Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father and
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Isaiah 49:8-13 8 This is what the Lord says. In the time of favor, I will answer you. In the day of salvation, I will help
you. I
will guard you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to
re-establish the land, to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted, 9 to
say to the prisoners, “Go forth!” to
those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!” They will graze beside roads, and they
will find pasture on all the barren heights.
10 They will not hunger, and
they will not thirst, and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,
because the one who shows them mercy will lead them. He will guide them beside springs of
water. 11 I
will make all my mountains into a smooth road, and my highways will be raised
up. 12 Look,
people will come from far away. Look,
some will come from the north and the west, and some from the land of
Sinim. 13 Shout
for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth.
Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy, because the Lord is
comforting his people, and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones. (EHV)
Rejoice in the LORD’s
favor.
Dear fellow redeemed,
For
centuries, the fourth Sunday in Lent has been called, Laetare, from a
Latin word meaning, “Rejoice!” It is
thoroughly fitting for us this morning to rejoice! Now, I know many people might be feeling a
bit less joyful right now with the weather still cold and dreary, our schools,
many businesses, and social functions shutdown, most of our financial and
commodity markets falling like a rock, people in quarantine and social
isolation, and many others severely afflicted by this new virus. For a lot of reasons, most people likely don’t
feel like celebrating right now.
However, Christianity has never been about day
to day life in this troubled world but about what the Lord has done for us and
what lies ahead for those who believe in Jesus.
Therefore, today as every day, we celebrate and Rejoice
in the LORD’s favor.
Our sermon text is like we stepped into a
conversation between the Father and the Son.
God appointed His only begotten Son to redeem the world from the curse
of sin which is death. To the world, the
Son appears to have accomplished nothing.
He will be rejected, bruised, beaten, mocked, and crucified. Jealous men will have their wicked way with
God’s appointed Servant, and His enemies will have a hasty celebration of their
victory, but they celebrate too soon.
“This is what the Lord says. In the time of favor, I will answer you. In the day of salvation, I will help you.” You and I can
rejoice even through the trials and hardships of life, because God has raised
our Savior from the grave at the exact time Jesus prophesied that He would
rise. Jesus didn’t stay dead, so even
though His enemies may have had a momentary mirage of victory, in the end,
Jesus had crushed the devil’s head and restored us to the good graces of His
heavenly Father.
The troubles and trials of life on earth are
part of the curse of sin upon the world.
Because we all sin, we know we all must die. Whether death comes early or late, the result
is the same—life on earth has ended for that person. Because death came unnaturally into the world
with the fall into sin at the devil’s temptation, we are afraid of death. It stalks us daily, especially at times of
famine, pestilence, or plague. Yet, King
David sang concerning the Son, “My whole being rejoices.…because you will
not abandon my life to the grave. You
will not let your favored one see decay.” (Psalm 16:10) Because Jesus rose from the grave, we who are
connected to Christ by faith are also assured of a resurrection hope. The grave is no longer the end of the line, but
rather, our gateway to heaven.
The God of all creation promised the Redeemer, “I
will guard you, and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people, to
re-establish the land, to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted, to
say to the prisoners, “Go forth!” to those who are in the darkness, “Show
yourselves!” God’s plan from before
He created the world was to rescue His people from the torment He knew would
come upon His creation. God didn’t
create the sin, nor was He responsible for it.
Yet, God took our salvation upon Himself because it was the only way we
could again be pure and holy in His sight.
By God’s grace, we are set free.
God promised Abraham, “In your seed all the
nations of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 22:18) This was God’s covenant promise—His one-sided
commitment to bring salvation to earth through one descendant of Abraham. One Man would bring God’s favor to the
world. That One Man is Christ
Jesus. St. John testified, “The Word
became flesh and dwelled among us. We
have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
Jesus, the Word through whom God had created the world and everything in
it, came into the world to make all of God’s promises come true—to free all of
us who were imprisoned in the darkness of sin and unbelief and bound under the
devil’s control. Christ came to call us
out of Satan’s chains and the deep darkness that had imprisoned us.
Time and again in the Bible, God’s people are
pictured as the sheep of His flock. Once
God rescues us, He will never abandon us.
Even most people who only slightly know Christianity are familiar with
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd.” (Psalm 23:1) Jesus declared, “I am the Good
Shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep
know me,…And I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14-15) Through Isaiah the Lord promises us, “They
will graze beside roads, and they will find pasture on all the barren
heights. They will not hunger, and they
will not thirst, and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them, because
the one who shows them mercy will lead them.
He will guide them beside springs of water.” Why can we rejoice even in the midst of
hardship and trial? Because the Lord is
leading us and taking care of our every need.
Christ gave His own lifeblood to purchase us from the kidnapper. Our Savior will never leave us defenseless
but will take us home to heaven.
The prophet heard the Lord say, “I will make
all my mountains into a smooth road, and my highways will be raised up.” Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth
and the Life. No one comes to the
Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)
The devil and the world like to pretend that we must do something to
appease God and earn His mercy, but there is only one way to heaven, one way to
peace with God, and that is through faith in Jesus, because Jesus made the holy
sacrifice that bought us out of the devil’s control. Jesus bore our ugliness on the cross so that
we could shine before God in all the glorious brightness of His Son’s holiness.
A moment ago, we heard God’s promise that all
nations would be blessed through Abraham’s seed. Through Isaiah we hear, “Look, people will
come from far away. Look, some will come
from the north and the west, and some from the land of Sinim.” The prophecies of Isaiah were not just for
the Jews. Rather, the Son of God
declared to the prophet,
But now the Lord, who
formed me from the womb to be his servant, to turn Jacob back to him, so that
Israel might be gathered to him, so that I will be honored in the eyes of the
Lord, because my God has been my strength—the Lord said: It is too small a
thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be
a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the
earth. (Isaiah 49:5-6)
We Rejoice in the LORD’s favor, because
we were not left out of God’s salvation plan.
No matter what troubles we may experience in this world, no matter what
trials and hardships might yet come our way, our salvation is accomplished, and
God has called us to faith through His Means of Grace. Through the promises of the Gospel, and by
the power of Baptism, you and I have been granted eternal life, and no one can
take that away. Martin Luther sang in
his great battle hymn, “And take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife,
Let these all be gone, They yet have nothing won; The Kingdom ours remaineth.”
Jesus told His followers, “I tell you, there
is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Luke
15:10) Through Isaiah we hear, “Shout
for joy, O heavens, and rejoice, O earth.
Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy, because the Lord is
comforting his people, and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.” Heaven and earth will break forth in shouts
of joy and gladness when the people of Christ’s kingdom are gathered into
heaven forever. Here we are afflicted,
but there we will know peace and comfort that never ends.
Because we believe every Word God has given us
is true, and because God is faithful in all His promises, we can rejoice with
the confidence of St. Paul who said:
Therefore we are not
discouraged. But even if our outer self
is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. Yes, our momentary, light trouble produces for
us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond any comparison. We are not focusing on what is seen, but on
what is not seen. For the things that
are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. (2
Corinthians 4:16-18)
The troubles of today will fade away, but God’s
Word remains forever. Trust the
forgiveness and salvation you have been given through faith in Christ
Jesus. Know that He is ever with you,
using the authority of God to work all things for your everlasting good. Know that nothing the devil or this world can
use against you will be able to separate you from the love and promises of
God.
Dear friends, through every trial and challenge
that might rise up against you, whether seemingly bad or good, Rejoice in
the LORD’s favor, for God has smiled upon you with His grace. Amen.
The peace of God which passes all
understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life
everlasting. Amen.
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