Good God It's Christmas 2 | The Good Gift Giving God

We are doing a series here at Cross Connection, focusing on Christmas and the goodness of God as displayed in Christmas. Today, we are going to look at how God brings light to those who are in darkness, starting in the book of Isaiah and covering over 700 years of Israel's history, leading up to the time of Jesus in Luke chapter two.

So, open your Bibles with us to Isaiah chapter nine and follow along. Good morning, Cross Connection! Would you open your Bibles to the book of Isaiah? If you don't have a Bible, you can raise your hand, and one of our ushers will bring you one. Isaiah chapter 9 is where we will begin this morning.

Isaiah 9:6 is one of those Christmas card verses. There, the prophet writes, "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, that we would be lights shining in a dark world.

Lord, it is your desire that you would 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 all these things a reality in my life and the lives of my brothers and sisters.

Sisters, here this morning, I pray for any who would say they are not entirely sure that they know You yet. I ask that You would 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, You raised from the dead, and You have the power over life and death 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 in our hearts, and that we would walk with steadfast faith in You. We ask this in Jesus' name, and all God's people agreed and said, "Amen." You can be seated.

In about the year 1405 BC, a little over 3,400 years ago, a people called Israel, named after one of their forefathers, prepared to enter into 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 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, once again for the second time in their history, on dry ground to come into 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 soul of your foot will tread upon is yours; I have given it to you. They knew that they needed to actually go in and take possession of the land. One of the other things they understood, having walked with God for many years, was that God was the one who would mightily and powerfully show up for His people.

They entered into the promised land around 1405 BC and came to the first of many cities they would encounter as they took that land: the city of Jericho. God gave them strange orders: go and walk around the city and don't say a word. Then, do it again the next day, and again the next day. They did this for seven days, walking around the city silently. On the last day, they walked around it quite a few times, and then finally, at the sound of the trumpet, they cried out to the Lord. Miraculously, they were able to take the city of Jericho. They witnessed the might of God powerfully.

From that first city, Jericho, until the last city they would conquer, Hazor, they watched as God went before them and dispossessed their enemies while they took possession of the land. It only took seven years, from around 1405 BC to roughly 1398 BC, to come and take possession of this great land—their inheritance, the land that we now call Israel. They found their rest, and from that point for nearly the next 700 years, they occupied their possession.

Sure, there were times, as the history of the Bible tells us, 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 single time an enemy would come in and take a piece of their inheritance, God would raise up a deliverer; He would raise up a judge, and ultimately, they would reclaim their inheritance once again. But always, it was God.

Who did it? Always, they had the opportunity to see the mighty power of God. 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 actually the time historically that this passage of Scripture in Isaiah chapter 9 falls. Right there in the 8th century BC, around 730 BC, is when these things are taking place. The children of Israel had been in the promised land for 700 years, and they had held the possession that God had given to them.

However, when we come to this period of time, the time that Isaiah prophesied these words, the nation of Israel, 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, at a point where the land they held as their promised inheritance from God would begin to be loosened from their hand. They were about to enter into a really dark and silent night season as the people of God.

These days began about 200 years before the time that Isaiah prophesied these words. It was around 1000 BC that the nation of Israel took to themselves a king. Prior to that time, God had been their king and their leader. However, in about 1000 BC, 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 by the name of Saul for a period of time. Then God raised up a new king, King David. David was this great king over Israel whom God blessed in a great way. He saw the uniting of the people of all twelve tribes of Israel.

Then his son Solomon took over, and God used him to establish the nation as an entity in that part of the world during that day. After Solomon reigned, there came another king, Rehoboam. Rehoboam was a fool, and he refused to listen to those who were his advisors and counselors. When he first became king, they came to him and said, "Listen, your dad was a tough dude. He ruled this nation with a pretty heavy-handed grip. If you want them to follow you, then you need to lighten up a little bit." These were the older advisors in the nation.

But his buddies, his younger advisors, said, "Don't listen to those guys. Go tell them that if my dad was heavy-handed, I'm going to be like steel upon these people." So he did, and they said, "Well, we..."

Don't like that people revolt. Under Rehoboam, the nation was split, and that was right around 930 BC, just about 200 years before the prophet Isaiah. The nation split into two different kingdoms. There were ten tribes that gathered themselves together in the northern part of the nation of Israel, and they took the name Ephraim. Sometimes, they would be called by another name; their capital city was called Samaria, so they would be referred to as Samaria. However, they were the ten tribes of Israel.

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 Judah. So, you had Samaria in the north and Judah in the south. The nation experienced division for 200 years, and that division continued to increase tension among the people, especially during the time when Ahaz was king.

When Ahaz was king, around 730 BC, the northern ten tribes made an alliance with the nation of Syria. Their alliance was specifically for the purpose of going down to Judah, removing Ahaz as king, and taking over Jerusalem to reclaim the territory once again. Ahaz came to be king and sat in this position, facing the reality that his brothers in the north had decided to attack and destroy him. There is hardly anything more dark than a family feud.

During the time of Isaiah, as Ahaz was king, God sent Isaiah to give a message to King Ahaz. Ahaz was just at the start of his administration, at the beginning of his rule over the nation, and he was being pulled in different directions as he faced this impending war from his own family in the north. Isaiah said that if Ahaz would trust the Lord, God would establish him and raise him up. If he would put his faith and confidence in God, Isaiah reminded Ahaz of the fact that God had delivered the people so many times before. It was God who had given them the land.

However, Ahaz was torn between trusting in God, whom he could not see, and trusting in his resources that he could tangibly touch. Has anyone ever identified with that? In the midst of that struggle, Ahaz decided that it was just too difficult to put his faith in God.

To trust that God will come and show up and deliver him, Ahaz set up an alliance. The northern ten tribes had established an alliance with Syria, and he thought, "Well, I'm going to find someone to help me out." So, he established an alliance with Assyria, the rising political entity of his day.

If you ever read anything about the 8th century BC in the Middle East, you know that the Assyrian Empire was the dominant force in the world at that time. There were four kings of Assyria during that period who caused the empire to expand and build its territory. In the middle of that, Ahaz figured his best bet was to rely upon the Assyrians for help. He set up a confederacy with them, and they came to his aid.

Between 730 BC and 720 BC, the Assyrians destroyed most of Syria and then came down to dispossess or remove the people living 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—what God had given to them, what God had delivered into their hands. All they had to do was walk in and take it. Now, for the first time in their history, it was removed from their hands, and they were removed from their land. They became what we commonly refer to as the lost tribes of Israel.

The Assyrians implemented an interesting strategy, which I refer to as the Assyrian relocation program. They would come in, take over a region, and 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, family, language, culture, and religious practices, effectively dissolving their identity. Then, they would relocate other people from different parts of the empire into that region to mix with the displaced populations.

By the time 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 due to what took place by the Assyrians in the 8th century BC. The land that was their Promised Land, the land that God had given to them as an inheritance, was now taken from their hands in that decade between 730 and 720 BC.

The name of Sargon II realized that he was having a pretty good go of it, conquering peoples. Those people that had hired him to be their ally, Judah, had a pretty nice land. If he held that land, he could move down into Egypt and Ethiopia and take over northern Africa. We know of modern-day northern Africa; that was the only thing that stood in his way of increasing his empire.

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 by the end of Sargon’s reign and then Sennacherib’s reign, who succeeded him, 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 and the sea and the stars in the sky, were now reduced to one city: the city of Jerusalem. That was all they had left at the end of the seventh century.

Everything they had held for 700 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. 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, happens just before all of that takes place, just before those thirty years of darkness come. In His mercy and grace, God 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 one, look at Isaiah chapter 9, verse one. 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, and removing their inheritance from their hand, 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're 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 to 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 and 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 two, it states, "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, and God, just before this time of intense darkness comes, 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 reading it. Not only do authors of thriller books know that this is the case, but...

Movie directors understand this concept as well. How many of you saw M. Night Shyamalan's movie in 2002 called "Signs"? "Signs" is actually a pretty interesting movie. Mel Gibson plays a priest in the film who has lost his faith. There is a scene where the intensity begins to rise, and Mel Gibson's family is hiding out in the basement. You might remember this whole scene. In the midst of it, aliens show up, the lights go out, and you don't know what's going on. You just hear a whole bunch of noises, and the intensity level rises.

These kinds of things don't happen on a bright and sunny day. Directors know they have to set the tone, and the right tone is that darkness. When the lights go out, your heart begins to race.

There was a study done in 2012 by Ryerson University in Canada that found a solid connection between insomnia and nyctophobia, which is the fear of the dark. They discovered that there was a link between not being able to sleep and being afraid of the dark. Most people sleep at night when it is dark. They turn off the lights, get in bed, and go to sleep. However, because a person has a fear of the dark, they may not even realize they have classified it as a phobia. As they lay down in the dark, their mind begins to race, anxiety increases, and they can't sleep. They can't shut their brain off.

The research study found that while some people experience anxiety about a burglar coming in or other fears, it often comes down to a fear of the dark. By simply putting a nightlight in their room, they can now sleep. This increased level of insomnia is often due to the phobia of being afraid of the dark.

