Isaiah 9: relief from oppression

²The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
a light has dawned
on those living in the land of darkness.
³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.
The people have rejoiced before You
as they rejoice at harvest time
and as they rejoice when dividing spoils.
⁴ For You have shattered their oppressive yoke
and the rod on their shoulders,
the staff of their oppressor,
just as You did on the day of Midian.
⁵ For the trampling boot of battle
and the bloodied garments of war
will be burned as fuel for the fire.
⁶ For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
⁷ The dominion will be vast,
and its prosperity will never end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

 For the Jews hearing this from Isaiah, they would have understood what it was like to be under an oppressive yoke, in fact well into the time of Jesus' ministry, some hundreds of years after these words were first spoken, Jews understood what it meant to be under oppressive yokes. In Judges, Midian was an oppressive nation that ruined crops, attacked Israel and forced them to live in mountains and caves for 7 years. Under Babylonian rule, Greek rule, and Roman rule, Jews experienced oppression from outside rulers. A prophecy that said one day they would be relieved from this yoke was gladly welcomed. In the days of Jesus taxes had to be paid to the temple but also to Rome and tax collectors made all their money from exploiting and taking extra commissions from the people they collected taxes from. There was a tax on land, tax on travel, and a tax simply on being alive called a "head tax." So when Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, most people expected the releif of their oppression to come in the form of a governmental revolt, especially because they understood all of the revolutionary vocabulary of Jesus and His followers. What most didn't understand is that Jesus' Kingdom was not of this world, but of so much more.

^{John 8:34} Jesus responded, “I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. ³⁵ A slave does not remain in the household forever, but a son does remain forever. ³⁶ Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.

Jesus presented not a relief from governmental oppression but an oppression that run deeper,a freedom from a slavery of the soul.