"Of His Increase, There Shall be No End" - Isaiah 9:1-7 - Part One

“Of His Increase, There Shall be No End” – Isaiah 9:1-7

Imagine on Tuesday morning that you found a few gifts from heaven underneath the Christmas tree for you.  What would they be?  How would they look? Who would have brought them?  How would you ascertain their authenticity?  What would you want from heaven?

Imagine further what the ideal gift for each member of your family would be.  Would you like for each person to be totally debt free?  Would you desire the latest technological gadget?  What about the most impressive designer clothing wardrobe that there is?  How about a 2008 model of a luxury sports car?  Then, there is the dream house that all of us would like to have some day.  Again, what would the perfect gift be for each member of your family?

The crass commercialization of Christmas, specifically, and the holiday season inclusive of Chanukah and Ramadan which our Jewish and Islamic brothers and sisters celebrate respectively, generally, greatly eclipses the spiritual and religious nature of these celebrations.  We risk becoming robotic consumers incessantly swiping plastic in devotion to the god of commerce and in narcotic obedience to the wizards of Madison Avenue rather than disciples of our Lord who are truly grateful for the gift of eternal and abundant life which His birth offers us.  Dwelling upon the possibility of material acquisition obscures our ability to desire gifts of eternal value.  The true eternal riches of life are faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, joy, kindness, love, peace, patience and self-control, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Additionally, there is truth, honesty, integrity and justice.  Imagine receiving these as gifts under the tree on Christmas morning rather than earthly and material items that moths and dust corrupt and that thieves assuredly will break in and steal.  Consider the possibility of receiving inner healing and wholeness for a Christmas gift.

Let’s let our minds wander as we further consider this question.  In the approximately fifteen hospitals in our area, what do you think that all of the patients would like for Christmas?  How many persons living with cancer would like a clean bill of health?  How many parent of young children at Monroe Carroll Hospital in Nashville and St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital in Memphis would like the gift of a completely healthy child?  How many of those children would prefer the gift of health to enable them to ride a used bike instead of a sparkling new one that they could only visually admire?  Now, let’s travel to the thousands, perhaps millions, of houses where broken, divorced and dysfunctional families will gather for Christmas.  How many children will whisper silent prayers to the baby Jesus asking Him to repair the torn relationships in their families?  With the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future, we can take the mental flights to places of bereavement, failed businesses, automobile accidents, psychology and psychiatric wards, termination from employment, and the myriad rejections and thwarted attempts to accomplish a longstanding heartfelt goal or dream.

"Of His Increase, There Shall be No End" - Isaiah 9:1-7 - The Conclusion

“Of His Increase, There Shall be No End” – Isaiah 9:1-7 – The Conclusion

We can expand our imagination to national and global dimensions.  How many military families would like to turn on the television on Tuesday morning and learn that Iraq conflict is over?  How many of them would like a date for the complete withdrawal of all American troops?  What about ending the strife in Northern Ireland, the genocide in the Sudan and Somalia, the pervasive Middle East turbulence inclusive of the Israelis, Palestinians and Arabs, the tragedy of Darfur, and the protractible economic injustice in Central and South America?  What if all of a sudden the Christmas spirit permeated the minds and hearts of Western disciples and motivated them to share food, medicine, clothing, technology and other resources with the developing and impoverished countries of “The Third World?”  What if the global church saw it as its mission to resolve the HIV/AIDS scourge that takes the lives of tens of thousands Africans each day and orphans countless children?  What incredible gifts these would be on this Christmas morning?

Speaking many years before the birth of Christ, the prophet, Isaiah, offers the Lord forthcoming birth as the solution to all of the foregoing problems, individual, familial, national and international.  In the opening verse of this enduring passage, the prophet asserts triumphantly “There will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.”  The coming of Christ offers humankind the ultimate solution to all of its problems.  Consider this bold pledge articulated to an audience who has experienced the colossal lost of everything that they held dear.  Solomon’s great Temple which symbolized Yahweh’s presence and contained centuries of their religious worship, rituals, literature and history was destroyed summarily by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.  Their culture was nearly lost as King Nebuchadnezzar subjugated the “middle class,” learned and trained professionals by coercing them into service of his empire.  One imagines that extreme disillusionment and seemingly infinite emotional, mental, psychological and spiritual distress that they suffered.  Yet, Isaiah promises the dawning of a day in which their agony will cease.  This brilliance of this day will forever eradicate the deep shadows under which they lived for seventy years.  In the birth of the long awaited Messiah, Almighty God would restore the dignity, respect and rule of Israel.  She would be great again!

Consider that these people expected a gift from God for many years.  They did not want something material per se.  They greatly desired the restoration of their way of life.  A price tag could not be placed upon that dream.  Each day, they rose with the heartfelt prayer that perhaps this would be the day that Messiah would be born.  The very news of His birth suffice to reassure them that Almighty God had not abandoned them in the midst of their deepest distress.  Messiah’s coming would signify the beginning of the reversal of the tragedy of exile.

The latter half of Isaiah 9:1 contains a very significant footnote of sorts.  Contrary to the popular anticipations that Messiah would be born in a setting that would facilitate his ascension of a successful military career, Isaiah informs His audience that God envisions a different purpose.  Instead of a palace or noted city, Messiah will actually be born in “Galilee of the Gentiles” adjacent to the Jordan river.  Imagine this incredulous possibility that the Jewish Messiah will be born among the Gentiles!