All of us who have little kids understand this. There comes a certain stage when children 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 and prefers the door to be open, while Ethan wants the door closed.

We had this little issue going on, so about a month ago, I found a nightlight that projects a rainbow on the ceiling. Addison's world just got better because even Ethan said, "Hey, cool! I like the rainbow."

Can stay, but there's that fear of the dark that people have. Here we have the 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 in the 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. He 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 till there's none. When I'm stuck in a day that's gray and lonely, I stick out my chin and grin and say, "There you go." Someone's going to sing it; of course, it would be my mom.

The sun will come out tomorrow. The future promise of light increases our sense of hope, and 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're about to enter an intense time of darkness. For 700 years, they've held the land, and it's been their possession and inheritance. But over the next 30 years, from 730 to 720 BC, they're going to lose virtually everything, and they're going to 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; they would experience darkness, and unfortunately, it would not be just a short little pause. It would be for a very long time, but it would end, and that's exactly what God says.

It will go away one day. A great light is going to shine. Isaiah chapter nine continues from that point in verses three through five, and it speaks of an increase. It speaks of rejoicing, redemption, and liberty when this light comes upon those in darkness. It will bring an increase of the nation, which will 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, brought down to this tiny little remnant.

But God says when this light comes, there will be an increase, redemption, joy, liberty, and hope. The prophet, and God through the prophet Isaiah, is building on this idea that light will bring redemption, hope, joy, and increase. It sets the mindset of wondering what it will be and where it will come from. Then, in verses six and seven, he gives the origin, the source. Where will this light, this increase, this redemption, and this liberty and joy come from? He says, "For unto us a child is born."

It will come in the form of a little child, not just any little child, but a son who is given—a male child who will be given to the people. The government will be upon his shoulder. Ahaz, the king of the nation of Israel during the time of Isaiah, and the following king, Hezekiah, would rule over this nation, but they would see the loss of this great nation. Yet God says there will come one who will see the increase. The government will be upon his shoulder. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the 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 bring a rule, a new reign of the increase of his government, and of peace there will be no end. In verse seven, he will sit upon the throne of David, which is a fulfillment of a prophecy that God had spoken hundreds of years before this to King David. In Second Samuel chapter seven, God said to this man who was after his own heart, even though he had all kinds of quirks, sin, and problems like all of us, "There will not fail to be a king upon the throne forever from your line, David." That was a prophecy of the Messiah.

So here Isaiah says this one who is going to come and bring a government of peace will be the Messiah. He will be upon the throne of David, and he will establish his kingdom.

With judgment and justice from that time forward and forever, He says this is the light that's going to come. You're coming into a time of intense darkness, but light will come. It’s going to come to this region; it’s going to come to Galilee, which is going to be humbled by the darkness of Assyria and the destruction that’s going to come. But this light, this Messiah, He will come. He is wonderful, He is a Counselor, He is the Mighty God, He is the Father of everything that is everlasting, and He is the Prince of Peace. Sounds like some pretty good things! He is the fulfillment of the previous prophecy just a couple of chapters before.

Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, another Christmas card verse, says, "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." 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 goes and tells him, "Listen, trust the Lord." Ahaz is split on whether or not he should trust the Lord or cry out to the Assyrians. God says He’s going to give him a sign: the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall call His name Emmanuel. He is 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, God with us, 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. All of this is happening at the same time when Ahaz was king. Isaiah, speaking for God through him, says, "There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse." Now, Jesse was the father of King David, so when he says a rod from the stem of Jesse, he’s just saying that this one that’s going to come is going to 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 the meek of the earth will be judged with equity. He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth; that is His rule. His authority will be over all of the earth, and 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 way.

Here, God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, says that the one who is Immanuel, born of a virgin (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 a descendant of David (Isaiah 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. They were about to enter a dark time and lose their grip on the nation. God says this darkness will not be forever. In all of these prophecies—Isaiah 7, Isaiah 9, and Isaiah 11—there is a 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 man by the name of Cyrus, takes 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 knew about this, God, through the prophet Isaiah, said that Cyrus, king of the Medo-Persians, would deliver His people. Cyrus then said, "Well, if it was written down by God, then I better let you go." So, he let them go, but only a small remnant of about 50,000 returned to Jerusalem over the next 50 years to try and rebuild the city. Although it might have seemed that the light was beginning to shine, they entered into another time of darkness.

Three hundred years after Isaiah spoke these words to King Ahaz, God completely stopped speaking to His people. The last of the Old Covenant prophets, a man 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, and more than half of that time was marked by utter silence from God. He didn't say a word to them.

