THE JESUS CHRIST-MAS SERIES
“THE
CHRISTMAS LIGHT”
Isaiah 49:1-6
Pastor Mike Barnett
INTRO/ILLUS:
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What I really like to do is, to drive the minivan through all the
neighborhoods of prior Lake, Savage, Burnsville, Lakeville and Apple Valley
with Michelle, Maxwell and Mitchell and look at all the lights and displays.
Then after an hour of doing this, Maxwell gets bored and says, "O.K. time
to go home now and watch the Grinch now". We have to bribe him with candy
canes to keep him happy for an addition 15 minutes of viewing pleasure. But
even that is not enough time to see all the lights there are to be seen in the
south of the river suburbs. So to see all the lights we want to see, we have to
go out 4 or 5 times every Christmas season to get all our viewing pleasure in.
Then we go home and watch "The Grinch that almost Stole Christmas" on
video and drink eggnog. Only then is Maxwell perfectly content in his own home
watching his show and drinking his eggnog.
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The festive use of lights at Christmas goes back many centuries.
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Christians often make a connection between lights and the star of
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Even more profoundly, our lights
can symbolize the light of God coming into the world at Christmas.
·
In this sermon I would like to examine the biblical background behind the
understanding of Jesus as the light of the world.
·
We will look at the Old Testament for an enriched understanding of
Christmas.
·
In this passage, we will feel the yearning of God’s covenant people for
their deliverance from bondage.
·
Today we will see that Jesus, as God’s promised Servant, comes not just
for the people of
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I pray that a deeper knowledge of the prophetic promises will lead you to
meet Jesus in a life changing way this Christmas.
Isaiah 49:1-6 (pg. 520) says:
1 Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations:
Before I was born the LORD
called me;
from my birth he has made
mention of my name.
ISA 49:2 He made my mouth like a
sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he
hid me;
he made me into a polished
arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
ISA 49:3 He said to me, "You are
my servant,
ISA 49:4 But I said, "I have
labored to no purpose;
I have spent my strength in
vain and for nothing.
Yet what is due me is in the
LORD's hand,
and my reward is with my
God."
ISA 49:5 And now the LORD says--
he who formed me in the womb to
be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather
for I am honored in the eyes of
the LORD
and my God has been my
strength--
ISA 49:6 he says:
"It is too small a thing
for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of
I will also make you a light
for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation
to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 49:1-6
HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:
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Isaiah prophesied in the Southern
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He called God’s people to repentance even as the
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After Isaiah’s death his followers preserved and collected his oracles,
which were found to have ongoing relevance to the Jewish people.
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The earlier prophecies of Isaiah served as a theological basis for
additional prophetic activity especially during the Babylonian Exile in the
sixth century B.C.
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The collection of prophecies in the biblical book of Isaiah speaks of
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Isaiah 49:1-6 is one of the so-called "servant Songs".
·
In these prophecies Isaiah "sings" as if he were another
person, the Servant of God. This divine agent is first introduced in chapter
42:1-4, where God says:
·
"Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom I delight; I
will put my spirit upon him and he will bring justice to all the nations.
·
He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. A
bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
·
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; he will not falter or be
discouraged till until he established justice on earth. In his law the islands
will put their hope". Isaiah 42:1-4
NOTE: The servant at first is "
·
Jesus
identified himself as the servant in Isaiah 61:1-3, and Luke 4:18-21 and
combined the two concepts of servant and the Messiah.
Observations regarding Isaiah 49…
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The servant, who is Jesus, speaks first about his calling by God even
before he was born. (V. 1)
·
This is possible because the Bible tells us in John V. 1, 14:
" In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning….the Word
became flesh and made his dwelling among us". 1 John 1,14
NOTE: Jesus was alive and in God’s presence before
he ever came to earth because Jesus has always been and always will be God.
·
The Bible says is Hebrews 13:8: "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday
and today and forever". Jesus was always God and always will be God.
