| December 5, 1999 | A Prepared People | Isaiah 40:1-11
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Advent season is a season of penitential preparation. We are to humbly, honestly evaluate our standing before God. We are to consider our lives and respond in appropriate form to what we find. What is that response? One of sorrow and sadness over our sins. Then, we are ready to receive our Lord. Then we have great joy at celebrating Christmas, for our Salvation has come! Then we are prepared for our Lord to come to us in our lives today and dwell in us, through the Holy Spirit, through the Word and the Lord's Supper and make us holy and renewed. We are prepared also for our Lord to come again, as we eagerly anticipate the day when we will be fully, visibly and permanently freed from all sin.
As we look at the situation that the text from Isaiah is addressing, which is the exile of the people of Israel, we might ask what it has to do with us. We have not been exiled, sent away to another country as punishment for our sins. It is very appropriate to understand, however, that what happened to Old Testament Israel is a model or type of what happens to the New Testament church. Israel suffered in exile because of their sins. We suffer today because of our sins. Israel awaited the deliverance from their time of suffering. So do we. As Israel of the Old Testament was carried off and put in a situation where they earnestly called upon their God for deliverance, so we do also. Though the text fits a situation in the history of Israel, it is to the greatest extent a text about our deliverance from exile in a sin-filled world.
Now, as we glance back to the Exile which began for Israel in 586 BC, we can look for similarities to our situation today. What did this exile do for the people then? It made them ready for receive their Lord. It prepared them for their salvation. This preparation is described in terms of highway construction in the text. Clear a path, Make a highway in the wilderness to our God. Fill in the valleys and level off the hills. This sounds like modern superhighway construction. They make the roads level and there are no rough places, except when the road gets older. Exile prepared the Israelites to receive their Lord, effectively making a clear and easy path for Him to reach their hearts.
Now, if you feel you are understanding the text before us fairly well, keep in mind that Isaiah was given a prophecy about the future. He was shown that the Exile of the Israelites would come to a pleasant conclusion, but God showed this to Isaiah even before the exile began. He show him the future 200 years ahead. So, Isaiah is both predicting the exile to come and also the deliverance from the exile.
With this in mind, we can understand that Isaiah seems to be experiencing a commissioning as a prophet. The Lord is sending him out and giving him a message to deliver. Isaiah was commissioned first in a heavenly scene reported in Isaiah 6. Here again, Isaiah hears a voice sending him out. "A voice saying: Call!" Thus Isaiah is told to go an preach and deliver a message to the people. Isaiah returns with the question, "What will I call?" In other words, "What should I say, Lord?" Then the Lord gives the message.
"All flesh is grass and all of its goodness is the flower of the field. The grass withered, the flower fell, for the wind of Yahweh blew on it. Remember that Yahweh is God's proper name Surely the people are grass. The grass withered and the flower fell, but God's Word will stand to eternity."
This is the message that God gave Isaiah to deliver, to preach, to call out to the people. Tell them they are like grass. What a message! Who wants to listen to a message that puts them down? Nobody. None of us wants to hear that we are as worthless and short-lived as the grass. This however is the message God gives to Isaiah. Like most of the prophets, Isaiah had this "burden" of a message to deliver and he knew people were going to respond negatively, for the most part, to what God had to say to them.
What was true in Isaiah's day is true today also. People today do not like to hear of their sins. They don't want to hear how they are stuck if left on their own and must count on Christ 100% to save them. Sins are a taboo subject. Those who conduct workshops on church growth will tell you that there should not be any mention of sin in church. Willow Creek Church, in a Chicago suburb, is one of the biggest "success" stories of church growth. They have over 10,000 members and growing. They are spreading their ideas far and wide. One of their ideas at Willow Creek is they never mention the idea that people are sinful, that they are like withered grass or a fallen flower.
