When Heaven & Earth Collide (Part 3 — Resurrection Sunday)
When Heaven & Earth Collide • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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1 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord As the waters cover the sea. 10 Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.
When heaven and earth collide …
I. There is a Deafening Pause (Isaiah 12:1)
I. There is a Deafening Pause (Isaiah 12:1)
1 Then you will say on that day, “I will give thanks to You, O Lord; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.
On That Day
On what day?
The millennial (thousand-year) reign of Christ.
When Christ will judge righteously
When Christ will reign faithfully
When the cow and the bear will graze
When the nursing child will play with the cobra (!)
When no one will hurt or destroy
Can you imagine that?
Of course not!
We can’t imagine such perfection because we have never experienced such perfection.
Everything we have experienced in this life is flawed or broken.
Everything we have experienced in this life ends.
But that day is coming.
Where will I be?
That is an excellent question: where will you be?
Giving Thanks
We Give Thanks — To God
He is the only one deserving of our thanks
Thanks — to shoot, to throw, to cast
To shoot our hands up to Him in praise
To throw ourselves at His feet in praise
To cast our sins at His feet in praise
We have little to offer, but what little we have He is worthy of.
We Give Thanks to God — For Not Giving Me What I Deserved.
What did I deserve?
His anger.
19 This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.
God’s anger is not like ours. It is a righteous indignation. An anger set in His holiness.
6 … For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
God’s anger is righteously, perfectly aroused at sin because He Himself is holy.
His anger is aroused at the destruction it brings
His anger is aroused at the pain it causes
His anger is aroused at the lives it ends
The Bible tells us we are by nature children of wrath:
1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
In this culture, to be a “child of” something meant that something thoroughly characterized that individual.
Prior to entering into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, you were thoroughly characterized by your sin.
Your sin set you apart from God, because it is entirely against who He is.
Thus, we were thoroughly deserving of God’s wrath — His anger.
v. 1 — Although, that is what we deserved, that is not what we received.
We Give Thanks to God — For Giving Me What I Did Not Deserve.
What did I not deserve?
The Pause
Church, in your Bibles, notice the little, seemingly insignificant comma after the word “me”. Circle it and next to it write the words “the cross”.
The comma — this deafening pause in the collision between heaven and earth — is the cross of Jesus Christ.
Although we were deserving of God’s anger, and He would have been just in dispensing it on us, the cross is the eternal pause that changed everything.
I do not deserve His love.
I do not deserve His grace.
I do not deserve His mercy.
I do not deserve His forgiveness.
I do not deserve His life.
And yet …
That little comma changed the eternal prospects of the entire world.
There is a debate about a beloved Christian song, “In Christ Alone”:
In recent years, some have argued a certain line should be changed to:
“On that cross, when Jesus died, the love of God was magnified.”
But the line actually reads:
“On that cross, when Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.”
On that cross, when Jesus died, the love of God was magnified, but it was because the wrath of God was satisfied.
God’s anger at sin did not just disappear at the cross.
God’s anger for sin was expressed in the most profound and excruciating way through the cross.
Jesus Christ bore the punishment, the fullness of God’s wrath poured out on Him, for sin that you and I committed.
Through that event, His anger was turned away from you and from me.
Now anyone who comes to Jesus; anyone who turns to Jesus; anyone who accepts their need for a Savior because of their sin, and confesses Jesus Christ as Lord of their life; for anyone who does that we receive His life because He bore our death.
Now, for anyone who is washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, a Christian, when God looks at the cross He sees you, and when God looks at you He sees Jesus.
We Give Thanks to God — For Giving Us His Comfort
Comfort because of the comma which denotes a sacrifice — a payment — that has been made.
54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;
Comfort because of the deafening declaration of an empty tomb
14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.
57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Comfort because by the blood of Jesus, sin no longer keeps me in chains.
Comfort because by the resurrection of Jesus, death no longer has the final say.
Comfort because although He was angry with me, with my sin and the destruction it brings, it has been turned away in the person of Jesus Christ.
The deafening pause in the collision between heaven and earth, was broken by the eruption of the three words “He is Risen!”
When heaven and earth collide …
II. Come to the Well (Isaiah 12:2-3)
II. Come to the Well (Isaiah 12:2-3)
2 “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” 3 Therefore you will joyously draw water From the springs of salvation.
God is Salvation
As a Christian, Jesus Christ is your salvation.
But Jesus Christ is salvation.
What’s the difference?
There is no other name and no other Way:
12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
Our Response
I will trust and not be afraid.
Because the Lord is my strength and my song.
Because He is my salvation.
I will come and joyously draw from the well of living waters.
This idea comes from Jesus’ ministry to the Samaritan woman. From this account we learn several truths:
Salvation is found only in Jesus
13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Salvation is freely offered to everyone
The Samaritans were outcasts and enemies of Israel, yet the message of salvation was proclaimed to them as well.
Salvation comes only to those who recognize their need for it
Water is only obtained by those who have need of it.
Living water is only obtained by those who recognize their spiritual thirst.
Salvation comes only to those who confess and repent of their sin.
Before this woman, this sinner, could embrace her Savior, she had to embrace the reality of her sin.
Where are you? Are you joyously drawing from the well of salvation which eternally satisfies your spiritual thirst? Or are you attempting to satisfy your spiritual thirst with temporary solutions?
Coming to the well of salvation, we find true life. And through experiencing this new life we:
When heaven and earth collide …
III. Cry Aloud and Shout for Joy (Isaiah 12:4-6)
III. Cry Aloud and Shout for Joy (Isaiah 12:4-6)
4 And in that day you will say, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name. Make known His deeds among the peoples; Make them remember that His name is exalted.” 5 Praise the Lord in song, for He has done excellent things; Let this be known throughout the earth. 6 Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
The Power of a Testimony
Testimony — an open acknowledgment, a public profession
After the Samaritan woman’s interaction with Jesus, this happens:
39 From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41 Many more believed because of His word; 42 and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.”
A Loud Testimony
Calling on His name.
Declaring, worshipping, trusting who God is on the basis of His faithful, delivering character
24 “Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people said, “That is a good idea.”
Making known His deeds.
Among the peoples — the nations
Make them (the nations) remember that His name is exalted.
That there is no one like Him.
Praise Him for He has done excellent things.
Science — knowledge
Science is learning how things work, and because our universe was created with intentional design we can observe how things work.
Science does not tell us why things work.
Cry aloud and shout for joy
Because the Holy One of Israel is in your midst.
