Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-11
What other holiday season could ever match the hope,
the joy, the promise that Advent holds for all who trust and love the Christ of
Christmas? It’s a season of smiles, and
greetings, and welcomes unlike anything else we might know. Oh yes, I know about the stress and
congestion that Black Friday and several other special shopping days bring to
our lives, as well as the self-centeredness and the “me first” attitude that
all too many folks exhibit in this life.
But at the core of Christmas, or at least for
Christians, is the celebration of God’s coming to earth as a new born infant,
destined to become the means of our own new birth. After all, isn’t a new and glorious life a
wonderful reason to celebrate and rejoice in – especially in the new life that
God made for Jesus, as well as the new life that can be ours in
Jesus?
As
we decorate our homes for Christmas, may each and every ornament, and candle,
and tree, and figurine remind us of the joy and promise that the Child of
Bethlehem uses to decorate our hearts and lives.
Read Isaiah 40:1-2
As Isaiah
shares God’s word with the people of Israel, he tells them that the Lord feels
that they have suffered enough for the way they have denied His authoritative
word for far too many years. In that
day, it was the passage of time, much like our own penalties of prison time,
that justified the people and allowed them to return to God’s good graces.
The
problem with this approach was that after the penalty time was over, the lesson
had still not been learned, and the commitment to follow was hollow, at best! And a return to the old days of sin were
never far behind.
The
good news is, though, that God’s blessings will always be there for everyone,
if we just reach out to receive them!
And in the world of today, the time of penalty has graciously been put
in our own hands! It can, and will, be
ended in the moment when we confess the evil that has been welcome in our lives
for much too long, and when we have the utmost desire to know the new birth
that Jesus has promised to all who come to Him by faith. (John 3:1-8)
Now
there is a real reason for joy and celebration!
Read Isaiah 40:3-5
This passage may create
several questions, and then leaves them unanswered, and the answers may be both
interesting as well as important for this time known as Advent. The first question to consider is this –
whose voice is it that is calling out, and just who is the one being
called? In Matthew’s gospel, we read
that Isaiah was speaking about John the Baptist! (Matthew 3:1-3) Some might ask if the Baptist should be the
only one calling? Can’t there be
more? Or is that one voice enough for
the entire world?
If John was the only “voice”,
how far could it reach? If we really think
about it, it reached throughout the known world of that day, and has continued
to be heard for the last 2,000 years! It
was God’s desire that John would be the first one to proclaim, and that his words
would relentlessly call to the people of this world, that they might know what
Almighty God has done for us all!
And what about that reference
to a “wilderness”? There is no desert
existing around here! The truth is that
the wasteland that Isaiah was speaking about are the empty lives that we live -
empty of God’s grace, empty of God’s goodness, empty of eternal hope, empty of
the fulfilling joy that Jesus Christ will bring into the life who gives Him a
chance!
OK, so what about the valleys
and mountains and rough places – what are they all about? These are the obstacles that we encounter as
we travel the Road that leads from condemnation to glory.
They are those things that are thrown into our path to confuse us, to
lead us astray, to force us to seek out a detour that just might take us far
away from the true direction that leads us to the Lord. And who is it that will be smoothing out
those valleys and mountains and rough spots in that road? It’s the Holy Spirit and Jesus who will ruin
those attempts to waylay us. In Philippians
2:9-11 we read that, in essence, those obstacles will be destroyed when we
cry out to the name of Jesus and proclaim Him faithfully.
And when that Holy Name is declared
throughout the earth, whether everyone will accept it or not, glory will
be revealed, Christ will be honored and trusted, and the promise that
our Holy God has made to all who believe will be fulfilled. And how do we know? Because “the mouth of
the Lord has spoken”, and nothing can ever make it cease.
Read Isaiah 40:6-8
“And what shall [we]
cry?” Now, that singular voice has
become plural, and not just many during that much earlier age. That plurality is now crying out throughout
the ages and throughout the world, that Jesus Christ is born, and that He came
to die on our behalf, and has risen to live and reign once again, and to be the
Way to the Father for all who will follow Him (John 14:5-7). Perfection has come to be Savior for the
worthless, simply because God loves those who have no chance whatsoever if left
to their own inadequate abilities and severely limited understanding. No chance at all.
We’re like grass and flowers
that simply can not stand up against the dark and cold winters of
wickedness. Matthew 6:29-31 tells
us that even though we are all worthless and slated to be thrown into the fires
of destruction, God has prepared a way for us to be saved for His eternal
glory, and the name of that way is Jesus.
Read Isaiah 40:9-11
Later in Isaiah 52:7
we read “7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of
those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who
proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, ‘Your God reigns!’”
And what are we to cry out
loudly with a shout? Only this, that
“Jesus Christ is born, and His new temple is the heart who loves Him!” This simple phrase is the message that all
believers are to carry with them, wherever and whenever they may go throughout
their life, in order that when the opportunity opens, we will be ready to share
the Good News of Christ with those who have yet to hear and claim it.
It isn’t for us to decide who
we are to tell; it isn’t for us to determine who will listen and who will not;
it isn’t for us to give up when the way gets rough and difficult to follow; and
it isn’t for us to expect honors and glory for doing what we are asked to
do. As a matter of fact, we will have a
much better chance of being slammed and ridiculed than we ever will in being
appreciated!
In Matthew 10:22-23,
Jesus tells that “we will be hated by everyone because of Him, but that
anyone who stands firm in the faith will be saved.” That is where our true joy will always be –
in the word, the way, and the name of Jesus.
If we share the good tidings of God, His joy will overflow in our
life.
And that will always be enough!