·
God became the ______________________ ______________________(suffering
servant) for mankind in the form of a man named Jesus which means deliverer.
·
"
·
In V. 2 we see that God has made the servant’s mouth "like a
sharpened sword".
“2 He made my mouth like a
sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he
hid me;
he made me into a polished
arrow
and concealed me in his
quiver.”
Isaiah 49:2
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His word, therefore, will cut through the heart of human need and pride.
Double Edged Sword
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But God has not yet sent the Servant, preferring to hide him "in the
shadow of God’s hand" until the proper time.
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He was preparing Jesus to come by making him into a "polished
arrow". V. 2
In verse 3 God speaks to his chosen one:
"You are my servant,
·
In the latter chapters of Isaiah the word "servant" refers to
different entities, sometimes in a confusing way.
·
At times the nation of
·
In this passage, it refers to Jesus Christ.
V. 4 says:
"I have labored to no purpose; I have spent
my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me in the Lord’s hand, and
my reward is with my God". V. 4
·
Just as the nation
·
But in time He would be vindicated and rewarded by being validated as
being the King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s in which one day “every knee will
bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord” and savior of the
world.
V. 5 the servant says:
" He formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him and gather
·
Though he can be called "
·
This servant Jesus Christ, has a mission to
·
This Messianic servant is the ideal “
·
But verse 6 adds an unexpected twist to the familiar prophetic promise:
"It is too small a thing that you to be my
servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of
·
In others words, in V. 6, God says to the Servant, "It’s too small a
thing for you only to restore the nation of
·
For Jews living in bondage to Gentiles, they would not have heard God’s
call to the Servant as good news.
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Not enough to restore
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How striking and even disconcerting that God’s salvation through the
servant will include all nations – to the very ends of the earth.
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Why bring salvation to the Nations that have attacked us and harmed us?
We have no nation to call our own because Gentiles (non - Jews) have killed our
people and taken our land away from us.
·
Many Old Testament prophecies speak of national deliverance from the
pagan Gentiles who had oppressed God’s chosen people. But now a new direction
emerges.
·
Yes, the Servant will still restore
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It doesn’t take much empathy to imagine how shocking this prophecy must
have been for the Jews.
·
We can also understand why it might have been conveniently forgotten by
many as they yearned for God’s restoration of their own nation first and
foremost.
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Now let’s jump to a time 700 years after Isaiah prophesied and 500 years
after the Babylonian Exile.
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A young Jewish woman gives birth to a child born under questionable
circumstances. She and her husband, following their religious tradition, take
the infant to the temple in
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There they meet a man named Simeon. We pick up the story in Luke 2:25-32
(pg. 725) says:
“Now there was a man in
QUESTION: Do you hear what Simeon says? This is
the one! This is the Servant who spoke in the songs of Isaiah!
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This is the one who comes "a light for revelation to the
Gentiles." This baby is the light of the nations!
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Simeon was the first to identity Jesus as the Servant of God who comes as
light for Gentiles.
·
Many followed him, including Jesus himself. In John
"I am
the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will
have the light of life."
·
Jesus claims to be the light, not just for
·
Through him, God’s revelation and salvation come to all who believe in
him, regardless of their ethnic or national identity.
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What an amazing claim! How utterly preposterous if it is not true! How
marvelous if it is!
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What difference does it make to us if Jesus is the light of the world?
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First of all, let me state the obvious. You and I can know God’s
salvation.
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There may be a few of us here today who are Jewish, but most of us are
Gentiles.
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If God had not sent his servant as a light for the nations, then we'd be
out of luck, or more accurately, out of God's covenant of grace.
·
If Jesus had not come as a __________________(light) of the world, then
we would still be in _______________________(darkness), but because Jesus came,
we can experience the gift of __________________________(salvation) – We can e
___________________(forgiven) of our sins!
1 John 1:8-9 (pg. 862) says:
“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness.
