angels show up in the Bible, it's kind of a fearful thing. It's not like a little pudgy fat thing with wings.

So here the angel of the Lord appears to him. Look at verse 8, Luke chapter 1.

While he was serving as a priest before God and the order of his division, according to the custom of the priesthood, his lot fell to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord. The whole multitude of the people were praying outside at the hour of incense. Then the angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zacharias saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

But the angel of the Lord said, "Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear a son, and you will call his name John. You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth." Joy, gladness, and rejoicing had not been words that the people of Israel had known much of for the last 700 years. Now God comes by the angel Gabriel and says, "Listen, it's a time of joy and gladness that is going to come once again." God always makes good on His promises; though it tarries, wait for it.

Shortly after that, six months later, the Scriptures tell us that the same angel Gabriel flew a little bit north to Galilee, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, to the city of Nazareth. There, he appeared to a young girl who was espoused to a man by the name of Joseph, and her name was Mary. He called her highly favored and said in verse 31 of Luke 1: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High."

Isaiah 9:6 states, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." The government will be upon His shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government, there will be no end.

Roughly ten months later, Mary, with her now husband Joseph, went to be counted in the census according to the order that was given by the government at that time.

Down in Joseph's hometown, near Jerusalem, in the city of Bethlehem, Mary gives birth to a little baby boy. At his birth, angels announce his arrival to shepherds who come to worship him. He is going to be called Jesus. The custom in that day was that they would not name him until the eighth day after his birth, when he would be circumcised according to Jewish law.

Now, eight days later, they take him about seven or eight miles away from the city of Bethlehem to the city of Jerusalem, to the temple. They come into the temple to offer the offering that Leviticus chapter 12 ordered for a woman giving birth to a child. He would be consecrated to the Lord under the Abrahamic covenant, circumcised as all Jewish males were eight days after their birth. Then, he would be announced with his name: Jesus, as the angel Gabriel had said.

As they are coming into the temple, I want you to look at this focus. It took me a while to get to the focus, but here we are. In Luke 2, verse 25, we read that there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was just and devout. He was righteous before men, doing what was right, and he was holy before God. He was waiting for the consolation, or comfort, of Israel. He anticipated and expected the day when God would bring comfort to his people, who had been in darkness for 700 years. He longed for this, as did everyone in the nation at that time.

The Holy Spirit was upon him, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's anointed one, the Lord's Christ. He would not see death until he laid his eyes upon the Messiah. So, he came by the Spirit into the temple; God directed him to go there. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God, saying, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before..."

The face of all peoples—underline those words: all peoples. A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, all peoples, and the glory of your people Israel.

Now, Joseph and his mother marveled at those things, which is a massive understatement. They were coming into the temple with newborn baby Jesus to consecrate him to the Lord, to do as the law commanded them to do. As they did, they were confronted with this old man they didn't even know. He had been hanging around the temple for a long time because the Spirit of God told him to stay there, saying he would not die until he saw the Messiah.

Now he sees this child coming in, and God, by the Spirit, says, "That's the one." He takes the child out of her arms. Could you imagine, ladies? A newborn baby, and some stranger walks up and says, "Give me this one."

So he takes him and holds the baby, saying, "God, I have seen your salvation, the light that is going to come, the revelation to all peoples, to bring light to those who are in darkness. Now I can die; I have seen it." Joseph and Jesus' mother marveled at those things which were spoken. Then Simeon blessed them, saying to Mary, his mother, "Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yes, a sword will pierce through your soul, Mary. This child is going to do great things, but it will pierce through your own soul, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

He blesses Mary, preparing her for the day when she will watch her son be crucified, but he says, "This is the salvation of all people."

Immediately after that, look at verse 36. There was another person in Jerusalem, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phenuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age and had lived with a husband for seven years from her virginity, which means from the time she was married. This woman was a widow of about 84 years. We don't know for sure; commentators are split on whether she was 84 years old or had been a widow for 84 years. Either way, she was very old by this time.

She did not depart from the temple but served God with fasting and prayers night and day. Coming in at that instant, she gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem. So, at the very moment that Jesus was brought in...

In by Mary and Joseph, Simeon takes this child and blesses God. At that very moment, Anna walks in and sees this. God speaks to her, and immediately she goes and begins to tell everybody that the one they are looking for, redemption in Israel, has come. He is the one to bring light to those who are in darkness. Upon those who walked in darkness, a great light shall come. God makes good on His promises, and here He brings forth the child that would be born, the Son that would be given, the one who would bear rule forever.

Anna and Simeon are a beautiful picture of two people who are waiting. They were longing for this great coming, looking with great anticipation and expectation for these things that the good gift-giving God promised would come, even though it took many hundreds of years for these things to arrive. Now they saw it. They saw it.

As I was reflecting on Simeon and Anna this week, I began to think of the question: What are you waiting for? What are you looking for day after day? For maybe 84 years, or maybe a little bit less, Anna had gone into the temple, fasting many of those days, praying, and waiting for the Redeemer. Simeon, for many years—we don't know how old he was, but it appears that he was old enough to say, "Well, now I'm ready to die." He waited every single day, going up to the temple, longing and looking.

What are you waiting for? Joy? Peace? Redemption? Wisdom? Understanding? Counsel? Might? Knowledge?

Point number four: Jesus is the longed-for hope of all humanity. He is, whether people recognize it or not, the answer to whatever they are longing and looking for. They may think they might find it in some Christmas present, or if they just got that job, or if they just earned that degree, or if they just found that girl or that guy. Everything they are longing, looking, and hoping for that might bring satisfaction and joy is found in Jesus.

He is the longed-for hope of humanity. He is the one that answers every longing at the deepest level. For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and rule, there will be no end. He will order it with judgment and justice; he will destroy wickedness.

He is the longed-for hope of all humanity. When we come to this time of year, that's what Christmas declares. Whether he was born on December 25th or not, he is the longed-for hope of all humanity. Some of you, maybe many of you, this morning have come to realize and recognize that. However, the fact is there are many more outside these walls, and maybe some even here right now, who have not come to the realization that he is the longed-for hope of all humanity.

For those of us who do believe and know this to be true, we have the opportunity during this period of time to ensure that all people do know this. We live in a nation that has so much, and yet so many people are still searching. They still haven't found what they're looking for. To quote a great philosopher named Bono, he is the longed-for hope of all humanity.

It is my prayer and hope that as we go through this season of Christmas, we would be stirred both to remember and to remind others that Jesus is the source. He is the one in whom fullness is found. Colossians chapter one says he is the fullness of God in bodily form, and we are complete in him, which means that we are incomplete apart from him. We are all in desperate need of him.

Maybe you feel like you have been going through a time of intense darkness; he is the light that is needed. Perhaps you have been going through a time without joy or peace, or you need counsel or wisdom. He is the one in whom you will find that. It is my prayer that you would once again lock into him, connect with him, and find that all you need is found in him.

Would you stand with me as we close in prayer? God, we come before you and ask that you would both remind us of these things and compel us, stir our hearts to declare these things to those that we will encounter.

We will be interacting with friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors over the next several weeks. During this time of year, they are often open to hearing the good news because it is a joyful season. I pray, God, that we would take those opportunities that you give to us.

I also pray for those here today who may not yet fully realize or have taken possession of the reality that you are the one, Jesus, in whom all the fullness dwells. You are the longed-for hope of all humanity, including themselves.

Lord, help us to find in you what is needed, and help us to declare that to a needy world. In Jesus' name, I pray. Thank you.