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Isaiah 40:1-11
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Introduction
Have you heard about Manitoba Homecoming?
The government and the tourism office is sponsoring and promoting a great big party next year in honor of Manitoba's 140th birthday.
They are encouraging people to invite their family and friends to Manitoba next year.
Part of the celebration will take place on May 15, 2010 and they are calling it the world’s biggest social.
As I understand it, this is an effort to achieve the Guinness World Book record for the largest birthday party.
Their advertising says that there are currently 32 communities from all across the province that are coming together to take part in “a true Manitoba tradition.”
Such a massive effort involves all kinds of things – planning, communication, anticipation, and of course the event itself.
At this time of year we are focused on another party that will happen in just over 4 weeks.
We are also planning, communicating, anticipating (our Grandson informed us last week that it was only 5 weeks until Christmas) and when it comes, we will enjoy all the events associated with this great party.
When we think of Christmas, what is it that we are planning for?
How do we communicate the message of Christmas?
What are we anticipating?
What are we waiting for?
On this first Sunday of Advent, I would like to invite us to think about these questions as we look at one of the Old Testament passages in which God makes some great promises to His people which speak of His coming.
Several things happen in this passage.
There is a promise of God’s coming and we realize that this promise is fulfilled in the coming of Jesus.
There is a promise of God’s coming into our lives.
This promise invites us to think about what God is like and to ask, “what can we expect from Him and how should we live in light of His coming?”
From our vantage point, we also realize that this is also a promise of His future coming.
Such promises invite us to rejoice, but also to think about preparing for His coming.
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I. The Need for God
If we heard an announcement that the Queen was coming to Manitoba for the big party next year, some would be excited, but I wonder how many of us would say, “so what?”
Last week Larry talked about thirst for God.
The coming of God is only good news if we have a need for God, a longing for Him in our lives.
Christmas is really only meaningful if we understand that the coming of Jesus fulfills a deep need.
The promises in Isaiah 40 arise out of such a longing.
!! A. Comfort My People
In order to grasp the wonder of the promise in this passage, we need to understand the context in which it was originally written.
Most of Isaiah 1-39 contains prophecies about coming devastation upon the nation of Israel.
In Isaiah 39, there is a hint of what is to come and it isn’t good news.
In the days of Hezekiah an envoy from Babylon came to Jerusalem and Hezekiah showed them all the wealth and treasures in the temple and in the king’s treasury.
Isaiah prophesied warning in Isaiah 39:6, “The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.
Nothing will be left, says the Lord.”
Such a message would surely be devastating to all who heard it.
Isaiah 40 answers to the despair and devastation announced in Isaiah 39 and gives the message, “Comfort, comfort my people…”
!! B. Her Sin Has Been Paid For
A second area of need is indicated in verse 2 which speaks of sin.
The message says, “speak tenderly,” but this message to the heart arises out of an awareness of the depth of sins with which Israel has been filled.
When you read the history of Israel, you come to see how terrible the sin of the people was.
Not only did they reject God, but they treated each other terribly.
The language used is shocking.
The images of sin, such as prostitution, are meant to help us understand just how deeply steeped in sin the whole nation was.
The message of God’s coming arises out of the deep need of a people burdened and overcome by sin.
!! C. In the Desert
Another image of need appears in verse 3 which refers to “the desert” and the “wilderness.”
Why is the voice calling in the desert?
Why does the preparation for the coming of God arise in the wilderness?
It is because that is often where people become ready to meet God.
Sin drives them into the wilderness.
In the wilderness they become ready to meet God because there are no resources which distract and there are no means by which normal needs can be met.
The wilderness is a place of need in which people finally come to the end of their own strength.
E.J. Young says of the desert that it is “…a figure of the obstacles and impediments as well as the difficulties that have kept God from His people.”
It is like Larry said last week, when we are thirsty then we will truly appreciate a cup of cold water.
The thirstier we are, the more we seek that which will quench our thirst.
This is why God had to lead the people of Israel through the wilderness before they were ready to be His people and enter the Promised Land.
Isaiah 40 speaks to need.
It speaks to the need of a people who have been devastated by destruction.
It speaks to the difficulties of a people who are steeped in sin.
It speaks to the lack experienced by people in the wilderness.
It is rare that people thirst for God when they have everything they need.
It isn’t until we come to the end of our own selves, until we are helpless, until we are devastated that we will truly seek for God.
Sometimes it seems that Christmas is just a self indulgent party.
Do we truly appreciate that God has come?
Have we really perceived our need, our desperation for God?
I would invite us in the next month to take the time to notice our need and to recognize that we are in the wilderness.
For then the hope of God’s coming will truly be a cause for rejoicing.
!
II.
The Preparation for His Coming
To hearts that are thirsty, a voice calls out for people to prepare for the coming of the Lord.
In verse 3, promise is implied, but preparation is required.
!! A. Prepare the Way for the Lord
The good news is that Israel does not have to stay in the wilderness.
This is after all a word of comfort, a word spoken tenderly to the heart.
But just because people realize that they are in need does not mean that God will come.
So the prophet calls for the people to “…prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.”
Most writers suggest that preparation for the coming of God indicates repentance.
When Solomon dedicated the temple he prayed that if the people sinned and if they would repent then God would return to them.
Throughout Scripture, repentance is the necessary condition upon which God comes to His people.
This passage is quoted in reference to John the Baptist.
In Matthew 3:1-3 we read, “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the Desert of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
Before Jesus could come, the way needed to be prepared.
Hearts needed to repent and be ready to receive the coming of Messiah.
So we see that this passage is fulfilled in the coming of John the Baptist and his preparation for the coming of Jesus.
Nevertheless, this also indicates a timeless truth.
If we are devastated, if we are in sin and living in the wilderness of our need, a part of the path which will allow God to come to us is repentance.
It is hard for us to repent, because it involves humility and a shedding of pride.
It involves a recognition that we are not perfect or self sufficient.
But until we repent and acknowledge our failure and our need, God cannot come to us.
!! B. Every Valley Will Be Raised Up
In verse 4 there is a change of verb tenses.
Verse 3 was imperative.
That is, it is a call to prepare.
Although preparation is still the theme in verse 4, now the verbs are not imperative, but future and the verse looks like a promise.
It implies that not only do we need to prepare for the coming of the Lord, but promises that the way for the coming of the Lord will be prepared.
The imagery is that of approach.
The area around Jerusalem is quite hilly.
If you have ever hiked on hilly ground, you know that both up hill and downhill portions are difficult.
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