Hope Lutheran Church | 4
Isaiah 40:1-11 - Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the Lord ; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
6A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” 9You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
Comfort, comfort my people!
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father – to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen
(Revelation 1:5b-6)
I’d guess there were about forty of us. When I was at the seminary, a travelling exhibit came to the local museum that was especially interesting to a bunch of guys studying to be pastors. We’d been studying the original languages of the Bible (Hebrew and Greek) for years in a classroom, but now there was a chance to see it come alive, in a sense. The exhibit featured many of what are called the “Dead Sea Scrolls,” centuries old copies of Old Testament biblical texts that were discovered in the 1940’s in the Qumran caves near the Dead Sea. So, there we were, about forty seminary students meandering our way through the Milwaukee Public Museum’s special exhibit. Artifacts, pictures, and demonstrations of the manuscript preservation process brought to life the sometimes stale classroom air of learning about Hebrew verb conjugations and grammar. As exciting as it was to see a couple of our professors rambling around like kids in a candy shop, the highlight of the trip had to be the Great Isaiah Scroll. The largest and best preserved of the Qumran discoveries, the nearly complete text of Isaiah’s prophecy there before my eyes.
I got in line behind several schoolmates to wait my turn to get a better look. Apparently upset by the presence of a line up in front of an ancient Hebrew manuscript, another museum patron (not part of our group) made the comment loud enough to be heard by those hovering over the text, “What’s the deal? It’s not like anyone can read this anyways!” Granted, the text of the scroll was small and not as neat as in our textbooks, but it was hard to miss the beauty of this portion of the Great Isaiah Scroll. Chapter 40 was unfurled, and student after student hovered above the ancient scroll to catch a glimpse of those inspired words, נַחֲמ֥וּ נַחֲמ֖וּ עַמִּ֑י יֹאמַ֖ר אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם- Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. It was a neat experience, and it makes me think that as much as things change, the promise and proclamation of our God never does. How many Israelites of Isaiah’s day all the way down to 21st century believers will gather around these precious words of promise and find our only comfort in a God who comes to save us?
The words are still relevant, because the human desire, drive, and need for comfort have never changed. From the nursing child crying in her crib to the terminally ill patient clinging to the hand of a loved one – the ones coming into the world, the ones departing the world, and everyone in between wants comfort. But what kind of comfort are we looking for? I don’t think it would be an overstatement to say that “comfort” and “comfortability” have been twisted, transformed, and turned into an idol that people strive to serve. Think of how that plays itself out – If I could only get ahead at work. Once I get through school. If only I could get my finances in order. If only I could get my spouse, my kids, my friends to be more…fill in the blank. Then, I’d be comfortable. Hasn’t that become the goal in life? To work and try and hustle until I get myself into a position that’s “comfortable”? But then what happens? Health fades, stocks crash, friends die, and we face our own mortality. We’re put face to face with the uncomfortable yet undeniable reality of what Isaiah says, All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Even the best and brightest creations and aspirations of human beings are just grass – inconsequential fodder that’s here today and gone tomorrow. No matter how much seeking, searching, or striving we do, there is nothing in this world that can fill the “gospel shaped hole” in our hearts.
The desire for comfort and the drive to seek it in all the wrong places isn’t new, because the problem of sin isn’t new either. The people of Isaiah’s day had done it – time after time, prophet after prophet, they’d turned their back on the Lord their God in search of satisfying their own desires. They tried to use temporal stuff to fill a void that could only be made whole by the eternal God. Within a century or so, God would send the Babylonians to take the people of Judah into exile – away from their homes, away from their work, away from some of their families, ultimately, away from any false comfort they trusted in more than God. Throughout the first 39 chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy, the reader takes in quite a bit of doom, gloom, and destruction. The exile was coming, and it wasn’t going to be comfortable. However, here in Isaiah 40, we see a remarkable shift in both tone and content. The LORD, the just and holy God who hates sin and must punish it, also shows himself to be the LORD of free and faithful grace.
