All creation Rejoice

Thank you

This week we had an amazing crew come here to paint…Bob puliz said…well we are going to knock out the staff offices…and if we have more paint maybe a little more…Well they ended up doing nearly everything. It is so great to have this facilities team that just does so much for us. So I just wanted to recognize and thank

Bop Puliz

Pete Rabbon

Garry Dremmel

Gary Denton

Steve Heib

Sandra & Dusty Puliz

Would you stand for a second so We can properly thank you

See we have a vision here called Multiply 2025 where we want to see this church become a hub for church planting…A multiplying force cor God’s kingdom…So we are renovating ourselves spiritually…We are renovating our whole property and we are setting a goal to plant a new church by 2025…And the goal is to raise 300,000 in the next three years.

See You can not renovate this place for $300K but by doing the work that we can do ourselves we save tens of thousands of dollars.

Intro

Welcome to week 3 of our series…Do you hear what I hear? These are echoes out of the book of Isaiah...

And I want to remind you of where we started

At the time that Isaiah is writing this, Israel is feeling the pressure from all sides…They have major world powers on their doorstep and they are a nation whose power has been in decline for the last couple of hundred years

And Isaiah is there saying…Hey Israel…your going to go into exile

Horrible suffering is coming your way

So Isaiah has to proclaim the judgment of God on Israel and it is harsh

But he also proclaims this new vision that God that will come to his people and save them....

That one day, God himself will show up and be with humanity again

So the book of Isaiah has these twin themes that sort of run through it all.

But the big theme that we are really exploring this Christmas is that, Isaiah is looking to a day He looked forward to the day when Heaven and earth would meet up in the person of Jesus and God would restore what had been lost

So this morning, I have no clever intros…Just open your bibles to Isaiah 35…

As we flip there…I have read this text hundreds of times…and I just want to say that there is very little that I will say that is as good as the Bible

Isaiah 35 NIV

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

I mean this portion of Isaiah is so good…It can preach itself…why does it even need me?

What we find here is this classic Hebrew Poetry...

The picture that Isaiah is painting here is a people walking back home from exile…and their environment transforms for them...

What we have to understand about Isaiah 35 is that it is the total inverse or mirror image of Isaiah 34. We are not going to take the time to read 34 today but if you were to put them next to each other you will see what is a punishment for all of the wicked nations who brought Israel into exile is then a blessing for Israel

It goes from a tough barren wasteland to a fertile and beautiful land that is marked with Joy.

The biggest theme in this poem is a return to Eden.

When Adam and Eve were exiled from Eden what happened?

They went from a garden, where God was present and all of their needs were taken care of

And they were put outside of the garden where their work became hard and the land was barren…Literally a blossoming place to a dessert place

What this text is saying is that when God comes it will be like walking into Eden again

And before we get into this text more deeply I was thinking of what this is like...

I’ve been to Maui a few times and where you land at the airport is kind of this industrial area....The airport is between these two huge mountains and all the tropical paridise of Maui is around these two massive mountains...

But the first time I went there there was a lot of farm land and the dirt is all red…and I just remember getting in the rental car and driving to the hotel thinking…This is maui?

I would have expected it to be a lot more green!

But then in just a few minutes as you get closer to the hotel you go from driving in what feels like a tropical dessert to this lush green tropical paradise…and then when you finally get there your like…Is this heaven? is God here?

When I read this text this is the picture that comes into my mind

Up until this point in Isaiah there is all of this judgment in the book of Isaiah…and there are a few bright points along the way but this is the first glimpse of what Israel will really look like when God comes in the flesh

And I think that what strikes me the most about this poem is that it is describing the coming of God to Earth and that scene is marked with overwhelming Joy

Joy is found in freedom from captivity

Isaiah 35:1–2 NIV

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

What Isaiah is referring to here is the captives of Babylon and Assyria returning home...

What Isaiah is saying is that hey, there is this great freedom coming...

And I don’t know if you have ever been set free from something, but I will tell you what, there is great joy in being set free...

When Desiree and I got married we both came in with a little bit of credit card debt and a few years in, we had made no progress on that debt until Desiree and I said…We have to make that a priority…and once we were free from debt there was like this huge monkey off our back!

Its like we didn't realize the weight of what we were carrying because we were finally free of it.

Here’s another example, I am a glutton for suffering…Most people try to avoid suffering but I like to get on a bike and push myself…Once a month I pick a day and ride 100 miles…I’ve done this now for 17 consecutive months…and some days its easy…And some days you question everything

But there was this one ride I went on…and it should have been easy because it was a flat route…but there was a wind advisory, and two of my water stops at parks had the water turned off…I ran out of food at mile 80…I was dehydrated…The wind made the ride so much longer and slower…And I just wanted to give up so bad…but I was so close to home…Anyway, I am getting close to home and I finally feel the freedom of being done with the ride…and I show up to my house and one of our board members was there…Margie Epperstein, and she had these freshly made tortillas that she was dropping off…And it was like the dessert experience of that ride transformed right in front of me...

I mean they were just tortillas…and Margie could have had no idea of just how amazing the timing was…But I was dehydrated and calorie deprived…In the cycling world we just call it “Bonking” …>You have no idea how much joy those simple tortillas brought me

But these are silly examples

But if we can feel joy in these little moments of life....How much more joy can you feel when you are forgiven from sin, made right with God and now you have the ability to have a relationship with the living God?

These first two verses describe the joy of those who are returning from exile...

Do you remember when you first laid your life down at Jesus’ feet?

Do you remember the feeling of when you realized that you are no longer defined by the sin you committed or the mistakes that you made?

Do you remember the freedom of realizing that if God is for you then who can be against you?

Do you remember the joy of your salvation?

I know people who have been set free from Pornography addictions and they live a whole new life...

