CHRIST’S COMING BRINGS GREAT JOY
Isaiah 35:1-10 - December 14, 2003
ISAIAH 35:1-10
351 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, 2it 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.
3Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4say 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."
5Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. 6Then 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.
7The 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.
8And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. 9No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD 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.
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Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
During these weeks of Advent, we have been looking at the gifts that God gives to us as believers. These are gifts that we truly need, gifts that we cannot buy in a store. We have talked about the peace of God, which the world cannot give to us. We visited about the righteousness of God where God covers all of our sins. Today, as you heard in our text, hopefully you heard today’s gift is gladness and rejoicing, the joy that comes from knowing that Christ is our Savior. Yet, maybe this morning we might not feel like Isaiah says at the end, which says: "Gladness and joy will overtake them.” Maybe we have had a difficult week, or we are suffering from colds or flu or whatever. We don’t feel exactly like gladness or joy overtakes us. Maybe we have gone shopping and been discouraged by what we have not been able to find, or all the people that have rudely crowded us out of their way. There are many things in this world that can take away God’s gladness and joy. In the parable of the seed and the sower Jesus warns us: "But the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful"(MARK 4:19). Such an event happening is quite easy during this Advent Season. It is the feeling to let all of those things crowd out that joy of our salvation, crowd out the blessed gift of the Christ Child. So it is this morning we want to consider the fact that CHRIST’S COMING BRINGS GREAT JOY as our theme. Isaiah’s words add, "Gladness and joy overtake us:
I. First by faith
II. Then in heaven.
I. Joy = First, by faith
In Isaiah 34, the Lord talks about His judgment that is going to come. When the Lord talks about His judgment and His return, He tells them they are going to face punishment. He tells them about God’s Law that condemns them. In today’s chapter today, Isaiah 35, Isaiah talks about the coming and coming judgment of the Lord. But now he talks about the Gospel message that is there. Isaiah gives them hope and encouragement, joy and rejoicing. In verse 3 and 4 of our text: 3Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; 4say to those with fearful hearts, "Be strong, do not fear. After they had read or heard chapter 34 of Isaiah, the people were trembling. They were scared because of the Righteous Lord who would return. But now Isaiah says, "Do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution. But then he adds: "He will come and save you." Yes, on that Last Day when He comes again, those who do not believe in Him will face God’s divine retribution and judgment; but for those who believe and look forward to His coming, the Lord will come to save them.
It happens by faith doesn’t it? In the next verse, he says: 5Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. We may remember a father who came to Jesus and asked Him to help his possessed son. Jesus said, “All things are possible with God”. The father replied, "I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief." His ears were opened to hear the message that Christ had told him. The father said, "I do believe your words and promise to help and to heal." He still said, "Open my eyes and ears even more. Help me overcome my unbelief." The Lord answers that request, doesn’t He? It is the Lord who gives any man who believes His faith. It is the Lord who opens up eyes to see and ears to hear.
Then Isaiah says, 8And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. A miracle of faith that man or any person in this world would walk in the Way of Holiness. It comes again by God’s grace.
On our own we cannot discover what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord. All around us the world tries to do that. They try to think that living a good life is pleasing to God. They try to think that not being "too bad" is pleasing to God. But they miss the point that without faith, it is impossible to please God. We rejoice today in this Advent Season, because the Lord has taken time, by His grace, to change us so that we can see His miracle of His birth. After all, we have to admit with Apostle Paul what he says in Romans: "The sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God"(ROMANS 8:7,8). All of us are born into the world with a sinful nature. It is through baptism that we are given faith. Throughout our entire life then we still are plagued by our sinful nature. We still battle against the desires of this human flesh, because we want to do what is good for us. We want to take care of ourselves and look out for "number one" according to our sinful nature.
So it is all the more important this morning to focus on the fact what Christ has done for us. Jesus lived in heaven and gave up His throne of grace to come here. Our Savior lived and walked and taught among us; so that we would one day sit at His side. Christ did this willingly, freely, because we cannot save ourselves. Paul says in Ephesians: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not by works, so that no one can boast"(EPHESIANS 2:8,9). Gladness and joy overtake us, because by God’s grace, which is His gift, so that we are saved. We can be thankful that it is by grace and not works, because none of us could ever work long enough or hard enough or live long enough to secure or earn our own salvation. It comes to us instead by grace.
Sometimes it takes difficulties in our life to realize the importance of God’s grace. Troubles come in our daily living for us to realize the importance of gladness and joy overtaking us. Earthly problems turn us eternal solutions. We think of Job. Job lost his cattle and his herds. He lost his buildings, and then he lost his entire family. Yet, never once did he turn away from the Lord. His friends came to give him advice, some good and some not too good. One of his friends said: "He prays to God and finds favor with him, he sees God’s face and shouts for joy; he is restored by God to his righteous state"(JOB 33:26). He says when we are troubled and afflicted, believers turn to God, naturally, because of the inability to be able to help ourselves. Then, when we turn to God and see Him face to face, we rejoice. We rejoice that we are not alone, but God is with us (Immanuel). Gladness and joy overtake us.