In the midst of that, one might think, "Well, it's all over; that's all she wrote." Consider that for a moment: 700-plus years. Our nation hasn't even been a nation for 250 years. For 700 years, they were in complete and total darkness. Then, things began to change.

Point number three: God always makes good on His promises. I skipped point number two, didn't I? I caught myself. 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.

After 400 years of total silence from Malachi until the time of the New Covenant, until the first century A.D., after 400 years of complete darkness and silence, the angel of the Lord appeared to a priest of Israel in the city of Jerusalem. It's recorded for us in Luke chapter one. You can turn there if you'd like. I'll just lay the groundwork for you: 400 years of absolute silence.

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 is 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 named Zacharias, who is going to be the priest on post to offer incense to the Lord.

So, he goes into the temple to offer incense. He is the only one there, and as he offers incense before the Lord, it tells us in Luke chapter one 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 is kind of a fearful thing; it’s not like a little pudgy fat thing with wings.

Here, the angel of the Lord appears to him. Look at verse 8: "So it was that while he was serving as a priest before God in 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 is 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, actually, the Scriptures tell us that the same angel Gabriel flies a little bit north to Galilee, the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, to the city of Nazareth. There, he appears to a young girl who was espoused to a man by the name of Joseph, and her name was Mary. The angel appears to her and calls her highly favored. As he appears to her, he says...

Verse 31 of Luke 1 states, "And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus." Then, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. Isaiah 9:6 tells us, "Unto us a son is given." He will be the Son of the Highest. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will be a descendant of David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.

"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, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, 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 given by the government at that time. They traveled to Joseph's hometown near Jerusalem, in the city of Bethlehem, where she gave birth to a little baby boy. At his birth, angels announced his arrival to shepherds who came to worship him. He was 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. Eight days later, they took him about seven or eight miles away from Bethlehem to the city of Jerusalem, to the temple. There, they came to offer the offering that Leviticus chapter 12 required 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, and then announced with his name: Jesus, as the angel Gabriel had said.

As they were 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, "And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was just and devout."

Simeon was just and righteous before men. He did what was right before men, and he was devout and holy before God. He was waiting for the consolation, or the comfort, of Israel. He anticipated and expected the day when God would bring comfort to His people, who for 700 years had been in darkness. He was longing for this moment, and everyone in the nation was, by this time, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

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 into the temple. 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 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 by this old man. They didn't even know who he was, but he had been hanging around the temple for a long time because the Spirit of God told him to stay there. He was not going to die until he saw the Messiah, and now he sees this child coming in. God, by the Spirit, says, "That's the one."

He took the child from her arms. Can you imagine, ladies? A newborn baby, and some stranger walks up and says, "Give me this one." So, he took Him and held 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's mother marveled at those things which were spoken. Then Simeon blessed them also. He said 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's going to 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. He says this is the salvation of all people.

Immediately after that, look at verse 36. Now there was another person in Jerusalem, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, which means from the time that she was married. She had lived with her husband for seven years, and this woman was a widow of about 84 years. Now, we don't know for sure; commentators are split. Was she 84 years old, or had she been a widow for 84 years? One or the other, but 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. At the very moment that Jesus was brought in by Mary and Joseph, Simeon took this child and blessed God. At that very moment, Anna walked in, saw this, and God spoke to her. Immediately, she went and began to tell everybody that the one they were looking for, redemption in Israel, had come.

He has come, 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 were 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.

And now they saw it. They saw it. As I was looking and thinking about Simeon and Anna this week, I started to think of the question: What are you waiting for? What are you looking for day after day after day? For maybe 84 years, maybe a little bit less, Anna had gone there into the temple.

Fasting many of those days, praying and waiting for the Redeemer, Simeon longed 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 for what he was waiting for: joy, peace, redemption, wisdom, understanding, counsel, and might.

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 think they might find it in some Christmas present, in getting that job, in obtaining that degree, or in finding that girl or guy. Everything that they are longing for, looking for, and hoping for that might bring satisfaction and joy—Jesus is the longed-for hope of humanity. He is the one who answers every longing at the deepest level.

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. 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. But 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.

In that, we who do believe and know this to be true 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's my prayer and my hope that as we...

As we go through this season of Christmas, may we 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 1 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've been going through a time of intense darkness. He is the light that is needed. Perhaps you've been experiencing a lack of joy or peace, or you need counsel or wisdom. He is the one in whom you will find it. 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 remind us of these things and compel us. Stir our hearts to declare these truths to those we will be interacting with over the next several weeks—friends, family members, co-workers, and neighbors—who, during this time of year, are open to hearing the good news of who You are.

I pray, God, that we would take the opportunities 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 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, Amen.