Can we assume that they have it right? No, simply because they have large growth in numbers does not mean that what they do at that church or at any other is right. Success in terms of numbers or finances does not determine a successful church in God's eyes. Rather, it is faithfulness to God's Word which is required. He doesn't guarantee popularity, or growth. Remember how our Lord had around 72 disciples at one point and then most of them left Him and stopped following.
God doesn't guarantee that all people will leave church on a Sunday happy, either. In fact, some will probably get stuck at the point of hearing about their sins and they will never get on to the rest of the message. If you never get to the point of admitting your own sins, you will never get to the good news.
Isaiah did also have a message of good news to deliver. In fact, our text today is primary filled with this good news. At the beginning it starts with that wonderful word "Comfort." This is actually an imperative verb, that is, a command. Give comfort to the people. God will say to His people, "feel comforted, be comforted." The reason for the comfort is the second verse which says that their service is completed. In other words the exile is over. Since the exile is over, it is time to return to their home, which is Jerusalem or Zion. We often have the same labels used for our heavenly home - the new Jerusalem or Zion. So, the highway to return to Jerusalem is to be prepared. A superhighway should be constructed, for many will travel this road of salvation.
There is then the promise that the glory of God, of Yahweh, will be revealed. He will show off His qualities for which He is to be praised. This glory will be seen by all people. This text, as was said already, refers mostly to the future Coming of our Lord. When Christ returns all people will see it.
Now, how certain can we be about this. God says, "The mouth of Yahweh spoke or promised." The powerful mouth of our God speaks something to us and it is certain and irrevocable, since He said it. God spoke it, that settles it.
This good news that Isaiah has to deliver, the good news of the end of the exile coming is so good that Isaiah is commanded to go up on a high mountain and speak it to Zion. He should powerfully shout it at Jerusalem. You will no longer fear. He is to say to the cities of Judah: "Look, your God." In other words, he is to say to the people that they can here see a demonstration of the type of God that they have. See your God based on what He does - how He announces salvation and deliverance for the exiles. This is the type of God you have.
Again, the text says, See the Lord God. He comes powerfully. This is the point of mentioning His arm, which is representative of God's strength. God acts through His strength, always in control of the situation and always determining the outcome. The outcome includes wages and reward. Now the wages are paid for sin. The reward comes as a result of faith in Christ. This is not a reward for something which we have done, but rather it is a reward for the faith in what Christ has done. We believe that Christ has gone to the cross for us to free us from our sins. This is a faith which God created in us. He gives the faith in Christ and He gives the reward for the faith in Christ; all gifts, all by grace.
In the last verse we come back to the comfort theme we started with in a different flavor-that of a shepherd caring for his sheep. Here the word of Isaiah promises our Lord will come like a shepherding one pasturing us sheep with His arm, again representing His strength. He will gather us together and the nursing ones He will carry close. He will lead us to watering places and give us rest there. Such a wonderful picture of comfort for sheep, to be led out to pasture and to be led to water and allowed to rest. This is what sheep want and need the most. Perfect comfort is given to them by their shepherd.
This food and drink remind us of the bread of life that Jesus offers which will never leave us hungry. There is the living water which will never leave us thirsty. There is the picture of heaven in Revelation chapters 21 and 22 which includes the river of life and the tree of life which is always bearing fruit. What wonderful comfort to think of our Lord supplying our every want and need so beautifully. He will lead us there and He will give us rest.
The Israelites were taken off to exile which is similar to us being exiled in the world of sin. As the Israelites were to prepare a highways for the coming savior, we also prepare the way for our Lord to come to us. This is done by coming to realize that we are lost and helpless sinners on our own. We see that we are like withered grass and fallen flowers. Yet, our Lord sends a message of good news to us. Comfort, Comfort, He says. Hear the good news of the savior who takes away all your sin. Learn of a Redeemer who cares for you as a loving shepherd. Our shepherd feeds us with the water and bread of life. Through His blessings our sins are removed and we are given eternal life. Indeed, Here is your God, the one who saves, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.