·
The fact that Jesus is the light of the world transforms our lives in
another way as well.
·
Speaking to his disciples in the sermon on the Mount, Jesus says in
Matthew 5:14-16 (pg. 683):
"You are the light of the world. A city built
on a hill cannot be hid, No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel
basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the
same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good
works and give glory to your Father in heaven”. Matthew 5:14-16
·
Jesus who is the light of the world now passes the _____________________(torch)
of ____________________(light) to his followers today.
·
Now the _____________________(honor) and __________________________(responsibility)
of the Servant’s calling to be _____________________(light) of the _____________________(world)
rests with us – his followers!
The Apostle Paul speaks in a similarly striking
way in Ephesians 5:8-9 (pg. 829):
"For once you were in darkness, but now in
the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth.” Ephesians 5:8-9
·
Notice that Paul, like Jesus, affirms that we are light. It’s not just
that we are in the light, or that we should be light. We are already light, as
Jesus says, the light of the world.
·
What an incredible affirmation! What an honor. What a responsibility to
let our light shine before others so that they might glorify God!
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If you’re like me, this responsibility seems too heavy to bear.
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How can I possibly be light in this world, given my dullness and my
propensity as a fallen sinner toward darkness?
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Besides, isn’t Jesus the light of the world? How can he say that I am
"the light of the world"?
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The analogy of a lighthouse helps me to answer these questions.
ILLUS. Certain lighthouses can send a beam of
light as far as 28 miles out to sea. That’s an amazing distance. A lighthouse
is able to shine so far, just because its light bulb is so bright. But
surrounding the bulb in a modern lighthouse are dozens of small prisms that
help to intensify and to focus the light. Though the prisms have no intrinsic
light, they are essential to all lighthouses. To be sure, the bulb radiates
brightly, but the prisms enable the light to shine far beyond the sphere that
would be illuminated by the bulb alone….. And so it is with us. We who know
Jesus Christ will not be able to enlighten the world except insofar as we
reflect Christ himself the light of the world.
·
The more we __________________(accept) our new _________________________(identity) as
light in the world, the more we will be empowered to let our light _____________________(shine)
before others.
·
The more we are ______________________(transformed) into the image of Christ, the more we will ____________________(reflect)
him in our thoughts, words, actions and in our character.
·
Apart from Jesus we radiate _________________________(darkness) - When we
live in Christ, we are like prisms of a lighthouse, multiplying the light of
Christ into our world.
The Apostle Paul says this truth in the
reverse…Colossians 3:1-4 (834) says:
"Since, then, you have been raised with
Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right
hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you
died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your
life, appears, then you will appear with him in glory". Colossians
3:1-4
Romans 8:9-11 says (Pg. 800):
“You, however, are controlled not by the sinful
nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does
not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is
in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of
righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead
is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to
your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.” Romans 8:9-11
Jesus says: "You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hid, No one after lighting a lamp puts it
under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in
the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven”. Matthew
5:14-16
In Ephesians 5:8-9 (pg. 829), we are told:
“For once you were in darkness, but now in the
Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light
consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth. Ephesians 5:8-9
That’s why Paul said in Galatians 2:20:
"I have been crucified with Christ and I no
longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by
faith in the son of God".
Why…
Luke 17:20-21 (pg. 742) says:
“The
Going back to Isaiah 49:1-6…
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God’s vision for the Servant was greater than anything the people of
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The same is true for you and for me.
NOTE: God sees us in ways we cannot fully see
ourselves.
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God sees me as a____________________(perfect) light to a dark world and I
must _______________(trust) what God sees, even when I do not.
