From This Day Forward!
Isaiah 35:1-10
Christmas is absolutely the best time in all the year!
And it’s been the top of the charts now for over 2000 years.
Forget about the commercial frenzy – that’s not really Christmas, even though we get caught up in the whole scene anyway.
CHRISTMAS IS AMAZING!!
In fact, its utterly beyond comprehension, which is probably why we do all the outlandish things we do at this time of the year.
We eat too much, we put up lights everywhere, we bring trees into our houses, we buy things for people …sometimes people that we really don’t even like all that much …and then we wrap those gifts in beautiful paper which we will just be torn off and throw away! – whole forests disappear to provide December’s wrapping paper …which is a real headache for those of us concerned about our environment.
…but …we persevere in the celebration ….the greatest birthday celebration in the history of the world! ….a birthday celebration that has been going on now for some 2000 years!
All of this is just our feeble attempt to somehow celebrate something which is so incredibly amazing, so big, so vast, so utterly unbelievable that we are inspired to do incredible things to mark the occasion.
When we begin to get our heads around the reality of Christmas, it’s kind of like, a “pinch me, I think I’m dreaming” situation!
So, how do we get a grip on the idea of “Emmanuel” – God with us?
Folks, this Advent season, I want to challenge you to try your best to get your mind around it!
God coming to us – the Creator within His creation.
Listen to this text from Isaiah 35:1-10 – see what God has done…
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 2 it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4 say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6 Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
8 And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness.
The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9 No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
It’s really hard to get the picture of what it means that Jesus came into our world. …to grasp and truly understand the reality of what we are celebrating at Christmas!
Rev. Robert Evans is a fulltime minister and a part time astronomer. His claim to fame is that he has discovered more Super Novas that anybody else in history, even more than the great scientists in their huge observatories.
A Supernova is an exploding star whose light can outshine an entire galaxy for about a month. How it explodes is an interesting phenomenon. Over time, millions of years, its inner gravitational pull becomes so strong that initially it implodes, drawing everything into itself. That gravitational pull sucks in everything, …including light – it becomes a black hole in the universe.
And its core becomes incredibly heavy. Imagine a million cannonballs squeezed into the size of a marble. Rev. Evans says, just a teaspoon full of this imploded star could weigh 200 billion pounds.
…And then suddenly it explodes outwards …sending all kinds of matter into space. It’s a nuclear explosion of such gigantic proportions that it would be the equivalent of a trillion hydrogen bombs all going off at once.
But you don’t need to worry about it. The nearest likely candidate to go Supernova near us is a star called Betelguese which is a mere 50 thousand light years away. To put that in perspective, to get there you would have to travel at the speed of light for 50 thousand years. In contrast, travelling at the speed of light, it would take you only 1.3 seconds to get to the moon, or 8.3 minutes to get to the sun.
It’s hard to fathom God’s creation – it is mind boggling.
We see pictures in books of our own solar system, …but they can never be to scale. If the earth were the size of a pea, Jupiter would be 3 lengths of a football field away, and Pluto, the furthest planetoid from earth would be 1-1/2 miles away.
The nearest star outside our solar system is Proxima Centauri, which would, on this scale be 1,000 miles away.
Isn’t the vastness of space absolutely captivating?
And the thought that the God who made all this came right inside His creation. RIGHT INSIDE!
He who flung stars into space by speaking them into existence, who spoke the separation of sky and earth, who announced light, and life..
This SAME God …came as a baby born of a virgin mother…
Man, I really can’t grasp it. I just cannot understand why THE ALMIGHTY God …would do that …enter helplessly into his own creation …especially knowing …and seeing …how we treat each other.
The Lord of all creation, THE Master of the universe – God …made himself utterly dependent on man …in the form of the baby Jesus.
Formed in the womb of a virgin girl, …He came to us.
Its absolutely crazy but it’s the reason why we are here today.
This amazingly, fantastically big God …became a child, a baby in a virgin’s womb – …following His own rule for a …nine month gestation period, …and then the years needed to be lived in order to grow to be a man – so that He could lay down the life He took up in order to change our destiny. …To turn around everything that we had messed up in our history and to give us a new beginning.
Oh, man, this is incredible!
It’s no wonder that we do outlandish, extraordinary things like hanging lights and bringing trees into our houses …and gathering in the name of that baby…
…All in celebration of this blessed event…
I had opportunity to go through the desert in Nevada, and more strikingly, I have been to the desert in Egypt. Let me tell you, it is not a glad place. It is dry and parched. In places it’s just moving sand, in other places, its hot sheets of stone, in still other places, rocky outcrops go up hundreds of feet into the air and are so hot that you cannot stand to hold your hand on them.
…It does not rejoice.
It drains the energy from you like a supernova. Despite everything, though, it does have life – …but what life there is hides away, survives on little and blooms very seldom.
BUT, in God, …our Scripture this morning tells us …the desert will be glad!
The wilderness will rejoice!
