Advent Week 2

Good morning once again everyone. We are continuing in our Advent series, that is based off of Isaiah 64:1 “1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!” and how Advent is the celebration of God opening the heavens and sending Jesus down to us. Today we are going to be looking at Isaiah 40, which is more of an Advent passage than the chapter we looked at last week. In this passage, we are going to see how God provides comfort for his people while they were still in exile and how that same comfort is available for us. Let’s read the passage together and pray that God would teach us.

Isaiah 40:1–11 NIV

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” 9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Prayer

Engage / Tension

Right before this chapter, in Isaiah 39, the people are left with depressing words. In Isaiah 39:6 “6 The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord.” The people’s sin has brought a great consequence to them, their rebellion against God has not gone unnoticed and as a result they are going to be taken off to Babylon into exile. Not only that, but everything that they have stored up, all their treasures and wealth, will be carried off to Babylon as well. In Lamentations we read the account of Jeremiah as he laments the falling of Jerusalem to Babylon. Within the first chapter of Lamentations Jeremiah says that there is no comfort for the people four times.

Today, I want us to examine what we ought to do then when it feels like we are in a similar experience. The holiday season is not always the most comforting time and just in general, we face times in life where comfort seems impossible, just as it did for the people of Israel.

The prophecy of Isaiah concluded in chapter 39 with devastating words. Everything will be carried away to Babylon. “Nothing shall be left, says the Lord” (39:6). Your sin has brought this disaster. Your rebellion toward God has caused your devastation. Your lack of faith has led to your ruin. Isaiah 39 ends with depressing words. “Nothing shall be left.” Fellowship with God is now severed. God will no longer be with his people. The covenant with God has been broken by the people. Sin has ruined everything. The book of Lamentations is written by the prophet Jeremiah as he wails for the fall of Jerusalem and the loss of the nation because of their sins. In the first chapter of Lamentations the author declares four times that there is no comfort for the people (Lamentations 1:2,9,17,21). There is no comfort for our sins. There is nothing that we can do for our sinful condition. What will God do now? What will God do with a people steeped in their sins and deserving of wrath? What will God say now? How will the people experience comfort?

Robert Stevenson, author of treasure island and the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Interesting person to read about) describes how he found comfort in the midst of a storm while at sea.

Robert Louis Stevenson tells of a storm that caught a vessel off a rocky coast and threatened to drive it and its passengers to destruction. In the midst of the terror, one daring man, contrary to orders, went to the deck, made a dangerous passage to the pilot house and saw the steerman, at his post holding the wheel unwaveringly, and inch by inch, turning the ship out, once more, to sea. The pilot saw the watcher and smiled. Then, the daring passenger went below and gave out a note of cheer: "I have seen the face of the pilot, and he smiled. All is well."

When we are in moments like the exiles and comfort is far away, an appropriate and good response is to look to the pilot, the one who is in control and seek comfort there, just as Robert did. And despite the harsh words in Isaiah 39, Isaiah 40 provides great comfort for us.

A Message of Comfort

Isaiah 40:1–2 NIV

The first thing God speaks to the people here is simply comfort. Even though the people had brought this disaster upon themselves because of their sin, God is still going to bring comfort to them. And in verse 1 we see two important things about God’s character and his mercy. He speaks comfort to not just a random group of people, but to HIS people. Even though the people have disobeyed, even though they had rebelled against God, God had never forsaken them, God had never once stopped being their God and they had never stopped being his people. God is upholding his part of his covenant with the people even though they had broken their part of it. Exodus 6:7 “7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.”

God has told them that they are his people and his is their God. He does not go back on his word and does not abandon them. God then says to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, that the purpose has been served in Babylon and now there is this great comforting message that God wants them to hear.

A Message of Providence

Isaiah 40:3–5 NIV

3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

In this message of providence, the people are told something amazing. God is coming! Prepare the highway for God to come through, make the road clear, be ready! This reference is historical for the people originally hearing this. When a king would visit an area, a messenger was sent ahead of him to proclaim that he was coming. This allowed the people time to prepare the road that the king would take into town. They would make sure the road was in good condition, remove barriers, and make sure that the king had a clear path.

This is the role that John the Baptist played for the arrival of Jesus. John was the messenger sent ahead of the king telling the people to prepare themselves. Get the road ready. Matthew recognizes this passage is fulfilled in John the BAptist when he writes Matthew 3:3 “3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ””

This preparation though was not meant for a physical road, but for the spiritual barriers that the people had created in their hearts. The people needed to repent, to turn from their sin, to make way for the savior. And when the King arrives, the glory of the Lord will be revealed. John tells us about this very moment in John 1:14 “14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is the message of providence. God sees people who are in need of a savior, of the perfect king, and he will make sure that the road is cleared for his arrival.

A Message of Promise

Isaiah 40:6–8 NIV

6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

This next message is one of promise as it reminds us of the eternity of God. The messenger says that the people ought to cry out and they are told to cry out this reminder that people are like grass which fade and withers. Here we once again notice some resemblance to the book of Ecclesiastes. We are all like grass and will wither and fade away. And while this might not sound like the most comforting thing, it is because the herald goes on to explain how we are not like the word of God. Unlike us, the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is comforting, because even though everything in this world is temporary, even though we all will one day face death, the word of God will never end or fade away. We might be unreliable but God is not. And so instead of placing our confidence in these temporary things in life, instead of placing our hope and sense of security in money, jobs, our health, or relationships, we can place them in God because he and his promises endure forever.

Our hope in God is grounded in the fact that God keeps his word. And while it may be a verse that gets used often, this principle is why John 3:16 brings so much comfort to us. Believe in Jesus, is this perfect king and savior, and you will never perish, you will not fade away like the grass, but have eternal life. And we can find comfort in that because as Isaiah says, the word of God remains forever. God will not go back on what he has said. We have been born again because of the certain, unchangeable nature of God’s word.

A Message of Peace

Isaiah 40:9–11 NIV

9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Because of these messages, the herald tells us to shout the good news. See the arrival of the king, hear what he has done and will do for you, and shout about it. Talk about the might of God and his power, talk about your reward in heaven because of Jesus because he is going to tend to his flock like a shepherd. God is coming with compassion and care, as a shepherd to his flock.

As Jesus says in John 10:14-16

John 10:14–16 NIV

14 “I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.

God is ready to provide spiritual comfort to us. Even though we are sinners, even though we are unreliable, God still has promised to carry you and to provide comfort to you through Jesus. Prepare your heart for the arrival of Jesus, remove the obstacles that are keeping you from him, because he wishes to bring redemption to you, he desires for you to know him and be saved by him, so that you may experience a perfect eternity in his presence.

Inspiration

What matters supremely, therefore, is not, in last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact which underlies it- that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him because He first knew me, and theirs is no moment when His eye is off me, His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when His care falters.

This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort… in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me in love and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love is utterly realistic; based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me, in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me.

J.I. Packer

Prayer

Communion

Advent is a time of waiting with eager expectation for the arrival of the Son of God. He has promised that he will return and bring in his kingdom, which will be a reign of justice, goodness, and peace. There will be plenty for everyone and we will all be satisfied. Our hearts will no longer ache with sadness, regret, or loneliness, nor will they burn with anger and desires for revenge. We will no longer fear others or plan for their destruction. We will love and be loved and we will dwell in God’s renewed world with pure joy and complete delight. We long for that day because that’s not our present experience.

In anticipation of that day, however, we do a few things to enjoy a bit of that reality now by the power of the Spirit. We gather together to be reminded of God’s goodness, to share our griefs and pains. We laugh and draw courage from one another and from reminding ourselves of Christian realities. We eat with the new friends and family that God has given us called the church. And we participate in this ritual called communion, or the Lord’s Supper.

We do this to remember that God sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. We do this to remember that God saved us at the cross of Jesus. We do this to remind ourselves that though we eat a small chunk of bread now, we will feast with Jesus when he renews creation, freeing it from bondage to decay.

So, when you eat this bread and drink from this cup, you are saying “thank you,” you are saying “yes,” and you are saying “come, Lord Jesus.” Thank God for salvation in Jesus. Say “yes” to enjoying God’s family now. And say “come, Lord Jesus,” praying that God will again and very soon send his Son to restore creation and satisfy our hearts.

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