What Can God Do for You?

Isaiah 35:1-10

1 The desert and the parched land will be glad;
    the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2 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.

3 Strengthen the feeble hands,
    steady the knees that give way;
4 say to those with fearful hearts,
    “Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
    he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
    he will come to save you.”

5 Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
6 Then will the lame leap like a deer,
    and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
    and streams in the desert.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
    the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
    grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.

8 And a highway will be there;
    it will be called the Way of Holiness;
    it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
    wicked fools will not go about on it.
9 No lion will be there,
    nor any ravenous beast;
    they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
10     and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
    everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
    and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

What Can God Do for You?

What if I told you that by drinking a simple glass of hot water with a dollop of honey and a lemon wedge 25 minutes before you go to bed, and if you do that every night for a month, you could lose 10lbs off your midsection, your teeth would be 3 shades whiter, your hair would be fuller, your skin clearer, your mind sharper, your gut healthier and your mood improved? Would you believe me? Maybe the better question: even if you didn’t believe me, would you still try it in the hope that some of those claims might be true?

We live in a commercial world with all kinds of products that make all kinds of claims. We are accustomed to people making promises they can’t possibly keep just to get us to support their campaign or their cause. Sometimes our skepticism is on high alert and we don’t believe a word of what they say. Other times the situation seems so desperate that we can’t help but believe in the hope that some of it might prove to be true.

Isaiah made some pretty bold claims in our First Reading today. Without rereading the entire chapter, here’s a summary:

·         the desert will become a paradise

·         the weak will become strong

·         the disabled will become able-bodied

·         the needy will be satisfied

·         the righteous will be vindicated, and

·         the vulnerable will be safe

If Isaiah were hosting a late-night infomercial and the toll-free number scrolled across the bottom of the screen, would you pick up the phone? Are you buying what Isaiah is selling here? Or does this all sound too good to be true?

I was told from a young age that if something sounds too good to be true it probably is. And while that may apply for products like the Shamwow and Flexseal, it is certainly not true of the promises that God makes you. And what Isaiah says here is only the tip of the iceberg.

All this leads me to ask a question that I believe is central not only to this chapter of Isaiah’s prophecy, but also to the season of Advent – and even to the entirety of the Christian faith – what can God do for you? What problems are you hoping that God will solve for you?

Are you watching or listening to this service from home right now because you’re physically unable to get out of bed or out of the hospital or your long-term care facility? Are you on your second round of treatment, praying that this one is going to do the trick and you won’t have to go through it ever again? Are you struggling with depression or anxiety? Are you having a hard time fitting in or finding your place in the world? Are things a little leaner this year than you’d like them to be?

Whatever your problem, God promises that he can and will make it all go away. He has one answer for all that ails you, and even our Sunday School students could tell you his name. It’s Jesus, the long-promised Saviour of the world, our Messiah.

Millions of people over the course of many millennia have put their hope in him. Adam and Eve did when they were kicked out of the garden and faced the prospect of living outside of paradise for the first time in their lives. Noah and his family did when the wickedness of the world around them grew so great that God destroyed all but 8 people on the entire planet. Jacob and his family put their hope in the Messiah after they had been enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. Daniel and the three men in the fiery furnace did too, when they had been carried off into captivity after watching their home be destroyed.

For thousands of years before the first Christmas people put their hope in promises like this from prophets like Isaiah:

·         the desert will become a paradise

·         the weak will become strong

·         the disabled will become able-bodied

·         the needy will be satisfied

·         the righteous will be vindicated, and

·         the vulnerable will be safe

You can understand the excitement when Jesus began ticking off those boxes. We heard it in our Gospel today. When John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus and asked,

“Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”[1]

Jesus was referring to this promise from Isaiah’s prophecy! When Jesus was going around performing miracles, he was fulfilling the promises God had made about the Messiah! He was giving people hope that he was Saviour that they had been waiting for.