It will burst into bloom and shout for joy! (v1)
It’s a metamorphosis! And its coming, says the prophet…so strengthen your hands, steady your knees (v3), be strong, do not fear…
GOD IS COMING TO SAVE YOU! (v4)
Get up! Get Ready! Get going!
The eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped (v5)
The lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. (v6)
It’s a transformation!
Deserts are blooming, invalid people are being restored.
Have you thought about that… invalid people, in-valid people.
People without worth, or value. …The nothings of creation are becoming the somethings!
In Peter’s first letter, he says this, “you are a chosen people, …a royal priesthood, …a holy nation, …a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”
Once you were not a people – you were in-valid, but now you are a chosen people, a people belonging to God!
God has transformed His creation.
He has taken a people made in His image, who through sin had made themselves in-valid, …and He has, ….in His Son,
• …His Son born of a virgin,
• …dead on a Cross,
• …resurrected and alive!
• …risen into glory,
…in His son …He has …given us back the value we first had in Him.
Once you had not received mercy, now you have received mercy.
Christmas is the season of Emmanuel! …God with us!
…and as God’s people …Christian people …we are called this Advent …to prepare the way for Christ to come …fresh and new …powerful and mighty …into our lives …giving us meaning …and validity!
It is God with us and there can never, ever, be a better cause for celebration!
When John the Baptizer was becoming uncertain of his own future, …unable to grasp how his languishing in prison …was part of God’s plan, …he sent his disciples to Jesus to ask the question, “Are you the One, or should we wait for another?” (Matt 11:3)
Christ’s answer in verse 4 was simple – He quoted from Isaiah 35 – “Tell him what you see, the eyes of the blind are opened, the ears of the deaf are unstopped, the lame leap like a deer and the mute tongue shouts for joy.”
In Jesus’ unorthodox style, …He was saying, …I AM THE ONE!
He said …Observe the fulfillment of prophecy!
Look at broken, in-valid people being restored!
My friends, what God is offering us through Jesus …is like water gushing forth in the wilderness,
…streams in the desert
…its as if the burning sand …has become a delightful pool.
Land which at first sucked in the moisture is now a bubbling spring.
Lives which were…
• lost,
• wasted,
• meaningless,
• streaming toward death,
• invalid
…are being
• claimed,
• validated,
• valued,
• redeemed!
Praise God!
My friends, …its turnaround time. …Its Christmas!
Before us is the Highway of Holiness. It’s for those whom Christ came to redeem. He has paid the ransom. He has set us free!
I love the last words of this prophecy – Gladness and joy will overtake the travelers on this Highway of Holiness – we will never be able to outrun the gladness and joy which is the blessing from the One who says,”I am the One!”
Sorrow and sighing, on the other hand will flee away.
Our celebration today says, “I believe this!”
You are here because this promise is for you!
This is the celebration of the greatest event …the most important thing …which has ever, ever taken place!
The Almighty entered into His creation to take sadness and sighing away from us and to overwhelm us with His gladness and joy!
Listen to the voices of those who discovered this in the beginning, when Christ was born amongst us:
Mary, the virgin mother. …the one whom God chose to enter the world through her womb…
“My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” (Luke 1)
Zechariah, the father of John:
68 “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
because he has come and has redeemed his people.
The angels..
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favour rests.”
Simeon, the old priest in the Temple
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
And you, …how will you add your voice to the great chorus of praise?
How will you journey on this great Highway of Holiness?
How will you savor the great love …that God has for you?
Rejoice in Him! …draw close to God, …dedicate your entire being to God! …celebrate the new dawn!
My friends, …because you are hearing my voice right now …God is calling YOU into a deeper relationship with Him! God wants you ….completely! …He wants you to know…
• the joy of living life with out end,
• the hope of our salvation,
• the peace of His presence with us
• the love that caused Jesus to leave the paradise of heaven
o …and come to us, putting on flesh
o …and climb up on a Roman cross
o ….and sacrifice Himself for us.
Folks, I want you to see that …because Christ has come, everything is different now!
God is with us!!!
PRAYER OF RESPONSE
Lord, we bow before You now, mindful of our humble estate, awed by the greatness of Your glory.
We did not expect any of this, we did not think of it ourselves …and we don’t find ourselves worthy.
We were not a people …but in Your great love, …revealed in Christ …we are now Your people …Your family ….Sons and daughters …of THE ALMIGHTY!
We were without mercy and now, in Christ, …You have poured grace upon grace …into our lives.
What can we say? What can we do?
We hear Your words, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
Lord, we come to this Highway of Holiness.
You have made the path for us. Help us so that we can follow You. Strengthen us so that our resolve does not fail. …May Your gladness and Your joy overtake us as we journey with You.
And may Your Name be honored and glorified forever …by the lives we live from this day forward!
Amen!
This message is a revamp of one originally posted on Sermon Central by David De Kock entitled Christmas is Amazing. I heartily recommend it to you.
