Sermon (04-Dec): "Awaiting the King" Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11

Scripture:

Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11 (SLIDE)

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting, “Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God! 4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!”

9 O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem.[a] Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” 10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

Big Idea:

The objective of this message is to prepare ourselves for the arrival of the King with comfort and in anticipation

Intro:

- In his best-selling book, The Jesus I Never Knew,

- Philip Yancey contrasts Jesus’ birth and visit to this earth with the worldly rulers of our day and time

- In one instance, he differentiated between Jesus’ arrival against that of Queen Elizabeth to the United States:

Queen Elizabeth II had recently visited the United States, and reporters delighted in spelling out the logistics involved: her four thousand pounds of luggage included two outfits for every occasion, a mourning outfit in case someone died, forty pints of plasma, and white kid-leather toilet seat covers. She brought along her own hairdresser, two valets, and a host of other attendants. A brief visit of royalty to a foreign country can easily cost twenty million dollars.

In meek contrast, God’s visit to earth took place in an animal shelter with no attendants present and nowhere to lay the newborn king but a feed trough. Indeed, the event that divided history, and even our calendars, into two parts may have had more animal than human witnesses. A mule could have stepped on him.

- As we venture into this Christmas season—this time of Advent,

- Most people lose their focus and shift it towards the outside or inside décor…the lights, tree, and the gifts under it

- None of those things are wrong in and of themselves…

- Especially when children are involved

- Even so, my wife helped me and our family to center Christmas around Christ

- The gifts weren’t center stage…Jesus was

- Now, I’m sure each child was excited,

- Eager to get to their gifts but we wanted to establish focus that although—

- There were gifts under the tree—whether it be few or many

- Still, the focus was Him being the One Gift

- The holiday was established to recognize His place in the earth

- God the Father gave us the perfect gift that would impact us for all eternity

- He was and is the gift that is the focus of our faith and fuels our faith as we wait in expectation

- So, as we enter this 2nd Sunday of Advent—last week’s focus was hope

- This week is about preparation

- I think back to Jesus’ initial arrival; one that we mentioned earlier that was unheralded

- The people heard of it and the prophets spoke of it

- Yet, time passed, decades, centuries and thousands of years passed

- And still, no appearance of the King

- Then, one night in a manger, we are given an up-close account of the night in history where everything changed

- The prophet Isaiah was made privy of this

- I think back on Isaiah saying this (Isa 7:14),

14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel

- Isaiah was preparing not just the house of David but prepares us as well

- Most of us would like to be prepared if possible

- Especially if we are expecting an arrival—be it an Amazon/FEDEX package

- But definitely when it comes to an arrival like this

- We want to prepare ourselves accordingly

- So, how do we do just that, wait and prepare accordingly?

- Isaiah, I believe, shares a few quick bits on how we can prepare and wait…

-- With Comfort

-- In Anticipation

-- For, He Will Come

Transition: So, we can prepare and wait with comfort. But, how?

1) With Comfort (SLIDE)

1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. 2 “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned. Yes, the Lord has punished her twice over for all her sins.”

- Right away, we see that God is in favor of our relationship with Him

- He concerns Himself with the state of our relationship with Him

- Here, we get a more caring side of God in the Old Testament nonetheless

- God has always been mindful of us

- Since the creation of mankind and the Garden of Eden,

- His thoughts and heart have been for us

- We know that He is a just God

- But I believe there are times where we are not aware that He is a loving God

- For me, I don’t know about you, God drew me in with lovingkindness

- That’s what He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah (31:3),

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness…”

- What we all can allow to soak into our hearts and mind is…the love of God

- His love for us leads to His comfort of us

- And, what confuses us at times is when we face the issues that come up in life

- When we have to deal with the stressors of life, as a parent, as a child, as a co-worker/supervisor…

- These are the things that confuse us when we read, “Comfort, comfort my people”

- Life’s issues and God’s love don’t shouldn’t run side by side with each other

- At least, that’s what I initially thought and what I remind myself

- Because there are stressors in my life it doesn’t mean that I am forgotten or stricken by God

- I can be initially rattled but I don’t need to be dismayed

- I remind myself that God is my strong tower and refuge

- Whatever it is that I am facing, it is “not uncommon to the human experience” (AMP)

- The Bible says “no temptation” and we immediately think sexual sin but it also means “a lapse from the faith and holiness”

- Both apply but here I’m learning that I don’t have to fall away because my faith is being tested

- I don’t have to be utterly stressed in the midst of the situation

- It can be the holiday season, work, or home situation

- I’m encouraged when God says that the “sad days are gone and sins have been pardoned”

- That is where I am with comfort for today, tomorrow, this season and beyond

- God wants us to be comforted with the thoughts that His Son has come and is coming

- What better hope can we have in this season

- Things we shouldn’t necessarily have hope in may fade but this hope does not

Transition: This hope—this preparation—leads us to wait also in anticipation

2) In Anticipation

3 Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,“Clear the way through the wilderness for the Lord! Make a straight highway through the wastelandfor our God! 4 Fill in the valleys, and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves, and smooth out the rough places. 5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. The Lord has spoken!

