The Advent of Christ Is the Good News of the Shepherd Who Brings Us Hope

Mark 1:1–8 / Isaiah 40

Introduction

Christmas is the time of year when our attention turns to many things. For many of us it means family gatherings, trying to coordinate schedules and travel. For almost all of us it means talking about Christmas gifts—whether for children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, or others we love. This is also the season for Christmas music, Christmas trees, nativity scenes, and above all a baby boy born in Bethlehem over 2,000 years ago.

During Advent, as we move toward Christmas, we retell the story of the shepherds visiting the newborn Messiah, and of the wise men who came later, after troubling the entire city of Jerusalem when they asked for the One born King of the Jews.

But Advent is not only a time to focus on Christ’s first coming. It calls us to look at the full picture of what the Old Testament teaches about the coming Messiah—the coming of Yahweh Himself. Isaiah 40 begins a major section of prophecy describing the Messiah as God and what the work of the Messiah would be. Mark draws our attention to Isaiah when he ties together John the Baptist with the one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord.” As we read earlier the One following John’s voice is described as the Sovereign Lord who comes with power and yet also as the Good Shepherd who gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He is the everlasting God who gives strength to the weary and pours out the Spirit of God.

As we begin Advent, I want us to see the broad picture Mark is giving us about Jesus Christ. He is the Creator of the ends of the earth. He is the Holy One who brings light and salvation to all who hope in Him. As we continue through Advent, Pastor Parsels will preach on Christ’s threefold office of prophet, priest, and king. This morning, I want us to see how Mark 1 and Isaiah 40 present the advent of Christ—His first and second coming together—under the theme: The Advent of Christ is the Good News of the Shepherd who brings us hope. We will look at:

The Character of the Divine Messiah

The Care of the Divine Shepherd

The Charisma of the Divine Savior

The Character of the Divine Messiah

Many who do not believe in Jesus have a distorted view of God—and even many who profess faith do. Some believe God is only a God of love, defined however they want. Others see God only as a God of wrath. Both miss the truth. So let us look at the character of the Divine Messiah.

Many people say inflammatory things about God’s character. For example, when people talk about the Israelites coming out of Egypt, many see it as a beautiful story of an oppressed people being delivered after generations of unjust slavery. We feel a sense of justice when Pharaoh faces the plagues and when his army is defeated at the Red Sea because of his stubborn refusal to let Israel go.

But then people read about Israel entering the Promised Land, and many struggle. “What kind of god,” they ask, “commands what some today would call genocide?” This is a failure to read the Scriptures as a whole. What were the sins of the Canaanites? Child sacrifice. Sexual perversions of all kinds. Witchcraft, sorcery, and worshipping demonic powers. Violence and idolatry. The God who judged the Canaanites is the same God who, in our passage, calls us to prepare the way for Him. He is the Holy One.

Others see God only as love, yet miss the message of our text: God draws us to Himself in spite of how we are, so that we might be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. And His drawing us includes the call to repentance. Mark 1:4 shows that the one preparing the way for Christ calls people to repent of their sins. Sin as God defines it, not as we do. That was the message at the beginning of the Gospel and it is the same message today.

God tells us what we are like in Isaiah 40:6–10:

6 A voice says, “Cry out.”

And I said, “What shall I cry?”

“All people are like grass,

and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.

7 The grass withers and the flowers fall,

because the breath of the Lord blows on them.

Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers and the flowers fall,

but the word of our God endures forever.”

What is the character of Jesus? Is He harsh? No. He sees what we are, even when we don’t. We are grass—frail and weak. One breath from the Almighty and we are gone. Our lives are brief; our faithfulness fragile. Yet the Messiah says in Isaiah 42:3:

“A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out.”

His character is tender and caring. When we come to Him bruised by failure, trials, and pain, He holds us gently and does not cast us off. When we are weak, He comes with power to uphold us. The advent of Christ means the Holy One has come—not only bringing salvation from death and hell, but strengthening us when we are weak and fanning into flame the smoldering wick of our faith.

The Care of the Divine Shepherd

Our passage also shows the care of our Divine Shepherd. Think about how significant it is that God sends heralds to proclaim life and light in Christ. Every prophet and every preacher who proclaims the Gospel shows the Shepherd’s care in leading us to truth and salvation.

