Scripture Daily

Context No. 911 of 4322 · Isaiah

Context · Reflection

Isaiah 9:1-7: in context

1But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. 2The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. The light has shined on those who lived in the land of the shadow of death. 3You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the plunder. 4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian. 5For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire. 6For a child is born to us. A son is given to us; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on David’s throne, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of Armies will perform this.

After chapters of gloom and warning, Isaiah breaks into light. The very regions first crushed by invasion, Zebulun and Naphtali, Galilee of the nations, are the ones God will make glorious. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. He describes joy like harvest, the oppressor's yoke broken, the soldier's bloody boots burned as fuel. And then the reason for all of it: for a child is born to us, a son is given, the government on his shoulders, and his name is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, whose reign on David's throne will never end.

What is striking is where the light dawns and how the deliverance comes. It dawns on Galilee, the borderland, the mixed and looked-down-on north, the first to fall and the first to be honored, and centuries later that is exactly where Jesus will begin his ministry, with Matthew quoting this very passage. And the weight of the whole rescue rests on a child. Not an army, not a political program, but a son given, a baby whose titles are almost too large to say in one breath, Mighty God and Prince of Peace, God himself arriving as a child laid on human shoulders. The government will be on his shoulders, Isaiah says, the same shoulders that will one day carry a cross. Everything the darkened people needed, the broken yoke, the endless peace, the throne of justice, comes wrapped in the smallness of a birth. The zeal of the LORD, not human effort, will accomplish it.

Am I waiting for God to rescue me through something large and impressive, when his way has always been to come small, as a child, into the darkest corner first?

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