O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Part 4)

 

Over the last several weeks, we have been talking about the strange contrast that lies at the heart of Christmas--the contrast between Christmas and the world in which we celebrate it. Christmas is a celebration of light, but in many ways, this world is a place of darkness. Ultimately, as we have seen, the darkness of this world is the result of sin. Because we, as humankind, gave in to sin, that brought corruption to ourselves and destruction to the world around us. That is our problem, and all the best that we can do, even our most religious efforts, cannot solve this problem. This is the scathing condemnation of Isaiah 1. But Isaiah 1 does not merely contain condemnation. It also shows us our hope.

(Isaiah 1:16-20) Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

For all the stringent and stinging words of this passage, it is fundamentally a message of hope. God was condemning the people of Judah, but He was also offering them hope. The diagnosis was intended to lead to a cure--not a manmade cure but one which comes from God, not from a mere form of religion but the reality of God. This is the true light that breaks the darkness, the true hope we have in the midst of the world.

It is hope that begins in God. In verse 18, God says: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD.” Basically, that is God saying, “Let's sit down and talk about this.” This isn't the language of an adversary or even a judge. That is the language of a friend. At the beginning of the chapter, God spoke as the accuser, like one calling a criminal to the bar of a cosmic court. But here, He speaks more like the counsel for the defense.

The point is that God is on our side. We don't have to create a plan of salvation and then somehow convince God to enact it. We don't have to try to beg and plead with God until He decides to care about us. Paul describes the genesis of God's plan of salvation as being from “before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4) Even before the first sin, God was already planning for salvation. God was already working to save men before men needed to be saved. God is the active agent in salvation; our hope comes from God and not from us.

Think of a parent preparing Christmas for a small child. Long before the child even thinks about Christmas, the parent has to save up money and make plans and preparations for when there is going to be a Christmas. The child wouldn't even know to look forward to Christmas if the parent had not already been making and preparing Christmases before the child was old enough to know what Christmas was. And God was preparing the first Christmas, the one true hope we have, long before we even knew we needed it. 

,The weakness of mere religion is that it is based on man and man can only do so much. But our hope comes from God and, therefore, is as strong as God is. 

There is an interesting contrast in this passage. Look at verse 15. There God describes the sinful state of the people, explaining why it was that he would refuse to hear their prayers. He describes them as have hands stained with blood. These were people who had done terrible things. It may not have been literally shedding blood—though it might have been—but it was still something that violated the law of God and brought guilt and shame to the sinner and, probably, pain and desolation to those around them. Their hands were stained with guilt. But then we have verse 18: “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow.” The picture here is forgiveness, the washing away of the stain of sin. That which was solid, undeniable, and unforgivable can give way to purity and forgiveness.

During the life of Christ, there was one very special moment when Jesus took three of His followers onto a mountain and, for a moment before them, was revealed in the glory possessed of the Son of God. Remember that Jesus, as a man, was just an ordinary man, even a poor man, probably dressed roughly, in poor clothes stained with the dust of the roads he traveled. And yet, at the moment of transformation, Mark records this: “And his clothes became radiantly white, more so than any launderer in the world could bleach them.” (Mark 9:3, NET Bible) The glory of God was revealed through Christ so that even His clothes were transfigured. That is the power of God. And that power, which could make the common clothes of a Galilean peasant shine whiter than snow, can do the same thing to the common and dirty fragments of our life.

Forgiveness looks to the past, but this hope also looks to the future. In verse 17, God describes the new life He desires His people to live. The picture here is of people who walk uprightly--loving justice and doing mercy and walking humbly with their God--being willing to help those in need and stand up for those without a friend. It is a life of goodness and holiness. And it was the exact opposite of the way the people of Judah were living at the moment. Verse 17 is a picture of what God wanted His people to be; as such, it was a condemnation because it wasn't the way they were living, but it was also a message of hope because it meant there was a possibility of something better. They didn't have to live the way they were living. God had a better way.

A religion that cannot produce a new life is useless. God never comes to a man to leave him exactly the same. The power that created a universe out of nothing will not touch a human life and leave it exactly the same. This was the promise that God gave to His people through the prophet Ezekiel: “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” (Ezekiel 11:19-20) The promise of a new life, of a power within the heart that would give them the power to live according to the law, a transformation from the inside. That is something only God can do. And it was only made possible through Jesus Christ.

One of the most fascinating stories of the New Testament is that of the wise men who came to seek the newborn king. There is so little we know about them--so many unanswered questions about where they came from and why. But this point is clear. They saw a star in the heavens and recognized that it was something unusual, something beyond a normal star. And that was why they cared about it. They had seen stars before. Certainly, they had seen lights before. Most likely, whatever country they came from had thousands of candles and lamps and lanterns of every kind, every sort of light that man could produce at that time. They had seen the light of man—a prosaic, useful thing. But this light in the heavens was something different, something supernatural, something man could not create. And that was why they followed it.

The best that man can do is something very significant. God created man with great capabilities. But the best that man can do is nothing compared with the power of God. That is why this topic matters so much. We live in a very dark world. With every passing day, I think people are coming more and more to realize just how desperate the human situation really is. And so there are two paths we can pursue, two lights we can follow. One is the light of man, the hope which comes from human effort and human ingenuity. This is the hope of mere religion, of forms and laws and words and sentiments. Human religion, like a candle, is often beautiful and often fragrant and often serves a valuable function. But to look at it as the final hope of mankind and the solution for the ills of humanity would be as silly as if those wise men had set out on their pilgrimage following a candle rather than a star.

God's hope is like that star—high, bright, and supernatural—something which comes sudden and surprising, from God and not from man. And because it comes from God, it can accomplish things human religion never could—the forgiveness of sins and the coming of a new life. We don't know fully how all that worked for the people of Isaiah's day. But we know what Isaiah did not yet know. We know what God did to provide this hope for us. Isaiah saw this star as something distant and unclear. But we see it close and certain; we know that the light of the world is Jesus. Christmas isn't just a sentimental story about a baby in a manger. It is a message of hope; it is a promise of a new world, and it is a challenge.

Because there are two paths to follow, to lights to seek after, two schemes in which we can put our faith. Remember the final words of our text. God was offering hope for the people of Judah, but there was the possibility that they would not make use of it. They might be willing and obedient, following God and finding everything He had promised them. Or they might refuse and rebel, trusting in their own devices, in their own will, in their own religion.

This passage is a passage of hope but also of challenge. God gave His own son to be born and to die and to rise again so that we might have hope—hope of forgiveness and a, new life. But now the choice lies with us. The world is dark, and God has given us light. And some are coming to the light, while others prefer to walk in darkness. That is the challenge of Christmas. That is the choice we must make—the choice to walk in the light or to walk in our own way and trust in our own hope. 

The wise man saw the star and came to worship. The priests and scribes saw the star and did nothing. Herod saw the star and tried to kill the newborn king. Every Christmas, as the story is read again, we see that star. What will we do with it?