Please open your Bibles to Isaiah 40. As we begin the season of Advent, we are going to look at some very familiar words from the Old Testament, particularly if you are a fan of Handel’s Messiah: “The voice of one crying: In the wilderness prepare the way of theLord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” I want you to just marinate on that image for a little:
“Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
God makes a way in the desert.
When you think about a desert, you think about an empty, barren place with no life. And that was how people described Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. They called her barren. What a horrible word! And she had heard it all her life. In a time when a woman’s worth was measured in how many children she had, in a time when, if you had many children it was seen as God being happy with you. If you had no children, it was because God was angry at you...that you were sinful...that you were being punished for something.
But just like she said in the video, God seems to take delight in bringing life to barren places. And Elizabeth’s story which we read about in Luke chapter 1 is really the story of the people of Israel. Just as Elizabeth and Zechariah probably wondered if God had forgotten about them, the people of Israel wondered if God had forgotten about them.
The Christmas season is about the anticipation of something good coming in good time. But how much more when its something you have been praying for or longing for for a long time? Anyone who has struggled to get pregnant understands the unfulfilled longing to bring a baby into the world.
Or what about something you are in desperate need of? I have a friend that I have known for nearly five years who has been waiting for a kidney transplant for as long as I’ve known him.
The Advent season teaches us the value of waiting on God. We understand that Christmas isn’t just about December 25. The gospel story doesn’t begin in Bethlehem with a birth announcement to shepherds. As we will see this morning, it actually begins hundreds, even thousands of years before that. Let’s read together Isaiah 40:1-5. Please stand to honor the reading of God’s word.
40 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare[a] is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.
3 A voice cries:[b]
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 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.
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
Let’s pray…
As we look at this text, realize that we are kind of being plopped down in the middle of Jewish history. Chapter 40 is about two thirds of the way through Isaiah, which is about two thirds of the way through the Old Testament, and about 700-800 years before the birth of Jesus. Clearly, from verse 1 we see that God is speaking words of comfort to His people. But why do they need comfort? He says their warfare is ended. When did it begin? Who are they at war with? And what does this have to do with Christmas? Let’s start by identifying the problem.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 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.
We are at war. Israel had had a long history of warfare with other nations. After 400 years of bondage in Egypt, they entered a land where they had to fight for every inch of what God had promised them. The book of Joshua ends with Israel having defeated every people group in the promised land.
During the period of the judges, Israel would be oppressed by various nations, then God would raise up a deliverer, there would be a period of peace, then the cycle would begin again.
Then came the period of the monarchy. First King Saul, then King David led Israel against the Philistines. After David came King Solomon. And here is the amazing thing about Solomon. His 40 year reign was the longest uninterrupted period of peace Israel had had since the time of Abraham. Think about it: Only 40 years of peace over the course of fourteen hundred years. Imagine how Isaiah’s readers would have felt to hear this prophecy for the first time— There will come a day when God will say to his people, “your warfare has ended.” Because a Prince of Peace is coming.
But now look at the second part of verse 2. Conflict wasn’t Israel’s only problem. Verse 2 goes on to say, “Her iniquity is pardoned.” That brings us to the second part of the problem. Not only are we at war with others,
We are in rebellion against God. This part of the problem is even older and more deeply rooted than the first part. When God created man and woman, he placed them in a beautiful garden and said, “You guys are free to eat from any tree in the garden. But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of that tree, you will surely die (Genesis 2:17). But Adam and Eve decided they would rather decide for themselves what is good and evil, and they disobeyed God. They listened to the serpent. They ate of the forbidden fruit. And sin entered the world. From that point onward, the human race would be in rebellion against God.
And as a result, we’ve been walking in darkness ever since. Sin made a promise it couldn’t deliver. Satan had whispered to Adam and Eve, “if you eat of this tree your eyes will be opened (Genesis 3:5). That’s the way sin works. It always promises more than it can deliver.
But sin wasn’t the only thing that was set in motion in the garden of Eden. So was God’s plan for redemption.
God confronted Adam and Eve and the serpent in the Garden. We often jump to the curse God put on the man and the woman—man would have to labor and toil for the food that was supposed to come so easily. Woman would bear children in pain. Men and women would seek to dominate each other. But before God pronounced any of the consequences of sin in Genesis 3:16-19, He laid out his plan for redemption in 3:15:
15 And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
Normally I preach from the English Standard Version, but I have this up on the screen in the New King James Version, because of the word “seed.” [Explain]
Do you see how, hundreds of years before Isaiah, God was already preparing for how He was going to rescue His people from sin. After thousands of years of warfare and sin, God was going to bring comfort to His people. There would come a day when Israel’s warfare would be accomplished, and her iniquity would be pardoned. Isaiah prophesied in chapter 9:2 that
[c] The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
God would break the curse. God would pierce the darkness. God would bring light to the world. He then told Isaiah how He would do it:
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon[d] his shoulder,
and his name shall be called[e]
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6
So if God has been preparing the way for us to get back into right relationship with Him ever since creation, is there anything we do to prepare our hearts to receive him? Because really that’s what the Advent season is about. Advent is the season of preparation for the coming of Jesus into the world. So let’s go back to Isaiah 40 to see what our part is:
Prepare by Repenting (Is. 40:3-4; Matthew 3:1-8)
A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 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.
We started the teaching time this morning with a video of Elizabeth telling her story of the birth of John the Baptist. John was Jesus’ cousin, and his role in the Christmas story is that he came to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. Look at how the gospel writer Matthew described him:
In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”[a] 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare[b] the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’” (Matthew 3:1-3)
You might say that Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son John the Baptist was the last of the Old Testament prophets. He was the voice crying in the wilderness that Isaiah prophesied.
Notice how his message began: Repent. Repent is the Greek word metanoia, and it literally means to change your mind. It means to turn from the direction you have been going and to walk in a new direction.
Isaiah 40:3-4 gives four images from creation that are a picture of repentance:
• Valleys will be lifted up: those dark, shadowy places in our lives are brought into the light. When we repent, we make the decision to stop trying to hide from God.
• Mountains will be made low. God’s word says that he is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. So if there’s mountains in your life—places you’ve lifted up in pride or arrogance, those need to be brought low to the feet of Jesus.
• What is crooked will be made straight: repentance means walking uprightly before God. Proverbs 3:5-6 says “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
• What is rough will be made smooth. How many of us would admit this morning that we have some rough edges that need to be made smooth? Repentance means handing God the sandpaper and trusting Him to take care of the rought places in your life.
Now, you may look at this and say, “Man, that’s a lot of work. I can’t possibly do all that.” And you’re right. The good news is, you don’t have to. It isn’t your work to do. Look again at Isaiah 40:3-4
Do you see anything in there that says its our job to fill in valleys or level mountains? Is it our job to make crooked paths straight, or rough places plain? No. Isaiah switches from the active voice: “prepare” to the passive voice: “every valley shall be lifted up.” All we have to do is repent. God does the rest.
I read a story this week about a man who wanted to clear a path on some land that he owned. There were a lot of downed trees and scrub pines, and he knew it would take a lot of work to clear it. So he goes to the hardware store and says, “I need something that will take down ten trees an hour.” So the salesman sells him a top of the line chainsaw. Says, “this is the most powerful chainsaw we have.” So the man buys it.
But the next day, he brings it back and demands his money back. “You said this would cut down ten trees an hour. It took me all afternoon to cut down one little bitty pine tree!”
Salesman says, “let me take a look at it.” He takes the chainsaw and pulls the starter cord, and it starts right up. The man looks at it, and his jaw drops, and he says, “What’s that sound?”
That’s the difference between religion and Christianity. Religion says, “work and sweat and put all your strength into making this path to God.”
Christianity says, “Hold this chainsaw.”
Expect God’s Revelation (Isaiah 9:6, Galatians 4:4-7)
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed. And all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. (Isaiah 40:5)
When we prepare our hearts, God reveals His glory.
• Again, passive voice
• Its for all flesh, not just the Jews.
• God’s glory is revealed through Jesus.
Let’s look at Galatians 4:
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
