Isaiah 40:1-10; St Matthew 11:2-11
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
Dear people loved by God, as we are examining the Old Testament prophecies of Advent in light of their initial settings and in relation to Israel’s history as your history, it ought to be noted that the historical context for this reading from the prophet Isaiah is a bit confusing. For when the prophet tells Jerusalem that her warfare is ended, she isn’t at war. The events of which Isaiah warns haven’t yet occurred. The termination of the battle isn’t imminent, for the battle hasn’t even happened. The prophet is speaking to the people of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom who will be carried off into exile in Babylon, before it happens.
This, of course, is impossible for the critics and so-called scholars to believe. Indeed it is impossible for you to believe unless call by the Holy Spirit and enlightened by and through His gifts, which are the very Holy Scriptures themselves! They are not only reliable historiographically, but are trustworthy and sure as the special revelation of the Lord God. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:21).
Thus do we believe and take comfort in both inspired prophecy which foretells of future events with complete accuracy and also the consistent character of God’s merciful word to troubled consciences.
Therefore Isaiah foretells that a war not yet begun with Babylon will end and that Judah’s iniquity will be pardoned. She will be hauled off into captivity. Her princes and nobles, her wise men and rulers. Her Temple will be destroyed and many will perish by the sword, from hunger, in sorrow and lament.
But she will be brought back. Seventy years shall pass. She will be enslaved to foreign rulers and foreign gods. But the Lord will not forget His covenant. He will not forsake His people. And by His Word He tells her before it takes placed in order that she may endure her captivity and tribulation in confidence and trust in the Word and promises of God.
Though quite miraculous, this is not unique. It is in keeping with the character of the Almighty God who desires mercy and not sacrifice; who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). Concerning that which was about to befall His disciples and the promise of the Paraclete, our Lord Jesus says, Now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe (Jn 14:29).
Now there is a sense in which we are all in captivity. All languishing in prison. All subject to our own lesser or greater Herods. We suffer at the hands of pagan Babylon. Some of our suffering we bring upon ourselves on account of our own sins. Some, though, is the result of being sinned against or of living in a fallen, broken world. Each one’s cross is specially hewn for her. Our Lord uses them, in His fatherly wisdom, to conform us to the image of His Son.
Do not misunderstand me. We are not victims. We are culpable and guilty. We have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault. We have indulged our passions and turned away from the one, true God, even as Israel did before us. We have harbored grudges and jealousies. We have secrets and openly gossiped and lied about nearly everything. Amen, amen I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34). And unlike our saxophone lessons, this we practice every day. We have gotten pretty good. We are all trying to hide our chains and shackles.
Of course the Lord does not desire for you to indulge your sins. In order that you may be awakened to their emptiness He does, in His fatherly wisdom, at times allow to befall you a portion of the earthly consequences and temporal penalties for your sins. He allowed Judea and Israel to be overrun by the Assyrians and Babylonians. They were His Babylonians who hauled His people off into captivity. He left St John in prison. He afflicted them; His saints.
“Afflict, afflict My people,” says the Lord. “Preach to them of the error of their ways and the consequence of their sins. Frighten the in My wrath and terrify them in My fury. For surely they deserve temporal and eternal punishment.” Such was the preaching of Isaiah, Malachi, Hosea, Daniel, St John, and all the prophets. The Lord sends His herald to warn His people, to call them back in repentance and faith. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, the way of the Lord has as its predestined goal the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord. All obstacles shall be cleared from His way of salvation. His chosen people shall come forth from the grave of exile and survive the rise and fall of empires in order that the Savior might be born of the house and line of David (Lk 2:4) as foretold.
For this Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice. His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5). Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice (Ps 51:8). The Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives (Heb 12:6).
The Law serves the Gospel. Already in the Garden of Eden the Lord delayed the physical death of Adam in order that the Messianic line might be established and Adam be spared the eternal death he deserved. So also immediately following the golden calf apostasy in Exodus 32 the Lord revealed to Moses that He is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (Ex 34:6-7). As Isaiah looks ahead to what will happen to Jerusalem, he recognizes the horrible suffering under the Babylonian captivity as God’s alien work. And this serves His proper work, which is to comfort His people, forgive them all their sins, and restore them to His fellowship and communion.
This is why the words of the prophet ring true for Jerusalem even before they were carried off. This is why they ring true for us. God desires to speak tenderly to you. He knows that your hearts are broken, that you have been brutalized by Satan and his demons, that you suffer at the hands of the world, that you lament and hate your fallen flesh. He knows, dear Christians, that you are not at home here, but are in your own exile and sojourn. He knows that you are not safe here and that you are lonely and afraid.
So he tells His prophets - not just Isaiah or Malachi or John - but everyone who is set into His Office to bring His Word to His people: Comfort, comfort My people. Speak tenderly to My Church and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.
