Isaiah 9:8

Isaiah 9:8 says, The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.  Isaiah said that God had sent word to Jacob in the past and that it applied to all of Israel.  Through their faith in the coming Messiah, God was going to make them His everlasting kingdom.  God had also warned them what He would do if they refused to accept and obey Him.  We know these same things because God has preserved His written word for us and sent His living Word to die for us.  He then calls us to Him by faith.   

Verse nine adds, And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, that say in the pride and stoutness of heart,  Isaiah said all the people of Israel, the unified people of God and not just the ones in Judah, would know the truth of their sins against Him.  Some were full of self-pride and had their hearts firmly set against God.  Everyone is guilty of sin today, and if anyone refuses to acknowledge that for whatever reason and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness, then that person cannot be saved.  Still, God calls everyone, and Jesus Christ has already died for their sins if they will accept Him as their Savior and Lord.   

Verse ten adds, The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars.  Isaiah said that even though God had destroyed their buildings that the people said they would build them back better and stronger.  No matter how strong people who defy God may think themselves to be, they will never build anything that God will not one day destroy if it is built on the idea that it is stronger than God.    

Verse eleven continues, Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together;  Isaiah said that God would set up adversaries against those who were supposed to be His people.  I believe it was more that God would no longer protect them from their enemies and that their enemies would even join together to defeat them.  If we allow one sin back into our life as Christians, others are likely to soon follow, and God will never force us not to sin.  We have to make a deliberate choice to be obedient to Him, starting with putting our faith in Jesus Christ.   

Verse twelve states, The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.  The people were warned that the Syrians, followed by the Philistines, would defeat the people of God if they turned away from Him.  We can expect another enemy to come against us if we somehow have had one fighting against us because of our disobedience to God.  We can never defeat all the forces of evil in the world unless we come to Jesus Christ and put our faith in Him and then live in obedience to the Holy Spirit.  Even after we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to be the Lard of our life, we allow sin to have power in our lives once more.   

Verse thirteen adds, For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them, neither do they seek the Lord of hosts.  Isaiah said that the people, even when God was allowing them to be defeated, still would not turn to Him for deliverance once more.  If we stray away from obeying God, He will allow us to be defeated spiritually until we return to Him and ask His forgiveness.  Though as Christians we are forever saved from sin and death, we can at times allow sin back into our lives, which leads us to being spiritually dead in our calling here in this lifetime.   

Verse fourteen continues, Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day.  Isaiah warned them that one day He would cut off His defense of them. and then he explained what the head and tail referred to.  

Verse fifteen concludes, The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.  The people were told that the kings and men in power had become the authority or head that would be cut off from Him and that the lying prophets were the tail.  These would be cut off, but they also cut the people off from God when they put their faith in these false leaders and teachers instead of in God and His word. People who refuse to put their faith in Jesus Christ will always be cut off from the Father, and He has already sent all the prophets necessary for them to hear and believe in Him.  As followers of Christ, we don’t have some new way to God to tell people about, but we only have the unchanging gospel of Christ.   

Isaiah 9:1

Isaiah 9:1 says, Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.  Referring back to the last chapter, Isaiah said that there would be a darkness over the land, but that it wouldn’t be as great as it had been at times.  God first allows a person or nation a chance to repent as He allows them to be defeated by other powers of the world if they don’t repent and turn to Him once again, but this is nothing compared to the everlasting punishment they will one day suffer.  If we are saved and allow sin to enter our life once again, there will be some spiritual darkness to reenter our lives, but it will never be dark as it was before we accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.  

Verse two adds, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.  This is a prophesy about the coming of Jesus Christ. This happens because once we do decide to put our faith in Jesus Christ, we will have seen the great Light that He brings to us, and even though we had walked in the shadow of death, He will give us new and everlasting life with God.  The people then could only look forward to His coming by faith, and we today look back on His coming by faith.  Faith in Jesus Christ is the requirement in either case.   

Verse three continues, Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.  Isaiah said that the nation had multiplied but that their joy had not.  Isaiah also said that the people of Israel as a whole had rejoiced when they had material wealth, but that they turned away from God when they didn’t.  God still continued to increase their numbers, but their joy was taken away because they refused to put their faith in Him.  If we as Christians continue to increase in numbers but have lost the joy of our salvation, it may be that we have allowed fear and doubts back into our lives instead of just continuing to be faithful to God at all times.     

