Christmas 1
Isa
11:1-5
12/28/25
Around the middle of the third
century B.C., the land that had been Israel was ruled by the Seleucids. These
were descendants of one of Alexander the Great’s generals, and they were
adherents of Greek culture and pagan religion. For reasons that are not
entirely understood, in 167 B.C. Antiochus IV began a religious persecution of
the Jews. The sacrifices in the temple
were suspended. The cult of Zeus was set
up in temple and swine’s flesh was offered there. Antiochus ordered that the Torah be
burned. He forbade circumcision and
ordered Jews to eat pork. The death
penalty was administered to those who refused to comply.
In response, in 166 a rural member of a priestly family, named Mattathias, began an uprising. It has come to be known at the Maccabean revolt after one of Mattathias’ sons, Judas Maccabeus. They gained control of Jerusalem and in 164 B.C. the temple was rededicated to God – the event celebrated at Hannukah. In the years that followed during 167-141, what had begun as an uprising about religious freedom and restoration became a war of national independence.
The Hasmoneans
- those who descended from Mattathias - gained control over Palestine and ruled
it during the years 141-63 B.C as they established their own kingdom. They expanded rule over what had been
Israel’s enemy Edom in the south, and over Galilee in the north. The Hasmoneans
weren’t from the line of David, and made no claims to being the Messiah, but
the Jews were glad that they ruled themselves.
All of this
came to a crashing end in 63 B.C. when the Roman general Pompey conquered
Palestine. Herod the Great, who was himself from the land that had been Edom,
was appointed by the Romans as the petty king who ruled in their stead. The
Jews could see that they no longer ruled themselves. Instead, the Geniles were
in charge.
Some time after
Pompey’s conquest, a Jew wrote a work that we now know as the Psalms of
Solomon. There he responded to what had happened, and asked God to raise up the
Messiah to deliver his people. He wrote,
“See, Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, to rule over your
servant Israel in the time known to you, O God.”
This writer
used language from our text – Isaiah chapter eleven – as he asked God to work
through the Messiah – the Christ as he was known in Greek. He added: “Undergird him with the strength to
destroy the unrighteous rulers, to purge Jerusalem from Gentiles who trample
her to destruction; in wisdom and righteousness to drive out the sinners from
the inheritance; to smash the arrogance of sinners like a potter’s jar; To
shatter al their substance with an iron rod; to destroy the unlawful nations
with the word of his mouth.”
This text gives
us a good idea about what some Jews hoped God would do through his Messiah –
the descendant of King David. It’s not
hard to understand why they thought this way. In our Old Testament lesson this
morning we hear Isaiah’s prophecy about this One. He begins by saying, “There
shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his
roots shall bear fruit.”
Isaiah wrote in
the eighth century B.C. at a time when most of the kings who descended from
David – men like Ahaz – were a great disappointment. They did not trust and
believe in Yahweh. But God promised that he would raise up a descendant from
the line of David. This descendant would not be just another king. Instead, God
would place his Spirit upon him – he would be the Messiah of the end times.
God says
through Isaiah, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the
Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit
of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” Through his Spirit, God would endow
this One with all that he needed to walk in God’s ways as ruler. His delight
would be in the fear of the Lord and he would judge righteously. The poor would
be treated fairly. And he would act with decisive judgment against the
wicked. Isaiah says in our text, “he
shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath
of his lips he shall kill the wicked.”
This Messiah
would mean victory for God’s people as he enacted God’s will. But he would
bring more than that. He would bring
peace. He would be the Prince of Peace as Isaiah had described in chapter nine.
He would bring a peace that would extend to all creation. Just after our text
Isaiah goes on to say, “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard
shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened
calf together; and a little child shall lead them.”
This One would
be the instrument through whom God would bring the peace of the end times.
Isaiah added: “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea.”
Just as the
peace that the Messiah would bring was cosmic, so his work was not limited to
Israel. Isaish said of the Messiah in
this chapter, “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand
as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his
resting place shall be glorious.” This would be the time when as Isaiah said in
chapter two, “they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war anymore.”
Instead of war,
all nations would come to the God of Israel.
Isaiah said, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the
mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the
mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations
shall flow to it, and many peoples shall come, and say: ‘Come, let us go
up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may
teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’”
There is little
doubt that this is what Simeon expected God to do. Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous
and devout Jew who was waiting for the consolation of Israel.
But he was more than just a faithful Jews. We learn that the Holy Spirit was
upon him – he was endowed with the Spirit like the prophets of the Old
Testament. And indeed, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not
see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
When Mary and
Joseph came to the temple with the infant Jesus in order to redeem their first
born son, and to offer a sacrifice for the purification of Mary, Simeon was
prompted by the Spirit to meet them. He took Jesus in his arms and praised God
because he had fulfilled his word in revealing the Christ to him. He spoke the
words that we know so well from the Nunc Dimittis: “Lord, now you are letting
your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for
glory to your people Israel.”
