[The following is a manuscript of my sermon delivered on Sunday morning, the 27th of November, 2016, the first Sunday in Advent. Look for the video on our Vimeo channel: http://vimeo.com/pilgrimreformedchurch.]
Today is the first Sunday in Advent, which is our time to get ready for Christmas. I’m not talking about doing our shopping and getting everything set out for Santa, the way the world goes about it all this time of year. I mean this is the time for us to ready ourselves for the holy birth and the coming of our Savior into the world.
Of course we know all about the birth of Jesus and how He grew up and began His ministry, how He was tried and beaten and hung on a cross to die, how He was buried and then rose again from the grave and ascended into heaven. But the people long ago didn’t know any of that, because it hadn’t happened yet.
Fortunately, they had prophets, speaking for God, who told them what would happen someday. One of the greatest of these was Isaiah, who told of Jesus’ coming over 700 years before it happened, even if he didn’t call Him by name. Listen and follow along to one of the first passages where we can see Jesus clearly described by Isaiah, in chapter 40 of his book of prophecy, verses 1 through 5 and 10 and 11, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Bible…
Of course we know all about the birth of Jesus and how He grew up and began His ministry, how He was tried and beaten and hung on a cross to die, how He was buried and then rose again from the grave and ascended into heaven. But the people long ago didn’t know any of that, because it hadn’t happened yet.
Fortunately, they had prophets, speaking for God, who told them what would happen someday. One of the greatest of these was Isaiah, who told of Jesus’ coming over 700 years before it happened, even if he didn’t call Him by name. Listen and follow along to one of the first passages where we can see Jesus clearly described by Isaiah, in chapter 40 of his book of prophecy, verses 1 through 5 and 10 and 11, and I’ll be reading from the New King James Version of our Bible…
1 “Comfort, yes, comfort My people!”
Says your God.
2 “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
That her warfare is ended,
That her iniquity is pardoned;
For she has received from the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.”
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make straight in the desert
A highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted
And every mountain and hill brought low;
The crooked places shall be made straight
And the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
And all flesh shall see it together;
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
10 Behold, the Lord God shall come with a strong hand,
And His arm shall rule for Him;
Behold, His reward is with Him,
And His work before Him.
11 He will feed His flock like a shepherd;
He will gather the lambs with His arm,
And carry them in His bosom,
And gently lead those who are with young.
--Isaiah 40:1-5, 10-11 (NKJV)
Let us pray… Father God, we have come together this morning to worship You, and to listen for Your voice. We anticipate the coming of our Savior, who You promised so long ago. Help us prepare for His advent, Father. Speak Your message into our hearts and our lives. In the blessed name of Jesus we pray. Amen.
A professional football coach was hired to manage a team that had been experiencing a bad season. As with all football teams, if they didn't win, the coach is replaced. To succeed in football you must win.
On his first day after accepting the team offer, the new coach was given two sealed envelopes. He was told that if he got into difficulty he should open the first envelope. If things didn't get better later on, he should open the second envelope.
Sure enough, the team continued to struggle, so he opened the first envelope. Inside was a note of encouragement from the previous coach that ended by saying the new coach should blame everything on him. So at the post-game press conference, he did just that. When asked why the team still did so poorly, he stated that their present failures were all due to the former coach and his policies.
As the season progressed and the team still failed to win, the coach went ahead and opened the second sealed envelope. Inside was a terse note that merely read: "Prepare two envelopes."
The new coach had to quickly prepare for the worst. I think we do that a lot - preparing for the worst, even while hoping for the best. Well, Isaiah wanted us to prepare for the best right off the bat. “Prepare the way of the Lord!” “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” “And all flesh shall see it together.” Prepare yourself, for the very best is about to come!
The prophet Isaiah was born into an influential, upper-class family. He rubbed shoulders with royalty and gave advice regarding foreign affairs. He was usually scoffed at, though, because he often counseled that the nation of Judah should avoid foreign alliances and instead turn to and trust in the Lord. But Judah failed to listen and ultimately followed the same path of idolatry and apostasy as did the ten northern tribes of Israel.
Eventually, Babylon conquered Judah, and carried her off into slavery. But that was not until around 150 years after Isaiah tried to warn Hezekiah, King of Judah. Here is a short conversation between Isaiah and Hezekiah, from chapter 39 of the prophet’s book, verses 5 through 8…
A professional football coach was hired to manage a team that had been experiencing a bad season. As with all football teams, if they didn't win, the coach is replaced. To succeed in football you must win.
On his first day after accepting the team offer, the new coach was given two sealed envelopes. He was told that if he got into difficulty he should open the first envelope. If things didn't get better later on, he should open the second envelope.