TRUTH: After the Babylonian Exile that Isaiah
prophesied about actually happened and they were demolished by King
Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army, the prophet Jeremiah wrote the
following words that encourage "Christ followers today when they disobey
God and fall into darkness:
Lamentations 3:22-33 (Pg. 584) says:
"Because of the Lord’s great love we are not
consumed, for his compassion’s never fail. They are new every morning; great is
your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The Lord is my portion; therefore I
will wait for him. The Lord is good to those who hope is in him, to the one who
seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord…for men are
not cast off by the Lord forever. Though he brings grief, he will show
compassion, so great is his unfailing love. For he does not willing bring
affliction or grief to the children of men". Lamentations 3:22-33
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God’s love and compassion for me is new every
______________________(morning).
1 John 4:16-18 (864) says:
16 And so we know and rely on the
love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God
in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we
will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like
him. 18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to
do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. 1 John
4:16-18
1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (pg. 813) says:
4 Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not
self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil
but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes,
always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will
cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge,
it will pass away. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
God loves me according to 1
Corinthians 13:4-8:
1 John 1:8-9 says:
8 If we claim to be without sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness. 1 John 1:8-9
And according to 1 John4:16-18
"God is love…there is no fear in love. But
perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment".
NOTE: Without God’s
"_______________________ _____________________" (loving grace) I will
live in darkness, guilt, shame, fear and more sin!
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By ______________________(living) on God’s _________________(love), I
have the _____________________(ability) in Christ to be a ______________(light)
to the people around me.
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God’s love ___________________________(illumines) by soul…illumines my
countenances to the point that people see Christ inside.
NOTE: JESUS SAID, MY BEING "THE LIGHT OF THE
WORLD" IS NOTHING MORE AND NOTHING LESS THAN
___________________________(RECIEVING) GOD’S "_______________________
________________________" (MERCIFUL LOVE) AND GIVING IT AWAY TO THE PEOPLE
I INTERACT WITH ON A DAILY BASIS!
NOTE: IT IS IMPOSSIBLE NOT TO GIVE GOD’S
"MERCIFUL LOVE AND GRACE” TO OTHERS THAT IS FIRST RECEIVED FOR OURSELVES,
BECAUSE BY DEFINITION, LOVE ALWAYS _____________________(GIVES) ITSELF AWAY!
NOTE: THEREFORE – WE DO NOT HAVE TO MUSTER UP THE
STRENGTH TO BE LIGHT/ TO GIVE LOVE TO OTHERS – ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS RECIEVE
GOD’S LOVE, GRACE AND MERCY FOR OURSELVES AND GOD WILL DO THE REST!
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Perhaps you look to Jesus as a good moral example or a wise teacher – or
a fine excuse for a holiday. But, as God spoke through Isaiah to the servant,
so he would say to you: "It is not enough that you look to Jesus, my
servant, as a teacher and example; I have sent him as a light to bring my
salvation to you. Believe in him and you will live!"
·
If you are a Christian, having entered into the saving light of Christ,
then God calls you to live in this world. No matter how insignificantly you
might feel, you are, nevertheless, God’s light in the world.
·
Your task, according to Jesus, is to let your light shine, to live so
that others might be drawn to the light of Christ in you.
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As God spoke through Isaiah to the Servant, so he would say to you,
"It is not enough that you have received salvation through the light of
the world”; now share it with others.
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Live in such a way that your family, your friends, your co-workers, and
your neighbors see the light of Christ in you.
·
It’s not enough that you get your own spiritual needs met, or even that
you grow in your personal faith.
·
You are called to minister, to serve, to share the love of Christ with
others, to be a witness to Christ wherever you are.
·
I believe that God would speak similarly to our church, to this body of
believers in Jesus. As a family of God we share life together, loving one
another, worshipping, helping each other grow in Christ.
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This is right and essential to our life as a church. But God has more for
us. We are to be a light in the city, a beacon of hope and faith in a world
filled with despair and doubt.
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As God spoke through Isaiah to the servant, so he would say to us:
"It’s not enough that you gather to worship me and to love one another…I
placed you in this city to be light to your community. Reflect my love to your
neighbors! Let my truth shine through you!"
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I pray for the day when our church is like the home of