Sermon for Advent 4, December 19, 2021
Isaiah 40:1-8 Comfort, comfort my people, says your
God. 2 Speak to
the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her.
Her warfare really is over. Her
guilt is fully paid for. Yes, she has
received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice is calling out: In the wilderness prepare the way
for the Lord. In the wasteland make a
level highway for our God. 4 Every
valley will be raised up, and every mountain and hill will be made low. The rugged ground will become level, and the
rough places will become a plain. 5 Then
the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh together will see
it. Yes, the mouth of the Lord has
spoken. 6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry out?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is
like a wildflower in the countryside. 7
Grass withers, flowers fade, when the breath of the Lord blows on
them. Yes, the people are grass. 8 Grass withers,
flowers fade, but the Word of our God endures forever. (EHV)
God
comforts us with His unfailing Word.
Dear fellow redeemed,
Sin has consequences. Adam and Eve discovered that immediately
after they disobeyed God. Unfortunately,
the consequence of their sin has troubled the world ever since. Our sins lead to problems as well. An ill spoken word can shatter a heart and
ruin a relationship. A broken law, or
even a hasty mistake, might lead to time in prison. A one-time affair will destroy a marriage,
but longer-term neglect is just as destructive.
Most of us have been on the receiving end of
sin. We recognize that because sin hurts
us, but part of being sinful is that we don’t always recognize the hurt we
cause others. Still, those unrecognized
sins also have consequences. An unwanted
child might lead to murder in the womb.
Selfishness easily leads to envy, to racism, and even war. Meanwhile, every sin separates us from
God. Even one sin leads to eternal
damnation.
The inherited sin that infects us all, and the
curse that comes because of sin, leads to all the sorrow and pain we experience
in this world. Because of sin, the whole
world suffers, and distrust, betrayal, and lack of harmony is evident
everywhere you look. The main consequence
of sin is death. Because of the curse of
sin, we are soon separated from those we love.
Disease and pain are endemic to the world. Everything wears out, including our own
bodies. We fear God, hate His commands,
and struggle to love anyone, even ourselves, much less our neighbors.
As you can see, sin has caused a lot of pain
and sorrow in our world, and in our own lives.
Isaiah was sent to warn Judah about the consequences that would come
upon that nation because of their sins.
God warned of the destruction of their nation, and the exile in a
foreign land of most of the few survivors.
The prophecy spoke of great sorrow that reminds us of the sorrow so
afflicting the world today. Through it
all, though, God hasn’t forgotten His people.
Rather, God comforts us with His unfailing Word.
To Isaiah, and to every believing Christian,
God says, “Comfort, comfort my people.”
The command is doubled to emphasize that God is serious about bringing
relief to those He loves. Much of the
early part of this book of prophecies has been very harsh, tough-love, kinds of
warnings. Yet, while God is just, He is
also the God of love. God loves
unconditionally, and unwaveringly. What
God promises, He will do. Therefore, “Comfort,
comfort my people, says your God.”
Why the command to comfort His people? God says, “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem
and call out to her. Her warfare really
is over. Her guilt is fully paid
for. Yes, she has received from the
Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”
An older translation said, “Speak tenderly.” The sense that God wants to convey is His
sincere, kind, compassion, and His loving promise that He will deliver, and
what amazing promises God gives to those of us who don’t deserve anything but
just punishment for our many sins.
He says, “Call out to her. Her warfare really is over. Her guilt is fully paid for. Yes, she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.” God
doesn’t say, “Here’s what you can do to make things right.” He doesn’t say, “This is what you must do to
satisfy My just anger.” No! Instead of what our sinful nature would
expect, God tells us what He will do for us.
God looks forward to what He has planned and announces it as already
accomplished. First, “Her warfare
really is over.”
My friends, whether anyone recognizes it or
not, we were perpetually at war with God.
Every sinner was. Every
unbeliever still is. Man’s sin broke the
bond of love between God and mankind.
Because we all sin, none of us could reconcile ourselves with God. Therefore, in His amazing love, as we will be
reminded again in a few days, “God sent his Son to be born of a woman, so
that he would be born under the law, in order to redeem those under the law, so
that we would be adopted as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5) God didn’t just declare the war over, He
finished the conflict, and He didn’t send us away as conquered foes, but
rather, being reconciled with us, He adopted us into His family. God comforts us
with His unfailing Word.
This turn of events is so mind-boggling, we are
forced to ask “why?” Isaiah tells us, “Her
guilt is fully paid for.” We admit
what the law declares, our sins required death, yes, both physical death, and
eternal separation from God. We couldn’t
pay without being condemned forever in hell, and no sinner could pay for anyone
else, so we were all doomed. Therefore,
God sent His Son, perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, perfectly trusting in
His Father, perfectly obedient in every way.
