Isaiah 9:1-2 The land of Zebulun and Naphtali had suffered greatly when the Assyrian king, Tiglath-Pileser, invaded. Though Isaiah lived through the growth of the Assyrian threat from paying taxes (2 Kgs 15:19-20) to outright invasion (2 Kgs 15:29 ), he prophesied about a light that would dawn on this dark situation.

Isaiah 9:3-5 Isaiah prophesied a great military victory when their yoke would be broken like the day of Midian (Jdg 6:1-6, 11-16; 7:2-3).

Isaiah 9:6-7 This prophecy is in the past tense. By Isaiah’s time, the child had already been born. The name was “(A) miraculous strategist (is the) warrior God; (the) everlasting Father (is the) commander of peace.” Theophoric names are
about God and not the child: Hezekiah = “Yah (is) my strength”; Eliab = “(The) Father is my God.”

2 Kings 18:5-7; 19:32-37 Although it seemed utterly impossible, God employed a miraculous strategy to defeat the Assyrian army, breaking the yoke from Judah in the south and Israel in the north.

Luke 1:76-79 The birth of John the Baptist relates to another fulfillment of Isaiah 9:2 when the light shines on those sitting in darkness (cf. Jn 1:5-8).

Matthew 4:12-17 Jesus picked up where John left off. He began his ministry of bringing God’s light and deliverance from oppression in the ancestral lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. When he returns, he will fulfill the rest of the prophecy of
Isaiah 9:6-7 (cf. Rev 19:11-16). Jesus is the true and better Hezekiah who defeats evil, delivers us from oppression, and establishes peace forevermore.

The post For Unto Us a Child Is Born first appeared on Living Hope.