Their hearts are pounding as they run over the grassy Judean hills to see if what the angel told them was actually true. As they occasionally stumble, nearly falling to the ground and then recovering their balance to pick up their pace in running, they have the words of the angel still ringing in their heads and flooding their hearts with indescribable joy. He told these Judean shepherds to not be afraid, because he’s come to bring them Good News of great joy, which will be, not only for Israel, but for all people! Then comes the angel’s unforgettable announcement. “For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” Luke 2:11 NKJV. As if the fact that these humble shepherds were seeing an angel speak to them, and subsequently the host of the angelic choir of Heaven singing to them, wasn’t intense enough, they also had the “bomb shell” dropped on them that the long anticipated Messiah that all the prophets had spoken of and all the hopes of the Jews hung on, had just been born in Bethlehem. So now, as they run to Bethlehem to see this great sight, one of their eyes begins to widen with astonishment and joy as it begins dawn on their mind that the words of the angel announced the fulfillment of a prophecy of Isaiah. In Isaiah chapter 9, the prophet describes the coming Messiah, the Son, as the promised Light that would dawn upon the dark region of Galilee beyond the Jordan, which would cause people to rejoice greatly. Now, I know we’re in the Christmas season, and I really don’t mean to sound like a Scrooge, but someone might be asking, “What’s with all the joy?” Why does the reign of the coming Son bring so much joy? It could be that this question is coming from someone who has lost their joy and maybe needs to rediscover why Jesus brings so much joy, not only for those that awaited His first Advent, but also for those awaiting His second Advent. Well, let’s dive in to Isaiah 9 and see what insight the Spirit will give us beginning in verse 4…
“For You have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle, and garments rolled in blood, will be used for burning and fuel of fire.”
Isaiah was prophesying to the people of Israel at a time when their persistent unfaithfulness to Yahweh was about to result in their being oppressed by an enemy nation. Yet, even in the midst of pronouncing their impending judgment, Isaiah gives them the Good News that the coming Messianic King would free them from their oppression. And as an example, he brings their minds back to how Yahweh used Gideon and his 300 men to free the Israelites from the oppression of Midian by granting them victory over their massive army. Therefore, if you were enslaved and in bondage to an oppressor, the reign of the coming Messiah meant your freedom. And truly the greatest oppressor behind all oppression is sin and Satan, yet this didn’t mean that Jesus merely came to free us from our own personal prison of sin. The internal freedom from the oppression of sin and Satan, was always intended to effect the external freedom from oppressive systems in the world, under the reign of the Messiah. This is truly an under-appreciated aspect of what the Messiah’s birth meant. The reign of the coming Son brings great joy, because it means the ushering in of…
FREEDOM FROM OPPRESSION.
This meaning wasn’t lost on the followers of Jesus that pioneered the early Second Advent movement of the mid 1800’s, most notably the Baptist preacher William Miller. He boldly stated in 1836 that the judgment of the 7 last plagues, which have their shadow in the 10 plagues that fell on slave-holding Egypt, would fall first on those that were pro-slavery or slaveholders just prior to the second coming of Christ. This language was coming right out of what he and others were studying about the three angels messages of Revelation 14 and particularly the just judgment that would fall on the system of end-time Babylon in Revelation 18, which in his context was slave-holding America prior to the Civil War. America had been foremost in participating in the spirit of end-time Babylon, especially in its sin of enslaving the “bodies and souls of men” as stated in Revelation 18:13 NKJV. Such was the prophetic preaching of William Miller and many of our early Advent movement pioneers who consistently protested against the injustice and oppression of enslaved African Americans. This shouldn’t surprise us, since they were staunch abolitionists and were primary leaders within that movement, even participating in the Underground Railroad. This is what attracted so many African American slaves and abolitions to the Advent message and movement, because the reign of Christ and His second coming meant their freedom from oppression!
This was in the very DNA of early Adventism, especially as we understood America’s role in Bible prophecy as the lamb-like earth beast of Revelation 13:11 that speaks as a dragon. We understood this to be a distinct call for the prophetic voice of the church to cry out against injustice. As a matter of fact, one of our early primary identifiers that a person or church was apart of Babylon and needed to come out, was if they were pro-slavery or racist. If someone was apart of our movement and it was discovered that they were either pro-slavery or racist, the counsel from Ellen White, one of our co-founders, was for them to be immediately disfellowshipped, because that was never to be associated with the Advent movement! Such was our strong stance against oppression. Around this same time in America, God providentially used the popular Christmas song “O Holy Night”, that originated in France and was brought to America by the abolitionist writer John Sullivan Dwight to inspire the abolitionist movement, of which we were apart. He was not only moved by the lyrics about Jesus’ birth, but the pointed lyrics of the 3rd verse, which says,
“Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother, and in His name all oppression shall cease,…”
You see, these lyrics, within this beautiful song, reflect a clear understanding of the implications of the Messiah’s birth and the reign He was ushering in, which meant freedom from all oppression!
My friends, if you are a follower of Jesus the Messiah, regardless of your denomination, and you are seeking to be ready for His soon Advent, then this means you must be staunchly against any form of oppression! If you’re not for freedom from all forms of oppression then you are on the wrong side of history and shall soon face the justice of the coming King. You see, God is always on the side of the oppressed and if the oppressor doesn’t repent, then they stand under the impending just judgment of Almighty God! But to those who are oppressed in any form, rejoice now, for the reign of the coming Son means freedom now and forever!
However, there is one more under-appreciated reason for joy at the birth of the Messiah that Isaiah wants you to know. It’s found in verses 6 and 7, which is a passage of Scripture that will likely sound very familiar to you around this time of year…