III. FOR THE RELEASE FROM BONDAGE
Isaiah also speaks of Christ as the great light for the release from bondage. The shining of the light is the release, and the darkness is the bondage. In 9:2 Isaiah speaks of the great light. Then in verse 3 he talks to the Lord directly: "You have multiplied the nation; / You have increased their gladness; / They are glad before You as with the gladness of harvest, / As men rejoice when they divide the spoil." The nation here is the people of God. The Lord has multiplied the people of God, increased their gladness, and they are glad before the Lord. Their gladness is like the gladness of those who have a harvest and like the gladness of those who divide the spoil after winning the battle.
Verse 4 says, "For You break the yoke of their burden / And the staff on their shoulder, / The rod of their oppressor, / As in the day of Midian." The gladness of the people of God has been increased because the Lord breaks the yoke of their burden, the staff on their shoulder, and the rod of their oppressor. He does this as in the day of Midian, where the army of Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judg. 7:24-25). The king of Assyria came to invade Judah and to oppress them, but the Lord destroyed them as He destroyed the Midianites through Gideon.
Isaiah 9:5 says, "For all the boots / Of those who in boots trample in the battle quake / And the garments / Rolled in blood / Are for burning; / They are fuel for fire." This verse shows that Christ as the great light destroys our enemies and destroys their armor. The boots and the garments are the enemy’s armor for fighting. Christ as the great light puts these into the fire and burns them. When the Lord Jesus fights for us, we have the feeling that He has destroyed Satan with all of his armor. He not only has defeated Satan but also has burned Satan’s "boots" and "garments," his armor. Satan is finished. The boots and garments of the enemy are for burning, and they are fuel for fire. The Lord Jesus fights against His enemy by fire.
When Isaiah was prophesying this, it had not yet been fulfilled. Isaiah 10:26 and 27 say, "And against them Jehovah of hosts will rouse up a whip like the stroke against Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt. And in that day their burden will be removed from your shoulders, and their yoke from off your neck; and the yoke will be broken due to the fatness." This was to be God’s judgment on the Assyrian oppressors and His release of Israel from their bondage.
(Life-Study of Isaiah, Chapter 37, by Witness Lee)