I know people who have been set free from depression and anxiety, and when they describe what Jesus has done for them it is like he took the dessert of their life and transformed it....

That is what this verse is saying

That when God comes it will be like desserts transform into gardens

It will be like the glory of the most beautiful places come into the dessert

And that will being Joy...

And you know what? God wants you to experience Joy…He wants you to have it…It is central to his character and he wants you to experience all who he is

And God is fundamentally Joyful

See this text says that for that person who is set free it will be like the wilderness blooming…Like purple flowers in the middle of a barren wasteland

Then Isaiah continues the theme of Joy being found in freedom from captivity....

God fights for your joy

Isaiah 35:3–4 NIV

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”

I think people look at this verse and say things like…See God is violent…See I knew that God can’t be trusted...

But I want you to see how God fights for his people...

probably what Isaiah had in mind here was the original exodus in Egypt...

Where God’s people are escaping this massive military power of Egypt…thinking…how could we ever escape such a powerful army?

How could we ever find freedom?

And what God does is leads them out of Egypt and uses the red sea to swallow up the army of Egypt…God saved his people and brought them great joy

And what Isaiah is saying is be strong, have faith…don’t fear what he did before he will do again!

But the question is how will God fight for his people again?

Will it be with plagues like he did with Pharaoh? Will it be with fire from the sky?

I mean we know that eventually the Assyrian empire got too large and fell apart

We know that the Babylonians were taken by the Meeds and the Persians...

But really how would God get his divine retribution?

Sin would have to be punished right?

Much later after Jesus the apostle Paul would make this observation on the cross

Colossians 2:14–15 NIV

having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

So what does divine vengeance look like?

Maybe it is letting the bad guys implode under the weight of their own power

But it seems to me that Jesus was the subject of divine vengance…He satisfied the wrath of God.

He went to battle for your freedom…To give you his joy...

See the cross both forgives our sin but shows Jesus as triumphant over the powers and authorities in this world!

`See the powers and authorities (Rome and the Pharisees) thought they were shutting Jesus up but what they could never realize is that through his death on the cross he would take away the sins of the world. The cross would become his throne, and that Jesus would sit on this throne for eternity

What they couldn’t understand at the time is what divine retribution looks like, is Jesus actually taking on our sin and making us new.

what they couldn’t understand is that the cross is the door in which thousands of people have walked to find freedom

That because of the cross the enemies of God have been defeated and that we can experience Joy

Joy is found in God’s works of grace.

Isaiah 35:5–7 NIV

Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

I love this because not only does this continue the theme of the desert being transformed but Jesus directly quotes this passage...

The scene is that John the Baptist is in prison....And John you have to remember is Jesus’ cousin

The forerunner of the messiah...

His entire Job was to announce Jesus coming

and when he goes through his dessert experience…Being a prisoner in Herod’s prison

He sends his disciples to Jesus and asks...

“Are you the one? or should we expect another?”

I mean this is displaying some serious doubt of Jesus

and what does Jesus reply?

Matthew 11:4-5

Matthew 11:4–5 NIV

Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

He tells John…Go back and read your bible to Isaiah 35....I am the fulfill-met of it

Jesus literally healed the lame, he healed the blind and the deaf, he healed those with leprosy and he raised the dead....

What Isaiah is looking forward to is a day of grace

A day where God himself is with his people and he is giving his people this amazing grace where he restores his people

and on that day mute tongues will shout for joy

and I love also that the text says that water will gush forth in the wilderness

Probably Isaiah is thinking about the couple of times where during the exodus God had water come out of the rock for his people...

But I think the point of all of these stories is that when we are in God’s presence it will be like cold water on a hot day...

It will be like riding your bike 100 miles to come home to fresh tortilla’s

When Jesus was attending a feast called Tabernacles he stood up and said this:

John 7:37–38 NIV

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.”

The joy of God is literally found in realizing that you live by his grace

The Joy of God is found in coming to this grace daily. and drinking deeply from the well of Jesus’ word

It is found in realizing that he has not paid you back according to what your sins deserve

Joy is found on the highway of holiness.

Isaiah 35:8–10 NIV

And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

If we were reading the entire book of Isaiah we would find that in chapter 33…all of the roads…all of the highways were destroyed

So this highway is a metaphorical one…Just like when Jesus says, hey there are two paths you can take…the wide road that leads to destruction or the narrow road that leads to life...

And I think it is really true that there are just two paths you can take in life…either the way of Jesus or literally anything else....

And Isaiah says…there will be no lion or any ravenous beast there…

I mean do we fully understand the joy when you are safe?

This is what Jesus gives to those who are on the metaphorical highway of holiness…Safety...

If you are following Jesus then your life is wrapped up in his life.

It means you have experienced his salvation and nothing that ever happens to you can make you unsafe...

It means that even if you die you will be safe in him...

And I love verse 10 because the point is that when we experience that…Then there is nothing to experience other than Joy and gladness

Challenge

I think the challenge today is to read this text and see that it is actually for us.

That God has this joyful life for y

Questions

What are the desserts in your life?

You hang onto the desserts because you have been there so long that they are comfortable...

See the promise of this text is that when God comes he will turn those desserts into streams of living water where the flowers bloom.

Maybe your here today and your prayer

Where else do we look for Joy?

Cs Lewis once said: “What does not satisfy when we find it, was not the thing we were desiring.”

I feel like this is the common human problem...

We keep looking for Joy everywhere other than the God who is joyful

We look for Joy in relationships that end up hurting us

We look for Joy in things that end up getting old and breaking

We look for Joy in our own significance only to find out that you are really not all that significant

Maybe your here today and you have never experience the Joy of Jesus

This is the inner character of God...

I want to encourage you to ask Jesus for it