December 18 Sermon: Come with Singing

We live in a culture that's in a perpetual search for happiness. We're looking for this state where we are entertained all the time, aren't we? We see this in the things that we do, the things that we pursue. And this is really a symptom of the state of things in our culture, isn't it? We're always looking for the next big thing, the next state of happiness that we can have. And it comes from being in an extremely well off world, doesn't it? You can't imagine a world with difficulty thinking that you're going to be happy every single moment and expect to never be bored. That's just a symptom of our affluence in our modern time. This is what we have become, essentially. We can't fathom the idea that we should experience suffering and therefore, if we are unhappy, we expect that we deserve our situation to improve. And so we pursue happiness through everything from relationships to electronic devices to a nicer automobile or maybe some recreational items, this is what we pursue. Now, none of these things are in and of themselves inherently bad, are they? But we tend to expect that these things are the things that are going to ultimately give us lasting joy. 

But we ultimately know that they're temporal, don't we? We know that it's temporary. And again, there's nothing wrong with pursuing happiness. That's a good thing, that's a blessing from God. But the question I've been considering that as we've been looking at this passage, and as every time I walk through here and right now because it's cold, I tend to walk through the sanctuary a lot more because that door is a lot closer to my house. So I see this word joy a lot. And so the question I have been considering this week, looking at this passage and such is in our quest for happiness all the time, do you and I really understand true blasting joy, do we really have an ability to grasp that? And I think this is an important question for us to consider as we are approaching Christmas. Because as awesome as Christmas is, christmas has become in a materialistic society, has become the pursuit of temporary happiness, right? We want that moment after the grandkids or the kids open the presents, but we know that as soon as those things are open, there's a mess everywhere. And we know that potentially we might not be happy in the next moment, as I know by the fact young kids, they play with the boxes, right? 

No matter how much we pursue that happiness and we try to get it, it's not necessarily something that lasts. And again, the stuff of the holidays, the enjoyment that we find from it, it's not a bad thing. But I think it shows us that what we're really after, what you and I ultimately are pursuing, is this desire that we have built into us, this desire for happiness that isn't going to end, for a joy that is lasting. We're desiring that which lasts beyond the moment, because we know as we look around the world, we know that stuff doesn't last. We know that the presence that make us happy now, the electronics, devices that maybe keep us from being bored, it all ends up in a landfill. And we know where we end up too. So what we have is this desire baked in us for something that lasts beyond the moment, for this everlasting joy. So what we really desire is on display for us right here, right? Hope, peace, joy, love. Those things that we remember every advent, those are the things that we're really after. And there's only one place that we can find those. 

And we see an exhibition for us of everlasting joy, that thing that we are truly pursuing as we look at our passage here from Isaiah 35 this morning. And I'm going to read them those these first few verses here again. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad. The desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy in singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. We see this idea of of joy here, and we get from this passage the way it starts out, that something different is happening. And so we have to understand what the Book of Isaiah is ultimately about. We know that Isaiah is in fact a prophet. And when you and I hear the word prophet, we think as of someone who is going to predict the future. We think of those prophetic words from the Book of Isaiah. They come up every year in Advent and in Lent, these words of prophetic statements that tell us that the Messiah is coming or that the Messiah is going to suffer. 

And so being a prophet is about, yes, being able to proclaim, being able to predict the future. But ultimately, as we read through the Book of Isaiah, as we come up to verse chapter 35, we see that the work of a prophet is to proclaim the Word of the Lord. And that's a hard job. That's a hard job because proclaiming the Word of the Lord means a word of judgment. The people were in rebellion against God. They weren't following him. And so the Word of Isaiah comes to the people and he tells them, look, you're going to go into exile. You're going to be punished for your sin. Not a job that I want to have to go tell kings this. And in Isaiah, we see that this word of judgment is not only for the Northern Kingdom, Israel. It's also for the Southern Kingdom, Judah, and it's also for the Gentile nations. Judgment is coming upon all of them. You got to wonder how big the hole in Isaiah's stomach was from the stress he had lived in that life of giving. Bring these prophetic words to these people. And so in the midst of these words of destruction, these words of impending doom for Israel, Judah and the Gentile nations, here we come. 

And all of a sudden, the wilderness in the dry land shall be glad. There's a reversal that's going on here in the Book of Isaiah. Now, it's important that we understand that Isaiah is not prophetically saying that every piece of wilderness in Israel and in Judah and in the Gentile nations is suddenly going to not be wilderness. That's not the idea that we have here, that this is going to suddenly be there's going to be a wetland where this is everywhere. This is not about necessarily healing the land. While that may have happened when these prophecies came to pass, the ultimate state of affairs here is about a description of how things are going to change for the people. The wilderness in the Bible, think about wilderness in the Bible. It is a judgment. Think about the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness right? Now, you and I, when we think of wilderness, we may have hobbies, we may have things that we do. And so for us, the wilderness seems like a good thing in a busy world where we can be contacted all the time going on. The wilderness is a tree, right? 

Whether we go hiking, whether we sit in a deer stand for hours upon end, or whether we make tracks in the snow with our small snowmobiles, we like the wilderness. But for the people in Isaiah's time, the wilderness would have been bad, right, because they didn't have cell phones to keep in touch with others, or if they needed help, they could have someone come and get them if they got hungry or if they were thirsty or just needed to see some folk. They couldn't get in their car and driving to town to the convenience store and get a cup of coffee or a sandwich, right? They didn't have generators to keep their food good. Going out in the wilderness was a tough state of affairs for them. And so this idea of wilderness in the Bible is an idea of judgment. And we see here it's also talking about dry land. We know that dry land doesn't produce life. We know that it doesn't give us the water that we need. So the imagery here of wilderness and dry land is imagery of judgment. And now we see that there's a reversal taking place here. 

Something is going to happen, something is changing. And so the wilderness and the dry land, they are going to spring forth with life. And so when the prophet says that they're going to be glad here. He's expressing that this great reversal is going to happen. As bad as the judgment of God is, God is going to restore the places that were made desolate by his wrath. He's going to change things. This is a state of affairs, a change in the state of affairs. Desolate places are now going to flourish. This isn't normal. And this doesn't happen by the will of the people. This happens because God makes it happen. All of this is from God. That's the big point here. All of this is from God. Only God can do this. Great reversal. And what happens? We see that this reversal is described in great detail for us. Weak knees or weak hands are strengthened. Feeble knees are made firm. And again, God is the one who's doing this. No one else is capable of doing this. God is the one who's going to come and save them. He is going to do the work. 

You have been exiled, you have been sent away. You are not going to come back on your own folks. You're not going to come here and make this better. You need God to do it. And this is an important idea. The idea is here that God has judged the people. They deserved it. They were dead in their sin and their unbelief. God judged sin. But what's the idea here? That he's the one causing the reversal? He's the one who's going to save them. Yes, he judged them, but he's also the one who's going to rescue them. He's also the one who's going to bring them back from this exile. And this is an absolutely essential idea of the Christian faith. This is what we believe. We believe that we deserve punishment for our sin. We see God's law and our mouths are shut. We know we can't keep it on our own. We are incapable and we acknowledge this. But what else do we believe? What else do we confess? That God is the only one who can bring this about. God is the only one who can rescue in the exile of our sin. 

Only God can bring us back. And that is the big point here, that God is doing this work. And we see some really good news in this passage. At least it's good news for me, because we see that God is the one who is going to do this work. We understand that God brings us back. And when I say it's good news for me, I'm going to go to verse eight here. Even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. I don't know about you, but I love that verse because I'm a fool. I'm a fool. You and I are prone to wander no matter how well we understand this God who saves us, this God who comes and rescues us, we're all fools. We go astray. And as we look at this, we see even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. We are brought to a road, a highway here that is called the Way of Holiness. And we don't get there on our own. God is the one who puts us on the path. He is the one who keeps us on the path. 

That is an important part of our understanding. We don't not only understand that we deserve our punishment for our sin, we not only understand that God is the one who saves us, we understand that God is the one who keeps us on the path. He is the one who does the work. God is saving us. God is guiding us. God is the one who keeps his people. He is the one we see that he does all of this. And best of all, we see that this is not just something that happens because it's time. It's not just something that happens because we decided it should take place. We read that it is the ransom of the Lord that shall return. The ransom of the Lord. Those who have been bought and paid for are the ones who shall return. They will come because God has paid the price for them and he brings them back because they are his. That's who returns. And that's the good news here. Even though we are lost, we are prone to wander. God saves us, he guides us. He keeps us because he has bought us. And if he has bought you, he is going to keep you. 

And so what happens? Here what happens? They come to Zion. The ransom of the Lord come to Zion with singing and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They come with singing. And this isn't a song by a country and western crooner singing about how bad their life is, how they lost their truck, their dog, their wife, all that stuff. That's not the kind of song, it's not a punk song saying down with the establishment. It's not even a pop song about human love and how our feelings are so wonderful. It is a song of joy. It's the kind of song that you get within you and you can't help but having it come out of you because you are happy, because you have joy beyond the moment. It comes deep from within you. They are coming back because they have been bought by God. And so this joy flows out of them. And it's everlasting this isn't temporary happiness, this is everlasting joy, something that lasts beyond the moment. The people of God come with singing and joy because they have been ransomed by God. God has brought them to Himself and they are experiencing the great joy of their salvation. 

God in Christ came in our very own flesh. That's what we celebrate here at Christmas, right? We understand that we needed a rescue, but our problem was that we were dead. In our sin. And so Jesus came in our very own flesh to live the perfect life that we could not live. He suffered the wrath of God for our sin. He rose again and he ascended the right hand of the Father to ransom us, to buy us back, to bring us to Himself, to keep us to Himself. This is the only way that a great reversal can happen, is by God doing it. And so we see this here in God's Word. It talks about how the blind are going to see, the deaf are going to hear. All of these things don't just happen. The lame don't get up and walk. God has to do the work. The deaf don't hear. God has to restore their hearing. The blind don't see. And exiles don't come back from being sent away without God doing the work. And as we approach Christmas, it's important that you and I remember that apart from Christ, we were lame. 

But now in Him we walk in newness of life. We were deaf, we couldn't understand. We couldn't even hear God's word. But the Spirit came to us and we heard that word of God and we understood and we believed by faith we were blind to God's truth. But through the work of the Spirit, we can now see. You and I were once exiles, sent outside the city because we were sinners. But now we have been brought back like these talked about here we're the ransom of the Lord returning. And we know that it is God that does this work. We were once exiles, but now in Christ, we are citizens of the kingdom of God. And so, as we celebrate the coming of the King this coming Christmas, may we remember the great reversal that the story of the Christ child in the manger is about changing the whole state of affairs. And he did it for you. So may that be the source of our everlasting joy. And may we continually come with singing. Amen.

This message was delivered on December 18, 2022 by Pastor Mark Groen at First Reformed Church in Edgerton, MN. First Reformed is a congregation in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church.