And if I
stopped there, everything would be wonderful.
We have the prophecy of Isaiah about the Messiah – the One endowed with
the Spirit who brings peace and God’s salvation. We have Simeon holding the
fulfillment of God’s Word, saying he can depart in peace because he has seen
God’s salvation.
But then Simeon
goes on to say: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising
of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce
through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be
revealed.” This is the Christ – the Messiah. And yet Simeon says that he
appointed for the fall of many in Israel. Simeon reveals that he is for a
sign that is opposed. He even
says that a sword will pierce Mary’s soul.
As we read our
Old Testament lesson in light of our Gospel lesson, we learn that the subject
of the Christ is not quite what it appears. Now there is no doubt that Jesus is
the Christ – the Messiah. As Isaiah
describes he will go forth and have the Spirit rest upon him. At his baptism he is anointed with the Spirit
and will walk in the ways of the Lord.
But rather than striking the earth with the rod of
his mouth and killing the wicked with the breath of his lips, he meets
resistance and rejection. Luke indicates this by beginning his account of
Jesus’ ministry with his visit to Nazareth. There Jesus reads the words of
Isaiah chapter 61: “The Spirit of
the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news
to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are
oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
When he had rolled up the scroll and given it back
to the attendant he sat down and said, “Today this Scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.” And the people’s reaction to this and what Jesus
said afterwards? Luke tells us: “When they heard these things, all in the
synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of
the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,
so that they could throw him down the cliff.”
The Scripture lessons for the First Sunday after
Christmas set a paradox before us. Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah – promised
in Isaiah chapter 11. And yet he is merely an infant in Simeon’s arms – an
infant appointed for the fall of many in Israel; an infant appointed for a sign
that is opposed.
Jesus is indeed both of these things. In fact, he
can only carry out the role given to him by Father for our salvation by being
both. Jesus is the Christ. But our Lord was not only the fulfillment of
God’s word about the Christ. He was in fact the fulfillment of all of God’s
word in the Old Testament. He is the
Christ, but he is also the suffering Servant who bears the sins of all. He is One to whom all of the sacrifices in
the Old Testament pointed.
There can be no peace where there is sin. There can be no peace where there is death.
At Christmas, the One conceived by the Holy Spirit was born of the virgin Mary
in this world. As Paul tells us in the Epistle lesson, “God sent forth his Son,
born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the
law.” Christ redeemed us from sin by
taking our sin and dying for it. Paul said of God that, “By sending his own
Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned
sin in the flesh.”
Jesus died and was buried in a tomb. But Christ was
also the One through whom God was working to defeat death. On Easter, God
raised our Lord from the dead. In the
resurrected body of Jesus he overcame death and began the resurrection of the
Last Day. Because of this we now have peace. Paul told the Romans, “Therefore,
since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ.”
We have peace with God now, for we already know the
verdict of the Last Day. And we have peace because we know that bodily death is
not the end. Instead to die is to be with Christ. And on the Last Day when he
returns in glory, we will share in his resurrection. Paul told the Corinthians, “For as in
Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to
Christ.”
All of us have been baptized into Christ. This means
that we have received Christ’s saving work. But it means more than just
that. Paul told the Corinthians,
“For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body— Jews or
Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”
Through baptism we are the Church – the Body of Christ.
As the Body of Christ in this world, the Church now
reflects the same character as Christ during his ministry. On the one hand we
are the saints of God who are justified before him. But on the other, we too
are for a sign that is opposed.
The last twenty five years have seen a dramatic
change for the Church. Church attendance
and membership have declined. At the same time, those who identify as having no
religious beliefs – the “nones” – are increasing. As she follows the teaching of God’s word
about sexuality, we in the church find ourselves opposed by an ever increasing
tide of sexual immorality in our culture. To say that sex should only occur in
marriage; that couples should not live together until married; that
homosexuality is sinful; and that marriage is between a man and woman for life,
is to invite the world’s disdain and rejection.
This is discouraging and it certainly gets old. But
in our Old Testament reading this morning we receive encouragement. Baptized into Christ we are walking the way
of Christ who suffered and died for us.
But Christ who was anointed with the Spirit and died is also the One who
was raised from the dead, and exalted to the right hand of God in the
ascension.
He is the Lord who will return in glory on the Last
Day – the One who will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth and kill the
wicked with the breath of his lips. We will share in Christ’s vindication when
he returns, and at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The victory that Christ has already won will be ours for all to see.
And then we will live in the new creation with our
Lord. We will live in the world where the wolf will dwell with the lamb. There
will be no pain, or suffering or death, for the earth shall be full of the
knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
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