“The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.”- Isaiah 9
Advent is a season for dark days both literally and figuratively. Portland is covered in damp cloud filled skies. The ground is sopping. All the folks who predict weather for a living tell us another six inches is coming between Monday and Wednesday. Only Noah can sympathize with us who live through the Portland Decembers.
Isaiah is speaking spiritually. He is also speaking ethically when he says’ “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light, on those living in deep darkness a light has dawned”. I resonate with those words. War rages across the globe, Ukraine, Russia, Israel, Gaza, Syria, Sudan, Congo, United States and Venezuelan Narco Traffickers. At home there are standing military personnel in several of our own cities.
Hundreds of people are being arrested and deported. Families and communities are terrorized by ICE agents. Masked and armed task forces separating families, friends and communities. They raid apartments, homes, and places of work. Stalking people as they go about their daily lives. Children, spouses, relatives and friends, powerless to prevent the loss of their loved one and left without information as to their whereabouts. These neighbors are living in deep darkness.
And these are just the headlines. I can talk about the economy, childhood anxiety, and of course AI and more. There is always more.
“The people walking in darkness…”
At times I find it hard to get into the spirit of Advent. I wonder if Isaiah would say the same poetic words if he knew just how dark the days would get. Is Christ’s coming really enough light to penetrate a violent war ravaged plant with unjust policies aimed at powerless people?
I ask this honestly. This question led me on a journey to understand the historical context Isaiah spoke his prophetic poem into. It turns out, Isaiah was speaking to a group of people who felt powerless. They were overwhelmed by the world they lived in. Isaiah spoke to the small tribe of Judah. King Ahaz led them after they had been attacked by the Anti-Assyrian Alliance. This Alliance was made up of Israel (the northern tribes) and Syria. This Alliance was trying to bully Judah. They wanted Judah to join the Alliance to defeat Assyria, the world super power of the day. Assyria was running roughshod over nations and expanding their religious and political territory.
But Ahaz wanted no part of the Alliance. For Ahaz, fighting Assyria seemed like a losing battle. Instead, he preferred to join Assyria. This meant becoming essentially a puppet King who served the Assyrian agenda. The agreement meant Judah would become a vassal state. They would pay hefty taxes and tribute. This was the price for the privilege of not being destroyed. Living under the thumb of these hegemonic powers were dark days for the people of God. The nation was divided between North and South. Assyria relentlessly threatened them with cruel tactics. They used history’s most brutal and violent methods.
What made the days even darker is that neither Israel or Judah’s Kings trusted God. The times were spiritually dark, the people were terrorized, and trusting God seemed intangible in light of current events. They were plagued with a collective powerlessness. They no longer carried the imagination to believe God of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua was actively present in their circumstances.
As I learn about their history, I am convicted. Have I lost the imagination to believe in the God of Abraham, Moses, and Joshua? Have I forgotten that Jesus is the true King of the world because of the chaotic times I live?
The times were about as bad as they come. At that moment, the Prophet arises with powerful poetry, spoken to an audience of the hopeless.
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.
Every warrior’s boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.
The Poet reinterprets the situation with language that replaces despair with hope . His words acknowledge just how dark the times were, but there is news the nation has been unaware of until now. The Prophet sees what these terrorized people no longer could. They are without power, without faithful leaders, and without hope. But finally the Prophet speaks.
Isaiah’s words are dangerous speech. The heart that trembles finds hope to be a bet it can’t afford to make. But still the Prophet speaks. His words must be heard and reckoned with. Will they dare to hope in God once again, when the daily headlines tell only of impending doom? Will I?
The Poet’s announcement of a great light dawning has the power to rearrange perspective. A change is coming, the tides are beginning to turn, their future is not determined by today’s darkness. Isaiah speaks for God and of God. Promising them Judah will be the ones expanding their territory, rejoicing before a God who has given them abundance. A radical reversal is about to happen. Isaiah paints vivid images with language too audacious to speak in times like this. Joyful harvest and warriors dividing plunder. Like a good Pastor Isaiah is challenging us to remember the stories of God’s faithfulness and power.