Listen again as the Lord God piles on the comfort – the only true comfort a sinner can hope for – what God himself promises and provides, Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. My people…Your God. This is everything. This is the sphere in which we live and move and have our being. Yes, sin is called sin, and yes, exile is promised, but God’s faithful love would not be turned from his people, just like it’s not turned from you. Her hard service has been completed – the slavery to all the wrong gods caused by sin, God says is done. Her sin has been paid for – please don’t pass by the beauty of the passive verb here – sin has been paid for. Notice the One who’s picking up this dreadful check. Not you; your God. She has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins. Your God goes over and above to leave no question about whether the debt of your sin has been paid. In him, you’ve been forgiven, set free, and given peace. Comfort, comfort my people.
God’s comfort isn’t just a pat on the back and a “There, there, it’ll be alright.” When God promises comfort, it isn’t a superficial, empty promise. He doesn’t throw unfounded words into the wind and wait to see what happens; no, he acts. He intervenes. He helps. He himself comes to bring the very thing he’s promised you: comfort. The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. When you see that phrase, “the glory of the LORD,” you know something special is happening. From its first appearance at the burning bush throughout Old Testament history, “the glory of the LORD” has God’s grace as its beating heart and driving force – fighting for his people and bringing them salvation. In the coming weeks, we’ll get to see this “glory of the LORD” again, but this time over the fields of Bethlehem appearing to some sleepy shepherds. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The One whose heart didn’t think of the eternal comfort of heaven as something he had to hold on to – he left it behind for you. The One whose birth we’d expect in a royal palace, pampered in luxury to the ‘nth degree, rests his newborn head on used hay. The One who never once ran to the false comforts and the stuff of the world is the One who endured the ultimate torment of hell on Calvary’s cross – for you. That’s the comfort God brings – not a flimsy word or a hopeless wish, but a sure and certain promise drenched in the blood of Christ – warfare over, sin paid for, true and lasting comfort is yours in Christ. We didn’t need a Savior who would make our lives on earth more comfortable. We needed a Savior who redeems us to a new life entirely by paying for all of our sins.
God brings his blood-bought comfort to us through the gospel for a purpose; so that we can comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. And he doesn’t leave us with nothing to say. Isaiah said, A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. Notice how this message of comfort is communicated, through human speech coming from human messengers. Isn’t that beautiful in its simplicity! You and I get to take part in this “road grating” project, calling ourselves and others away from the lies of the sinful world – tearing down the heights of false comfort and pride and filling in the ditches of despair and despondency in repentance. On the most fundamental level, if the Savior is coming and he’s bringing salvation, it’s fitting for us to think seriously about why we need a Savior; and to hear all over again about the true and lasting comfort God brings to us in Christ. It’s a marvel of his grace that God doesn’t leave the human being to ascend the heights of heaven or try to crawl into the mind of God – because both are impossible. Instead he conveys the only message that really matters in an offensively simple way – through words. In his infinite wisdom, the Lord could’ve put this all-important message of divine comfort on the lips of angels (they’d do it better than I do), but he didn’t. He puts that message of eternal comfort in Christ on the minds and mouths of frail and faulty folks like you and me.
So speak up! You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” To people adrift in a sea of uncertainty, wondering where to look and why the comfort they worked so hard for is falling apart, we get to point to the true and lasting promises of our Savior God. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever. Compared to the feeble and flimsy human solutions to the age old desire for comfort, our God steps in and makes a promise in Christ: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. And what’s even more, he’ll never leave like all of our earthly comforts do. Isaiah paints the heartwarming picture of just how that happens, He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young. The God of all comfort tends his people with the undivided care and attention a shepherd gives to his sheep. You are safe in his arms. This is good news. This is his promise. Comfort, comfort my people…thank God that, in Christ, he does!
Amen
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy – to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen
(Jude 24-25)
December 10, 2017 Second Sunday in Advent