And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

-Luke 2:10-14, ESV

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

-Matthew 2:1-2, ESV

We often think of the first Christmas as serene and idyllic, but since Jesus was born in the normal way, it was definitely not a silent night in that stable.  Yet to the untrained observer that night would have seemed like any other in that small town on the edge of the Roman Empire.  But as we discussed last year, the Incarnation was actually an invasion of epic proportions: the King of Kings, had landed, so the war had come to the Enemy’s soil:

And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it. She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne

-Revelation 12:1-5, ESV

This perspective of Jesus’s birth makes very clear that this was an invasion, and the devil treated it as such.  The helpless baby in the manger didn’t stay that way: He came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8), to dethrone Satan and replace Him as the rightful ruler of this world. In this Advent season, we celebrate the coming of our Savior, but often forget that He is also our Lord and King, yet these are inseparable.  Having accomplished salvation, He sits on the throne in heaven and is expanding His Kingdom on earth.  When the Holy Spirit indwells us, He brings our hearts under Christ’s rule.  So when we sing “Joy to the World” we must remember that “let every heart prepare Him room” means we must submit to Him as lord of everything.  As we saw last time, many Americans are happy to view a defanged and effeminate Jesus as their Savior, not realizing that any savior must be strong enough to actually save.  But we also saw that many Catholics make the opposite error by viewing Jesus as distant and unapproachable except through mediators such as Mary.  Yet Scripture portrays Jesus as both our near and dear Savior and our transcendent and supreme ruler.  This is readily apparent when we look at the prophecies about His coming.

Unto Us a Child is Born

We already looked at the first of these (Isaiah 7:9) regarding the importance of the virgin birth.  This promise comes within the context of war.  Judah’s wicked king Ahaz, who had all but abandoned God, was afraid of an invasion from Israel and Syria.  Isaiah’s prophesies that this alliance will be destroyed by Assyria who will in turn be punished by God.  This is also the context of another promise of Jesus’s birth:

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. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 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. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 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. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

-Isaiah 9:2-7, ESV

Here, the link between Christ’s birth and rule is unmistakable.  The language of conquest here makes clear that the peace Jesus brings is the peace that comes from conquest.  Here, the articles of war have become obsolete not because everyone collectively decided to live in peace but because of the birth of the Prince of Peace.  Fallen humanity is so hostile to peace that our only hope for true peace is for the world to be ruled by someone powerful enough to compel us to live in peace.  Only Christ can do that, so peace only increases as His government does. A bit later, He is described more fully:

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. 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. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

-Isaiah 11:1-5, ESV

Notice how the wisdom and justice of this Branch from the root of Jesse rules the earth with severity and kills the wicked. Scripture frequently speaks of those foolish enough to oppose Him being crushed beneath His feet.  When Pilate claimed authority over Him, Jesus reminded him that all authority comes from above (John 19:10-11).  We have previously seen how all authority ultimately comes from God, so the limited authority Pilate had over Jesus came from Jesus Himself (Matthew 28:18).  Isaiah would later record how “the angel of the LORD”—widely understood as a pre-Incarnation appearance of Christ—killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers in one night (Isaiah 37:36), so Jesus could have instantly killed Pilate and every other Roman from Judea to Spain without breaking a sweat.  On top of that, Jesus upholds the universe (Colossians 1:17, Hebrews 1:3), so He could have answered Pilate: “You have some authority, but as your Creator I have all authority over you.  You are alive only because it is My Will.  At the exact moment when I no longer will you to live, you will die.  You have authority now only because I will it in order to accomplish My purposes, but one day you will bow your knee to Me.”  Jesus could say the same to each of us.  It is this absolute sovereignty that brings true peace.  Here is what Micah said in another familiar passage around the same time as Isaiah:

Now muster your troops, O daughter of troops; siege is laid against us; with a rod they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek. But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace.

-Micah 5:1-5, ESV

Again, a statement about Jesus’s birth comes in the context of war.  God comforts His people facing the terror of battle with the promise of the King to be born, who would be strong enough to lead His people and ensure their security.  This King would subdue the entire world such that His strength will be the peace of His people.  Scripture therefore describes the baby born in a stable in Bethlehem as the conquering King of Kings who would bring peace through strength.  We must never forget that.  Advent marks both the coming of the King and His ultimate conquest.

The Ruling Servant

It is clear that Jesus is the King who came to reign with absolute authority, bringing about peace by crushing any who would oppose Him.  But Scripture also reveals that the manner in which He will rule is certainly nor tyrannical.  This is clear throughout the rest of Isaiah.  The early chapters talk of the rise and fall of nations in the near term.  This culminates with a retelling of three important events in Hezekiah’s reign: God saving Jerusalem from the Assyrian invasion, Hezekiah’s illness, and the envoys from Babylon (Isaiah 36-39).  After that, the focus shifts to a longer-term view, emphasizing the coming Messiah. Many passages here describe how He will rule.  Here’s one:

Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.

