“THE WORD OF OUR GOD ENDURES FOREVER” (Outline)
December 18, 2022 – Advent 4 – ISAIAH 40:1-8
INTRO: Forever is a long time. Almost beyond our human understanding. God is eternal. Forever. Divine definition: no beginning, no end. We live in a world where everything has a beginning and an end. Not the Lord. Not God’s Word. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (MATTHEW 24:35). “THE WORD OR OUR GOD ENDURES FOREVER.”
I. Our comfort. II. God’s glory.
I. THE ENDURING WORD OF GOD IS OUR COMFORT
A. Isaiah 40 is sometimes referred to as the “second book” of Isaiah.
1. The Lord God sent Isaiah to proclaim divine judgment in the first 39 chapters of Isaiah.
2. God’s judgment would come upon Israel. Judgment also coming to other nations.
B. Verse 1. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” God now reveals a message of comfort.
1. “Comfort my people”. Judgment coming. Israel was still the people belonging to God.
2. The Lord God was still their God. Comfort for Israel in the face of divine judgment.
C. Verse 2. Speak to the people. Judgment is near. Eternal battle is done. Won. Sins forgiven.
1. Verse 3. The prophet cries out in the wilderness. Prepare. The Lord’s path is straight.
2. Verse 4. Valleys will be raised. Mountains brought low. Rugged, rough places leveled.
3. Biblical people walked everywhere. Level paths, roads important. Easy traveling. Comfort.
D. Everyone needs to hear the message of comfort. Israel had rebelled against the Lord. Rejected God’s love for them. Our wickedness, rebellion and sins do the same thing. We daily battle against our sinful nature. Evil thoughts. Wicked words. Disobedient actions. Our heavenly Father comforts us with the precious gift of his Son. Jesus obeyed every will of God perfectly. Christ fought our battle against the devil. Defeated Satan. Our sins are forgiven. Our guilt is removed by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross. “Who is a God like you, who forgives guilt, and who passes over the rebellion of the survivors from his inheritance? He does not hold onto his anger forever. He delights in showing mercy” (MICAH 7:18).
E. The baby born in Bethlehem is our comfort day after day after day. Jesus took on human flesh. In his humility our Savior was scorned by his creation. Rejected. Crucified. Died. Buried. Rose again. This is our great comfort in knowing we too will rise to live forever in the perfection of heaven. At the side of our Savior. In life, in death the Lord God is our Comfort. “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” (PSALM 23:4). We cannot help but remember the picture of Jesus standing with his shepherd’s staff. The sheep gather around him. One end of the staff is straight. The Lord Jesus guides us, his sheep, on the path straight and narrow. The other end is curved, has a crook in it. When we wander off into the ditch the Lord Jesus uses the curved end to draw us back to him. Our Comfort forever.
F. Sadly, too many today look for comfort, hope, peace, and joy in all of the wrong places. We know the excitement around the Christmas season can seem burdensome. The shopping. Gifts. Family visits. Cards. Jesus’ birth is much more than outward satisfaction. Our Savior was born to bring us the comfort only he can provide. Jesus the Christ satisfies our soul’s greatest needs. Our sins deserve divine judgment. Wickedness earns eternal condemnation. We see that we desperately need a deliverer. It is Christ the Savior! "Therefore, repent and return to have your sins wiped out, so that refreshing times may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you” (ACTS 3:19, 20).
“THE WORD OF OUR GOD ENDURES FOREVER.” God’s enduring Word is our comfort.
II. THE ENDURING WORD OF GOD IS GOD’S GLORY
A. Valleys raised. Mountains brought low. Rugged and rough places made smooth.
1. Verse 5. “Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed.” The Lord has spoken.
2. The Lord says all flesh will see it. On the Last Day all flesh will see the Lord’s glory.
B. Verse 6. A voice wants to know what to cry out. What is God’s message? “All flesh is grass”.
1. Wildflowers are beautiful. They pass away quickly. Such is human mortality. Not forever.
2. verse 7. The breath of the Lord blows on the grass, flowers. They fade. Gone.
a. Breath of Lord was breathed into lifeless clay at creation. b. God’s breath our soul.
C. Verse 7b. “Yes, the people are grass.” People are mortal. Grass, flowers have a purpose. So do people.
1. Verse 8. “Grass withers, flowers fade”. Fading glory of anything and everything earthly.
2. God’s Word endures forever. Comparison of opposites aid in understanding forever.
D. The Word of our God endures forever. This is eternal, divine comfort for us. For all. The Word of our God endures forever. This is God’s glory for the world. We see God’s revealed, living and flesh glory at the birth of Jesus. Humble birth of a virgin. Young woman unmarried. In Bethlehem no rooms are available. But the stable has space. God’s timing is fulfilled here. Jesus is born. His bed is a manger. The multitude of angels appear to the shepherds near Bethlehem. Today, a Savior is born unto you. God’s glory! “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of the divine nature. He sustains all things by his powerful word” (HEBREWS 1:3a). God’s Word living, active, and powerful.
E. God’s glory is not always as we might think. Or expect. Jesus gathered with his disciples in the upper room. During the meal Jesus revealed one of the twelve will betray him. Each one of the twelve disciples asked who was the betrayer. Jesus gave the bread to the one who would betray him with a kiss. “After Judas left, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him’” (JOHN 13:31). The betrayer, Judas, left. Now God is glorified. Does not sound at all like a moment of any glory for anyone. Disciples. Judas. God. Especially Jesus. “Now the Son of Man is glorified”. Really?!? Yes! Judas would betray Jesus. An arrest. Trial. Conviction. Crucifixion. Resurrection. God’s plan of salvation would continue. God’s glory in a betrayal! We face disasters. Betrayals. Cannot see to be very glorious. God’s glory always is in the truth that his perfect plan for us is being perfectly carried out.
F. Comfort and joy is God’s message of glory for all people. All too many miss the meaning of God’s hope for all people. How does that happen? Why aren’t more people filled with God’s peace that surpasses human understanding? The god of this age blinds the minds of unbelievers. They simply do not see God’s glory in Jesus. “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the hardness of their hearts” (EPHESIANS 4:18). Only by grace has the Holy Spirit opened our eyes to see the glory of God in the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
CONC.: “THE WORD OF OUR GOD ENDURES FOREVER.” This eternal truth is meant for our comfort. And others. This eternal Word is God’s glory for us. And others. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our trouble, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the same comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 CORINTHIANS 1:3, 4). “THE WORD OF OUR GOD ENDURES FOREVER.” It is our comfort for comforting. God’s glory for us is for sharing with others. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
ADVENT 4 readings.: ISAIAH 7:10-14; ROMANS 1:1-7; MATTHEW 1:18-25; PSALM 98
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