December 4, 2005 Isaiah 40:6-8
A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”
The Town Crier and the boy who cried wolf, the cry baby and for crying out loud. Crying is not usually a sound we like to hear - by babies or adults or sirens. Hell is going to have an eternity of people crying out - weeping and gnashing of teeth. It signals sorrow or trouble. So when a voice tells the prophet Isaiah to “cry out,” it isn’t a good sign for those who hear his cries. John the Baptist, Jeremiah, Isaiah - were all what we would probably equate with the olden day “town criers” - people who stood at the post in the tower and warned of trouble to come. Advent is the time of the Lord’s Criers to raise the banners- warning of something coming. Like a faithful prophet, Isaiah asked a simple question - “what shall I cry?” Today we are going to listen to -
The Cry of the Crier
I. The cry of withering grass
God’s answer is both somber and strong. His cry is something that makes the hair on the back of our necks stand up and hearts take notice. “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. ” He wanted the prophet to tell men they were like grass. Out of all the things in nature that God decided to compare us to, He chose grass and flowers. It would have been a little more majestic if he had at least chosen a big majestic oak tree that lasts for hundreds of years or a lion that rules over the animal kingdom. Instead, he chose grass.
God purposely chose grass because of it’s weakness and it’s temporary nature. The grass withers and the flowers fall.” Several years ago we placed a little child’s swimming pool and placed it in our back yard. Within one week the grass underneath it withered and died and has not grown back to this day. It is the nature of grass and flowers to be weak and die. If you look in your front yard you’ll probably notice several wilted flowers - geraniums and other varieties - that were just beautiful a few months ago - having been frozen out by the first frost of the season. This is a theme that is actually repeated throughout the Old Testament and the New.
Job 14:2 He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.
Psalm 37:2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
Psalm 90:5-6 You sweep men away in the sleep of death; they are like the new grass of the morning— though in the morning it springs up new, by evening it is dry and withered.
Psalm 103:15-16 As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
This is the way life is for us - it is encompassed in death and surrounded by death. Life can be very temporary at times. Tristan had a classmate who felt some pain behind her eye about a year and a half ago. When they looked into what it was, they discovered a tumor in her brain. She died at the beginning of the school year. She was only seven or eight years old. King David and Bathsheba had a baby boy together. He didn’t even live to see the age of two. King Josiah was one of the most righteous kings that Judah had, yet he died in the prime of his life in a battle with Egypt. (2 Chronicles 35) Look in the newspaper and you’ll see time and again people dying in their 40’s and 50’s - well before we think they should. But what is a good time to die? Is there ever a good time? Moses writes that the length of our years is 70 or 80 if we have the strength.
We might say someone who dies at age 70 or 80 of a stroke or a heart attack as dying of a “natural” death. Yet if you think about it, how natural does it feel to have your heart suddenly stop beating, to feel an intense pain in your chest prior to falling on your knees and gasping for breath? Methuselah lived to be 969 years old, and we die at 70 or 80? The truth of the matter is that death is not natural. God didn’t make man to die. He made man to live forever. Yet now, we grow for a short time and then go away like the morning dew.
Isaiah writes that this doesn’t often times happen suddenly. “The grass withers and the flowers fall.” Notice how he describes death - as withering and falling. Isn’t that how death really often happens - we slowly wither and fade away. Our skin gets wrinkled, our backs give out, our knees don’t perform like they used to, and if we live to be old enough we find ourselves confined to a bed and waiting to die. In India I’ve heard that they actually have funeral pyres, where they burn the corpses of the dead. Prior to death, they gather those dying in a big circle, waiting for them to die. Imagine being brought to the outside of the circle, slowly waiting for your body to make it to the center. What a miserable way to die. If you think about it, ever since the day of our birth we are slowly growing to die - getting closer to the circle of fire.
