The Light Has Come: The Gospel of Hezekiah

4th Sunday of Advent


In the first sermon of this Advent season ("The Light Has Come: Glory!") I said,

During Advent, our usual temptation is to take all of the usual Advent verses and prophecies and see Jesus as the answer in all of them. However, prophecy (like the hymn says) is supposed to be “strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”

Today let us look at how today’s prophecy was understood at the time it was uttered; therein lies strength for today. Thursday night we will look at what the verse—bright hope for tomorrow—mean to us now.


Isaiah 9:6-7


Commentary


v6  onto us a child is born. The term “evangel” (or “gospel” in English) means “good news.” Originally it referred to two specific kinds of news—neither of which was theological. It could refer to the news of victory in battle, or the news of the birth of a royal son. This is a gospel account in the original sense!

As parents, we have high hopes for every child granted to us. As a nation, how much more would the people have high hopes for the birth of a royal son? The terms that follow reflect the highest hopes for this royal son. Semitic people groups tend towards hyperbole (i.e. exaggeration). If it would seem blasphemous to use some of these terms to refer to a mortal male (king-to-be, or not) that is still just the Semitic way of speaking. [1]


v7  of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Historians note that—after the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem failed—Judah experienced a long period of prosperity as refugees from the northern kingdom of Israel flocked into Judah and all of Judah’s neighbors were preoccupied with troubles of their own.


The book of Isaiah begins, “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah;” however, most of Isaiah focuses on events during the reign of Hezekiah. 2 Kings 18:5 says of Hezekiah, “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” High praise indeed! As originally understood by the Jews at that time, these verses were the gospel of the birth of Hezekiah.


Application


In Isaiah 7:1-17, God sent Isaiah out to meet Hezekiah’s father, King Ahaz. At this time, Judah was being attacked by Aram and the rebel tribes of the northern kingdom Israel. Isaiah counseled Ahaz not to worry, to stand firm in his faith (v9). Isaiah went further, telling Ahaz to ask God for a sign—a confirmation—that Isaiah’s prophecy was true. When Ahaz refused to ask for a sign, Isaiah said a sign would be given anyway:

The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. (Isaiah 7:14-16)

The verb tenses in the passage indicate a near-term event, not an event way in the future. This child, most likely, was Hezekiah, son of Ahaz—who stood firm against the Assyrians and was not like any of the kings of Judah before or after him.


We are always looking for a human leader to rally to. During the recent presidential campaign, a woman named Peggy Joseph made the news for several days when she was interviewed after an Obama rally and said:

It was the most memorable time of my life. It was a touching moment, because I never thought this day would ever happen. I won’t have to worry about putting gas in my car. I won’t have to worry about paying my mortgage. You know, if I help him, he is going to help me.

On the heels of George W. Bush’s presidency, Obama ran a campaign promising hope and change; Peggy Joseph and millions more were ready to put their faith in a new face. Ahaz had been a poor excuse for a king. When threatened by Aram and Israel, he had sought aid from the king of Egypt instead of from God. He had neglected worship at the temple, offering sacrifices to idols instead. He had even sacrificed on of his own sons! (2 Kings 16:2-4) No wonder that the people were effusive in their hopes for a new king!


After one year of the Obama presidency, however, an NBC/WSJ poll reported on December 16 that Obama’s approval rating had fallen to 47%, reflecting a faster drop in approval in his first year in office than for his predecessors. We are always looking for a human leader to rally to; however, human leaders are ultimately fallible. Even though Hezekiah restored worship at the temple, even though he repaired the temple after Ahaz’s neglect, eventually he failed the people. Isaiah 39 records how Hezekiah showed all of the palace treasures to envoys from Babylon, whereupon Isaiah scolded the king, saying that after Hezekiah’s reign was over that Babylon would return and take every bit of treasure.


We need God. We need a leader who will not let us down through his own human failings. The incarnation of Jesus is God’s creation of that human leader—100% God and 100% humanity—that will never let us down.


Points to Ponder


We need God. Instead of casting about for a human leader to follow, are we ready to follow the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit which God has granted to every person who gives their life over to him? If you are ready to follow, how will you follow? Are your feelings reliable indicators of what God would have you do? Is the Bible the only guide you need? How about prayer, or other Christians—do they help you or hinder you in following God? Is following God a private matter—just you and God, figuring it out together—or is following God something that we are supposed to work through as a group?


End Notes


1- More notes on the names of verse 6. The name “Mighty God” uses the most generic word for god—El—that appears in the OT. El is used to refer to God, other gods, idols, and men, and some places the word is simply translated as “power.” The two subsequent names are very poetic in Hebrew—using assonance and alliteration—but since these names appear only in this verse in the entire Bible, one may reasonably conclude that poetry , not theological precision, was at work in the names. A more exact rendering of the names might be, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty Power, Father Forever, Prince of Peace.”