Some people got really excited about this and started scanning the headlines everyday to see when Jesus would finally overthrow the Romans. They organized rallies for him in Galilee, they threw him a parade on Palm Sunday. But their hopes were dashed when the Romans were the ones who overthrew him, when he stood powerlessly before Pontius Pilate and was sentenced to a cruel and humiliating death on a cross. Some of the people who were so pumped up for him on Palm Sunday went home deflated when they saw him “defeated.” “He can’t be the Messiah! There is still danger. There is still fear. These promises from Isaiah haven’t been fulfilled.”

Even John the Baptist – unquestionably Jesus’ biggest supporter – seemed to have his doubts. He’s the one who sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”[2] He remembered Isaiah’s promise that the Messiah would “proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners,”[3] but there John was in prison and there was no freedom in sight. In fact, I don’t know that he knew it yet, but John would never taste freedom again. He was soon to be beheaded by King Herod.

Millions of people over the course of many millennia put their hope in Jesus as the Messiah, but when he didn’t usher in this paradise, this strength and health and safety, they doubted or grew discouraged.

How do you feel? Jesus came 2,000 years ago. 2,000 years ago, he said from the cross, “It is finished” – referring to the work his Father had sent him to do. Does it feel like it? Do you feel safe and strong and healthy, free of fear and danger? Are you wondering when you get to walk on the Highway of Holiness where there are no wicked or violent, ravenous beasts?

I want you to understand this: Jesus is not your made-to-order Messiah. You don’t get to decide what God will do for you. Some have tried, but they have all been disappointed and many have given up and walked away.

I don’t want you to give up, because even though Jesus is not your made-to-order Messiah – even though you don’t get to decide what God will do for you – he is still your Messiah. He is still the answer to all that ails you. What you need to understand is what it is that ails you most, i.e. what enables you to be included as a beneficiary of these promises. Isaiah tells us:

Only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return.[4]

Your greatest problem is not poverty, weakness, disability or danger. Those are just a symptom of a far more fatal condition. Your greatest problem is sin – a heart that fears and doubts; a heart that puts its hope in anything and everything other than the one thing that can actually help. Your greatest problem has nothing to do with your environment, your situation, or the other people in your life. It has everything to do with who and what you are – a sinner, whose thoughts, words and actions threaten to separate you from the one person who can help you forever.

Your greatest need, then, is not for health, wealth, status or safety. It is for redemption and rescue, and that’s exactly what Jesus came to give you. Sure, he performed miracles while he was here, e.g. healed incurable diseases, fed thousands, raised the dead. But his real work was done on the cross where he died to give you life; where he sacrificed himself as the payment for your sin; where he satisfied your greatest need and opened the door to a real and lasting paradise.

And that puts you in the unique position that some theologians call the “already but not yet.” We already enjoy some of these promises.

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.[5]

That’s the work God did in your heart when you first heard his Word of life and forgiveness. He breathed new life into you and filled the God-shaped hole in your heart. He has given you meaning and purpose, but more than anything he’s let you know that you’re loved. And for those of us who feel like we’re running on empty or that our lives are a barren wasteland, the good news of Jesus’ love for you is like water that gushes forth in the wilderness.

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.”[6]

Our God has come. He was born at Christmas. He died on a cross to take away our sin and guilt and shame. He rose from the grave and took away our need even to fear death, because by his resurrection, we have the promise of life everlasting with him in heaven.

Our God has come, and he promises that he will come back to take us out of this world of fear and feebleness and into his eternal home.

A highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.[7]

We may not be completely free from fools in this world. There are still violent beasts who seek to do us harm. But we have a fellowship here of the family of God. Not all is lost. We have fellow Christians who walk on this way with us, who can support and encourage and understand us when life gets hard, who can defend and uplift us when we feel beaten down. We are a collection of the redeemed, those who have been rescued from our sins, whose Lord will return.

We look forward to the day when sorrow and sighing will flee away[8] – we look forward to the perfect paradise of heaven – but that doesn’t stop us from singing today. We live in the “already but not yet.” We know these blessings in part right now; we will know them in full when Jesus returns. He may not be our made-to-order Messiah, we may have to endure trials with patience, our sickness, sadness, struggles may never go away this side of heaven, but Jesus is still the answer to all that ails us. We have temporary relief and comfort in his promises today. We have hope in a problem-free future forever in heaven.

What can God do for you? He gave you Jesus, your Saviour from sin, your hope for heaven, today, tomorrow and forever. He is not too good to be true. He is exactly as advertised and so much more. He has already fulfilled some of these prophecies; he will fulfill them all when he comes again in the End. Even when the doubts and fear creep in, God give you a heart that puts its hope in him. Amen.

[1] Matthew 11:3-5

[2] Matthew 11:3

[3] Isaiah 61:1

[4] Isaiah 35:9,10

[5] Isaiah 35:1

[6] Isaiah 35:3,4

[7] Isaiah 35:8

[8] Isaiah 35:10

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Jesus Is the Best Kind of Judge

Isaiah 11:1-10

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
    from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
    the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
    the Spirit of counsel and of might,
    the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
    or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
    with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
    with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
    and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
    the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
    and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
    their young will lie down together,
    and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
    and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
    as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. 

Jesus Is the Best Kind of Judge

Can you finish this lyric?

He sees you when you’re ________.

You know, when you really think about these light-hearted Christmas melodies that you hear on the radio or that populate your Spotify playlist, they can be kind of creepy. There’s this guy with a beard who watches you while you’re sleeping. He knows things about you that no one else does, including your deepest darkest secrets. He makes a judgment call based on your behaviour to decide whether you will get rewarded or punished. Santa is creepy!

And yet – as much as this is most definitely not a sermon to endorse Santa – some of those North Pole themes sound eerily similar to the kinds of things we hear about Jesus. This is what Isaiah said about Jesus in chapter 11 of his prophecy:

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.[1]

As much as we like to spend these days leading up to Christmas picturing Jesus as that gentle baby lying in the manger, the season of Advent reminds us that that’s only part of the picture and this prophecy from Isaiah is a great example.

Isaiah wrote these words 700 years before Jesus was born. By God’s direction, Isaiah was preparing the people for the arrival of Jesus. The thing is, from Isaiah’s perspective, he sees the whole picture of who Jesus would be like a mountain range in the distance. You can see peaks and valleys and all of them all at once, but, from a distance, it can be difficult to differentiate between them or to know which peak is closer and which one is farther away. You can’t know that until you get closer to them.

From Isaiah’s perspective, he sees all of who Jesus would be all at once. What Isaiah didn’t – and couldn’t – know was that Jesus was going to come to earth not once but twice. The first time, of course, was when he was born in a barn outside of Bethlehem. Jesus’ first coming was at Christmas.

What Isaiah didn’t – and couldn’t – know was that long after Jesus lived and died and rose again and ascended into heaven, he would come again – this time not as the Saviour of the world, but as its Judge.

So, even though these words were written 700 years before Jesus who was born 2,000 years before us, these almost 3,000-year-old words were written for us, to tell us what Jesus will do when he comes again. In a word, he will come to judge.

Isaiah says:

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.[2]

At first this sounds very different than Santa, right? The song says that Santa sees you when you’re sleeping. Isaiah says that Jesus will not judge by what he sees with his eyes. But it is not as if Jesus is blind to what we do or ignorant about how we spend our time. In fact, it is the opposite.

King David once wrote:

You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.[3]

God knows everything about you. There are two ways to understand what Isaiah says here then (He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears[4]). The first is what David brings up: not only can God see what you do, he can perceive your thoughts and know what is in your heart to speak before you can even get your mouth to form the words. In other words, God can see what is in your heart.

So, imagine this. There is a time coming when Jesus will come to judge you. Isaiah warns us what the verdict will be for those who are found guilty:

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.[5]

This is far worse than a lump of coal. This is the death penalty. We’re talking an eternity in hell. The stakes couldn’t be higher.