And this double comfort in place of all of your sins in completely in keeping with the character of the Almighty God, the Word made flesh, who is the very glory of the Lord dwelling bodily. He whose way was prepared by St John the Baptizer comes now as The Way, speaking peace to His people, to His saints, tenderly comforting you with a double portion.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Mt 23:27)
Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary (Lk 10:41-42a).
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail (Lk 22:31-32a).
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (Jn 14:27).
These doublets, this double portion of blessing in place of all your iniquities has come to you and is yours by faith because of the cry of the double rejection: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? (Ps 22:1). Jerusalem’s iniquity is pardoned, your iniquity is pardoned, because the Messiah has suffered in your stead. He was carried off by soldiers, captive to the whims of a madman and the fickle crowds. He was exiled from the Holy City, set to die upon a hill. He is the true Temple, made without hands, who was razed to the ground in the fury of the Father. He was utterly rejected and cast off as the One who became all Sin.
His flesh was like grass as He bore your sins and carried your sorrows. He was stricken, afflicted by God. And there, stretched out upon the Cross, planted in the high mountain of Golgotha, say to the cities of Judah, that is, to the Church of God in Christ Jesus, Behold your God! Behold the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. His arm extended in death, nailed to the Tree for your justification. He reward is with Him, that is: the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, the end of the warfare between heaven and earth, the peace on earth and the good will of God toward men on account of the death of the Shepherd, who tends His flock with comfort, comfort.
The economy of heaven doesn’t make any sense to fallen accountants: double comfort for each sin. Peace. Peace. The forgiveness of God in Christ is so great it doesn’t simply eliminate the debt and call things even, but it bestows a surplus. Grace upon grace overflowing. The Lord anoints your head with oil, your cup runneth over.
Here is the hope of Israel: the Lord is merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex 34:6). Even when their sinful bodies are failing, even when they must face the judge and all the world seems unjust, even when they have brought suffering on themselves through their sins, the Lord’s people still have this: the war is over. Heaven is on your side. Your iniquity is pardoned. No one, not the devil, not your flesh, not even God can charge you for your sins. Christ has paid them all. And in His stead and by His command, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
Dear people loved by God, as we are examining the Old Testament prophecies of Advent in light of their initial settings and in relation to Israel’s history as your history, it ought to be noted that the historical context for this reading from the prophet Isaiah is a bit confusing. For when the prophet tells Jerusalem that her warfare is ended, she isn’t at war. The events of which Isaiah warns haven’t yet occurred. The termination of the battle isn’t imminent, for the battle hasn’t even happened. The prophet is speaking to the people of Jerusalem and the southern kingdom who will be carried off into exile in Babylon, before it happens.
This, of course, is impossible for the critics and so-called scholars to believe. Indeed it is impossible for you to believe unless call by the Holy Spirit and enlightened by and through His gifts, which are the very Holy Scriptures themselves! They are not only reliable historiographically, but are trustworthy and sure as the special revelation of the Lord God. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Pt 1:21).
Thus do we believe and take comfort in both inspired prophecy which foretells of future events with complete accuracy and also the consistent character of God’s merciful word to troubled consciences.
Therefore Isaiah foretells that a war not yet begun with Babylon will end and that Judah’s iniquity will be pardoned. She will be hauled off into captivity. Her princes and nobles, her wise men and rulers. Her Temple will be destroyed and many will perish by the sword, from hunger, in sorrow and lament.
But she will be brought back. Seventy years shall pass. She will be enslaved to foreign rulers and foreign gods. But the Lord will not forget His covenant. He will not forsake His people. And by His Word He tells her before it takes placed in order that she may endure her captivity and tribulation in confidence and trust in the Word and promises of God.
Though quite miraculous, this is not unique. It is in keeping with the character of the Almighty God who desires mercy and not sacrifice; who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). Concerning that which was about to befall His disciples and the promise of the Paraclete, our Lord Jesus says, Now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe (Jn 14:29).
Now there is a sense in which we are all in captivity. All languishing in prison. All subject to our own lesser or greater Herods. We suffer at the hands of pagan Babylon. Some of our suffering we bring upon ourselves on account of our own sins. Some, though, is the result of being sinned against or of living in a fallen, broken world. Each one’s cross is specially hewn for her. Our Lord uses them, in His fatherly wisdom, to conform us to the image of His Son.
Do not misunderstand me. We are not victims. We are culpable and guilty. We have sinned by our fault, by our own fault, by our own most grievous fault. We have indulged our passions and turned away from the one, true God, even as Israel did before us. We have harbored grudges and jealousies. We have secrets and openly gossiped and lied about nearly everything. Amen, amen I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin (Jn 8:34). And unlike our saxophone lessons, this we practice every day. We have gotten pretty good. We are all trying to hide our chains and shackles.
