We have seen evil taking place globally, nationally, and many of us have experienced it personally. What is the solution or answer to the problem of evil?
In what do we put our hope, especially in times of darkness? Let’s see how the Nation of Israel did in their time of darkness.
19 When someone tells you to consult mediums and spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 Consult God’s instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.
21 Distressed and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will become enraged and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 Then they will look toward the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.
9:1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan, 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned (Isaiah 8:19 - 9:2).
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Just like the Isrealites back in 722 BC, You can place your ultimate hope:
In human strength and wisdom
In the pseudo-spiritual
In God
Human strength and wisdom
In Isaiah 8:19-22 he described what was happening to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali (present day Galilee) in 722 BC. Isaiah said that God’s own people made no place for Him in their hearts (Isaiah 8:6). They rebelled against God’s word and instructions and instead sought the answers to life’s problems through human explanations and means, making God and what He had to say unimportant and insignificant.
During the time Isaiah wrote this account, the northern Kingdom had consistently rejected God, His Word and His wisdom while Assyrian invaders were approaching their land. This only increased their gloom and anguish. They knew that the Assyrian army would bring devastation, yet they turned away from God when they actually needed Him most. The nation of Israel, God’s people, also placed their hope in the pseudo- spiritual.
In their attempts to alleviate the immediate context of their suffering they sought guidance, comfort and hope from spirit mediums, fortune-tellers, astrologers, witches and all other occult sources.
In verse 19 God is saying:
why are you seeking guidance, comfort and hope from the spiritually dead, they have no power to deliver themselves how will they deliver you, they can change their own lives how will they determine or change your future (Isaiah 8:19).
If you listen to them it will only lead you farther away from me and into greater darkness and despair.
If you want to have wisdom for life’s decisions, if you want to know who you are, why you are here, how you should live and where you are going then seek the living God, let Him speak through His living Word.
People ruin their lives by their own foolishness and then are angry at the LORD (Proverbs 19:3).
They didn’t want any part of His Person or His plan for their lives. They were not interested in listening to His answers or instructions. They would not receive correction that came through the mouth of the prophets and stubbornly continued doing what they wanted. Yet they were enraged when they began to suffer the consequences for putting their hope in everything but God. They reaped what they sowed and then blamed God for their hardships. They were blind to the fact that they themselves were ultimately to blame.
Even though that was their present reality, but it was not the end of their story. In chapter 9 vv. 1-2, God in His mercy would still fulfill His plan for them because He alone would be their Savior. How many have been in this place, where no matter how much you tried you could not and no person could change your situation? How many have been brought to this place where our only hope of deliverance can come from God! This is grace!
God promised to bring hope, truth, beauty and joy into the midst of their darkness. God would send a Savior who would deliver them out of their darkness. Their sin, rebellion and unbelief would not keep God from making Himself known to them.
Their actions would not stop God from keeping His promises.
700 years after Isaiah recorded these prophecies, Jesus came into the world as the light of the world to save us from our sin, rebellion, and unbelief (John 8:12).
He was born in the small, insignificant town of Bethlehem, in a time of darkness - during the time of the Roman occupation. It was a time of violence, injustice, abuse of power, homelessness, refugees fleeing oppression, families ripped apart, and bottomless grief. People were living “without hope and without God in the world”(Ephesians 2:12). That was their reality, but it was not the end of their story.
At the age of 30, where did Jesus begin His public ministry? He walked right into the place that rejected their God, that rebelled against His words and preaching his first message in synagogue in Galilee, saying that the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord was on Him, because the Lord had anointed Him to proclaim good news to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to release prisoners from darkness.
This was recorded in the gospels of Matthew and Luke in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy 700 years earlier.
“Jesus brought life and a future hope to the world, because He made peace possible between God and man through His ultimate sacrifice.”
Through His death and resurrection He conquered sin, death, and the devil. Our hope is in Christ, He is our hope and our peace. Even though the ones whom God created rejected Him He came anyway!
God made a promise:
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God (John 1:12 -13).
You can make right choices even in the midst of darkness. To be encouraged and strengthened with words of faith.
“Let Jesus walk with you through your Galilee. ”
Jesus has asked us to go into all the world with this message of God. To step into others Galilee’s, it is possible that they may not receive you, but you are to go anyway. Remember their present situation is not the end of the story.
There is Hope in the Midst of Darkness! God wants us as His people to know the rest of the story - what our future reality will be. As we read in Isaiah 9:6-7 the One who was born to be the Savior of the world (Emmanuel) - will one day return as divine King to rule, bring an end to all evils and establish true peace and freedom on the earth.
We place our hope in this Wonderful Counselor whose council is unfailing in His depth of wisdom. Our hope is in this Mighty God, invincible in battle. He is our Everlasting Father who has given Himself for His children, our Prince of Peace who made peace between us and God.
Our hope is in Christ, the King of all kings, whose reign will never end and as God’s people, we will be with Him forever and ever.
