Advent 2022: Come Thou Long-Expected Jesus
Introduction
The game of chess takes patience and planning. I once played one single game with a co-worker for two weeks during our breaks. Most Chess players divide the game into 3 phases. Opening, Middlegame, and Endgame. The casual observer just sees each player moving pieces on a board, but the experienced player has a plan and purpose for each move.
The Text
But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall 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 booted warrior in the battle tumult, 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 hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:1-7
Summary of the Text
For the season of advent, we will be meditating on Isaiah 9:1-7. Today, let us focus on timing of God’s promise. Notice the references to time in these 7 verses. In verse 1, God treated the land of Zebulun with contempt, but at a later time he will make it glorious. We know this territory by its name in the New Testament, Galilee. The land of Galilee was part of the northern kingdom and was much more rebellious than Judah. That’s one reason God sent them into captivity first. But even though God showed contempt for Galilee, He also promised redemption. The land He once forsook will be the land He sends His son to play hide and seek.
In verse 3, God says that the gladness the people have in the Messiah will be similar to the gladness people have at harvest time. In other words, it takes time.
Look at all the future tense verbs in verse 6, a child “will be born”, a son “will be given”, His name “will be called.” And in verse 7, the future tense expands “there will be no end to the increase of his government. . . from then on and forevermore.”
I want us to consider the timing of Christ this morning. I want us to look at the patience and planning of redemption in this world. So, I’m going to use the three phases of chess to describe God’s plan of redemption.
Opening
The opening phase of the game of chess focuses reorganizing your pieces to take the center of the board and defend your king. Sometimes you move a rook or bishop early in the game and don’t touch it until the end.
God has a master plan for this world. From the opening pages of scripture God planned for His glory to cover the earth and for His image bearers to rule the earth (Genesis 1:27-28). But it’s not until we get most of the way through the Bible that we see Jesus is the image of the invisible God and the ruler over all earthly rulers (Colossians 1:15-16). While God was planting oak trees and showing Adam the Duck-Billed Platypus, He was also preparing the earth for His son. God moved a pawn in Genesis 1 to reveal the king in Colossians 1.
Not only did God reveal plans for Christ’s glory in Genesis but He also revealed plans for Christ’s rescue mission. In Genesis 3, after Adam’s sin, God promised to send a man born of woman to crush the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). God also slaughtered an animal to cover Adam’s nakedness (Genesis 3:21) pointing to the once-and-for-all sacrifice for sins that Christ died to secure (Hebrews 7:27). That means the Levitical priesthood, temple, sacrifices, and cleansings were necessary to reveal Christ.
God also reveals His plan to sacrifice His son through the promising of Isaac to Abraham. Remember, it wasn’t Abraham’s idea to follow God. In Genesis 12, God called Abraham out of his father’s land to become the founder of a new nation. And God took Abraham’s wife Sarah, who was barren and old enough to be a great-grandmother to be the mother of a new nation. And it was after God gave Isaac to Abraham that he commanded Abraham sacrifice his only son. Why? Was God having a bad day? No. God was revealing something about His patient plan to save sinners as well as how He deals with sinners. As Isaac carried the wood for the offering up the hill, he foreshadows God’s one and only son carrying the wood for his sacrifice up the hill. In Abraham’s case, God provided another sacrifice to be a substitute for Isaac.
All throughout Scripture God moved pieces of the board preparing for His son. Ruth just-so-happened to stumble into Boaz’s field looking for some work. And her great grandson, David, just-so-happened to stumble over Goliath after looking for his brothers. Ruth, Boaz, and David just so happen to be ancestors of Christ.
All throughout scripture God moved people, places, and events as a master author writing a story. He moved kings, generals, prophets, and priests like pawns in the mind of master chess champion.
One reason we don’t appreciate Christmas in the New Testament is because we don’t appreciate Christmas in the Old Testament. It’s easy for Christmas to become just another American holiday for the kids. All that proves is we don’t really know or care what God is up to. Like most of us watching a game of chess.
Middlegame
The middle game occurs after the opening and is where the chess player starts attacking the other players pieces. In this phase of the game, the work achieved earlier now begins proving productive.
But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4–5
When we make it to the New Testament, we see a lot of action in the Christmas story. Christmas movies tend to be low-key and corny while the script God wrote for Christmas is more like an action movie. Next week, I’ll mention the politics of Christmas. But to nail this point, keep in mind God sends Jesus to be born at a time when king Herod murdered anyone who threatened his authority. God does all of this so that Jesus would live a perfect life, die a perfect death, and give a death blow to death, Satan, and sin. At the death of Christ on the cross, He disarmed the rulers and authorities and publicly shamed them (Colossians 2:15). And after Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven where He rules over all the nations of the earth (Psalm 2; Matthew 28:18-20). All those moves God made in the Old Testament now make sense in the New Testament. Christmas is like that point in the movie where you understand what’s going on.
