- Do you remember a time when you were really excited about Christmas? Maybe it was when you were a little kid and you really wanted something special for Christmas. I remember a time when I was in grade school when I really wanted a small Chemistry laboratory with real experiments to perform and I actually got it for Christmas that year. I was so psyched. But in addition to that, I always got some clothing items for Christmas. I would get some new pajamas. Maybe a few shirts, sweater and jeans and a healthy dose of underwear and socks. I was never very excited about the clothes.
- Isaiah, in our text for today, is very excited about what he was getting for Christmas. Instead of being excited about some toys and kind of overlooking the clothes, Isaiah is excited about the clothes.
- He writes, “I delight in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.”
- Why is Isaiah so excited about some clothes though?
- Although Isaiah did not see what Jesus would do for us, He trusted in God’s provision of a savior for His people. He was looking forward to salvation for all people.
- He’s excited because these are not ordinary clothes. These are the garments that give eternal salvation because of what Jesus has done for us by His death and resurrection.
- Have you ever been keenly aware of your sinfulness as it stands in stark contrast to God’s holiness? It is pretty humbling isn’t it?
- That’s the way it is for Isaiah. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees a vision of God seated on a throne in the temple. Seraphim were flying around him saying, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.” The doorposts and thresholds of the temple shook at the sound of their voices. At the sight of that Isaiah says, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
- When we compare our sinfulness next to God’s holiness, we become cognizant of our need for a savior.
- Sometimes we can delude ourselves into thinking that we can justify ourselves but when reality kicks in, we understand that our righteousness has to come from outside of us
- That is where God kicks into gear. He dresses us in a robe of righteousness, as our text for today puts it. He covers us in the perfection that Jesus accomplished through His obedience to God’s laws. {PAUSE}
- I did a wedding yesterday. It always strikes me what a momentous occasion it is when two people are joined in marriage. God says that the two people become one flesh. Two families are joined together through the couple. It is an important occasion. People put on their finest to show the importance of the occasion. Bride and groom get special clothes, special jewelry that they wear when they get married.
- When I was the best man for my best friend from high school, I saw just how big the event can be. He was originally from India. They had people coming in from all over the world for the wedding. His parents special ordered him some clothes that were tailored in India from some relatives of theirs and arrived right before the wedding. It is a several day event and he needed a special outfit for each and every day and each outfit cost them several hundred dollars. He even had a special turban to wear for the day of the wedding.
- Preparation on the day of the wedding is the picture that we see in our text for today. Isaiah writes, “He has clothes me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with jewels.”
- My family came back into town Friday night on their way back to Texas. When they woke up yesterday morning, my brother-in-law went outside to pack up the car. He came back inside and remarked that it was so warm it seemed like a cool spring morning. It is supposed to be so warm this weekend and into next week, we might actually see some plants start to spring up, thinking that it is spring already.
- That is what Isaiah is talking about in the next verse. He writes, “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.”
- It is a miracle when life returns to our perennials. When the trees bud and leaf out again. And it just jumps out at us in the spring.
- God righteousness comes upon us as miraculously. God gives us His righteousness through our baptisms and through the Lord’s Supper and through His love communicated to us in His word. It is shocking how quickly and instantaneously it effects us. {PAUSE}
- Ever try to keep a secret? Ever try to hold on to really big news? It is hard to do! When good things happen in our lives, it is hard to hold on to the news. There’s a reason. God wants us to share when good things happen in our lives and give Him praise for it. He also wants others to join with us. He wants other people to know what He has done for us.
- That is what Isaiah says God wants us to do with the good news of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. He writes, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.” {PAUSE}
- In these days of the internet and 24 hour news channels and 24 hour programming, when something happens, people will find out about it quickly. The old adage that news travels fast is even more true nowadays.
- Isaiah declares that He will not keep the good news to himself until the righteousness of God’s people shines forth. He writes, “The nations will see your righteousness, and all king your glory.”
- The message of the Gospel is going out using our mass media. Think of the millions that Billy Graham has effected through his evangelism crusades and through the use of television to get the message out to more people
- The Lutheran Hour is the longest running weekly radio broadcast in the world. It is broadcast on over 800 radio stations in North America and on the Armed Forces Network and XM Satellite radio. It is broadcast in 50 languages in 40 countries around the world. It has over 1.2 million listeners. Some have toyed with the idea of an internet church to get the world out to more people. With 1.2 billion of the over 6.5 billion people on the planet with internet access, an internet church might make an even greater impact with the Gospel of Jesus
- With these resources in the hands of the church, God will indeed allow even greater numbers to see the righteousness of His people until someday He returns in glory and ALL people will see our righteousness. {PAUSE}
- Two weeks ago, we talked about the importance of names
- We talked about how sometimes a name can shape a person’s persona
- We also talked about how names are important to God – to mark special events God gave new names to people – He renamed Abram and Sarai when they were given the promise of a son – Isaac – whose name means laughter because Sarah laughed when she heard that God has promised her a child in her old age
- He renamed Jacob when he wrestled with him all night and gave him the name Israel
- What are the names?
- Our text ends before we get the names but Isaiah gives the information in verse 4
- Isaiah writes, “You will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah.”
- Sounds cool! What does it mean?
- It means “my delight is in her” and “married”
- Do you remember when you first fell in love? Do you remember how you felt? Do you remember when you got married? Do you remember those feelings? How about when you had your first child? Do you remember the love you felt?
- That is the picture that Isaiah gives us of God’s love for us.
- He writes, “The Lord will take delight in you . . . . as a young man marries a maiden . . . as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride so will your God rejoice over you.”
- God is in love with you. God is infatuated with you. He has given you some wonderful birthday presents and wedding presents to show it. Go ahead and put them on. Wear them proudly. Let all see what God has given to you.