Jesus is coming to judge you, and he knows everything you do. He knows the lies you tell, the time you waste, the people you mistreat (whether to their face or behind their back). He knows the things you do in secret, the things that nobody else knows that you think you’re getting away with. He even knows the evil thoughts and attitudes that lurk in your heart even when you’re doing the right thing.

You remember how when you were a kid and you got into a fight with your brother or sister your parents would make you say, “I’m sorry,” to each other, so, you’d grumble those words between clenched teeth and with fire in your eyes? Your parents could see right through you. They knew you weren’t sincere.

Our hearts are even more transparent to the Lord. He knows when there’s bitterness in there; when we’re angry or resentful; when we just don’t care about how our words or actions affect other people; when we lust after and covet all the things that we can’t and shouldn’t have. He knows it all.

That’s one way to understand Isaiah when he says,

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears.[6]

In other words, Jesus’ perception goes beyond what he can see. His understanding is deeper than all that he can hear. He knows it all – every secret sin, every ounce of guilt, every source of shame.

That’s kind of scary, isn’t it? That’s a different picture of Jesus than the baby in a manger. But it’s the same person. And there’s another way to understand these words. It is true that Jesus knows everything that you think, say, and do. But he knows even more than that, including all the things that he has thought, said, and done for you.

It is strange, sometimes, to prepare for Christmas by thinking about Judgment Day, but it is important. It was precisely because of Judgment Day that Jesus was born at Christmas. He was born to be your Saviour from sin, to have the Spirit of the Lord rest on him – to be filled with wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, the knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

Jesus understood the cosmic calculus of sin. He knew that the wages of sin is death, that the soul who sins is the one who should die; but he also knew that God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. There is nothing that you or I can do to undo any of the wicked, hurtful, wrong things that we do. But there is one thing that Jesus could – and did – do for you: he was born at Christmas for the sole purpose of dying on a cross in your place. He offered his life as a substitutionary sacrifice for you. He washed all your sins and guilt away by the blood he poured out for you.

So, when Isaiah says, He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears,[7] he means that your behaviour does not determine your final destination. What Jesus did for you does. And because Jesus died for you, you get to look forward to a day when the wolf will live with the lamb, and when the leopard will lie down with the goat.[8] You get to look forward to a day of true and eternal peace in the resting place of the God who loves you enough to sacrifice his Son to save you. Who better to be your Judge than the one who was born to give his life for you so that you could live with him forever?

He is the one, Isaiah says, who will judge the needy with righteousness and who will give decisions for the poor of the earth with justice.[9] If you go through life thinking that your name deserves to be on the nice list, that you could survive the scrutiny of the all-knowing God without him finding any sin, then you have every reason to fear this judge. But if you know that you truly belong on the naughty list – if you recognize how much help you need, how spiritually poor you are – and if you turn to the Lord for that help, he will judge you on the basis of Jesus’ righteousness and grant you justice on the basis of his faithfulness to you.

The good news is that we do not have to keep a tally of all the right and wrong things that we do. We thank God that he does not keep a record of our sins. But this season is still about repentance. It’s about preparing our hearts for Jesus to come again. That means coming to him to find our peace (going to church, personal devotions, prayer life at home) and turning from sin to live in righteousness.

That’s what Advent is all about. It’s not about a jolly old fat man who watches you while you sleep. It’s about your eternal Judge who loved you enough to be your Saviour. Don’t be afraid of his judgment. Repent of your sin. Put your selfish thoughts and actions behind you. But put your hope in the Lord. Rally to the “Root of Jesse” and find your rest in him. Amen.

[1] Isaiah 11:3,4

[2] Isaiah 11:3

[3] Psalm 139:2-4

[4] Isaiah 11:3

[5] Isaiah 11:4

[6] Isaiah 11:3

[7] Isaiah 11:3

[8] Isaiah 11:6

[9] Isaiah 11:4

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