Real Hope: Jesus' Birth ForetoldVoorbeeld

## The Messiah READ ISAIAH 9:1–7 When Isaiah proclaimed these words to the people of Israel, they had been through the ringer. God’s people and their neighbours lived in enmity with one another and so lived with the constant threat of invasion and destruction. God’s people had been waiting for their Lord to save them. It had been a dark time. This section of Isaiah marks a turning point as the prophet tells them that there IS hope in God. He’ll provide a Messiah, THE MESSIAH, to rescue them from their troubles. It’s easy for us to read, ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…’ and to immediately think, oh that’s Jesus. But for God’s people at the time, they didn’t know WHO this was about, just that God would send them this person to rescue them. It gave them hope! I’m fairly sure they were expecting a great warrior who would defeat the nations at war with them; a great leader who would take control of things and get them home to the land God gave them under Aaron. They were not expecting a child. We know that 700 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah was talking about Him. The one who would come into the world as a baby and would be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace’. In this little child, we find the one who brings reconciliation between us and God. We find the one who has the power to overcome sin and death, the one who will never spoil or fade, the one who rules over all people and things. In Jesus we find the child who would fulfil all that had been spoken to God’s people here. What an amazing answer to their hope. #### Written by KATIE SMITH