The reason for this temporary state we live in is clearly attributed to God. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Prior to the flood the LORD said in Genesis 6:3, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” As man became more and more evil His patience could not stay with men and allow them to be evil for 700 to 900 years. So He decided in His heart to shorten man’s life span. This passage clearly shows us that the decay of death is under the control of God. He controls “nature” and our bodies in a way that determines how many years we will have. Isaiah compares it to a wind. According to certain commentators Israel had a scorching wind that came from the east and just withered everything in it’s path. I never would have known what this was like until I got to Kansas and experienced the really hot blowing wind that we have. It doesn’t take long for well watered grass and plants to completely wither in such conditions. This is how God deals with the world - He causes the decay as a judgment on sin. When push comes to shove, you are withering away because of the judgment of God on sin. He threatened death to Adam and Eve if they sinned, and He so caused a decaying type of death to the world when they decided to sin.
This is what God told Isaiah and His prophets to “cry.” “You are like withering grass and flowers.” This command shows how blind we really are - that we would have to be TOLD this. I don’t have to tell a three year old girl that she’s a girl. She knows what she is. Yet God has to tell us that we are like temporary grass It would seem like such an obvious thing - as we read the obituaries and deal with death at least every five years in our own extended families and in our own bodies. Why would God have to tell us this? In the prime of growing season - in the middle of the summer when the rain is falling and the grass and flowers are blooming - it is easy to forget about the fact that those flowers are going to die in a few months - because you are so enamored in the beauty of the moment. Let’s be clear about this. Man was made at the height of creation. He was given the ability by God to do some really amazing things. Think about the advances we’ve had with science and health. How many of you would be here today if our medical advances were no better than they were a hundred years ago? Think about our ability to fly - to go to the moon - to microwave food, to make an automobile, a television, the internet, and so many other things. These amazing things make us feel that we will last forever.
Yamasaki, quoted in Paul Heyer’s "Architects on Architecture: New Directions in America," said, "The World Trade Center should, because of it’s importance, become a living representation of man’s belief in humanity, his need for individual dignity, his belief in the cooperation of men, and through this cooperation his ability to find greatness."
What happened to this living representation of man’s belief in humanity? It went crashing down - ruined by MAN. This symbol of cooperation ended up starting a huge war and beginning a temporary downfall of our economy. It is easy for us to become so enamored with our toys and our abilities that we forget about the big picture - we’re like nothing but grass and flowers - all decaying! As we wear our designer clothes and put on our skin creams to hide our wrinkles - when we feel good - we tend to forget about the fact that we are all dying a slow death.
So what? It’s kind of nice, isn’t it - to forget about that simple fact. If you lived on death row and you had the opportunity to live in a mansion instead of a cell - who would want to live in the cell. Wouldn’t you rather want to have fun and enjoy your last moments instead of just think about the fact that you’re on death row? I imagine that there are some of you who are saying to me, “pastor - please - start talking about something happy - something more fun - something we can enjoy.” That’s how people do respond. They want to talk about human potential, human success, and how great they can become and what great things they can do with the help of God if they just don’t focus on these negative things.
You can be having the greatest time playing a baseball game, but if a storm cloud is moving in, it’s hard to ignore it. Advent tells us a storm cloud is coming in. Not only did God come once, but He’s coming again - not in a manger - but in the skies to JUDGE this world - this sinful world. Now is not the time to ignore that. Now is the time to look for shelter - to realize that since we live in a sinful world and a decaying world - we are in trouble. We need to find help! That’s why time and again and time and again God reminded His people throughout the Old Testament and the New - YOU ARE LIKE GRASS. YOU ARE DYING. YOU WILL NOT BE HERE FOREVER. He wants us to recognize that we need to be prepared for this storm cloud coming in. The job of a Crier is not to cry wolf, but to cry when danger is near. Forget about whether you are getting a new toy or new clothes for Christmas for a minute. All of these things that you plot to get and ask for will burn on Judgment Day. It’s all temporary. Look up for a minute at the big picture. You need to be prepared for the future. You need something that will last into eternity. These words make us THIRST for something that will last. These words need to cry out.
II. The cry of a Lasting Word
God doesn’t leave us thirsty. He gives us something that DOES last. Isaiah concludes verse 8 with a HUGE contrast - “but the word of our God stands forever.” There are many words of God - yet Isaiah speaks about a specific Word that stands forever. What is that Word?