Sure enough, the team continued to struggle, so he opened the first envelope. Inside was a note of encouragement from the previous coach that ended by saying the new coach should blame everything on him. So at the post-game press conference, he did just that. When asked why the team still did so poorly, he stated that their present failures were all due to the former coach and his policies.
As the season progressed and the team still failed to win, the coach went ahead and opened the second sealed envelope. Inside was a terse note that merely read: "Prepare two envelopes."
The new coach had to quickly prepare for the worst. I think we do that a lot - preparing for the worst, even while hoping for the best. Well, Isaiah wanted us to prepare for the best right off the bat. “Prepare the way of the Lord!” “The glory of the Lord shall be revealed.” “And all flesh shall see it together.” Prepare yourself, for the very best is about to come!
The prophet Isaiah was born into an influential, upper-class family. He rubbed shoulders with royalty and gave advice regarding foreign affairs. He was usually scoffed at, though, because he often counseled that the nation of Judah should avoid foreign alliances and instead turn to and trust in the Lord. But Judah failed to listen and ultimately followed the same path of idolatry and apostasy as did the ten northern tribes of Israel.
Eventually, Babylon conquered Judah, and carried her off into slavery. But that was not until around 150 years after Isaiah tried to warn Hezekiah, King of Judah. Here is a short conversation between Isaiah and Hezekiah, from chapter 39 of the prophet’s book, verses 5 through 8…
5 Then Isaiah said to him, “Listen to this message from the Lord Almighty:
6 “The time is coming when everything you have—all the treasures stored up by your fathers—will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left. 7 And some of your own sons will become slaves, yes, eunuchs, in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
8 “All right,” Hezekiah replied. “Whatever the Lord says is good. At least there will be peace during my lifetime!”
--Isaiah 39:5-8 (TLB)
I love what Hezekiah says there, in response to all the gloom and doom Isaiah foresaw: “Whatever the Lord says is good.” That is the attitude we all need to share. Whatever the Lord says is good. Why? The Apostle Paul explains it best, in chapter 8 verse 28 of his letter to the Romans…
Whatever the Lord says is good because He works all things together for good to those who love Him and follow His voice. And we can see by simply reading our Bible that whatever the Lord promises, He fulfills. He promised us a Messiah, a Savior, and He fulfilled that promise in the person of His Son Jesus, made flesh and given to us to live among us, and then to offer us eternal salvation. He has also promised that Jesus will come again, to take His church home to be with Him forever. We have no reason to believe that Jesus will not return, for whatever the Lord says is good.
Isaiah tells us to prepare the way of the Lord. We are to make straight a highway in the dessert, a highway for our Lord to come in on. Isaiah was referring to that first coming of our Messiah, Jesus, whose birth we will soon celebrate again. But God through Isaiah was also telling us to prepare for Jesus to come again. We need to clear off and straighten out the highway that leads through the dessert of our lives so our Lord will once again have a direct path to our hearts.
Just as Isaiah told King Hezekiah, we can read in the Apostle John’s book of Revelation that the time is coming when we may lose everything we’ve ever owned, everything we may have inherited. We and our children may be carried off into slavery in some far off land, serving the whims of some other nation’s masters.
But in one interpretation of end-times scriptures, and the one I personally believe in, Jesus will call His church home before these events happen. Those who He claims as His own will be called up from the clouds to be with Him when He returns. The Lord has said this, and His word is good. He has promised it, and His promise will be fulfilled.
But we have our part to fulfill also. We must prepare for Jesus’ return. We must get our hearts in order. We must make sure of exactly where our faith lies, of who or what we truly serve as Master. If Jesus is not the most important thing in our lives, then we need to make straight that particular highway. If we do not obey His commands with every thought and every deed, then that is another highway needing repair work.
When John the Baptist echoed Isaiah’s call to “prepare the way of the Lord”, he added, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent. Family, we must turn from our sins and disobedience, turn back to God and seek His forgiveness. For the Kingdom of heaven is indeed near at hand.
So much happening today can be clearly seen described in our Bible, the things that will occur just before Jesus returns. We must be prepared for His second coming, even as we recognize and celebrate the first time He came to us, as a mere babe. This time He will ride in from the clouds as a conquering hero, and we do not want to be on the wrong side of that final battle.
Get ready for it. Clear out the cobwebs, sweep off the trash, pick up the litter that clutters our lives. Prepare the way. Make straight a highway in the dessert, for our Lord Jesus is coming soon. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You directed Your prophet Isaiah to warn Your children that they would be punished if they did not repent of their sinful ways and come back to You. But You also offered them words of comfort and hope, with the promise that the Messiah they had waited so long for would soon come and walk among them. You promised their hard times would cease and their sins would be pardoned and forgiven. You said they had already been punished enough, that their prayers would be answered. But You also gave them a role to play, in that they needed to make straight a highway through the dessert for their Lord. They had to straighten out their lives, repent of their disobedience, and return to You as obedient servants. The Messiah was coming, and they had to get ready in their hearts and in their lives. The Messiah was coming, and all of Your glory would be revealed, and every person would witness it together. And Father God, You also gave us this message so we could understand it’s implication today. For our Messiah is about to return, and we need to get our house in order just as did Your children so long ago. Help us, please Father, to understand the full impact of Isaiah’s words.
Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, crying out from our hearts for forgiveness, promising our repentance and submission to our Lord Jesus, seeking Your help with our preparations…
Lord Jesus, Isaiah tells us You will come with a strong hand, and Your arm will rule. You will bring Your rewards for those You have chosen, and You will mete out judgment over those who deny Your sovereignty. We are nothing more than Your flock, sheep in Your hands. Carry us in those strong arms, Lord Jesus. Help us prepare for Your return. Strengthen us when the world would set itself against us, trying to take us from You. Forgive us the times we fail to obey You, when we disrespect Your supreme authority. Have mercy upon us, Lord Jesus.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
--Romans 8:28 (NKJV)
Isaiah tells us to prepare the way of the Lord. We are to make straight a highway in the dessert, a highway for our Lord to come in on. Isaiah was referring to that first coming of our Messiah, Jesus, whose birth we will soon celebrate again. But God through Isaiah was also telling us to prepare for Jesus to come again. We need to clear off and straighten out the highway that leads through the dessert of our lives so our Lord will once again have a direct path to our hearts.
Just as Isaiah told King Hezekiah, we can read in the Apostle John’s book of Revelation that the time is coming when we may lose everything we’ve ever owned, everything we may have inherited. We and our children may be carried off into slavery in some far off land, serving the whims of some other nation’s masters.
But in one interpretation of end-times scriptures, and the one I personally believe in, Jesus will call His church home before these events happen. Those who He claims as His own will be called up from the clouds to be with Him when He returns. The Lord has said this, and His word is good. He has promised it, and His promise will be fulfilled.
But we have our part to fulfill also. We must prepare for Jesus’ return. We must get our hearts in order. We must make sure of exactly where our faith lies, of who or what we truly serve as Master. If Jesus is not the most important thing in our lives, then we need to make straight that particular highway. If we do not obey His commands with every thought and every deed, then that is another highway needing repair work.
When John the Baptist echoed Isaiah’s call to “prepare the way of the Lord”, he added, “Repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Repent. Family, we must turn from our sins and disobedience, turn back to God and seek His forgiveness. For the Kingdom of heaven is indeed near at hand.
So much happening today can be clearly seen described in our Bible, the things that will occur just before Jesus returns. We must be prepared for His second coming, even as we recognize and celebrate the first time He came to us, as a mere babe. This time He will ride in from the clouds as a conquering hero, and we do not want to be on the wrong side of that final battle.
Get ready for it. Clear out the cobwebs, sweep off the trash, pick up the litter that clutters our lives. Prepare the way. Make straight a highway in the dessert, for our Lord Jesus is coming soon. Amen.
Let us pray… Father God, You directed Your prophet Isaiah to warn Your children that they would be punished if they did not repent of their sinful ways and come back to You. But You also offered them words of comfort and hope, with the promise that the Messiah they had waited so long for would soon come and walk among them. You promised their hard times would cease and their sins would be pardoned and forgiven. You said they had already been punished enough, that their prayers would be answered. But You also gave them a role to play, in that they needed to make straight a highway through the dessert for their Lord. They had to straighten out their lives, repent of their disobedience, and return to You as obedient servants. The Messiah was coming, and they had to get ready in their hearts and in their lives. The Messiah was coming, and all of Your glory would be revealed, and every person would witness it together. And Father God, You also gave us this message so we could understand it’s implication today. For our Messiah is about to return, and we need to get our house in order just as did Your children so long ago. Help us, please Father, to understand the full impact of Isaiah’s words.
Hear us now, Father, as we come to You in the silence, crying out from our hearts for forgiveness, promising our repentance and submission to our Lord Jesus, seeking Your help with our preparations…
Lord Jesus, Isaiah tells us You will come with a strong hand, and Your arm will rule. You will bring Your rewards for those You have chosen, and You will mete out judgment over those who deny Your sovereignty. We are nothing more than Your flock, sheep in Your hands. Carry us in those strong arms, Lord Jesus. Help us prepare for Your return. Strengthen us when the world would set itself against us, trying to take us from You. Forgive us the times we fail to obey You, when we disrespect Your supreme authority. Have mercy upon us, Lord Jesus.
This we pray in Your glorious name, Christ Jesus, our Lord and Master, the one true Son of God, in whom we place all our hope, all our trust, all our faith. Amen.
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