Daily Lesson for December 16, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Isaiah chapter 9 verses 2 and 4 through 7:

2 The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
4 For the yoke of his burden,
and the staff for his shoulder,
the rod of his oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.
5 For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult
and every garment rolled in blood
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Prophet Isaiah spoke hose words in a time of deep darkness for his people and nation.  A noxious mix of political criminality, oppression of the lower classes, entangling alliances with corrupt foreign governments, and the spiritual decadence of all the people, had cost the nation it's soul.  Finally, the inevitable happened; the nation fell and the people were carried off into bondage in Babylon. They thought there could be no darker day than the one when the people were forced to sing the songs of Zion, while Zion itself burned behind them. Yet, the darkest days of Babylon itself were still to come.

It was to such a dark time and people as this that Isaiah spoke his words of light:

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.

It is a word of light from on High to a people who had lost all light within -- a word of hope from God to a people without hope in this world.  And two and a half millenia later, it is a word for us.

Our country struggles to hold on to its soul. Divisions within seek to pull us apart. Threats from outside leave us desperate for whatever will make us secure.  All while our people live in the decadence of richness of things and poverty of spirit. We swing between a totalitarian police state, where government is everywhere, and mere anarchy. Our Babylon is not far; perhaps it is already here.

And to this time the word from Isaiah comes. At the darkest season, the light comes. And when both oppression and lawlessness threaten a child is born, a Son comes,

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

He comes just when we need him most.