“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.” That was Isaiah’s prophecy. Here is the apostle John’s description of Jesus from John 1. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

Jesus is our light in the world. He is our joy. In Isaiah it says, “You have increased its joy.” Knowing Jesus should give you joy day after day without end.

Handel’s Messiah made famous a Scripture from Isaiah 9. “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.”

That’s followed by a line that is interesting to me. “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end.”

I have wondered how peace can increase.

We are only at peace when we are at peace with God. We’re at peace with God when we are surrendered to Him and His will. As His government increases in our lives, as we turn more and more over to Him, our peace will increase too.

Isaiah 9 holds the famous 9-11 verse, “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with dressed stones; the sycamores have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place.”

Several national leaders quoted that verse about rebuilding after 9-11, not realizing it was a statement of pride and arrogance against God! The words preceding the verse are literally, “Who say in pride and in arrogance of heart…”

America did rebuild, but they did so in defiance of God, not in humility. They didn’t acknowledge the discipline of the Lord against the nation. They even planted a cedar tree where a sycamore tree had been struck down in the violence of the day. The tree was called The Tree of Hope. It died. As a nation, we still didn’t take the hint!

The enemies of Israel and of America are still out for blood. The only hope for America is Jesus. We can’t create our own hope. There’s only one name that offers salvation.