Of course the Lord does not desire for you to indulge your sins. In order that you may be awakened to their emptiness He does, in His fatherly wisdom, at times allow to befall you a portion of the earthly consequences and temporal penalties for your sins. He allowed Judea and Israel to be overrun by the Assyrians and Babylonians. They were His Babylonians who hauled His people off into captivity. He left St John in prison. He afflicted them; His saints.
“Afflict, afflict My people,” says the Lord. “Preach to them of the error of their ways and the consequence of their sins. Frighten the in My wrath and terrify them in My fury. For surely they deserve temporal and eternal punishment.” Such was the preaching of Isaiah, Malachi, Hosea, Daniel, St John, and all the prophets. The Lord sends His herald to warn His people, to call them back in repentance and faith. A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
According to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, the way of the Lord has as its predestined goal the redemption of mankind through Jesus Christ, His Son, our Lord. All obstacles shall be cleared from His way of salvation. His chosen people shall come forth from the grave of exile and survive the rise and fall of empires in order that the Savior might be born of the house and line of David (Lk 2:4) as foretold.
For this Lord desires mercy and not sacrifice. His anger is but for a moment, but His favor is for a lifetime; weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning (Ps 30:5). Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that You have broken rejoice (Ps 51:8). The Lord disciplines the one He loves and chastises every son whom He receives (Heb 12:6).
The Law serves the Gospel. Already in the Garden of Eden the Lord delayed the physical death of Adam in order that the Messianic line might be established and Adam be spared the eternal death he deserved. So also immediately following the golden calf apostasy in Exodus 32 the Lord revealed to Moses that He is merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (Ex 34:6-7). As Isaiah looks ahead to what will happen to Jerusalem, he recognizes the horrible suffering under the Babylonian captivity as God’s alien work. And this serves His proper work, which is to comfort His people, forgive them all their sins, and restore them to His fellowship and communion.
This is why the words of the prophet ring true for Jerusalem even before they were carried off. This is why they ring true for us. God desires to speak tenderly to you. He knows that your hearts are broken, that you have been brutalized by Satan and his demons, that you suffer at the hands of the world, that you lament and hate your fallen flesh. He knows, dear Christians, that you are not at home here, but are in your own exile and sojourn. He knows that you are not safe here and that you are lonely and afraid.
So he tells His prophets - not just Isaiah or Malachi or John - but everyone who is set into His Office to bring His Word to His people: Comfort, comfort My people. Speak tenderly to My Church and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned.
And this double comfort in place of all of your sins in completely in keeping with the character of the Almighty God, the Word made flesh, who is the very glory of the Lord dwelling bodily. He whose way was prepared by St John the Baptizer comes now as The Way, speaking peace to His people, to His saints, tenderly comforting you with a double portion.
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! (Mt 23:27)
Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary (Lk 10:41-42a).
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail (Lk 22:31-32a).
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid (Jn 14:27).
These doublets, this double portion of blessing in place of all your iniquities has come to you and is yours by faith because of the cry of the double rejection: My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me? (Ps 22:1). Jerusalem’s iniquity is pardoned, your iniquity is pardoned, because the Messiah has suffered in your stead. He was carried off by soldiers, captive to the whims of a madman and the fickle crowds. He was exiled from the Holy City, set to die upon a hill. He is the true Temple, made without hands, who was razed to the ground in the fury of the Father. He was utterly rejected and cast off as the One who became all Sin.
His flesh was like grass as He bore your sins and carried your sorrows. He was stricken, afflicted by God. And there, stretched out upon the Cross, planted in the high mountain of Golgotha, say to the cities of Judah, that is, to the Church of God in Christ Jesus, Behold your God! Behold the Lord God comes with might, and His arm rules for Him. His arm extended in death, nailed to the Tree for your justification. He reward is with Him, that is: the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, the end of the warfare between heaven and earth, the peace on earth and the good will of God toward men on account of the death of the Shepherd, who tends His flock with comfort, comfort.
The economy of heaven doesn’t make any sense to fallen accountants: double comfort for each sin. Peace. Peace. The forgiveness of God in Christ is so great it doesn’t simply eliminate the debt and call things even, but it bestows a surplus. Grace upon grace overflowing. The Lord anoints your head with oil, your cup runneth over.
Here is the hope of Israel: the Lord is merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness (Ex 34:6). Even when their sinful bodies are failing, even when they must face the judge and all the world seems unjust, even when they have brought suffering on themselves through their sins, the Lord’s people still have this: the war is over. Heaven is on your side. Your iniquity is pardoned. No one, not the devil, not your flesh, not even God can charge you for your sins. Christ has paid them all. And in His stead and by His command, I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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