Isaiah 40:1-8

VDMA

Third Sunday in Advent (Gaudete)

December 11, 2016

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

“Comfort, comfort ye my people. Speak ye peace thus sayeth our God. Comfort those who sit in darkness, mourning ‘neath their sorrows load. Speak ye to Jerusalem of the peace that waits for them; tell her that her sins I cover, and her warfare now is over.”  So we just sang, and just heard in our Old Testament reading for this morning.  This historical context of this can be a little confusing.  At the time Isaiah speaks this there is no war, but peace in the land. Isaiah foretells that a war not yet begun with Babylon will end and that Judas’ iniquity will be pardoned. She will be brought back from captivity.

But while there was peace in the land, a spiritual war was being waged.  The prophets sent to proclaim God’s Word were not listened to. Wayward priests began preaching a different message, one that accommodated the culture, that didn’t offend, that identified all gods as equal.  And when the true Word of God came, it became to despised.  No one wanted to hear about sin, about the exclusivity of worshipping God, and so the message was changed or just flat out ignored. To be sure, a war was waging in the hearts of men, one that took its toll and one that led to being beaten down, morally-broken society with eternal causalities.

Fast forward in history to the 16^th century.  Circumstances were different, to be sure, but the war against the Gospel continued on. The Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and Pope Leo X had declared an official statement in 1521 concerning Martin Luther and his followers called the Edict of Worms. , “For this reason we forbid anyone from this time forward to dare, either by words or by deeds, to receive, defend, sustain, or favor the said Martin Luther. On the contrary, we want him to be apprehended and punished as a notorious heretic, as he deserves, to be brought personally before us, or to be securely guarded until those who have captured him inform us, whereupon we will order the appropriate manner of proceeding against the said Luther. Those who will help in his capture will be rewarded generously for their good work.” Five years later, in 1526, the Diet of Speyer was called to enforce the Edict across Europe in an attempt to force political and religious unity.

The Lutherans, who were called “evangelicals” ready to meet this situation. To balance the political or military threats, Elector John of Saxony and Landgrave Philip of Hesse signed a defense alliance, and shortly afterward was joined by many others princes in the area and came to be known as the Magdeburg League.  In spite of harassment, the evangelical preachers who were attached to the individual delegations preached publicly, primarily on the fact that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. And over the doors of their quarters and on the coatsleeves of their jackets the evangelicals displayed a symbol that had first appeared in the court of Frederick the Wise in 1522, the large letters: V.D.M.A. Verbum Domini manet in aeternum; the Word of the Lord remains forever, thus demonstrating their willingness to affirm the Word of God as the foundation for the Christian faith.^[1]

These words, taken from Isaiah 40 and quoted in 1 Peter 1:24-25, became the motto of the Reformation.  For this is where the comfort of the Lord comes to His people, though the proclamation of God’s eternal Word that brings peace in warfare and comfort to the afflicted. The Word of the Lord that endures forever is what redeems the lost, saves the dying, and rescues the sinner. These are the words of comfort are spoken to the people of God of all times, of all places.  As such, this is also the theme of Zion this coming year as we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of God’s grace in this place.   For 100 years, God has spoken comfort to His people here in this place, among this family, through our Church, into our school and daycare, and into the community. 

God desires to speak tenderly to us. He knows that our hearts are broken, that we have been brutalized by Satan, by the world and our sinful hearts.  He knows that we are not safe, that we are lonely. So He tells His messengers, both His prophets of old culminating the John the Baptist preparing the way of the Lord, and His pastors today, to bring His Word to His people. What is that word?  All flesh is grass.  It will wither and die.  It is a word condemning sin, and calling all to repent and turn in faith to Christ. Afflict those comfortable in their sins with the Word of the Law. Comfort the afflicted because of their sins with the Word of the Gospel, to comfort His people, to hush her cries of despair, to tell her not to be afraid, that her warfare is ended, iniquity pardoned and she has received double for her sins.

As John the Baptist lay imprisoned for speaking the harsh and condemning word of God’s Law over the sin of king Herod and his family, it seemed as though the kingdom of God had failed, that it would not endure forever. And so He sends his disciples for a word from Jesus, asking in no uncertain terms if Jesus is the coming one, or if they should wait for another.  Typical of Jesus, He doesn’t answer directly and doesn’t tell John that everything would be ok. Rather, Jesus directs John to Scripture, to the promises of God, to the enduring Word in a crumbling existence in prison. 

And in that Word, John finds that his ministry is to prepare not for another martyred prophet, but for the Lord Himself, for our God.  He prepares the hearts of men to receive the enduring Word of God made flesh with the news proclaimed through Isaiah 700 years earlier – Comfort, comfort says Your God.  Your warfare with God, your sinful rebellion and self-destruction is ended. Your guilt is pardoned.  Your sin is forgiven.  The Lord of all comfort has come to take upon Himself the sin of the world, to endure the righteous punishment in order to welcome you back to Himself.

Not too unlike John, we languish in a prison, more often than not of our own making, subject to our Herod, we are given ourselves over to our passions: indulging in sinful desires, engaging in petty squabbles and fights and gossip and jealousy, warring against God in our hearts.  Everyone who sins is a slave and prisoner of his lust and rebellion. Repent and hear the Word of Lord that endures forever: this Son of God, our Savior, joins Himself to us and deals with us not with His bare divinity, but in, with, and through the nature that He has assumed in His humanity.  This is what we celebrate as we approach Christmas, not just that Jesus was born, but that the Son of God was made man for our salvation.  What comfort the incarnation of Christ brings to us, for how could His members be left in misery when our Head, by the very same nature is now in the glory of the Father. And this incarnate Word of God that endures forever has joined us to Himself, united with Him in His death, and in His life. The Word of the Lord endures forever, for Christ is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia!