Scripture Reading: Isa. 9:1-5; Matt. 4:12-16; 4-5, John 1:9; Acts 26:18; 1 Pet. 2:9b; Col. 1:13; Luke 1:78-79; Isa. 10:26-27; Judg. 7:24-26
In the previous messages, we have seen many items of Christ unveiled in the book of Isaiah. He is the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth (Isa. 4:2-6). He is the Christ in glory (Isa. 6:1-5). As Immanuel, He was a child born of a human virgin and a son given by the Eternal Father (Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7). He is also a sanctuary to the positive ones and a stone to strike against, a rock of stumbling, a trap, and a snare to the negative ones (Isa. 8:14-15). In this message we want to see another aspect of Christ. In Isaiah 9:1-5 we see Him as the great light for the shining in darkness and for the release from bondage.
Light is crucial for our existence. Where light is, there is life. Where darkness is, there is death. According to the Bible, darkness is a punishment. Darkness equals death, and darkness is a prison. God uses darkness as death and a prison to punish people. Exodus shows that darkness was part of the punishment on Egypt (10:21-23). Revelation shows the judgment of darkness on the kingdom of Antichrist (16:10). Actually, the entire fallen world is under God's judgment of darkness (Eph. 5:8a). In every city and even in every home among fallen mankind, there is darkness. We can testify that before we were saved, we were in darkness. We were in darkness until the genuine gospel came to us, and we saw the light.
In the entire universe, light is the key to life. Plants, animals, and men all need light in order to live. In the Bible, we Christians are called the sons of God (Gal. 3:26) and the sons of light (John 12:36). As the sons of light, we should live in the light, walk in the light, remain in the light, and be persons altogether in the light. When we are in the light, we are in fellowship with our Triune God (1 John 1:5-7). Then we participate in what He is and enjoy Him.
Christ is the great light — the true light, the light of life (Matt. 4:12-16; 4, John 1:9). Isaiah 9:1-5, referred to in Matthew 4, unveils Christ as the great light. Then verse 6 shows that He was a child born of a human virgin and a son given by the Eternal Father. Christ as the great light shines in darkness. When we have light, everything is in order. If I awake late at night, I dare not go into the kitchen if there is no light there. We cannot see in the darkness, and we do not know what lurks in the darkness. When we see everything, we have peace.
As the all-inclusive One, Christ is the light. If He were not the light, we would have no way to go on spiritually. The Gospel of John is a book on life. John 1 stresses that Christ came as light and life. This light is the true light and the light of life (vv. 9, 4; 8:12). This light "shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it" (1:5). Darkness cannot overcome light. Wherever light goes, darkness flees. Light subdues, defeats, and overcomes darkness. A brother may be quarreling with his wife, but when the light shines within him, he stops quarreling. He exchanged words with his wife because he was in darkness. But when the light shines, darkness is gone, and he stops quarreling. When darkness is present, everything is in disorder. But when light is present, everything is in order, and everyone is at peace.
Isaiah unveils Christ as the light in a very beautiful and poetic way. Isaiah 9:1 and 2 say, "But gloom does not remain in the place where there was anguish: formerly He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali contemptibly, but afterwards He treats the way of the sea, across the Jordan, with glory, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in the darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwell in the land of the shadow of death light has shined." He treats the land with glory by being the great light. Gloom, anguish, and contempt were in the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali — Galilee of the nations — because darkness was there. However, the people who walked in this darkness saw a great light. They were dwelling in the land of the shadow of death. Darkness is the shadow of death. When people walk in the darkness, they are in the shadow of death. But upon those in the land of the shadow of death, light has shined.
Christ is unveiled as the great light for the shining in darkness. He shines upon the people walking in darkness (Isa. 9:2a; John 1:5; Acts 26:18; 1 Pet. 2:9b; Col. 1:13), shining upon those dwelling in the shadow of death (Isa. 9:2b; Luke 1:78-79).
Christ as the great light firstly shines. Our salvation was a shining of Christ as the great light upon us. When He shined upon us, we were saved. His shining is our salvation, and His shining is His saving of us. By His shining, darkness is gone. When darkness is gone, everything negative is gone. Before I was saved as a teenager, my mother had a difficult time dealing with me, but when I was nineteen years old, Christ shined upon me. My love for the things of the world was gone. My mother wondered what had happened to me. Even though many outward negative things were dealt with, many inward negative things still remained within me. This is why we need more shining. The inner shining is Christ's saving.
The people in darkness either walk or sit. They walk in the darkness (Isa. 9:2), and they sit in the land of the shadow of death (Matt. 4:16). When a person is in darkness, he is limited to walking a little bit and sitting. Before we were saved, we were walking and sitting in darkness. Then Christ as the great light shined in the darkness and brought us into His marvelous light (1 Pet. 2:9).
We need to realize the tremendous importance of the shining of light. If the sun did not shine for one day, the entire earth would suffer. If it did not shine for three weeks, many things on the earth would die. Every day the living things of the earth live under the shining of the sun. In Luke 1:78-79, Zachariah referred to Isaiah's word when he spoke of Christ as the rising sun from on high visiting us to appear to those sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death. We Christians were the ones who were walking in darkness and sitting in the shadow of death. Then we received the Lord's shining, and that shining saved us.
