“Prepare the Way …”

Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-8

Preparation is a way of life for us. We prepared to come to worship this morning, we prepare food for each of our meals, we prepare for Birthday parties and Thanksgiving dinner and the arrival of weekend visitors. You would think that preparation to receive God into the world and into our lives would come as second nature, that it would be taken in a far more serious manner! But people seldom do.

Oh, it’s true that we buy presents for family and friends, and we usually go overboard with that particular task. We prepare the house with all kinds of lights, and yard ornaments, and by placing a tree in the most prominent place we can find. Some folks even go on a diet for a week before Christmas so that the scrumptious dinner that they prepare won’t have too great an impact on their bodies!

But how about the attention we pay to preparing our lives for Christmas? How much time and effort do we commit to getting our spirits in shape to welcome Jesus? Many believe that Christmas will come regardless of our efforts, and while that is true, we can’t leave all of the ground work up to God! He has already done his part – he left his glory behind to join us right where we are; he left the praises of heaven behind in exchange for the animosity of earth; he came to bring, and be, the Word of God for the people of earth; and he would teach and explain and provide us with everything we would need to truly receive him into our miserable lives.
And still we think that it demands too much from us.

Life is tough enough, they think, without having to live up to someone else’s standards! We struggle to eke out an existence, to raise and support our family on resources that are barely sufficient, and what does it get us? An early trip to the grave! If God doesn’t want to make our lives easier, then why should we give him anything?

Read Isaiah 40:1-2

The Lord knows that life is hard, and that it would be even if we were able to live it in a perfect way! Over and over in the Psalms, we read the lament “How long, O God, …” (Psalm 13:1-2; Psalm 35:15-17; Psalm 74:10-11; Psalm 89:45-48; etal) And God seldom replies to the plea – at least not immediately. His plan has a time schedule that we never see, and wouldn’t understand if we did, and the answer to our cries for help may be years in the making. But God has a temporary solution for us – he calls us to care for each other.

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God”. The people of God are to be the comforters for now. But the question before us is this – who are the people we are to comfort? Who are the “my people” that Isaiah tells us to help? Our tendency is to think that we are to consider the needs of those who are in the church – for those who believe like us. But do we really think that the Lord would exclude the rest of the world?
Who did Jesus come to save? The righteous? Believers? Those who would hear and accept the Good News of Jesus Christ? Remember that Israel thought that Messiah was for them alone, and were appalled that the early apostles were extending God’s mercy to the Gentiles! So, just who are “my people” referring to? It may not be comfortable to hear this, but the Lord wants us to offer comfort to all who struggle – believers and nonbelievers alike; to the righteous and the wicked alike; to the saved and unsaved alike; to the hope-filled and the fear-filled; to the saints and the sinners; to all who are burdened. In Matthew 11:28-30 – “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” There were no pre-requirements, no caveats, no exceptions – just the condition that if you were struggling under heavy burdens in this life, the Lord would care for you - if you would let him. But Isaiah tells us that this Godly “rest”, at least for now, must come through us!
And while you are at it, let “them” know that in Christ, all of the mistakes, missteps, errors, pain, burdens, sins of this life will not only be cared for, but that their “sin has been paid for.” No consequences, no punishment; no fear – just the blessing that they will receive a “double” portion of goodness in exchange for the pain that the world has inflicted on them.
A new day and a new way is on the way!

Read Isaiah 40:3-5

The intent and timing of this passage has been a point of discussion for theologians for many years. Does it pertain to Isaiah’s time, and could it be proclaiming the release of the nation from Babylonian slavery? That their way home would be without major incident? That they would be in God’s presence and glory once more?
Is it about the end times, could it literally be about the remaking of the face of the earth and the decisive battles against Satan’s evil years? The raising up of the valleys and the leveling of the mountains and the rugged being transformed into plains will be a rather violent event. Could it be about this!

But what if this is about the impact on our lives – right now - when we walk with Christ and begin to work within his will? What if these corrections are figurative, and are really about the changes that we will undergo when transformed by a life in Christ? You may never read these next thoughts in any commentary or other scholarly papers, but could this be about the way we are being prepared to experience Christ in our lives?

“In the desert, prepare the way for the Lord”. A sinful existence, which we all are immersed in, is sometimes referred to as a wasteland, or a desert. But in our sinfulness, how can we possibly prepare for the Holy and Righteous Lord’s triumph within us? The truth is that we can’t – our only hope is when we surrender these broken and painful lives to God and let him do the preparing! We can’t earn forgiveness for our failures, we can’t bring about a new light that will overcome the darkness that we have welcomed, we can’t produce a wholeness within the cavern that despair and hopelessness created. And we certainly can never make our crooked and misshapen lives straight again. Only God is able to make us right.

“Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low …“, etc. The prophet isn’t calling us to start digging to level out the terrain of our lives, but rather that when we seek the presence of Almighty God, he will begin removing the obstacles that exist between us and him. Notice that the references to the results of this “make over” are simply that valley will be raised up – not filled in. That mountains will be made low – not excavated into oblivion. That rough ground will become level and rugged places a plain – no mention of the process involved in making them so.
It will be the glory of God at work within us, and it will become obvious for all to see. And why should we trust that this will come to be?
“For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” And that is enough.

Read Isaiah 40:6-8

We are told to “cry out”. But who is this unnamed and demanding voice? Is it the Lord? One, or even many of the heavenly host? An archangel? We don’t know exactly, but we do know that is a message from God. And what are we to cry out? The prophet doesn’t seem to know; Israel would never know; even the Church isn’t all that sure at times. Perhaps our cry should be “Mercy!” Perhaps our cry should be “Save me!” Perhaps our cry should be, in recognition of this season, “Come, O come Emmanuel!”
Regardless, without some honest and heartfelt outcry to the Lord, life as we know it will one day end, and there will be nothing to fill the void of death. “The grass withers and the flowers fall …” and we are no better than that. Without Jesus, the valleys will remain deep and impenetrable, and the mountains will be too high and steep to scale, and the rough ground will sap the energy from our lives, and we will never be able to approach the Throne of Grace. But God has given us another way – a way that he has prepared for us, a way that he has perfected, a way that is in his Son, Christ Jesus.
Isaiah 55:11-12 – the “word that goes out from my mouth … will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.”

When we give up trying to make our own way to God, and decide to follow the one that has already been prepared for us by Jesus, all of creation will rejoice. And we prepare to receive this gift of life by simply surrendering our ways to him, and allowing him to make it right in our lives.
And that is a promise that can never fail.