A Hope Fully Realized

Good morning. Today we are in Isaiah 9:1–7.

And in the middle of the heaviness that we have been experiencing—the turning away from God that we see King Ahaz and Judah doing, the struggles that they're having with Assyria and others attacking them—like, it was a lot of work back then to go and ambush and take over a nation and exile its people.

They weren't hopping on planes back then and, you know, getting wherever they needed to be. They were marching, riding horses over vast distances, and it would take a bit of time.

I don't know. I think about what we go through today and the craziness that we currently live in, and them, and while the circumstance—while the how—is vastly different, although it really isn't all that different, we have the ability now on where our focus is.

They had the ability then to choose where their focus was.

And I love this little pause here in these verses.

It's a story of hope here in the middle of all of this craziness going on.

And I love how Isaiah consistently has the judgment of God and the wrath of God, and then he goes, "But don't forget, there's hope. There is a reason to keep focusing on God."

And here in 9, the first several verses talk about what God is going to do.

I love the end of 1 where it says:

"But later on He will make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles."

This is so many, many, many years before they will know about Jesus, before Jesus will walk the earth, and yet here we get to talk about Him.

And then verses 2 through 5 really talk about what God will do.

"You will multiply the nation."

Meaning God will multiply the nation.

God will increase their joy.

"They will rejoice in Your presence as with the joy of harvest, as people rejoice when they divide the spoils."

And then in verse 4:

"For You will break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the marching warrior in the roar of battle, and cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire."

"For a Child will be born to us, a Son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over His kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this."

And I just—they didn't know who Jesus was, and yet they're given this beautiful picture of Him.

We are on the opposite side of this, and we know who Jesus is.

We know what He came and did for us.

And so many of us are walking in truth in Him because we now get to live in that promise that was spoken here in Isaiah so, so, so many years before it came to pass.

And I don't know about you, but man, does that make me in awe of God.

How He reveals things to us—things that may not happen for thousands of years, for decades—yet He let us know.

I don't know. One of my favorite things about God is He doesn't—He doesn't turn this into a hide-and-seek game in which He is impossible to find.

He wants to be discovered.

That's why we have this book.

That's why we have His Bible.

Because He wants us to know Him.

He wants us to have a relationship with Him.

He wants us to live life better in a way that honors Him, that also gives us so much more.

My Scriptures in the New Testament that I love that talk about His peace, about Him wanting to give us abundantly more than we could ever imagine—that all of that happens when we look to Him, when we come into alignment with Him.

Yesterday, when we were reading the other parts of chapter 8, the verse that just kept coming up to me now, as I'm thinking about talking about this, is 8:20:

"To the Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because they have no dawn."

Because they just live in darkness perpetually.

Oh, we are so blessed to be able to have this Bible under our hands, to read it every day, to get to know God through it.

That is my favorite thing.

He wants us to know Him.

And He gives us hope.

In Isaiah, it was a hope deferred, but it is a hope fully realized in Jesus.

And I am forever thankful that He has chosen to give us His Word and to give us His promises, and that He then fulfills His promises.

Maybe just not in the way we thought or expected or hoped, but always in a way that brings Him glory and honor.

What do you love about this?

Do you find hope in this?

Oh, dear Heavenly Father, thank You.

I thank You for loving us so much that You wanted to reveal Yourself to us.

Thank You that You want us to understand and that You invite us into knowing You more and more every day.

Oh Lord, I know my cry and desire is to just follow so close with You, become like You, but uniquely me, because You didn't—you didn't create any one of us to fill the same hole over and over again, but You created each one of us with a purpose and a reason.

I just ask that for all of us here, that You would be with us, that You would reveal Yourself to us, that we would understand what You have for us to do.

Because the number one thing we're supposed to do when we follow You is to be obedient, to love, and then everything else just starts to be where it needs to be.

And I thank You for that alignment.

Thank You that You gently bring us into alignment with You.

We just have to be willing to listen.

Oh Lord, I pray for each one of us as we go out and do the things that You have placed in front of us, go out and do the work of our hands, talk to the people around us, and be a light to this world.

Oh Lord, thank You for being our peace, for being our hope.

It is in the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

Thank you for wandering with me in God's Word with wonder.