In other words Christ’s coming brings great joy to each of us as believers first of all by faith in this sin troubled world. Finally, we will have great joy in heaven.
II. Joy = then, in heaven.
We see that picture in Isaiah, which we have talked about in the last few weeks when Isaiah uses these physical descriptions. Certainly, he refers to the spiritual meaning and depth of faith for the believers. Our text begins that way by saying: 1 The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. He is reminding these believers that after they had heard the judgment of God in chapter 34, there is still reason to rejoice. The Lord will return and saved those who are His. Even if they do not always realize it, he says that nature itself will rejoice--Heaven and nature sing!
He goes on: Like the crocus, 2it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. Nature itself has to testify to the great glory of God’s abundant grace. Then he says: 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. He mentions these three places, Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon; because they were known for their great abundance of the riches of nature--the cedars of Lebanon, the mountains of Carmel filled with forests, and even Sharon which had great oaks. The people understood what glorious places these were. Isaiah says that even those great and glorious places would see the glory of the Lord. God’s glory would be far greater than what they had ever experienced.
7The 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. We get the picture. The desert, the wilderness, is going to flourish. Isaiah is looking ahead to heaven itself where all things will be changed. Still today there are deserts and wildernesses and hot sands. Isaiah is speaking spiritually. He is saying to these people that gladness and joy will overtake them in eternity. They have some joy here on earth, but will also have perfect, complete joy in eternity. Isaiah describes it this way: They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. We usually associate Zion with the church, now here Zion represents heaven. Eternal joy will be above their heads.
On that Way called Holiness he says: The unclean will not journey on it; it will be for those who walk in that Way; it will be for those who walk in that Way; wicked fools will not go about on it. This says that the believers will be saved and only the believers. 9No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious beast get up on it; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, 10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. This is talking about the Last Day. Certainly, the redeemed returns to the Lord. To sum up all this joy turn to verse 10 of our text and the last verse of chapter 35, where the Lord says: Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. This is nothing else but heaven itself--gladness and joy overtake the believers.
But we live in a world that is not always filled with gladness and joy. We know that from this point on until we get to the time when we see Jesus face to face, there will be a lot of days when we face those who oppose us. There are going to be many days when we face those who oppose Jesus, because there are still lions and beasts as the enemies of God. God’s enemies are alive and well, in this world. Peter described it by saying: "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour"(1 PETER 5:8). There will be those days when we will face temptation, but still the Lord is with us. Gladness and joy overtake us.
Also from this point on until we see Jesus face to face, there are going to be some days of sadness, trouble, heartache and sorrow. The Lord is with us. He never leaves us or forsakes us. The Prophet Jeremiah was much like Isaiah. Isaiah had to proclaim judgment and punishment on God’s people and also on nations. Jeremiah had to proclaim it on nations more than God’s people. With God’s judgment there also came promise, gladness and joy that would overtake them. Jeremiah 31:13: "Then maidens will dance and be glad, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow"(JEREMIAH 31:13).
What does the Lord want for each one of us? He wants gladness and joy to overtake us, gladness and rejoicing while here on earth. All things work together for our good. When we are in the midst of sorrow and mourning, the Lord changes it to gladness and joy. When we are in the midst of sickness or despair, the Lord changes it into joy and rejoicing. These things happen not necessarily according to our time line, but according to what our loving Lord wants. What helps us from this point on until we see Jesus face to face is to look ahead to that time when we will be there at His side. In heaven we fully realize how true it is as Isaiah says, "Gladness and joy will overtake us. Sorrow and sighing will flee." Those words sound familiar. We will turn to Revelation, which almost has the exact words, in a little different order: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away"(REVELATION 21:4). In other words: Gladness and joy will overtake them; sorrow and sighing will flee.
There is great joy at the coming of Christ for us as believers. God’s great joy can fill our lives day after day, and put into perspective the joy that the world cannot provide. There is great joy for each one of us as believers at Christ’s coming. Joy at His birth that we embrace with arms of faith knowing that this Christ Child is our Savior. Jesus is not only ours, but He is the Savior of all mankind. That means there is also great joy at Christ’s second coming especially for believers, because we know we will then be with Him in heaven.
Gladness and joy will overtake us; sorrow and sighing will flee away--all by God’s grace. The Psalm writer sums up these parts that we have gladness and joy because we first have faith here on earth, and we then also have gladness and joy in heaven. Again, purely and simply and completely by God’s grace. Psalm 16:11: "You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand"(PSALM 16:11). Of course there is great gladness and joy in heaven! Isaiah, after proclaiming judgment and the Lord’s coming by the Law, proclaims the Lord’s coming by the Gospel. Please do not let the world, do not let the busyness of this season take away any of God’s gifts that He wants you to have, especially gladness and joy. May God’s gladness and joy overtake you here on earth in faith and hereafter in heaven forever. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
