Scripture reading: Mark 1:1-8.

Sermon text: Isaiah 40:1-11.

Guest Devotional: Amanda McCraw, student, TCHS.

Sermon

Most of us have heard (or said), “Which do you want first, the bad news or the good news?” Many of us had rather hear the bad news first so we can end the conversation on a good note. Of course, most of us had rather skip the bad news completely, but sometimes we need to hear the bad news.

Today’s sermon comes from Isaiah 40, one of the most comforting passages in Scripture. After 39 chapters of overwhelming evidence of Judah’s idolatry and the prophecies of judgment and exile, Isaiah suddenly turned his attention to the return of the exiles from Babylon. Using beautiful imagery, Isaiah vividly described God’s intention to return the exiles to their promised land. Isaiah realized that Israel could not free herself; only God could free her. Only a God who unconditionally loved His sinful people would even consider bringing them back from their punishment, restoring their land, and then exceeding their expectations through His most powerful work.

God’s work for His people would accomplish far more than a mere physical relocation and restoration. Throughout their history, Israel’s prophets had claimed their God was more powerful than the impotent idols of their neighbors, but the neighbors had won the major wars due to Israel’s rebellion against their God. When God accomplished the true restoration of His people, He would prove His power once for all. God Himself would conquer humanity’s greatest enemies. “Prepare the way,” the prophets cried, for God’s greatest appearance in history would pave the way for the restoration of humanity’s relationship with their Creator and Lord.

Isaiah abruptly changed the tenor of his prophecies at the beginning of chapter 40. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” After the prophecies of the first chapters, the Jews needed comfort. Isaiah had prophesied that Jewish transgressions and disobedience would compel God to destroy their nation and send the tattered survivors into exile in a foreign land. Now, Isaiah could hear God declaring that His people needed comforting.

Why the change? Why would God now tell the prophet to speak “tenderly” to those He had judged so severely? Isaiah had the answer: “her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” Jerusalem would finally face peace because God had pardoned her iniquities; He had punished her severely, but now God would comfort her.

What sign would the Jews received that God had pardoned them? They would hear a “voice in the wilderness” calling them to return to God. “Prepare the way of the LORD.” The people would need to prepare for God’s coming by repenting of their sins and by recognizing God as Lord of their nation. The “voice” would call the people to return to God.

Unfortunately, the people’s return to God would not come easily. Only God could prepare the way, and Isaiah used a route they already knew: The route from Babylon back to Jerusalem.

The Jews knew the way from Babylon to Jerusalem involved a circuitous route to the north and then south down through Lebanon and eventually into Judah itself. Few people ever traveled straight from Mesopotamia to Judah; the desert was too dangerous for any but the truly desperate. Nebuchadnezzar himself had made this mad dash at the death of his father to secure his throne. The Jews would not expect God to bring them back through the desert. However, Isaiah said otherwise: “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.”

God wanted His people to return to Him and worship Him. He would do what is necessary to lift the spiritual plains and level the insurmountable mountains of rebellion and sin.

At the Jews’ return, “the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” The Jews knew that God had sent His Shekinah glory — a physical representation of His presence — into the Temple at Solomon’s dedication of the complex. The Jews expected that God would again bless them with His presence when they returned to Jerusalem. After all, God had spoken, and His words always came true.

The Jews would need to hear reassurance of God’s promises to return them to Himself. Was Isaiah making empty promises in God’s name? Not likely! God told Isaiah to “cry out!” What did the Jews need to hear? “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 Jews’ return would not come by human effort, for humans exist only fleetingly in time. The grass “withers” and the flower “fades,” “ but the word of our God will stand forever.” When God speaks, His promises are true and always fulfilled.

When the Jews experienced God’s deliverance, they would hear God’s messengers say, “Behold your God!” Jerusalem herself would serve as a “herald” or messenger of God’s grace. God would do this because of love. He would come in His omnipotent strength: “the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.” However, God would also tenderly care for His people: “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.” The people would hear the word “shepherd” and think of Psalm 23, where David, their greatest king, had written, “The LORD is my shepherd.” David then went on to poetically describe God’s gentle care for His people.

Did the Jews who returned from exile experience God’s fulfillment of these prophecies? Did God bless His people with His physical presence when they returned from exile in the sixth century B.C.?

God did fulfill His promise to return His people from Babylon, but when the people built a replacement for Solomon’s Temple, those who remembered the original wept at its humble attempt to replace Solomon’s grand edifice (Ezra 3). Unlike the awesome experience at the dedication of the original Temple, when God’s presence so filled the Temple that the priests couldn’t enter the building, we have no record that God’s presence ever appeared in either the temple built by the Jews or the massive, gaudy upgrade of Herod. It seemed God had broken His promise to return the Jews to Himself and then bless them with His physical glory; the “glory of the LORD” seemed far from Jerusalem.

God did fulfill the prophecy. The Scripture reading today tells of another prophet who appeared in the wilderness, calling the people to “prepare the way of the Lord.” This prophet would go on to baptize God Himself. The “glory of the LORD” returned to the Temple of Herod’s time, but He returned physically as God incarnate. God the Son, Jesus of Nazareth, prepared the path to God through the desert of sin. He called Himself “the good Shepherd” (John 10). He descended into the valley of the shadow of death, but He exalted the valley with His resurrection. He lowered the mountains of rebellion that separated us from God. On the cross, Jesus received the punishment for our sins.

With His death, burial, and resurrection, Jesus prepared the way to God. Today, when we confess Jesus as Lord, believing in His resurrection, we experience a return to God (Romans 10:9-10). We become a part of His family and enjoy the privileges of a relationship with God.

This passage gives us great comfort in several ways.

First, we must remember this lesson when God promises to hear and answer the prayers of His people. We must remember that God’s timing is not ours. However, God always does what His best for His people as we trust Him to lead us and guide us, even through the deserts of life. Then, when we experience God’s deliverance and work in our lives, we should praise Him for His actions for us. God delivered the Jews from exile and idolatry; He delivers us from sin and restores our relationship with God.

We should also find comfort in our relationship with God. When we know that God loves us and cares for us like the Good Shepherd, we should demonstrate joy and peace. When we experience peace with God, that peace should overflow into all areas of our lives. We can love others as ourselves because we know that God loves us. We also know that  God’s love for us gives us the strength to love those in our lives that seem impossible to love or forgive.

We should also remember that Jesus will return again, and this time, all flesh shall see His coming (Revelation 1:7). At His return, Jesus will reveal His “strong hand” and rule over all Creation.

Jesus prepared the way to God for us all. When we follow His way, we leave the exile of sin and enter the promised land of joy and peace. Follow the way of the cross; find comfort in the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ our Lord.