Isaiah 9:2
The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned. (NIV)
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7
We will camp out in Isaiah 9 for a few days. This section of Scripture contains one of the most beautiful and often quoted prophecies of the coming Messiah. But before we get to that part, there are many other prophecies and nuggets of history that will give us context to prophecy we are most familiar with.
Isaiah begins his prophecy with some geography: “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” (vs 1).
In order to understand what Isaiah is saying, we need to go back to the twelve tribes of Israel and see how the land was divided among them. I’ve put two maps here to help us follow along with the places because the names change from the time of Joshua to the time of Jesus.
Joshua divvied up the land upon entering the Promised Land about 400 years before Isaiah. The territories directly west of the Sea of Galilee were allocated to the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. When the kingdom divided, these territories became part of the northern kingdom of Israel. These areas were the first to be invaded by the Assyrians.
The “humbling” that Isaiah speaks of for these lands refers to the total devastation the Assyrians brought to them. The citizens of these lands would either be deported to Assyria or completely subjugated to the service of the Assyrians. But Isaiah says in the future, these lands will be honored.
God’s promise to “honor” this area will be quite the reversal of fortune. It will be a region marked by humiliation and subjugation. And then it will become a region of significance and blessing. As we will see, this reversal of fortune is because they will be the first to see the light of the Messiah. They are the first to receive the invading destructive forces from the north but they will also be the first to receive the invasion of God’s mercy in Jesus.
Matthew tells us about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry and he includes the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in his announcement:
“When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he withdrew to Galilee. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum, which was by the lake in the area of Zebulun and Naphtali— to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah:
‘Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,
the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles—
the people living in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death
a light has dawned.’
From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’” (Matt 4:12-17).
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea (Matt 2:1). But he wasn’t known as Jesus of Bethlehem. He was known as Jesus of Nazareth, a small, insignificant town not even mentioned by the prophets in the Old Testament. Nathanael asked, “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” (John 1:46). But it is in Galilee that the people would see the arrival of the Kingdom of God.
Isaiah prophesied, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned” (vs 2). Jesus – the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:5) – begins to shine in Galilee on the people living in the land of the shadow of death who had been invaded, oppressed and in spiritual darkness for so long. The light has dawned because Jesus has arrived.
Christ in the Old Testament 
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