Tuesday, December 12, 2017

"Immanuel" Sermon: Isaiah 40:1-11



“Immanuel”
[Isaiah 40:1-11]
December 10, 2017, Second Reformed Church
            Have you ever had the chance to warn a child and warn a child and warn a child, only to have the child go ahead and do exactly what you warned him or her against?
            Have you ever seen what your child – or if you don’t have a child – think about your pet – have you ever seen what your child was up to and said, “You better not do that or I will discipline you – I will spank you – I will take away a toy you love – I will make you stay home for a week – something like that.  (I suspect many of us were disciplined by our parents!)
            Much of the first thirty-nine chapters of the book of Isaiah is God warning Judah not to do the things that Israel did.  God warns Judah not to follow in the ways of their pagan neighbors, not to break the Law of God, not to do the things that Israel did – because they knew that God sent the Assyrians to punish – to discipline – Israel – and they were taken away into captivity.  “You don’t want that now, do you?”
            But King Hezekiah of Judah met with a delegation from Babylon – the great conquerors from the north – and he foolishly and pridefully showed the Babylonians all around.  He showed them all their military hardware.  He showed them all the riches in the King’s vault.  He showed them all the riches in the Temple.  He gave them all the information they wanted about Jerusalem – the capital of Israel.
            And Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and told him that due to his sin, the Babylonians would come and conquer Judah and take them into captivity.  And the nation was taken into captivity for seventy years.
            The tone of the book of Isaiah changes with chapter 40.  And we can understand why.
            The author of Hebrew writes: 
“And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.’
            “It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?  If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?  For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it” (Hebrew 12:5-11, ESV).
            We are disciplined – not to destroy us – but for our good.  Discipline is given so we will change and be godly people – that we would grow in righteousness and holiness.
            We don’t tell our children not to put their hand on the hot stove because we want to ruin their lives and deny them something wonderful, but so that they will be safe and grow to understand that the hot stove is dangerous to play with.
            OK?
            At chapter 40, God turns from discipline to restoration and tells Judah what will happen after the seventy years in captivity.
            Chapter 40 opens with Isaiah telling his readers:
            God disciplines His people for their good.
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 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.”
God explains that He is not cutting Judah off in sending her in to captivity, He is sending her there for her good – that she might learn and turn from her sin and be reconciled to God.
God comforts His people after they have endured their discipline and learned from it.  She has come around and repented and come back to God, and He opens his arms to her and receives her back – comforting her, assuring her that her warfare has ended, and her sins have been pardoned.  She suffered twice as much she had before for her sin, and God forgives her.
The same is true for God’s people today, is it not?
Jesus tells the parable of the ungrateful older brother – we remember the story of the younger brother – how he went to his father and asked for his share of the inheritance and ran off for a life of sin – until his money ran out, and his “friends” left him, and he found himself eating with the pigs.  Then he came to himself and returned to his father’s house with a plan, but his father was waiting with open arms – with love and forgiveness – hoping, waiting, for his son to return to him.
We are all sinners, and our Father knows it.  When we repent, He is already waiting to welcome us and comfort us and call us His again.  The point of our discipline – our suffering – for our sin is that we would remember that we have a Loving Father who is working all things together for our good.
Our Father calls out every day, “If you are suffering under the results of your sin, return, and find comfort and forgiveness for your sin through the merits of Jesus Christ.”
Second, God sent a messenger to announce salvation.
“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken’”
            And we know this text – we know who it is about – this is one of our Advent texts that we have heard over and over again.  We have heard it’s fulfillment in the Gospel of Matthew:
“In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 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.”’
            “Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins” (Matthew 3:1-6, ESV).
            And, yes, the Scripture tells us that this passage of Isaiah is fulfilled in John’s announcing repentance for the forgiveness of sins and the coming of the Lord Jesus – saying that no one should put an impediment in Jesus’ way.
            That is the ultimate fulfillment of this text, but is there anything specifically for the people of Hezekiah’s day and the captives of Babylon?
            We remember that there were times when the prophets gave a forthtelling – that they would see what will happen in the future, and when they did, there was often an answer for the people of the prophet’s day and the future.  You have it think it through.  It’s like looking at a mountain range and all the mountains seem close to each other – even right on top of one another, but then you find they are actually very far apart.
            The ultimate announcement is that God sent John to be the forerunner and announce the coming of the promised Savior.  But the immediate answer that God gave to the captives in Babylon, is that God was sending King Cyrus of the Medo-Persian Empire to conquer Babylon and send the captives back to their own lands – and for Judah – supplies to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem.
            God made a highway from Babylon to Judah and oversaw the delivery of supplies and the return of the Jews.
            God sent Judah into captivity in Babylon for their sin, but when the time of discipline was finished, it was nothing for God to overcome the Babylonians, much less the topography back to Judah.  God’s Glory is seen in their return and the rebuilding of the Temple.
            After Adam and Eve plunged humanity into sin, God promised that He would send a Savior – He even promised to send a prophet ahead of Him to announce that He had arrived.  And God’s Glory is seen in His Son and in the salvation of the people the Father gave to Him.
            God has eternally delivered us through Jesus alone – and He continues to deliver His Church – His Church will not be prevailed against by the gates of Hell.
            Third, the Word of God stands forever.
            “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”
            The captives needed to be assured:  the Babylonians will not last forever, other enemies will fall, humans die, but the Word of God – everything that God has said and promised – cannot and will not fail.  “Just watch – see what God is going to do – God is going to overthrow the Babylonian empire because your time of discipline is over – it is time for you to return.”
            We ought to be assured in this:  President Trump will not last forever, the North Koreans will not last forever, the Chinese and the Russians – all our nations and friends and enemies – as nations come and go and leaders rise up and fall and we live and die – know this is all the plan of God – as He breathes in and out and brings history to pass.  The only thing that stands is the Word of God.  The only thing that stands is the Word of God.  Nations come and go, kings come and go, suffering and pleasure come and go.  Trust in what God has said – what He has done – what He has promised.
            If we base our hopes and belief on what God has said, we will never be disappointed.
            Finally, God shepherds His people.
            “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”
            God tells His herald to go up on the high mountain and announce, “Behold your God!”
            On that first Christmas, Immanuel was born – “God with us.”   The joy of Immanuel burst onto the scene in a little baby – “Behold your God!”
            Captives of Babylon, behold your God as He delivers you from Babylon.
            People of Judah, behold your God as He delivers you through the gift of His Son, born of a virgin…
            This Son is the Good Shepherd, the Son of David.
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.  And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father” (John 10:14-18, ESV).
This is the Good Shepherd David sang about:
“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures.
“He leads me beside still waters.
“He restores my soul.
“He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (Psalm 23:1-6, ESV).
The Good Shepherd disciplines us with the rod when we need it, and we are called to repent and return to Him.
The Good Shepherd was announced by the prophets, and the announcement stands as evidence and a reminder to us today.
The Word of God, which is always true and endures forever, tells us about Immanuel, the Son of God, our Deliverer, our Good Shepherd.
He is God, our Savior, our Immanuel.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, You sent Immanuel to be with us and to save us.  Help us to know that God is with us, and may we hold on to the certainty of Your Word.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

No comments: