Comfort Us
Isaiah 40:1 – 11
Since we are in the Christmas season during which we have an affinity for the music of the season, I have a challenge for those of you that have background in music, especially music that has become associated with Advent. Do you recognize these words from the beginning of Isaiah 40 somewhere in song?
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned.
These words at the beginning of Isaiah 40 also happen to be the opening words of Handel’s Messiah. As you know the Messiah is best known today for its Hallelujah Chorus. The Messiah was written in the early 1700s. It’s a large work for orchestra and choir, and the words the choir sings are all taken from the Bible.
There used to be a community wide Messiah sing in Columbus, where anybody, typically scores of choir members from church choirs, could gather to sing the words of comfort and grace found within.
The man who selected the scripture passages and strung them all together like pearls on a necklace was Charles Jennens who chose Isaiah chapter 40 as the place to begin telling not just any story but in fact the Gospel story, the story of the Good News for mankind.
At the time the piece was written, the work it was considered so scandalous that it was limited to being performed in secular halls not in churches. As fate would have it however, the only time the Messiah was ever performed in a church during Handel’s lifetime, John Wesley, father of Methodism was there.
Wesley remarked that he had never seen a congregation so attentive to any sermon as they were to the good news in the Messiah. John’s brother Charles, who wrote many of our hymns, including, by the way, the one we will sing soon, Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, said when it came to music he “preferred Handel to all the world” after he was comforted by the words that begin both Isaiah 40 and Handel’s Messiah Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem the Messiah.
As we saw last week, the Prophet Isaiah speaks this God-given message intended to be one of comfort for the people that were going to struggle because of their fallen nature. God’s words are meant to encourage, not offend. It is comfort for God’s people, who are being invited to rest in God’s power, and trust in God’s provision.
After Isaiah tells the Israelites that the penalty for their disobedience was exile from their home, God tells Isaiah to reach out to the people and give them comfort. These are meant to be words of restoration and hope to the people of Israel. God will send a Comforter to His people.
Kathleen O’Connor observes that: God’s strength appears in unimaginable power of gentleness, in tender and caring presence, in intimacy such as a shepherd expresses when gathering the wounded, scattered flock.
Elizabeth Milford tells us that through Isaiah, “God gives a glimpse of what restoration looks like; one with God at the center; a God who is loving even in the midst of passing judgment and righting the injustices in the world, whether that is lifting up those in valleys or leveling those who sit upon pompous mountains. There is no cheap grace being offered, but rather this is the reconciling work of a mighty God.” This is what we anticipate in Advent, the arrival of God’s love, compassion, and comfort.
Isaiah’s words needed to be powerful and persuasive in order to generate the kind of hope and faith that could return them to a relationship with God that would lead them back to Jerusalem. It seems that the promise of God’s love would do just that.
“Comfort ye, comfort my people, God tells Isaiah, Speak comfortably to Jerusalem,” these are words of assurance, and one response to the cries of “how long must we wait” and “Come To Us and show us your Glory” that we heard last week.
Elizabeth Milford tells us they are tender words of promise that can calm and quiet the chaos we experience in our lives, from the gut-wrenching difficult moments of loss to the drama and busyness of a holiday season.
These words can wrap us in a heavenly hug and again focus our attention on the meaning of this time of intentional waiting and purposeful anticipation for the Advent, the beginning of God’s love here on earth. The Advent that came long ago with Jesus’ birth, as well as the Advent of a New Earth that is to come as we anticipate Christ’s return.
In describing this second Advent, Christs Return, Peter also gives a hint to the nature of God. The verses that we read today are rich with an understanding of God’s nature to forgive and love. The people of God are impatient, wondering when Christ will return as promised. Like those in exile, they are questioning if God has abandoned them.
To them, Peter reminds them of their center, just as Isaiah did. He writes that God is “not slow about his promise,” but rather, is patiently waiting so that all come to repent before the day of the Lord. The implication here is that God wants to respond to the world in ways that are loving and gracious, but the world isn’t there yet.
God expects that Isaiah’s words are to be proclaimed from the high mountaintops. The prophet is given a new message, declaring the glory of the Lord! “Here is your God!” This is the message we are called to shout with our voices and proclaim with our actions.
F B Meyer tells us that in Isaiah 40 that we find comfort in a new relationship with god because:
Comfort, because sin is forgiven. — as theologian Johann Staupitz said to Martin Luther, if you want to find comfort and compassion “Look to the wounds of Jesus, brother”. As we mentioned last week that it is not only through the birth of the Christ child but also at the foot of the cross that sinners can find comfort. We do not only need the assurance of forgiveness, but some understanding of the way in which it has been received and the reasons it is offered to us. Our hearts are never truly comforted until we learn that God is faithful and just when He forgives.
We find Comfort because God is on his way to deliver. Be of good cheer, the prophet says; your God shall come with a strong hand. See the mountains become a way; the crooked is made straight and the rough places smooth. The glorious Lord comes to deliver the afflicted from his strong oppressor, and all flesh shall see it together.
We find Comfort, because He faints not, neither is he weary. While others may tire and physical strength droops and declines and time seems long but the Creator of the ends of the earth does not faith and will not become weary.”
We find Comfort because the Comforter has a tender heart. — He comes as a mighty one, but He feeds his flock like a shepherd. Strong and sweet, mighty and merciful. The Everlasting Father, but the Prince of Peace. Those arms sustain the universe, but they gather lambs.
C H Spurgeon reminds us that the Good Shepherd has a tender heart, he will purchase them with his blood, they are his property: he must and will care for that which cost him so dear. He is responsible for each lamb, bound by covenant not to lose one. They are all a part of his glory and reward.
“He carries the lambs in his bosom.” Here is boundless affection. Here is tender nearness: so near are they, that they could not possibly be nearer. Here is hallowed familiarity, there is precious words of love and comfort between Christ and his weak ones. In his bosom there is perfect safety. Here is the infinite tenderness of Jesus! Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort. –
Hear the Good News my friends……
Despite our broken and sinful nature there is Good News for us. The Jews paid a heavy price for their sinfulness, many times throughout history because they didn’t have what we have today.
They anticipated the Comforter, but we are the fortunate ones because we were born after the Christ event that happened at Christmas some 2000 years ago. He came to deliver us from the power of sin in our lives. Here is your God.
Before we came to believe in Jesus we were like the Jews in Babylon, separated, exiled from our true home but through grace of the birth of Jesus and the redemptive sacrifice of His death for us, we are on a lifelong journey toward total freedom from sin.
Brothers and sisters, this is how it is for us! Victory over sin! Victory over death! We are at peace with God, our sins no longer being held against us. Peace is found through our Comforter, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His death wins our forgiveness. His resurrection assures our rising from the dead. His life, his eternal life, he will share with us forever.
What greater comfort can there be? We have received from the Lord’s hand double for all our sins. Yes, double! Double the comfort, that is. “Comfort, comfort my people.” A comfort so wonderful, a comfort so nice, God tells it to us twice. Amen.