- In my opinion, there’s nothing better than when we have something good to wait on

- You can call it anticipation, excitement, or expectation

- That thrill of something that has been long awaited

- It’s almost unmatched or unparalleled

- Yet, we attach that to things here on earth

- So, when we switch that to what’s ahead, the coming of the Lord

- That should make each of us excited

- The One God—the Savior of the world—is the One we wait in anticipation of

- For some, the anticipation will be with a frown

- For those that have placed their faith in Him, we can wait with a smile

- When I think that every tear will be wiped from our faces and that we will mourn no more

- I can’t help but look forward

- None of us here will make it in perfect and unscathed

- And, thankfully that’s not what He requires

- We can ride in on the coattails or righteousness of Jesus

- My trust and faith in Jesus are what makes the wait worth it

- I anticipate His return

- If it all rested on me, my anticipation would be frustrated to say the least

- Knowing that it rests fully on Christ, that lightens the load and burden that I feel tremendously

- Isaiah here alludes to John the Baptist as the forerunner to Jesus and that’s where New Testament hope begins

- John points to Jesus as the Way

- This is the same Jesus, same God that Isaiah writes of later on (Isa 43:16) in saying,

“he made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters”

- So, if he can do that then valleys and mountains are no issue

- The lows of our lives hold very little weight

- We can weather the storm because we know the Master of the Sea

- I like what Isaiah says a little later (Isa 45:2),

2 I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.

- Some of this may sound off the wall to some but I’ve learned that when I tried to limit what God can or could do

- I was proved wrong so many times

- Our perspective is not only, not always right but at times is irrespective of God’s omniscience

- We fail to grasp in how great God is

- On the one hand, we say He is a mighty God

- Yet, on the other, we limit Him and even doubt Him

- Bottom line, we are not always made privy to how God works in every situation

- My wife and family have helped to change my view countless times

- The hope and faith that they have had has challenged and stretched me

- It’s amazing what we believe about God

- One survey of more than 4,700 adults found:

56% of Americans believe in God “as described in the Bible.”

97% God is all-loving

94% God is all-knowing

86% God is all-powerful

God determines what happens in my life…

43% All of the time

28% Most of the time

16% Some of the time

6% Hardly ever

6% Never

Source:

Editor, “We Believe in God,” CT magazine (June, 2018), p. 15

- God has never led me wrong…I’ve led me wrong

- According to what His written word says, He’s not going to start now

Transition: I can wait with comfort and in anticipation because He has promised that He will come

3) He Will Come [SLIDE]

9 O Zion, messenger of good news,shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem, Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” 10 Yes, the Sovereign Lord is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes.

- As I sat and prepared this portion of the message, I thought about it…[Our] God is coming

- One translation says, “Behold your God!”

- That is a key part or our eternal story; He will come

- It’s not just a feel-good message but it’s the absolute truth

- Old Testament saints and prophets died without knowing

- We, today, have a better understanding because we have the second half of the story

- I for one am grateful for this half of the story

- When He comes, He’ll come in power to establish dominion

- I wish I could understand all the intricacies of His return

- But I am excited about His return

- Over the past couple of years, COVID has been a very well known, challenging, disheartening issue for a lot of people

- Some of us have lost loved ones—family members and friends

- We all can agree that our faith has been tested

- Hopefully, your faith has grown to become more resilient

- A part of our faith is not just for the present—for our situations and circumstances

- We have faith for our future…

- Namely, that Christ will come

- We celebrate Christ with communion

- We celebrate His coming in the manger

- So, we can celebrate that He will come with authority meaning that no human rule can dispute it

- Even further, His reward is with Him

- Whatever you have done for Him and through Him will not go unnoticed

- It may seem in the here and now that what we are doing in our respective areas is menial

- We can get caught up in the monotony of it all

- Routine after routine can be taxing and tiring

- But, mind you, God has not forgotten all you have done

- Many of us need that encouragement throughout the year and especially at Christmas

- We are not being selfish but mindful that our labor and love is not in vain

- God has not forgotten who you are

- Whether you are or feel alone or lonely, His Spirit/the Comforter is here and He will come

- He will come because we need Him to come; He’s our Shepherd

Closing

- As I close, we await the return of our King and Shepherd

- Paul Miller writes in The Praying Life (2009),

We are left obsessing over our wants in the valley of the shadow of death, paralyzed by fear in the presence of our enemies. No wonder so many are so cynical … Both the child and the cynic walk through the valley of the shadow of death. The cynic focuses on the darkness; the child focuses on the Shepherd.

- Our focus clearly this season and beyond needs to be on the Shepherd and King

- Advent “invites us to slow down from all the holiday preparations and parties, take a deep breath, and remember the reason for the season: the eternal Jesus Christ taking on human flesh.” – Crosswalk, 21 Nov 22

- Thus, we celebrate Christ today

- Will you join me in a word of prayer?

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I ask you to forgive me for all my sins known and unknown, I renounce them all. Lord Jesus, come into my heart. I receive you now as Lord and Savior of my life. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. He died for me and arose and sits at the right hand of God praying for me, interceding for me. Lord Jesus, I give you everything. I thank you for saving me, delivering me, and setting me free, in Jesus’ name!