Verse four states, For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.  Isaiah said that they had broken the yoke of bondage by putting their faith in God as they had done in the past.  We should be encouraged when we can look back and see the success of Christians in the past when they put their faith in God. Once we accept Jesus Christ, just as He has for everyone who ever put their faith in Him, He will break the power of sin and death in our life.  Then, we just have to remain faithful to Him to continue to know the blessings of God.   

Verse five adds, For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.  We do not win the battles with sin in the world by our own abilities, but God wins them for us by the power of the Holy Spirit once we accept salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  He will burn away all those who oppose Him, and by extension, His people.  We know that one day, all those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever.  Still, God is not responsible for their situation, but each individual is responsible for his or her own everlasting destination by either choosing or rejection Jesus Christ.   

Verse six continues, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.  This deliverance was to be done by one person alone, and that is Jesus Christ.  If the people asked Who this Deliverer was, Isaiah said it was the coming Messiah Who would be born to a virgin and the fate of all the world would rest on His shoulders.  We look back to the Messiah, Jesus Christ, Who has come to bring deliverance to all the world.  He is wonderful, our counsellor, and the everlasting God, if we simply accept Him by faith.  He is all these things whether we accept Him or not, but unless we do accept Him by faith, He is not these things for us.  My acceptance or refusal to accept the gift of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ does not change Who He is.   

Verse seven concludes, Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.  There really is no end to the kingdom of God.  We have to realize that this is the spiritual kingdom of God here on earth, but it is more certain than any promise that the governments of the world may make. Jesus Christ alone brings peace, and He alone can sit on the throne of David forever.  He is the fulfillment of God’s promise to David that his kingdom would never end.  As followers of Christ, we are a part of His everlasting kingdom.  

Isaiah 8:17

Isaiah 8:17 says, And I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.  Isaiah said he waited on the Lord, Who had hidden His face from the people of Israel, and he looked for Him.  We as followers of Christ don’t have to look for God if we stray away from His commandments, since we are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, but we may have to look for His guidance once more.  If we have sinned, we have to repent first, but God never hides Himself from us.  Even with the unsaved, God is looking for them to come to Him spiritually and never hides Himself from them.   

Verse eighteen adds, Behold, I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.  Isaiah said that he and those whom God had given him were to serve as signs and wonders to the people of Israel. As Christians, we need to be signs of the goodness of God to the lost and dying world.  The way we live should make others want to come to Christ.  Matthew Henry says they pointed to them as wonders, or looked on them as strange, and the world often looks on us as followers of Christ as strange people, but then again, we are supposed to be viewed that way by the people of the world.  If we are no different than lost people, then there is something wrong.   

Verse nineteen continues, And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?  Isaiah then raised the question if people of the world looked to their false gods, shouldn’t the people of Israel look to their God, the only living God. We might be tempted to allow false gods back into our lives because they amuse or entertain us, but we should never do this.  We must remain faithful to the true and living God, even if this makes us peculiar in the eyes of the world.   

Verse twenty states, To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.  Still referring to those who were supposed to be the people of Israel, at least in name, Isaiah said that if they proclaimed anything other than God's law and testified to it that the Light was not in them.  Jesus Christ is the Light of the world, and if we live in the Light, we will never turn away from God and His commandments.   

Verse twenty-one adds, And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.  Isaiah said that those who turned away from God would find themselves hungry and wander around looking for some peace and contentment in their lives, but they wouldn’t find it.  They would look to their false gods for hope, but there would be none.  People are always going to be spiritually hungry and looking everywhere for peace and contentment if they haven’t accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, but no false god is never going to bring them spiritual fulfillment.   

Verse twenty-seven continues, And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.  Isaiah said that those who didn’t look to the only true God would only find trouble and darkness and live in anguish.  I don’t believe that people can ever be spiritually satisfied and at ease in the world unless they live in the Light of Jesus Christ and follow the way that He leads them, which will be determined by His truth.