Isaiah 66:10-14
Happy 4th of July! I love the 4th of July because I can’t help but spend some time re-reading some Revolutionary War History. What a wild time in our nation’s history. And what bravery it took to declare independence from the preeminent military power of the day. Think about the courage it must have taken to put your signature on a document, which ended with these words:
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.
Brave indeed. But the thing that took a long time for me to understand is that the 4th of July was only the beginning of what would be a long, and intense, and often time uncertain fight for freedom. And for much of the Revolutionary War, it has to be said, things did not look good at all for the Colonial Army and their General, George Washington. Do you know that George Washington actually lost more battles than he won? The 4th of July was a wonderful day, it is a wonderful day, but we can’t lose sight of the hardships and trials our nation endured following the Declaration of Independence. And we can’t forget that it was the promise and vision of freedom that emanated from the Declaration of Independence that drove the colonists to keep fighting and striving for freedom, even in the bleakest hours. The hope of a better future is what sustained them, even when their present was dark, and the bright future was impossible to see.
It is just that kind of hope, hope in the midst of uncertainty and hardship, that permeates our reading today from the very last chapter of the book of Isaiah. We join up with God’s people in a time when they were struggling as a nation. Now, to be sure, they were not struggling because they had declared their independence from Assyria, or some other nation. They were struggling as a people because they had, in essence, declared their independence from God himself.
They had turned to false gods, they had tried to rely on themselves to get through difficult times, they had trusted in alliances with other nations and kings, rather than relying on God, or calling out the Almighty when things got rough for them. And now they had only misery and fear, and uncertainty about the future to show for it. And this is where Isaiah come in.
Isaiah is a very long book, in which he talks about all kinds of different things. He points out the unfaithfulness and sin of God’s people and boldly condemns all of it. He clearly predicts what is going to happen, and how the people will be taken captive and exiled from the land God gave their forefathers so many centuries before. He expresses in no uncertain terms, that for a time God’s own people will suffer under the rule of wicked leaders who have no concern for them. Not exactly an inspiring message!
But Isaiah also talks about the great hope that God’s people will have, even in the midst of these very trying times. He points ahead to a “Suffering Servant,” to Christ Jesus himself, who will come years later to rescue all God’s people, even from the ravages of sin and death! He points to a time in the near future for God’s people when they will be allowed to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple and the city of Jerusalem, which were destroyed by invading armies. Isaiah says essentially, “Even now, even now rejoice, and learn these songs of praise, because God has promised you redemption, and if God has promised it, even if it doesn’t feel that way right now, it is as good as done.”
And that is the message that we get from our reading today. The main word is actually a command. REJOICE! “Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her, rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her…” Do you get how important that is? Rejoice! Rejoice right now! Rejoice, even if everything around you looks totally hopeless. Rejoice, even though outsiders would think you were totally crazy. Rejoice, even if you are in so much pain, even if your heart feels like it has been ripped out. Rejoice, because God has made you a promise, and he will keep it. You will be satisfied, you will be comforted, you will see hope!
And if we look deep down. We could use a message of hope and rejoicing today as well, couldn’t we? This message from Isaiah gives some great specific reason to rejoice, reasons that reach across all these centuries and grab ahold of us this morning. The first call is found in verse 11. Rejoice in God’s provision for you, provision that is as complete and as caring and as nurturing as a mother’s provision for her baby: REJOICE, that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious abundance.” God provides for us, he satisfies the deepest needs of our souls, and provides all we need for this body and life.
We live in a time when people are so prone to complain, and to look at all they don’t have. In fact a recent study was done that indicated that the vast majority of people who were asked the question, “how much money would you need to be happy?” answered consistently that if they only had 20% more than they were making right now, they would be happy. Do you see how awful that is? You can make $10K or 1.5 million, and you will always think that happiness is right out of reach! Tell me the devil isn’t crafty!
We are blessed that we can rejoice right now that God satisfies us. That he nourishes us with glorious abundance by filling us with his Holy Spirit in Baptism, from the Altar of the Lord’s Supper, with his very God-Breathed word. We are satisfied in ways that no huge home, or nice car, or big paycheck could ever satisfy. We are given the word of eternal life, we proclaim, the Lord’s death until he comes, we have hope for eternity. We rejoice because we have been satisfied, and will be satisfied to the very core of our being, for life everlasting.
But the reading goes on! REJOICE because we have been promised peace. For thus says the LORD: “Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; and you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip, and bounced upon her knees. Isn’t this a beautiful image! God doesn’t just give us peace, he gives it with such abundance that it is like a river busting out of her banks. He gives us peace that only a child resting on his mother’s hip can truly appreciate. He gives us peace that nothing else in the world can give us. Peace is in such demand and in such short supply in this sinful and fallen world. Whether we think of loved ones in the theater of war, or even a lack of peace at home, or at work, we realize we NEED peace. And God gives us peace that flows like a stream. Peace that runs, pure and red in the blood he shed for us on the cross. Peace that we could not win, but that he won freely for us with his own death and sacrifice. And the peace that God gives is a peace that we will experience fully and completely when he returns and takes us to be with him in peace and praise for all eternity. But this promise of peace then, gives us peace right now. And this peace gives us a reason to rejoice.
And then we read what Isaiah told the people of Judah in verse 13: As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. We can rejoice today, because we know that in Christ, we will be comforted. We know we have a source of comfort that reaches out to us in the middle of our sin. We have a source of comfort that not even our deepest fear, our deepest pains, our harshest sorrow can overcome. We have a comfort that Christ himself preached about, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” We have the promise of comfort, and in this comfort, regardless of where our sorrow finds us today, we have a reason to rejoice!
And lastly, we read in verse 14 we have the beautiful promise that we shall SEE our reason to rejoice. And in the Biblical sense of the word “see,” we have to understand that this implies more than just a visual connection, but an intimacy, and knowledge, and connection to our Savior that we could never have on our own. It is a restoration of the life of rejoicing that Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden before the fall into sin. It is a seeing that can only take place by the grace of God who forgives our sins.
In this world it is hard to see a reason to rejoice some days. It’s hard to see past our own pessimism, or our own bad experiences or failure. But God promises: You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice; your bones shall flourish like the grass; and the hand of the LORD shall be known to his servants, and he shall show his indignation against his enemies. This is a promise that Job confessed in the midst of extreme pain and loss: (Job 19:25-27) I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me! This is a rejoicing that helps us to lift our eyes past any circumstance, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we are has not yet appeared, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is” (1 Jn 3:2)
We have been given every reason to rejoice. And the world needs people who rejoice. The world needs people who can point them to the source of real hope, of real joy, of real love and significance. And in Christ Jesus, we have it all. We have real satisfaction, real comfort, real peace, and a real vision of an eternity in the presence of the one who created us. Rejoice.