Many today believe the Church is unnecessary. Yet Scripture says God uses the “foolishness of preaching” to draw sinners to Christ. And, on the surface, it does seem strange—one person standing in a pulpit declaring the life, death, and resurrection of Christ. Yet God uses this to shine Gospel light into darkened minds and to give hope to the broken and the wavering. To those in darkness it looks foolish, but to those who are being saved it is the power of God.

This is the Shepherd’s care for you this morning:

“Comfort, comfort my people… He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart.”

We are far removed from pastoral life. Most of us live in cities. Many here may never have touched an actual sheep. But we can imagine it.

Imagine with me a moment...the open sky. Wide fields in front of you. Rolling hills stretched out before you. In the field scattered before you is your flock. Some are close to you and some are walking up the nearest rolling hill. What does the shepherd do? Well, he is doing two things. He is keeping on eye on where the sheep are grazing so that he knows when they need to be led to greener fields. Second, he is keeping an eye on any potential predators. You see, sheep are not the most intelligent animals. They are blissfully unaware of the danger of predators. They also aren’t very forward thinking when it comes to grazing. If they are not led, then they will starve. I don’t know how many have seen the video of a sheep that had fallen into a gully and couldn’t get out. The shepherd went and pulled it out. As soon as it was free, it started running around, and…as I’m sure you probably guessed, fell right into the gully again about 15-20 feet away from where it first fell. This is the nature of sheep.

But stay with me on the picture of the shepherd and his flock. Part of the work of the shepherd is to walk among his sheep and talk to them. You see, the one thing sheep do get to recognize and understand is the voice of their shepherd. And as he walks among them and talks to them, they know his voice and trust his voice. When he calls to them, they follow that voice out of trust.

Psalm 23 shows this beautifully:

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 he refreshes my soul.

He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.

4 Even though I walk through the darkest valley,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me;

your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

This is the picture that we should internalize deep within our soul. Our Divine Shepherd—gently guiding us along right paths, restoring our souls. The Sovereign Lord comes with power, yet leads us tenderly.

Our caring Good Shepherd has come, is with us now, and is coming again with His reward. And his reward is this:

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right...‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

The Charisma of the Divine Savior

Finally this morning, we see the charisma of the Divine Savior. I use the word charisma not only because it alliterates with the previous points, but because of its true meaning. In Greek, charisma means gift. Today we associate the word with charismatic movements or speaking in tongues, but its original meaning referred to the Holy Spirit.

So the charisma of the Divine Savior is the gift of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist says in Mark 1:8,

“I baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

This blessing is often not clearly appreciated. In the Old Testament, the Spirit was active but His presence among God’s people was different. He filled the tabernacle and temple. He empowered certain people at certain times—and sometimes departed from them, as with Saul. But the First Advent of Christ changed this dramatically.

Now the Spirit dwells in us. The people of God are now the temple of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is the down payment of our inheritance. He does not come temporarily but permanently.

Isaiah 40:28–31 reminds us:

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

How does this promise become real for us? Because our Savior did not ascend into heaven and leave us to ourselves. He sent the Spirit to kindle life within us, to sustain us in the truth, to strengthen us with the power of the Creator. Peter says we have become “partakers of the divine nature.” What a gift!

John preached repentance to prepare the way of the Lord, but the Lord gives us the Spirit to bring that repentance to fruit.

Isaiah says that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength...they will soar on eagles wings. The prophet in saying this would have us remember the Exodus of the children of Israel. All the work God did in delivering them from slavery and death in the land of Egypt, is described in Exodus 19:4 as God having borne them on eagles’ wings. Our deliverance from sin and death is found in the giving of the Spirit to us by our Lord. In this gift of salvation from the slavery of sin we will run and not grow weary, we will walk and not faint.

Conclusion

Brothers and sisters, Advent is more than the countdown to Christmas. Christ’s birth is more than trees, lights, and gifts—though the themes of light and gifts are wonderfully fitting. Advent calls us to remember Christ’s First Coming and to look forward to His Second.

The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the herald’s cry:

Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Prepare the way for the Lord. The Sovereign Lord comes with power; His reward is with Him. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.

And the season of Advent also points us forward—to the day when God will dwell with His people forever:

1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ uor mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

AMEN.