God’s Son, Jesus, had no sin for which He had to pay. There was no rift between God and the
Son. Yet, “God made him, who did not
know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of
God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)
Only God’s love could be so strong that He would bear the punishment for
enemies, traitors, liars, swindlers, thieves, and betrayers, so that none of us
would be required to suffer everlasting death in hell.
Thus, the prophet is told, “Yes, she has
received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” This is the Lord’s declaration. Instead of the punishment, death, and eternal
banishment we all deserved for our depravity and lack of love, God gives us two
great treasures—grace and mercy. By
grace, God gives us the forgiveness and glory we don’t deserve and could never
earn. That’s what grace is—it gives what
cannot be earned. At the same time, God
grants us mercy—mercy is God not giving us what we do deserve. By His mercy, God chooses to punish His Son
in our place, so that He can declare us righteous for Jesus’ sake.
But, listen!
What was heard before Jesus came into the world to save us? “A voice is calling out: In the wilderness
prepare the way for the Lord. In the
wasteland make a level highway for our God. Every valley will be raised up, and every
mountain and hill will be made low. The
rugged ground will become level, and the rough places will become a plain.” John the Baptist was sent ahead of Jesus to
call people to repentance and to prepare them to meet God’s Son, the One true
Savior of the world. In our times,
faithful pastors preach the law so that people recognize their need for a
Savior. More than that, Jesus said, “I
am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6)
John prepared the way for Jesus, but Jesus
prepared the road that leads us home to His Father’s mansions in heaven. Those spiritual mountains that were too tough
and forbidding for us to climb, Jesus has knocked down. Those valleys that might trap us in darkness
and fear, Jesus has raised up to level ground.
The stumbling blocks of sin that would trip us and hinder our walk home,
Jesus has cleared away by living for us in perfect agreement to His Father’s
will. Walking with Jesus gives us an clear
path, not necessarily easy in this world, but the only way to the next home in
heaven.
In his vision, Isaiah saw the future history of
salvation compressed into one picture, so he heard, “Then the glory of the
Lord will be revealed, and all flesh together will see it. Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” When God speaks it is as good as done. No force in heaven, hell, or earth can oppose
God and win. Therefore, since God has
promised it, the Lord of glory was revealed to the world first in that humble
manger as Jesus united Himself with human flesh. In His humble service and sacrifice, we
witness the fullness of God’s love for our race, “For all the fullness of
God’s being dwells bodily in Christ.” (Colossians
2:9)
Though Jesus first came into our world in
humility and weakness so that He might save us from our sins, at the end, He
will enter in the fullness of God’s glory to judge the world and take His own
home to heaven. The reaction of the
world then will be just as telling. St.
John wrote, “Look, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him, including
those who pierced him. And all the
nations of the earth will mourn because of him.” (Revelation 1:7) Just as many people opposed Jesus when He
walked this earth in our place, on Judgment Day many will cower in terror at
the sight of His glorious return.
Still, God did not desire that any should be
lost but that all people would recognize Jesus as God’s Son and Savior of
all. Indeed, it is God’s desire to save
everyone even though many will not be willing to believe. Through Isaiah, we are warned and comforted. “A voice was saying, ‘Cry out!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry out?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is
like a wildflower in the countryside.
Grass withers, flowers fade, when the breath of the Lord blows on
them. Yes, the people are grass. Grass withers, flowers fade, but the Word of
our God endures forever.” The
warning shows us that even the very best of what we produce is only temporary. We are born.
We grow. We live. We die.
Even the best of us only try to do what is good, but in the end, we fade
away, and without Christ Jesus, our good would also fade into oblivion.
However, notice the comfort and promise at the
end: “the Word of our God endures forever.” St. John wrote, “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) God comforts
us with His unfailing Word. That is
the message we need to carry with us.
The Word that promised forgiveness and peace through the life and death
of God’s Son doesn’t end. Though Jesus
died, He rose from the grave victorious, never to die again. The word of the Holy Spirit promises us, “God
made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become
the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) Jesus, the Word made flesh, who lived and
died and rose again to give us everlasting life promises, “The one whom God
has sent speaks God’s words, for God gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has put
everything in his hands. The one who
believes in the Son has eternal life.” (John 3:34-36)
Dear friends, the sin that infects us has
tortured and shamed us throughout our walk in this world. The corruption within us leads us to sin and
causes no end of trouble for us. Yet,
that is not the end of our story, because God in His love and mercy rewrote our
record. He took our sins and put them on
Jesus, and He took Jesus’ righteousness and dressed us in that glory. In that beautiful holiness, we will stand
before the Lord one day, and Jesus will gather us in as a Shepherd gathering in
His precious flock. By God’s mercy and
Jesus’ love, we have been forgiven of all sin, and by His Word and the power of
the Holy Spirit, we have been made children of God, holy in His sight, and
dearly loved. Be comforted today and
always, not by what you may or may not have done, but by what your God and
Father has done for you, for God comforts us with His unfailing Word. 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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