-Isaiah 42:1-4, ESV

Amidst statements that the Messiah will bring justice to the nations is this remarkable statement: “a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench”.[1]  Both are useless and by human logic should be discarded, but the Messiah instead mends the bruised reed and fans the smoldering wick into flame.  This characterizes the way Jesus reigns.  Those who oppose Him will be crushed by Him, while those who bow the knee to Him are strengthened, nurtured, and cared for by Him.  He is not merely the King who reigns in heaven over all Creation, but also the King who is with us, ruling over every situation we face.  This theme continues:

But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life. Fear not, for I am with you;

-Isaiah 43:1-5a, ESV

Here we see the incredible strength and tenderness of Christ, first to Israel and by extension to believers as the Israel of God (Galatians 6:16).  As the King, He declares His supreme ownership of us by virtue of creating and redeeming us.  That forms the basis for His promise to keep us through all the trials into which He leads us.  This is not a promise that these trials will not harm us in an earthly sense—Scripture virtually guarantees that they will—but that He will sustain us through them in an eternal sense.  Christ has passed through the water and fire of God’s wrath in our place so that we will not suffer that wrath because we are precious and honored in His eyes and He loves us.  He speaks of giving the people of Egypt, Cush, and Seba in exchange for His people.  This harkens back to a prophecy earlier in the book in which Egypt and Cush would be defeated by Assyria (Isaiah 18-20), so God loves His people enough to bring about the destruction of nations for the good of His people.  This should terrify unbelievers but comfort believers, since Jesus Christ who holds the power of life and death loves us dearly.  This gives weight to the statement “Jesus loves me”.  He loves us enough to orchestrate the rise and fall of nations for our benefit so that all things indeed work for our good (Romans 8:28).  Since He is for us no one can stand against us (Romans 8:31). 

In His powerful love, Christ calls us near: “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.” (Isaiah 45:22-23).  He is both mighty to save and intent upon saving.  Because of this, the transcendent Christ came down to us just as He had spoken since the beginning: “Draw near to me, hear this: from the beginning I have not spoken in secret, from the time it came to be I have been there. And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit” (Isaiah 48:16).  This is one of the few places in Scripture where the entire Trinity is seen, making it clear that the Son is the one speaking.  He commands us to trust in Him and draw near: “Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:9-10).  Here’s what Micah says:

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 it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations 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.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and 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; but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

-Micah 4:1-4-ESV

Observe the Word and Law of God going out from Jerusalem, bringing the nations to salvation and causing them to obey God.  This Word is Christ, whose death and resurrection in Jerusalem spawned the Church that has brings His Gospel to the nations.  As the King of Kings, He resolves disputes and brings lasting peace to the nations.  His reign will bring joy to the world.  But notice how Jerusalem is not mentioned directly, only labelled as “the mountain of the house of the LORD”.  Jesus died and rose in physical Jerusalem, replacing the physical Temple with the New Jerusalem: the Church (Revelation 21:9-27).[2]  The universal and invisible Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, the New Jerusalem where God at last fulfills His often-repeated promise: “I will dwell with you and be your God, and you will be my people”.  The reign of Christ is therefore characterized by the nearness of God and the blessings that flow from His presence.  After all, He is called Immanuel (God with us).  Isaiah continues:

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise  instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.

-Isaiah 61:1-3, ESV

Jesus explicitly stated that He fulfilled this prophecy (Luke 4:21), so He began to bring those blessings by establishing the Church at His first coming and gives those blessings to and through the Church.  Through His Gospel, He heals the brokenhearted, sets free those held captive to sin, comforts the mourners, and brings vengeance against the wicked.  And He does it all for His glory.  This is how our righteous King of Kings reigns. 

Advent is about the coming King, who came to bring salvation two thousand years ago and is coming again to finish His work of subduing the entire world under His rule.  So this Christmas let us worship Jesus Christ not merely as our treasured Savior but also as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who rules over us and by that rule bestows upon us immeasurable blessings. He reigns in heaven and in our hearts, so let us obey Him: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).  From Isaiah and Micah, we have seen that our King does justice, loves kindness, and walked humbly among us, so let us follow our King and do likewise. 

Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King: peace on earth, and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!” Joyful, all ye nations, rise, join the triumph of the skies; with th’angelic hosts proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!” Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King”

Christ, by highest heaven adored, Christ, the everlasting Lord, late in time behold him come, offspring of the Virgin’s womb: veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail th’incarnate Deity, pleased with us in flesh to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel. Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King”

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Sun of Righteousness! Light and life to all he brings, risen with healing in his wings. Mild he lays his glory by, born that we no more may die, born to raise us from the earth, born to give us second birth. Hark! the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King”

-“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”, Charles Wesley and George Whitfield, 1739

NOTES:

[1] Meditating on this statement, Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote a wonderful book called The Bruised Reed

[2] The view of the Church as the New Jerusalem is part of postmillennial eschatology.