Glad for Grace

Isaiah 40:1–5 NIV

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

Isaiah 51:11–12 NIV

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, even I, am he who comforts you. Who are you that you fear mere mortals, human beings who are but grass,

Luke 2:8–14 NIV

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Introduction: How can we know that God Loves Us?

Conversation: Muslim at gas station. “You Christians do have the idea that God loves us, We Muslims don’t have that concept.”

If we are honest sometimes our circumstances/feelings make us wonder about God’s love, because...

16 - We Don’t Always Feel Comfort and Joy.

Maybe you are grieving because you lost a family member, our your family is in conflict.

You have had to move and it does not feel like home anymore.

There is conflict in the Church

You have injured yourself and you can’t do your hobbies anymore

You can’t eat your favorite foods anymore.

Your favorite Sports team just lost in a humiliating way and your friends are rubbing it in.

“Isaiah 40” begins the second half of the book of Isaiah.

As Ben noted last week: that Isaiah was written about 700 years before Jesus...

The first half of Isaiah focuses on the Judgment of Israel and then Judah for their covenant unfaithfulness to God by means of first the exile by Assyria and then the exile by means of Babylon. The hope in the first part of the book is that a seed (messianic king) will arise and establish a new Jerusalem Kingdom of God according to God's way. This passage Begins the second half of the book which applies the message of the first half to a post-exilic Israel. Israel has returned, there is comforting news that the Lord wants to share.

The readers of Isaiah - Where is the comfort and joy coming from while in exile? - like the war in Israel and Palestine

Have you ever been told “It is going to be OK, God will work all things to the good for you.” When you are in the middle of a painful situation?” - Imagine telling the families Israeli families or the citizens of Palestine this. It would seem quite tone deaf.

This is exactly, however, the message that God is giving. - Book one is, you will go through Israel a heartbreaking experience of exile, you will lose everything you hold dear, but be comforted, because....

The story in our life group - lady said, "I feel that you are going to have a Baby," to another couple who were working on adopting, because they were told they were barren. A number of years lady, they had a baby, the impossible happened.

God’s message of Comfort is a message of His Love for Israel.

17 - God’s Love Sent Jesus.

Let’s talk about love.

We live in a culture that says, love is love. I contend and I think the Bible contends that not everything we call love is God’s idea of love, nor is it a healthy love. I might love donuts, I might love alcoholic drinks, but if that is all I eat, and that is all I drink, then I am going to have some destructive health problems.

Idolatry works this way, we begin to love the things that will bring us destruction.

We think that a Loving God would not allow suffering to happen to us...

The Exile as God’s loving punishment for their idolatry - He is not a Codependency God.

- For recognition

- For Cleansing

- For Repentence

- For Restoration - all of God’s discipline ultimately is for this purpose.

Not all suffering by the way is because God is disciplining us.

Isaiah 40:2 NIV

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.

God speaks of Comfort because his ultimate goal for us is beyond the discipline, beyond the suffering. Is love is a covenenting love. In Hebrew the word is Hesed. often called loving-kindness. - This is true love “Agape” love not based on feelings, how God feels on a certain day, but his commitment to the creatures he loves. - And no one loves better than God in this way.

Covenenting - Marriage vows, I am bound to you for thick and thin, in sickness and health, till death do us part. - God’s loving-kindness and the message of Isaiah 40 is, I will never give up on you. I will bring you back, you will be cleansed, you will be made whole, you will - Even when you Israel have rejected me for other “lovers.” who have destroyed you. I have never given up on you....

The book of Isaiah then describes the return of Isreal to the land, but most importantly to a suffering servant who will come and pay the full penalty of their sin and our sin.

Luke 2:14 NIV

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

The announcement of Jesus’ birth.

. εὐδοκεῖν ἐν with the dat. of person is found in the baptismal declaration in Mt. 3:17: ἐν ᾧ εὐδόκησα, and at the transfiguration in Mt. 17:5 (assimilated to 3:17). Mk. 1:11 and Lk. 3:22 in the Alexandrian text have ἐν σοὶ εὐδόκησα (Lk. ηὐδόκησα). What is meant is God’s decree of election, namely, the election of the Son, which includes His mission and His appointment to the kingly office of Messiah. As υἱὸς ὁ ἀγαπητός Jesus is the Recipient of this elective good pleasure. And He receives this saying as a seal of His obedience in identification with the sinful world as expressed in His baptism.

The story of the prince who wants to marry the peasant girl. - The incarnation.

- The Gospel story of Jesus, with him coming in the flesh is the fulfillment of Isaiah’s/O.T. longing for the restoration of relationship with God by his Love. It has been the commitment of God’s covenant promises, vows from the humans first betrayel to the last. Jesus is God saying, I will never give up on you.

The result will be this, if we receive God’s love.

20 - God’s Love Brings Great Joy.

Isaiah 51:11 NIV

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.

This verse describes what will happen when 70 years after exile. - God has been faithful to his covenant, he has preserved them, he has kept them from total destruction by their idols, he has helped them recognize their idols destruction in their life, he is restoring them to his promise for them beyond sorrow and suffering. He has not given up on them.

Luke 2:10 NIV

But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.

Conclusion:

How do we know that God love’s us, His covenantal love is expressed in Jesus.

What does preparation for Jesus look like, “Rejoicing in His the love of his salvation.”