Text: Isaiah 35: 1-10
Last Sunday, Karen and I went to the Christmas Pops concert at the Wells Fargo center. It was great. Even better, we didn’t have to pay. Thrivent for Lutherans picked up the tab.
During the concert we heard a few winter songs like jingle bells. But for the most part we listened to the orchestra play and the choir sing so many wonderful Christmas hymns. At one point I found myself closing my eyes. And there for a moment I was able to let everything drift away except for the music and my dear wife.
I think of other times like that when we are with friends. There can come a moment when we laugh and talk and just plain enjoy each other’s company.
But how quickly it all returns to my mind and heart. My concerns for people in both congregations. The sick, the lonely, the depressed, those with family problems, those out of work. We’d like to think that this time of year only happy things should come into our lives. But as a pastor, as a police chaplain as a father and husband I know what can come, even at Christmas.
Yet I also know the One who has come into your life and mine. He comes with so many blessings. The apostle John said it this way: From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another. Well one blessing he gives us is this. Something we can cling to when this world bears down on our heart. Hope. That’s what this Word of God is about, hope. Not just hope for a people long ago. But for you and me here and now. The Hope of His Coming, his Advent, and what it means. The prophet says it this way:
“Be Strong, Your God Will Come”-He has, He will (3,4)
I. He brings a remarkable kind of joy
II. He brings remarkable change
III. He puts us on a remarkable path.
In the chapter before this one, the prophet paints a frightening picture. A day to come when all the pent up anger of God against a world of unbelieving rebels will be poured out. The Old Testament land of Edom is held up as an example. You see, from day 1, Edom had been an vicious enemy of God’s people, Israel. But the Lord will always have the last word. Edom’s streams will be turned to pitch, her dust into burning sulfur…it will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. A troubling picture of God’s judgment.
But now we come to chapter 35 and there’s this picture of the desert. I lived in the desert of New Mexico for 8 years. There are just a few weeks during the year when you get all the rain. You can almost hear the ground drink it up. So there’s a lot of brown and not a whole lot of green. God’s prophet Isaiah uses that kind of picture here to help us understand what the Lord’s coming means for us. Something so different, so wonderful, so unnatural. Something so full of joy. The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
To this hopeless desert of a world., a world steeped in guilt and death, our Lord has come. He came as the Child of Mary. He came as our brother to bring us back to God. He came as our Savior to suffer and die for us. And his coming brings a remarkable kind of joy.
I witnessed it a few weeks ago up in Windsor. A dear lady asked to speak to us after worship. She recently got some news no one ever wants to hear. Yet from her heart came a joy that is ours no matter what. She knows her Lord and Savior and knows he is with her. And she knows what he has prepared for her that nothing can take away. Be strong, your God will come. He has, He will.
He will come. Right now our joy is often diluted by the worries and troubles of life. But when we see Jesus our joy will be full. We will praise God with a joy we have never known. Picture that day and what will be on our hearts and lips. This is the Lord, we trusted in him. And he saved us. Let us rejoice and be glad in our salvation. He brings a remarkable kind of joy.
And he brings remarkable change. 5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. The gospels tell us that when the Lord Jesus came on the scene he went through the land preaching and healing every disease. Remember the words of that blind man the religious leaders questioned about Jesus. He told them. That’s all I know is this . I was blind but now I see. One more remarkable change that showed what the people said was true. God has come to help his people.
Well he has come to each of us and brought remarkable change. Take the same words we just heard. They describe people once blind, deaf, lame and mute. That was you and me in a far worse way. Blind to the light of Christ. Deaf to God’s Word and calling. Lame with no ability to come to God and Mute, unable to praise God or worship him. But when Jesus came to you and was born in your heart, he brought a remarkable change. I once was blind but now I see. So Be strong, your God will come –He has and he will.
He will. Think of these bodies of ours. With King David, we confess that we were fearfully and wonderfully made. Yet we came into this world infected with something that shows itself in so many ways. Sin and its consequences. So medical textbooks are full of all the things that can afflict us. Joints wear out and get arthritic, minds get demented or sadly depressed; kidneys fail, intestines bleed. So I have visited some of you in the hospital and some of you have visited me. Be strong, your God will come. He has. He will. And when Jesus comes, guess what? All you wonderful medical folks that work so hard to heal will have to find something else to do. For he brings remarkable change.
And he puts us on a remarkable path. Listen. 8And a highway will be there; A few verses later Isaiah tells us where that highway takes those who travel it. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. As soon as you hear everlasting, you know what he’s talking about. Zion is heaven here.
But who gets to travel that road? There’s something here that might make us wonder. it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; If I look at myself in the mirror of God’s commandments, holiness is not a word that comes to mind. The love I owe my Lord and the people around me is a far cry from what I give.
Yet Jesus has put us on this remarkable path. How can that be? There’s a word here that says it all. The word redeemed. Only the redeemed will walk there. Well that’s what we are: redeemed. Someone has paid a price to set you free. A bitter and terrible price that you could never pay. A bitter and terrible price paid for you by God himself come in human flesh. He has redeemed you and put you on a remarkable path.
Think about that path. When I was young my buddy and I went backpacking upstate New York. We had no tent. We made our own lean-to open on three sides. I remember the first night I spent sleeping along the trail. Sleeping is not the word. The ground was hard and I heard every sound. I was sure it had to be a bear or predator coming to make me his dinner. I had my rifle close by my side.
What about this path we travel? Again the prophet paints us a picture. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. That’s a picture of safety isn’t it? We who travel this road are completely safe. What do you mean pastor? Christians suffer all kinds of stuff like everyone else. Go to Egypt where Christians suffer terrible persecution. That doesn’t sound very safe! But it is. This is a remarkable path we are on. Think about it. On this path, God commands his angels to protect us. And he has promised. Nothing can separate us from his love. Nothing can snatch us out of his hand. In fact everything that comes our way must serve our good. That’s God’s promise too.
So yes, we lay awake sometimes worried and afraid. We lay awake sometimes because this life hurts. But the Lord has put us on a remarkable path. So be strong. Your God will come. He has and we will soon sing those Christmas songs of celebration. And he will. Jesus will come again and when he does this path will give way to something else. Listen: Gladness and joy will overtake [us] and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Amen.