He invokes a memory of a particular battle with Midian. The battle went like this, God told Israel’s commander Gideon to strip his army down to just three hundred soldiers. Midian was far larger and numerous, they had beaten and harassed Israel for seven years. Forcing them to hide in caves and live in fear. God instructed Gideon to attack the great army with only a bunch of jars, and some torches instead of weapons. I am struck by how weak this must have sounded to Gideon. How could jars and torches defeat the great army of Midian? God used some physics using the jars and torches to cast shadows creating fear and confusion among the Midian army, who attacked each other and destroyed themselves.
The Prophet is reminding the people, there have been dark days before and God doesn’t need the worlds power to change the game. This humbles me, I mistakenly slip into a sense of powerlessness. I wonder how Jesus can change much in the face of Executive orders, or Technologies that create billionaires for the few and leave the many without jobs or stability. I forget that Jesus has power we know nothing about, the kind that defeats death and remakes people from the inside out.
When the prophet asks them to use their collective memory, He is stirring up those old stories of their great grandparents’ day when they were freed from yokes of slavery, when their oppressors were destroyed. When their war time arsenal could be used for firewood because they wouldn’t need them in their new world of peace.
As I read Isaiah’s words today I am stuck with their contemporaneity. Isaiah speaks to our moment with as much relevance as when he spoke to Judah. And the Poets’ words are just as dangerous today as they were then. Will I dare to hear them with fresh ears trusting that despite all the headlines God still comes? Will I allow my imagination to be shaped by Emmanuel God with us? He is the baby in the manger. He is seated at the right hand of the Father with nail pierced hands.
The days we live are dark days, but dark days are not a new thing to Gods people. These are the days the light shines brightest. Isaiah tells us that light is a person.
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
The poem isn’t just a promise made, it is Gods action in history. A child born, a son given. Jesus brings God’s reign and rule into the darkness tangibly. He puts the world slowly back together. He sets all wrong things right again. A Kingdom that expands not by brutality and force but through love of God and neighbor.
The King’s name is multifaceted. It reveals not just his capability but also his kindness. It shows not only his power but also his wisdom. The name indicates not just his rule but also his care and love.
For Judah, this child was a real historical King in Hezikiah. He carried out reforms that brought God’s people back to faith. He also returned the Kingdom to God. For us the Prophet points further into His future and our past. The Child is Jesus, our once and coming King.
Wrestling with faith in our own darkness I find my heart warmly stirred by Jesus. God spoke specifically into my own human story when he took on flesh and blood. Uniquely and completely human. Which means Jesus also experienced dark times.
During his life Rome had replaced Assyria on the world’s stage. Jesus was part of an oppressed people. They lived under Roman occupation. Israel had a Vassal King, Herod who was a puppet ruler for Rome. Wars and rumors of wars, Jesus taught. Yet still the light dawns. Its the way the light dawned that inspires my heart to trust. The Son of God dying on a cross, the man Jesus of Nazareth, at the hands of Roman power.
The light momentarily extinguished by the darkness. God became a flickering wick then was no more. Of all the dark days in human history that day was the darkest. Surprisingly, that is how the light defeated the darkness. It swallowed it up, all of it. Until the flame went out. Then Jesus broke through three days later, an unquenchable light. A light that will never weaken or fade. Jesus defeats the darkness not by brutalizing force but by sacrificial suffering in love.
This Advent I hear the Poets words with fresh insight. I hope you can too. Not simply as a liturgical text. But as dangerous speech inviting our hearts to bet on God. The poet challenges my fears with language that dares my heart to hope in Jesus. So I dare to believe in the child that is given. Jesus, the great light has come into this darkness. Despite the darkness I still believe there is a light that can never be put out.
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