COMFORTING GOD’S PEOPLE (December 6, 2020)
Text: Isaiah 40: 1 - 11
Isaiah 40:1 -11: Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. 3 A voice cries out: “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 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” 6 A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. 7 The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever. 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!” 10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
“A little boy was smarting after being punished by his father. Shortly afterward, he knelt beside his bed to say his prayers, which ended with the usual blessings for all the family but one. Then he turned to his father and said. “ I suppose that you noticed that you weren’t in it.” (Michael E. Hodgin. ed. 1002 Humorous Illustrations. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004, p. 297). Are we like that with God sometimes? Do things ever go as they should when we slight God or leave God out of the picture?
Today’s text echoes what we see throughout scripture about how the Lord disciplines His children. God disciplines us because He loves us. We also see how God wants to gives us His comfort!
Today’s text provides us with three pictures--- punishment, preparation and providence.
PUNISHMENT
Remember the story about the boy who left his earthly father out of his prayer? He did that because he was mad at his father for the punishment he received. How many get mad at God our Heavenly Father for the punishment that we received?
1) Nearsighted: Have often have we misunderstood because we are nearsighted? Hebrews 12:6 tells us For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” Without discipline we would be illegitimate children (Hebrews 12:8 ESV).
2) Perfecting vision: An earthly father’s vision for his children is to raise them with the foresight of what they need now and how it will shape their future. Proverbs 22:6 tells us “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it”.
3) Perfect vision: Our Heavenly Father’s vision is absolute because God is all-knowing. God knows the mistakes we will make even before we will make them. 2 Corinthians 1:3 says ”Let us give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the merciful Father, the God from whom all help comes!” (GNB).
Does the second verse suggest that God punished them too much? Let’s answer that question with another passage of scripture.
1) Biblical answer: Psalm 130:3 LORD, if you were to record iniquities, Lord, who could remain standing? (KJV). Here we are told that the “Jerusalem has paid the price for their sin as someone (Edward Hindson) explains in a historical way: saying that they “ suffered [both] the devastation of their land and their deportation to Babylon.” (The Complete Bible Commentary. (Edward Hindson. “Isaiah”. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, Inc., 1999, p. 816)... They were guilty of disobedience, defilement, idolatry of God’s inheritance--God’s land (Jeremiah 16:18 GNB paraphrased).
2) Reaping and sowing: They had reaped what they had sown.
PREPARATION
Why is clearing the Lord’s way in the desert so important (verse 3)?
1) Road work: Could it be that the prophet Isaiah was talking about obstacles that would obstruct travel? Could those obstacles be both literal and spiritual? Could those obstacles be within our hearts? If this were a multiple choice question on a test would the answer be …
a)obstacles,
b)literal or spiritual
c)obstacles within or
d)all of the above?
2) Men not working: In the New Testament, in all of the Gospels John the Baptizer uses words saying, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for Him” (Mark 1:3 NIV). That preparation involves genuine confession, repentance and bearing fruit in keeping with repentance (Matthew 3:8).
Should preparation be a last minute thing or an ongoing thing? Our preparation should be on-going and not like a hail Mary pass in the last seconds a ball game.
1) Flat tire: Someone says, One morning [he] went out to start [his] car to go to church. Flat tire. Lucky I had a spare. Changed tire quickly and on [my] way. Didn’t think to drop spare off to be fixed. “I’ll get around to it.” Within five days [I] went out to car to go to school. Another flat. Only this time no spare! Had to roll it to nearest station and wait while it was fixed. When something breaks, fix it now. Don’t wait until you need it and then don’t have it! Galaxie Software. (2002). 10,000 Sermon Illustrations. Biblical Studies Press. J.U., August, 1982 This story is like a parable in that it reminds us of what not to do. Who would want to be stranded?
2) Hearts: C. S. Lewis once said, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin”. (Morgan, R. J. (2007). Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook (2007 Edition, p. 214). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers). Joel 2:13 tells us to rend our hearts and not our garments. Broken and contrite hearts are open to God’s guidance. God wants us to be right in our hearts. Remorse is good but we need God’s grace to heal. Mary gave God’s Son the name of Jesus because he can save people from ( Matthew 1:21).
PROVIDENCE
Do you believe God knows what you need and when you need it?
1) God’s Omniscience: God knows our name, our frame, the number of hairs on our heads, what we need, when we need it. God knows when we are hurting, scared, sad, happy, mad, glad. God is never late, never short, never unable to help up us, never unable to comfort us, never unable to heal us, never unable to forgive us!
“ Keeping a record of sins (or holding a grudge) is like building a wall between you and another person, and it is nearly impossible to talk openly while the wall is there. God doesn't keep a record of our sins; when he forgives, he forgives completely, tearing down any wall between us and him. Therefore, we fear (revere) God, yet we can talk to him about anything. When you pray, realize that God is holding nothing against you. His lines of communication are completely open”. (Life Application Bible Study Notes. Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 2004). Is that not comforting?
2) A Savior: God is our creator, sustainer and He sent His only begotten Son to be our Savior!
Do you believe that God is bigger than your troubling circumstances? There are four voices in the prophecy today.
1) First voice: God speaks first speaking about comfort that is based on His grace in the first two verses. McKenna, D., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1994). Isaiah 40–66 (Vol. 18, p. 26). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.
When I was in college, we learned about the effect of Jonathon Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.” People were so scared that they almost believed that the floor would open up and swallow them taking them to hell. Isaiah is telling us that God wants to comfort us!
2) Second voice: This voice speaks about God’s providence in verses 3 -5. Someone has described providence like this ….
The word 'Providence' is made up of two words:
* "Pro" means "Before" and "Video" means "to see";
* The word 'Providence' simply means "to see before"
* So when we talk about the providence of God;
* We mean that God 'sees before' and plans accordingly.
https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/77499/god-s-omniscience-by-gordon-curley
If we let Him, God can help us with the road work in our hearts and lives.
3) The third voice: This third voice (in verses 6 - 8) reminds us of our limits and our God who has no limits! Though we have a time here on earth because we are like grass, God’s word endures forever. God takes care of us in this life in and the life to come. It is God who clothes the grass of the field (Matthew 6:25) and clothes with salvation in Jesus Christ!
4) The last voice: This last voice tells us to tell others about what God can do and what He is doing for us. 9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