John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
John refers to Jesus as THE WORD - the eternal Word that was with God in the beginning - and will endure throughout eternity. The story of Jesus shows us the enduring power and time of the WORD. God predicted at least four thousand years before Christ that Jesus would be born. That WORD of promise continued on from generation to generation of Jews. Jewish parents told it to their children and grandchildren. It was written in the Old Testament - meticulously copied by hundreds of scribes - and lasts yet to this day.
Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?” The WORD remained, and two thousand years ago, that Word came true. The little baby that was PROMISED to come arrived in a little stable six miles outside of Jerusalem. That little baby was almost put to death in the slaughter of the Innocents. He lived on in Egypt and Nazareth - grew to manhood. Finally, fate caught up with Him, as the death that was predicted for Him by the WORD came true. Yet even then, the WORD continued to stand. Three days later, the promise that Jesus Himself made of His resurrection came true. They tore down the building, but He rebuilt it in three days. That little baby has now accomplished our salvation and reigns in the heavens - far above all angels and demons and kings and presidents. We now look forward to another WORD of Jesus to come true - where He said in Matthew 26:64, “In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.” God’s promises - His WORD - as found in Jesus Christ - endure forever.
How does that effect us? What does it matter? Peter says how in 1 Peter 1:23, “you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” This “WORD” has put new life in our hearts - given us a NEW BIRTH. You see, the Word about Christ is not some nice movie that we watch and walk away all teary eyed over, and then wait for the next movie to come. The Word of Christ intimately involves us and makes us recognize that God promised the coming of Christ BECAUSE of US. God put the salvation of the world on His shoulders. The very reason that Jesus entered our world was to become us and save us from God’s wrath and Satan’s grasp and death’s sting. When we see Jesus suffer that wrath and that death and come out alive to rule in the heavens - it gives us new hope and a reason to live. It promises us that the curse of death and hell has been paid for and conquered. Jesus promises us in His WORD - that His work becomes ours through FAITH in the Word. Jesus promises us, “because I live, you also will live.” Out of all the things that fail in this world, our new televisions, our backs, our feet, our knees, our hips, our jobs, our furnaces, our cars, this one thing endures FOREVER - the promise of an eternal salvation in the WORD of God as found in Jesus Christ. Believe it, and it’s yours free of charge for an eternity! Hallelujah. Praise Jesus! In the WORD we have a taste of eternity something that finally lasts!
This Christmas - there will be millions of children putting different requests on their wish lists for Christmas. Out of all of those gifts that they receive, I wonder how many of those gifts will endure? If you can remember what you received last Christmas, how many of you still own and use what you received? Or how many of those gifts have either broken or been returned or thrown out?
Tracy Lawrence once sang the song “Time Marches On,” it goes -
Sister cries out, from her baby bed, brother runs in, feathers on his head
Momma’s in her room, learnin’ how to sew, Daddy’s drinkin beer listenin’ to the radio
Hank Williams sings Elijah(?) And Dear John, Time Marches On - Time Marches On. . .
The song goes on to tell how time changes, as brother turns to dope, mom gets depressed and dad has a girlfriend and then ends up getting buried beneath the maple tree. (It’s country if you couldn’t tell. . . ) Then the transition sings -
South moves north, north moves south, a star is born, a star burns out
The only thing that stays the same is everything changes, everything changes.
Look at your kids and your family - this church. Everything does change. Like the hymn writer wrote, “change and decay in all around I see.” It may be depressing, but Isaiah was right. The Cry of the Crier is true. Listen to him. All of this is like grass. It all blows away. We have to be aware of this, so that our hearts seek something greater - something permanent. My friends, out of all the Christmas gifts you ask for this year, there is only one thing permanent in this every shifting world that will remain. That one thing is the gift salvation you already have in your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ - the WORD which endures forever. He is not beyond your grasp. He has entered your world and become a part of your world through your baptism. He has continued to make Himself available through the WORD and the sacrament. Listen to the Cry of the Crier. Cling to the WORD with all your might as you wait for Him to come again. Amen.
