The Fourth Sunday in Advent

Isaiah 40:1-5

"Comfort, Comfort ye My People"

During the Communist era Richard Wurmbrand spent fourteen years in prison, three of those in solitary confinement. In solitary the guards never allowed him to see the sun or moon, the trees or grass. Locked in a cell thirty feet below the surface of the earth, he composed sermons. One paragraph will give you an idea of what he put together in his mind, memorized, and later wrote in a book called Sermons in Solitary Confinement. Wurmbrand prays to the Lord, "Jesus, a broken heart cries out to you. I am weary. Give me rest. You who can change a hell into paradise, who by the one word "I will" made a leper clean, give me quiet. Solomon gave maidens to wait on his bride. Give me angels to surround me, but, I beg you, angels whom I can see, not angels whose presence I always have to imagine."

The captivity of Pastor Richard Wurmbrand eventually came to an end, and he went on to do great ministry. In our Old Testament passage the prophet Isaiah foresees the captivity of Judah. The Babylonian Empire will conquer the nation of Judah in 587 B.C. God lets Isaiah know that most of the nation will be carried off into exile and punished for their sin. The prophet promises suffering in Isaiah 39. He proclaims to the King that he and his household will be marched in chains to Babylon to a concentration camp-like existence. The message is gloomy. Chapter 40 of Isaiah is very different. The darkness of chapter 39 changes into light. There is hope after all. God sends a manifesto to the prophets: "Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God." The language of the King James Version is familiar to us from our hymns, and Handel's oratorio: "Comfort, Comfort, ye, My people." On this Sunday before Christmas let us consider the comfort of Christ. We will also look into the need to prepare a road for the Lord, and finish up in Bethlehem. Reading Isaiah 40:1-2. [Read them.]

It is God who speaks in this text, and He commands that other men accomplish His purpose. Instead of saying, "I shall comfort my people," he says to Isaiah and to a vast multitude of prophets, and to an even greater number of ministers of the Church since the time of Christ: "Comfort, yes, comfort My people. Comfort those who suffer; comfort those who are cast down; comfort those who feel defeated and discouraged. I want My people to be a comforted people, even in the worst of times. Comfort them." "Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended..."

Jerusalem refers to the inhabitants of the city; they will suffer in exile for their idolatry and selfishness. They will languish seventy years in a foreign land, bereft of their songs, their sacrifices, and their Temple. Nevertheless, the prophets and priests can comfort them because their warfare will one day end. What is the warfare of the Christian? Warfare is a metaphor. Originally, when Isaiah said this, it referred to the seventy years of exile in Babylon. That exile was a warfare that would come to a conclusion. How about today? Today, our warfare is perhaps life itself. Life is a struggle. The Christian passes through life as a soldier doing battle against the world, the flesh and the devil. It is hard service. Many soldiers are deployed for one year. Two years is a lot. Three is exceptional. The Christian is deployed his entire life. The warfare never ceases. He is tempted to give up. But God promises that the warfare will run its course, and then the good soldiers will enter into their rest and receive their reward in Heaven. God commands his ministers to comfort His people with hope. That comfort consists in the speaking of words that will fall upon the heart with pleasure, comfort, and refreshment, to encourage and cheer the heart like gentle rain falling upon the ground.

Some of you have suffered a personal setback, or a major disappointment. The Lord commands his ministers to give you a message of comfort. Some of you are suffering from the sting of hurtful words and the rejection of others. The Lord can comfort you. Some of you are experiencing stress and even panic attacks. Jesus can comfort you. Some of you are worried about the future and what you will do. Go to the Lord, He will comfort you. Go to Him in the Bible; go to Him in the Eucharist; go to Him in prayer; go to Him in worship. He will comfort you. He commands the ministers of the Church, "Comfort, comfort, ye, My people." If you are His son or daughter by faith in Christ, He will comfort you.

Let's read Isaiah 40:3-5. [Read them.]

A voice cries in the wilderness. The New Testament identifies that voice as John the Baptist. John is the forerunner who precedes the King. As a result of the bad condition of the roads messengers were sent in advance to order that the roads be mended and made passable. John is the one given the task of announcing the Messiah's coming, and turning aside the obstacles that may be in the way. John cried out, "Prepare the way of the Lord. Get the boulders off the road. Repair the bridges. Move the tree trunks out of the way. Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low. Fill in the valleys so that they become even ground. Bring low the mountains and hills so that they become level. Straighten out the crooked places; smooth the rough spots."

The problem is this: most of the time our hearts are like jagged, mountainous desert terrain. God is capable of traveling over this. But He wants you to prepare a smooth road for Him to your heart. Have you ever traveled on the Baja California Highway, the one that runs north and south from Ensenada to Cabo San Lucas? That peninsula is rugged. At certain stretches the road climbs up and winds through the mountains. When I drove that route a long time ago I looked down numerous times and saw wrecked cars strewn in the ravines, sometimes hundreds of yards below. No attempt was made to haul away the wreckage. You couldn't help but wonder what had happened to the occupants of those crashed vehicles. John the Baptist called for the tortuous roads to be straightened out in order for the Lord, the Messiah to come.

Valleys raised up; mountains brought low; crooked places made straight; rough places made smooth. This is the kind of preparation you do to ready yourself for the Lord's coming into your heart. Whatever is a hindrance must be removed. The sins that separate you from God must be dislodged. The goal is to make the road as clear and straight as possible so that the Lord can travel over it with no impediment whatever. How can you do such road repair? Prayer and repentance is a good start. This week at the Howden family devotional time we took turns praying. We went around the table confessing our sins to God and one another. It was a humbling experience and very good.

John Stott recommends that Christians set aside a quiet day once a month. That means for at least twelve hours: no radio, no TV, no computer, no phone calls. Give yourself to prayer, Bible reading, contemplation, and quietness. You will probably have to find a place of retreat. John Stott has a friend who lends him a guesthouse in the back. I go to the desert or the mountains. A quiet day can straighten the crooked places, smooth the rough places, level the mountains, and bring high the valleys so that God can come to you on a smooth highway and speak to your heart. Set aside a quiet day.

Once this spiritual preparation is complete, then Isaiah says, "the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." These words of Isaiah link up with the Nativity of Jesus. The glory of the Lord was revealed to certain shepherds watching their sheep. Therefore, we jump 700 years from the Babylon of Isaiah's day to the Bethlehem of Joseph and Mary. You know the details. Let's review them.

Shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks. They had spent countless nights in the fields outside Bethlehem. There would normally be little excitement. Theirs was a monotonous profession. But on the night Jesus was born something spectacular took place. The plains of Bethlehem became the theater for one of the most spectacular sound-and-light shows in human history. All heaven broke loose. [Here and hereafter is more or less a paraphrase of a portion of R. C. Sproul's book, The Glory of Christ. pp. 16-20.]

Luke tells us what happened. Reading Luke 2:8-15. [Read them.]

The angelic visitor was surrounded by the glory of God. The glory was shining around the shepherds too. This glory did not belong to the angel himself. It was God's glory, the glory promised by Isaiah. That glory signified God's mode of being. This divine splendor blazed down on the countryside. Everything was bright. The immediate response of the shepherds to this intrusion is stark terror. The older translators rendered the text, "And they were sore afraid." When the shepherds of Bethlehem quaked in fear, they were admonished by the angel: "Do not be afraid, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

The baby who was born that night would become three things, the Savior, the Christ, and the Lord. Let's think about those one at a time. First, a Savior; R. C. Sproul rightly states, "Every human being longs for a savior of some type. We look for someone or something that will solve our problems, ease our pain, or grant the most elusive goal of all, happiness. Jesus is that Person. He is that Savior. The burst of light that flooded the fields of Bethlehem announced the advent of a Savior..."

We note that the newborn Savior is also called "Christ the Lord." To the astonished shepherds these titles were pregnant with meaning. This Savior is the Christ, which means "the Anointed One," the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. Every Jew remembered the promise of God that someday the Messiah, the Lord's anointed, would come to deliver Israel. This Messiah-Savior is also Lord. He not only will save His people but He will be their King, their Sovereign. The title Lord has royal overtones. We submit to and obey the Lord.

The angel declares that this Savior-Messiah-Lord is born "unto you." The divine announcement is not an oracle of judgment but the declaration of a gift. The newborn King is born for us.

Next the angel announced the giving of a sign that would verify the truth of the declaration: "And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (Luke 2:12). The sign of the manger child contrasts with the explosion of glory in the field. Just a short distance away from the scene of light and sound will be found the Savior cloaked in humility and lowliness.

When the ethereal chorus was finished, the shepherds discussed the matter among themselves. One wonders about the tempo of the discussion. It could hardly have been calm. The men were obviously beside themselves with fear, excitement, awe, and delirious joy. They decided to leave at once for the promised sign.

The Scriptures tell us that they left with haste to search for the birthplace of the Christ. Again we wonder if in their haste and excitement they left their flocks unattended. Such an action would be unthinkable for any responsible shepherd. Did they leave one or more of their comrades behind? If so, how would those left behind feel about missing this adventure of all adventures? The Bible is silent on these questions and we are left with mere speculation about them. Luke 2:16 tells the conclusion of the shepherds' story. [Reading Luke 2:16-20.]

The shepherds went back to their flocks. The return trip was marked by unbridled adoration and praise. These men would never be the same. They had seen with their eyes and heard with their ears the manifestation of the glory of God.

In the Communist prison, Richard Wurmbrand prayed for a vision similar to what the shepherds saw on Christmas Eve. Wurmbrand prayed, "Jesus, give me angels to surround me, but, I beg you, angels whom I can see, not angels whose presence I always have to imagine." The shepherds of Bethlehem saw the angel. They saw what Isaiah promised: the glory of the Lord revealed. I don't think Pastor Wurmbrand ever did. Most of us never have either. "We walk by faith, not by sight." In Heaven it will be different. The glory of the Lord will be permanent for the redeemed. They will see Jesus, the Lamb. They will see His glory, and they will worship Him. You and I will too if we are in Christ. Those are words of comfort. Let the Lord come into your heart this Christmas. Prepare the way for Him.

Let us pray.