Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Longing for Comfort
Intro: Words of Comfort
Effect: Comfort
Words of Comfort
Warm blanket
Cozy Fire with eggnog or hot chocolate
Chicken soup watching your favorite movie
Hot bath
Breathing deeply (sorry, compassion, comfort)
Console
: Rod and staff, they comfort me
Manner: Speak tenderly
Like a young man wooing his girl ()
Boaz reassuring Ruth (),
A deserted husband seeking to win his wife back ().”
Alex Motyer
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
Three Voices of Comfort:
Comfort for What’s Done
Comfort for what is
Comfort for what’s to come
“Hard service”: “the word ṣābā’ means ‘army/host’ (), but extends its meaning to cover a fixed period of service () or the fixed duration of life (), and, here, an appointed period of hardship” Motyer
Iniquity is pardoned: iniquity is paid for
Grace: Received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins
NIV: “sin has been paid for’
Grace: Received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins
Personal delivery of grace double
‘double’: ‘to fold over, fold in half’: “the thought is not of an excessive punishment running beyond what the case required, but of a dealing with sin that includes realities beyond our comprehension.
On the other hand, when something is folded over, each half corresponds exactly with the other half, and this would yield the thought of exact correspondence between sin and payment.”
Voice of Comfort #1: Comfort for What’s Done
Highway: Glory Road!
Why are these words of Comfort?
The Glory of God is coming, so prepare the Earth for His arrival.
ALL(!) the earth:
Massive construction project here: Every valley, shall be lifted up and every mountain made low.
Uneven ground level, rough places plain
Similarity between and 40
Out from the wilderness
Highway- level and straight
Differences
Difference type of highway
Not a highway for God’s people, but for God himself!
Spiritual Fulfillment- Past Tense
What was it like for a King to visit?
Example of Construction Preparation for Something Big:
Montreal Olympic Stadium
Spiritual Fulfillment- Past Tense
: In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’
”
One-to-one prophesy connection: Very rare!
This passage is about John the Baptist, Jesus’ relative, who would make way for the Messiah
John the Baptist:
Not a foreman.
Probably 0 skills in land surveying.
No engineering skills.
But he called out: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’
Not a physical construction project, but a spiritual construction project
For John the Baptist to prepare is to announce the Coming of the King in all his glory!
Comfort: The King has come in all his glory: This prophesy came true.
Check it.
Name, claim it.
The King has come, one and done!
That gives us tremendous comfort.
But we get even more comfort today!
Voice of Comfort #2: Comfort for the Present
“Hard service”: “the word ṣābā’ means ‘army/host’ (), but extends its meaning to cover a fixed period of service () or the fixed duration of life (), and, here, an appointed period of hardship” Motyer
Iniquity is pardoned: iniquity is paid for
NIV: “sin has been paid for’
Grace: Received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins
Personal delivery of grace double
‘double’: ‘to fold over, fold in half’: “the thought is not of an excessive punishment running beyond what the case required, but of a dealing with sin that includes realities beyond our comprehension.
On the other hand, when something is folded over, each half corresponds exactly with the other half, and this would yield the thought of exact correspondence between sin and payment.”
Think about the irony:
Think about the irony:
You are just like grass...
You are like flowers of the field…
And just like grass, you grow tall and mature
And just like grass, you grow tall and mature
Just like flowers you will blossom and smell nice...
You wither and fall
That’s what you’d think you’d here with words of comfort, instead, we get:
Like grass you will wither and die.
And like flowers you will fade and fall six feet under
But God’s Word doesn’t wither or fade.
It stands forever.
That doesn’t sound comforting at all!
Why are these words of Comfort?
REALITY CHECK:
God’s Spirit is still at work despite our weakness.
Reread v. 7
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