Even still, God reveals mystery in Christmas and also adds to mystery in Christmas. God came to earth as a baby boy. One person with two natures. 100% God. 100% man. 100% one person. This alone proves that Christmas is much bigger than the attention we give it.
Endgame
The endgame phase of chess deals with the last few pieces on the board and taking the other player’s king. Right now, we are in Christ’s endgame. Christ will rule until all enemies bow before Him, the last enemy is death.
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death. 1 Corinthians 15:25–26
The scriptures teach us that Jesus defeats enemy after enemy after enemy. The last enemy He will take off the board will be death itself. We have trouble believing this. We think everything is getting from bad to worse. We believe that Jesus’ enemies will one day overcome His kingdom until Jesus raptures the church and then brings about the resurrection. We believe the first enemy to be defeated is death when scripture says the last enemy to be defeated is death. Keep in mind that in the span of 300 years, a group of a dozen disciples grew and eventually converted, Rome, the world empire at that time. Remember there are more Christians alive right now than there were people on planet 2000 years ago. If the apostle Paul heard you complain about how things are getting worse, he would show you the mountain of scars on his back, tell you of all the beatings, shipwrecks, and diseases he endured. He would tell you to stop complaining and get to work.
Scripture also shows us that he end game is just the beginning. Jesus will establish justice “from then on and forever more” (Isaiah 9:7). Forever lasts longer than a chess game. Brothers and sisters, what we do now matters for eternity. We should all strive to be faithful players in God’s plan.
What Does this Mean for Me Right Now?
First, Christmas is not about you. Evangelical Christians have a selfish bent. Take the way we talk about our morning devotions and quiet times. We approach God’s word like shopping (“I like this but not this. And that verse over there will cost me too much.”) or like juicing a fruit (“I didn’t get much out of it today.”)
We treat Sunday worship as a planned event for our spiritual needs. If our kids distract us, or the sermon points flew over our heads, or the singing didn’t move our emotions, then we consider that morning a waste of time. But on the other hand, if you received everything you wanted from a worship service—no distractions and favorite songs—then you would no doubt praise the service. This proves that evangelicals make everything about our individual wants and needs.
We have a unique ability to take an entire season about our Lord and refashion it into a season about us. Christmas is no longer a season where we prepare our hearts to worship Christ, it’s a season where we prepare our hearts to unwrap stuff. Instead of listing all blessings God has brought us through we create wish lists to give our relatives.
11“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. Deuteronomy 8:11–14
God loves to bless. But because we are sinners, blessings become idols. How do we celebrate Christmas like redeemed Christians and not like selfish pagans?
Our God wrote a story where He sacrificed His son on the altar and raised Him to life. He wrote that story with Abraham and Isaac. And He writes that story with each Christian. Will you carry your cross up the hill? Will you sacrifice your only loves to God? Despite how your heart aches at seeing all your loves tied up on the altar, will you still sharpen the knife? Abraham waited all his life for a son. God gave him a son. Abraham enjoyed his son. Then, God wanted Abraham to give back his son. Why does God do this? Because He loves Abraham, Isaac, and you. For you to enjoy any of God’s good gifts, you must get out of the way. You and your sin will turn any good God gives into a negative. The only way to stop that negativity from spreading is for God to kill it. And He did that on the cross.
Remember, God is not in the business of killing our Isaacs, He is in the business of killing our idols. Christmas should be a time and season where we count all God’s good gifts to us, thank Him for them, and carry them up on the altar. We live a life of sacrifice because of the second point.
Second, Christmas is for you. God commands we sacrifice on the mountain. But He also provides a sacrifice on the mountain. God ordains that His son die a humiliating and excruciating death, but He also ordains that His son rise from the dead receiving all glory and honor. Job lost everything so God gave him back more than he had.
You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11
When God empties your hand filled with gravel, its because He wants to give you a fist full of rubies.
Third, Open the Christmas gift of patience. Christian, this is faith. You obey what God says. You give up what you want. And you spend a lot of time with your hand empty, but you trust that God will keep His promise.
God made this promise through Isaiah 700 years before Christ. He promised that the land of Galilee would one of the most blessed placed on the planet after being one of the most cursed. God plays the long game. Our duty isn’t flash and glamour but faithfulness and longsuffering.
Conclusion
I used the metaphor of chess to explain God’s patience and planning for the Christmas story this morning. We should all be able to see that all of Scripture has something to say about Christmas. Where the metaphor breaks down is God isn’t in a competition. Jesus isn’t constrained by rules of the game. But He’s still patient. He is patient with all of us. Because we worship and patient savior, let us all go and do likewise this season.