Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ

This morning's Old Testament lesson from Isaiah is just one of many prophesies that conveyed the ancient promise of God: that he would give to his people the Messiah, who would be their savior. Let us look now at Isaiah and other prophets, and see how the prophecy was fulfilled in the Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We may begin in the beginning. In the Garden of Eden. For when Eve had been beguiled by the Serpent and had taken of the forbidden fruit with Adam, God prophesied of his Messiah. He said of the Serpent, I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel". The seed of the woman would come to crush the head of Satan. This is reflected as well in Psalm 91: "thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder".

In the great journey of the wilderness, God promised to the people to raise up a mighty Prophet from amongst them, the Messiah, and whosoever would not hearken into the Prophet's words, would face the anger of God in the last days [Deu 18:15-19].

In the books of Samuel and the Psalms, we hear the promises of God to David, that his seed would rise up as the savior of Israel, and would be an everlasting reign. The last words of David are profound; he said, "The Spirit of the Lord spake by me... he [the Messiah] shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth.. God yet hath made with me an everlasting covenant..." [2 Sam 23:3-5]. "The Lord said to my Lord, sit thou at my right hand" [Ps 110:1]. We remember that our Lord Jesus himself cited this passage as evidence of the prophecy fulfilled in himself."

The prophets told of our Lord's coming. Isaiah said in today's reading that the people were walking in darkness, but that God would send a light unto them. Just as David had said, a light as of the morning, and in the very last chapter of the Old Testament, the very last prophet said, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise [Malachi 4:2] and in the same place foretold on our Lord's cousin, John Baptist, who was to prepare the way of the Lord [Malachi 4:5-6], recorded in the very last verses of the Old Testament. And what does Isaiah say of this prophet? that he shall come to do battle with the forces of evil, and not battle like men where blood is shed. He says, This shall be with burning and fuel of fire. The fire is the Spirit of God, the fuel is his Word, purging and cleansing before it all that is corrupt and sanctifying all that is good. This idea of the coming of the dawn, the light of the world, the Messiah is so aptly recognized in our observance of the first coming of Christ, and hope for his second coming in this season of the Winter Solstice.

Recently, this topic came up in a most peculiar way. While working on a project in early December, I met a fellow who assisted me. He noticed the bronze Roman ring I wore (a gift from a fellow centurion.) The ring was recovered from the Balkans where the forces of Constantine under the Labarum met and defeated the anti-Christian forces of Lucinius in about 325. He asked me about the ring, and I told him the story of Saxa Ruba, and the Labarum, and that the design of the ring was sometimes called a chi-rho, although it had eight points rather than six (In an ordination on December Ember Saturday, I noticed the same eight-point Chi-Rho design on the bishop's cope.) He held forth his hand and upon his finger he wore a Roman bronze ring with the same design, recovered from another battleground. He thought the design to be a sign of Mithras and Sol Invictus. Our conversation later turned to the Christmas season and the Winter Solstice. You see, both of these pagan gods, that were so popular in the Roman army, indeed with Constantine himself, celebrated the birth of Mirthras, and of the Sun "Sol Invictus", upon the old-calendar Winter Solstice: 25 December. It is at this time of the year that the days begin to lengthen, signaling the increase of light upon the Northern Hemisphere, upon the ancient civilized world. How apt a time of year to celebrate our Lord's coming. In the very early church it was often celebrated on the Epiphany of 6 January. "Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus. "O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born," according to a document attributed to Cyprian" of Carthage who died in 258. In Rome it was established to mark the birth in 354. Since then we have paused in this winter season to celebrate the time when a people "who walked in darkness had seen a great light". And who is that light? Our Lord God told us through the words of Isaiah, saying, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: ... the Prince of Peace... upon the throne of David...". In the Gospel appointed for this day at the Holy Communion, in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament immediately following the prophecy of Malachi, he begins by establishing the lineage of Joseph to the house of David (and for Mary as well.) Matthew then recounts the last prophecy of the coming of the Messiah. It was not by the words of a human prophet, but of an angel of God, who tells Joseph that the child who Mary bears is Emmanuel (God with us), who is JESUS, God's Salvation unto mankind in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, being born of a virgin [Isaiah 7:14].

In response to God's gift to us, his promise fulfilled, I think of the Song of Zacharias. He sang it upon the birth of his son John, exactly six months before the Nativity of our Lord. That is when we mark our calendars for John's birth today, when the Summer Solstice marks the beginning of the days becoming shorter. I invite you to join with me in celebrating the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Light of the World; he who is the Prince of God's Peace, God's Messiah and Anointed Warrior, whose burning light purges sin, destroys the wicked, and sanctifies and preserves the faithful [Ps 145:20]. Let us join in the words of the father of John Baptist in thanks to our LORD God, and in praise of our Sovereign Lord, Jesus Christ:

BLESSED be the Lord God of Israel; * for he hath visited and redeemed his people;

And hath raised up a mighty salvation for us, * in the house of his servant David;

As he spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets, * which have been since the world began;

That we should be saved from our enemies, * and from the hand of all that hate us.

To perform the mercy promised to our forefathers, * and to remember his holy covenant;

To perform the oath which he sware to our forefather Abraham, * that he would give us;

That we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies * might serve him without fear;

In holiness and righteousness before him, * all the days of our life.

And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: * for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways;

To give knowledge of salvation unto his people * for the remission of their sins,

Through the tender mercy of our God; * whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited us;

To give light to them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, * and to guide our feet into the way of peace.



Amen and AMEN.

The Reverend Lt. Colonel (Ret) Mark Carroll, Colonel Ben Caudill Camp
Preached at Saint John Baptist Anglican Church, Campton,