Isaiah also speaks of Christ as the great light for the release from bondage. The shining of the light is the release, and the darkness is the bondage. In 9:2 Isaiah speaks of the great light. Then in verse 3 he talks to the Lord directly: "You have multiplied the nation; / You have increased their gladness; / They are glad before You as with the gladness of harvest, / As men rejoice when they divide the spoil." The nation here is the people of God. The Lord has multiplied the people of God, increased their gladness, and they are glad before the Lord. Their gladness is like the gladness of those who have a harvest and like the gladness of those who divide the spoil after winning the battle.
Verse 4 says, "For You break the yoke of their burden / And the staff on their shoulder, / The rod of their oppressor, / As in the day of Midian." The gladness of the people of God has been increased because the Lord breaks the yoke of their burden, the staff on their shoulder, and the rod of their oppressor. He does this as in the day of Midian, where the army of Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judg. 7:24-25). The king of Assyria came to invade Judah and to oppress them, but the Lord destroyed them as He destroyed the Midianites through Gideon.
Isaiah 9:5 says, "For all the boots / Of those who in boots trample in the battle quake / And the garments / Rolled in blood / Are for burning; / They are fuel for fire." This verse shows that Christ as the great light destroys our enemies and destroys their armor. The boots and the garments are the enemy's armor for fighting. Christ as the great light puts these into the fire and burns them. When the Lord Jesus fights for us, we have the feeling that He has destroyed Satan with all of his armor. He not only has defeated Satan but also has burned Satan's "boots" and "garments," his armor. Satan is finished. The boots and garments of the enemy are for burning, and they are fuel for fire. The Lord Jesus fights against His enemy by fire.
When Isaiah was prophesying this, it had not yet been fulfilled. Isaiah 10:26 and 27 say, "And against them Jehovah of hosts will rouse up a whip like the stroke against Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. And in that day their burden will be removed from your shoulders, and their yoke from off your neck; and the yoke will be broken due to the fatness." This was to be God's judgment on the Assyrian oppressors and His release of Israel from their bondage.
By the Lord's shining, He releases the imprisoned ones from bondage. This release from bondage is actually the multiplication of God's people. The more God's people are released from bondage, the more they are multiplied. When we go out to preach the gospel, we bring the shining of Christ to those who are in darkness (Acts 26:18a). When they are enlightened and receive this shining, they receive Christ. Then they are released from their bondage, from their imprisonment, and from the yoke, the staff, and the rod of their oppressor. When they become released in this way, God's people are multiplied.
Then these released people will have gladness. Christ will increase their gladness, and that gladness is the gladness of the harvest. As the preachers of the gospel, we are like the farmers who harvest God's people. Whenever there is a harvest, there is joy. If we went out today to visit people with the gospel, and three were baptized, this would be a harvest, making us full of joy and gladness. That gladness is also the gladness of victory. On the one hand, we are the farmers, and on the other hand, we are the warriors, the fighters. We have the gladness of the harvest and the gladness of the warriors dividing their spoil from their victory. Isaiah's unveiling of Christ as the great light in such a way describes our Christian life.
Through His shining, He breaks the yoke of our burden, the staff on our shoulder, and the rod of our oppressor. Before we were saved, we were yoked under a heavy burden. We also had a staff upon our shoulder, and the enemy put his rod upon us. He yoked us, burdened us, and put us into the imprisonment of darkness. But the Lord broke the yoke of the burden of the people of God, broke the staff on their shoulder, and broke the rod of their oppressor as in the day of Midian when Gideon gained a great victory over the Midianites. Later in the history of Israel, the king of Assyria came to threaten them. He became a burden, a yoke, a staff, and a rod to them. Isaiah described how the king of Assyria punished the children of Israel. Then Christ as the great light came to break all the bondage by shining.
We can see the Christian life in Isaiah 9:1-5 with the enjoyment of Christ as the great light, and this great light is the true light, the light of life. The shining of the light is our salvation. Christ saves us by shining in us. If two people are roommates, they are prone to arguing and disagreeing with each other and bothering each other. What can stop this unpleasant situation between roommates? Christ as the light can stop this. This is why we need a morning revival with the Lord. We may disagree with someone in the evening, but in the morning when we are in the Word and in the Lord, the Lord takes the opportunity to shine into us. There may be only a "narrow crack" in our being as an opening to Him, but He shines into us through that opening. Because of His shining, we are enlightened, and we may say with tears, "Lord, forgive me." This is an example of Christ's saving us by His shining.
In addition to our time of morning revival, we need to walk in Christ as the light. Just as we wash our hands many times a day, we need the washing of His blood through the confessing of our sins under the shining of His light many times a day. This continual shining and washing is our salvation. This salvation releases us from all bondage. Then we will be the proper harvesters and fighters for the multiplication of the people of God, and we will have joy, rejoicing, and gladness. Wherever Christ is preached, there is light, shining, and salvation. There is also the breaking of the yoke of the burden of the people of God, of the staff on their shoulder, and of the rod of their oppressor. This is all due to Christ being the great light.
