"The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, 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."(Isaiah 35:1-2)
Years ago, a Scotchman lived in Liverpool where he was to embark for his journey to America. He fingered the few coins that made up his entire earthly wealth, and decided that he would save as much as he could on food during the trip in order to have more money on hand when he reached New York. He went to a small store and bought a supply of crackers and cheese to get him through his days at sea. But as the voyage progressed the sea air made him very hungry. To make matters worse, the dampness in the air made his cheese hard and his crackers soft. He was almost desperate with hunger. The last straw came when he caught the fragrant whiff of delicious food on a tray a steward was carrying to another passenger. The hungry man made up his mind that he would have one good, square meal, even though it might take several of his shillings. He awaited the return of the steward and asked him how much it would cost to go to the dining room and get a dinner. The steward asked the Scotchman if he had a ticket for the steamship passage. The man showed his ticket, and the steward told him that all meals were included in the price of the ticket. The poor man could have saved the money he spent on crackers and cheese; he could have gone to the dining room and eaten as much as he liked every mealtime.
This is a humble picture of the position of many people who have believed in Christ as Savior. Because of that faith they are saved, but they go on their dreary way without enjoying any of the blessings God has for them in Christ! How terrible is the responsibility of these cheese-and-crackers Christians, who show no joy to those who are looking for the reality of joy in life…
A certain layman wished to perform some kind of Christian service, so his pastor suggested that he go to a rescue mission and help. The man duly presented himself to the superintendent of the mission shortly before a service for the down-and-out who walked along Skid Row. The superintendent told the man to stand out on the sidewalk and invite passing men to come into the meeting. The man approached all who passed by and, in a mournful tone, asked them to enter the mission. Each man to whom he spoke glanced at him and went on. He learned his lesson, however, when one man responded to his doleful invitation, “Brother, wouldn’t you like to come in to the meeting?” Cynically, the man looked at his solemn face and said, “No, thanks; I’ve got troubles enough of my own!”
Even people like Martin Luther didn’t always show a good witness. In his later years he could become quite gloomy. One day his wife came into his study dressed in black. Martin asked, “Who’s dead?” She said, “God is.” Martin responded, “My soul, why should you talk like that?” She said, “Because of your gloom!”
It is hard to show the kind of joy people are really looking for if you do not have it. Yet it has been abundantly provided for us in Christ. “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)
I. The path to true happiness cannot be found on our own.
King Solomon was the wisest man there was. He said, “I devoted myself to study and to explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven.” Yet his quest for knowledge got him nowhere. The conclusion he reached at the end of his search was this: “For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.”
From the quest for knowledge, he moved on to the quest for pleasure. He thought to himself, “Come, now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what was good.” But again, he came away empty-handed. He said, “Laughter is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?”
Next, he turned to other projects: houses, vineyards, and worldly wealth. He acquired many slaves. He had more herds and flocks than anyone else in Jerusalem had ever seen. He amassed piles of gold and silver, the treasure of kings and provinces. He provided himself with lavish entertainment, and he had hundreds of women in his harem. He said, “I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused myself no pleasure.” Yet, in the end, he was no better off. It was all empty and meaningless—a chasing after the wind. As he looked at all the evil in the world, he even declared that in some ways it was better to never have been born at all!
Solomon is like many people today who are desperately searching for happiness, only to find that the search itself has left them empty and dry, making them more unhappy than they ever were before. The irony of our modern society is that, while we have removed many of the physical sources of discomfort, our emotional well being is far behind that of many people in poorer, less advanced societies! Sadly, this crisis has now become an epidemic.
II. The path to happiness often goes through the desert.
The desert can be a dangerous place. Wild animals are there, hungry for a meal. Water, the most basic ingredient of life, can be in short supply. Wandering through the desert, a person can become easily lost. In the desert you are vulnerable, and you can get into serious trouble in a big hurry.
In the Old Testament, Israel was tested in the desert for forty years before finally entering the Promised Land. In the New Testament, the desert was also where the devil tempted Jesus for forty days. In order for the Israelites to return to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon, they would also have to make a long and difficult journey through the wilderness.
Today, if you are to looking for God’s joy as an escape from the problems of life, you are going to be disappointed. God’s solution to our problems goes a little deeper than just saying, “Don’t worry—be happy!” The path to true happiness often winds through the desert, where we experience times of testing. There is pain. There is grief. There is sadness. There is no getting around it! If you’re going to get to where you want to be, there is a desert to cross.
But there is also good news. God can even make the desert bloom! Absolute desert (where rain almost never falls) is in the Middle East to be found only in the Sahara, the peninsula of Arabia, and Iran. The deserts of Palestine, Syria, Transjordan, and Sinai are all ‘tame deserts,’ with a little rain every winter, often in sudden storms causing dangerous flash floods. Such rain tends to fall in March and April, or even early May. Occasionally heavy rain can occur more frequently during the winter, and then the desert does indeed ‘blossom abundantly’. Just picture it! A dull, dry, lifeless landscape, hostile to life. But just add water, and it becomes a beautiful display of vibrant color.
With his Spirit, God can do that in us! What was once only a desert can suddenly bloom, and God brings us new life in abundance. I believe that Isaiah also had John the Baptist in view here. He was a “voice in the wilderness”. Yet, when people heard him, they repented, confessed their sins, and were baptized in the Jordan River. There in the desert, they found the refreshment from God that their thirsty souls had been seeking.
Our situation in life might not have changed—after all, we are still in the desert! But, by the grace of God, even the desert can become something beautiful. There, we can learn to trust in God for everything we need. The twenty-third Psalm expresses this truth in terms of God as our Shepherd, skillfully leading us through the dangers and valleys of this life until we reach our home safety: “…he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.”
III. God gives us strength for the journey.
In Matthew 11, we meet a discouraged and dejected John the Baptist. Herod had thrown him in prison. He knew that his life was in serious danger, and his days were numbered. He was patiently waiting for God to do something, but his patience was being tested. Whether he was experiencing doubt himself or was more concerned about the spiritual condition of his followers, he was nevertheless willing to trust Jesus for an answer and for direction as to what he should do next. So very one who had said, “Behold, the Lamb of God…” now sent Jesus a message asking, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”
Jesus’ answer recalls the words of this prophecy in Isaiah 35, among others. He simply tells them to tell John what they see and hear: “The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.”
This was good news for John! Even though John would not be released from Herod’s prison, the Kingdom of God was still advancing. Jesus was on his way—not to earthly kingship but to the cross. Jesus’ own death and resurrection would mean that those who remained faithful would be set free from the prison of sin and death forever.
Hebrews 12 quotes the portion of this prophecy that reads, “strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees.” According to this passage, sin can easily entangle us and slow us down. But there are several ways we can keep going and overcome sin:
1) Remembering the “great cloud of witnesses”, God’s faithful people who have gone on before us.
2) Keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross.
3) Being trained by God’s loving discipline, which produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.
IV. By grace God gives us joy in the journey.
Today, we don’t think about it that much—but can you picture taking a trip to visit your relatives for Christmas before there was an interstate highway system, or even smoothly paved roads? It would be a long, dangerous trip. But even now, you still have to be careful because the highway can be a dangerous, even a deadly place. Wouldn’t it be nice if they only let safe drivers onto the highway and made careless drivers take another route?
A) Isaiah describes a highway where people can travel in peace and safety: “…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; no wicked fools will go about on it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there.”
Now it is important to notice that here is only one way to get onto this road: “Only the redeemed will walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord will return.” You might think of this as a toll road with a price so high that you and I can’t possibly pay it ourselves. Someone else has to pay it for us—and that’s what Jesus did: “in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” (Ephesians 1:8)
The highway Isaiah describes can only be traveled on by grace, through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.
B) On this highway, there is a sound: the sound of joyful singing! “They will enter Zion with singing, everlasting joy will crown their heads.” Romans 5:1-5 gives us several reasons for joy:
1) We are forgiven. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
2) We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God—we have eternal life in heaven.
3) We even rejoice now in our sufferings, knowing that through them God produces perseverance, hope, and character.
Jesus was “a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” (Is. 53) He grieved over a Jerusalem that would put him to death, and he wept at the death of his friend, Lazarus. But he also could laugh, smile, and enjoy the presence of little children. He wanted his disciples to have joy: When he gave them the commandment to love one another, he said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.” (Jn. 15:11) He told stories about joy, and three of his most famous parables—the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son—are all about the joy and celebration of heaven over even one sinner who repents!
If there is a place for expressing this joy, it is in the worship life of God’s people. Now humility, reverence and awe are certainly appropriate emotions for worship—but this doesn’t exclude true joy! If we can’t rejoice in church as we hear the Good News of God’s forgiveness in Christ and receive the very body and blood of our Lord in Holy Communion, where can we rejoice? We know heaven will be filled with joyful singing. Why not start now, even as we are on our way? In Christ we have the joy of someone who is thirsty finding a spring in the desert. In Christ we have the joy of someone blind being able to see, someone deaf being able to hear, someone lame being able to jump, and someone mute being able to shout. In Christ we have the joy of a prisoner being set free, a captive on his way back home. In Christ, even when life is at its worst, we still have the joy of God’s wonderful, amazing grace, his unconditional acceptance of sinners like you and me for the sake of his own beloved Son, Jesus Christ. Praise God! Amen.
