Today is the third Sunday in Advent which means we are at the three-fourths way point in getting ready for our Christmas celebration. Before we celebrate we still have some preparation to do. Remember, when we do not prepare ourselves things do not necessarily go the way we expect. This morning we continue our Advent preparation with the words of the prophet Isaiah. These are the words Jesus read when He preached at His home church in Nazareth and of which Jesus said, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). As we read these words from Isaiah we are reminded that the “me” of the text is the Messiah, that is, it is Jesus Himself who is speaking.
Our text begins with Jesus, speaking through the prophet Isaiah, telling us what He was anointed to do. (And yes, I know the words are not printed in Red, but Jesus is God and God is Jesus and these are Jesus’ words.) We begin at verse one, “1The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3to grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified . 4They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations” (v. 1-4).
Jesus came to preach good news to the poor. This way of saying it might be a play on words, for the word translated as “preach” comes from the word used for “skin.” In other words, Jesus came not only to preach, but He also came to be in skin, that is, He came in human flesh to preach the good news, to live the good news, to give His life as a ransom for all. And the poor is not necessarily those with little or no material possessions. The poor about whom he is speaking are the spiritually poor. Jesus came to be the good news to the spiritually poor. He came to live His life and give His life for ours.
Jesus came to bind up the brokenhearted. You can almost sense a medical emergency with these words. Our hearts are broken. They are broken because of the sin and guilt that have infected our lives. Literally, we are crushed by the weight of sin that is upon us. Jesus comes to bind up our sin caused wounds. But not only does Jesus bind our brokeness, He takes our sins, our brokeness upon Himself on the cross.
Jesus comes to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners. In the Apostles’ Creed we confess that Jesus descended into hell. This line comes from Peter’s epistle and reminds us that Jesus went to hell, not to suffer, but to declare victory over the devil. Jesus suffered hell on the cross. On the cross He suffered the eternal punishment for all people of all times and all places. He suffered the complete suffering for all. By His suffering and death we are free from the tyranny of sin, death and the devil. We are freed from our captivity and released from the darkness of the prison of sin.
Jesus comes to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God. Here we see the contrast of God’s Law and His Gospel. Notice that the Law, the vengeance of the Lord, is for but a day, “the day of vengeance”. On the other hand, notice that the Gospel, the Lord’s favor is for a year, “the year of the Lord’s favor”. That is a 365 to one ratio. God’s Gospel always far our weighs His Law.
Jesus comes to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion. Those who mourn or grieve do so because of the victories won over us by sin, death, and the devil in their own lives as well as in this world. Our lives in this world may often be a walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
Jesus comes to comfort and to provide for those in sadness and He will do so by bestowing on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. What a great contrast. With Jesus we trade in sorrow for joy, sadness for gladness and despair for praise. Obviously we get the better end of the bargain.
But there is more. Our text continues by telling us what Jesus has done, but notice, Isaiah is speaking of what has yet to take place and he does so in a tense that suggests that it has already taken place. The future is presented as being in the past. Isaiah proclaims for the Lord, “8For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. 9Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. 10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels” (v. 8-10).
We will delight greatly in the Lord. We will delight greatly because of the Lord’s plan for our salvation. The Lord is the one who prepared the plan. The Lord is the one who set His plan in motion. The Lord is the one who worked out His plan. The Lord is the one who gave His Son on the cross for us. The Lord is the one who did everything for us.
We delight greatly that the Lord has clothed us with garments of salvation. The garments of salvation with which we are clothed are Jesus’ blood and righteousness, made ours by faith in His work on the cross in our place. Our sin stained garments are covered by Jesus’ perfect garments of salvation.
We delight greatly because we have been arrayed in robes of righteousness. Again, the robes of righteousness are Jesus’ robes made ours by faith in His work on the cross. Our imperfections are covered by Jesus’ perfections.
In verse eleven we have an analogy. We read, “11For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations” (v. 11).
Isaiah’s analogy reminds us that the seed is the word of the Lord. Jesus told many parables about the sower and the seed. The seed is that Word of God which is planted in our hearts. It is planted either by our own reading of God’s Word, or by our hearing God’s Word read to us. Or it was planted in our hearts at our baptism. Notice, it is done to us, it is planted in us, we do not do it to ourselves, we do not plant it ourselves.
We are the soil. The seed is planted in the soil that is in our hearts. Our hearts are either fertile or infertile. We either are given the Word of God or we reject it. And again, notice that we are passively done to. The only active part we may play is to reject God and His Word, that is to reject the faith that is given.
All Christians together are the garden which is the Church. Together we come to hear God’s Word, to have it planted in our hearts. Together we come to hear God’s Word which waters that seed planted in our hearts. Together we come to hear God’s Word which works in us so that we spring up and bear abundant fruit. Together we come to passively be given to.
We are still in the Advent season. We are still getting ready to celebrate Christ’s Mass. As we read and hear our text for today we are reminded that we are not the ones who are doing anything, really. Rather it is God who does everything for us. He gets us ready for the “just the right time” that God will set His plan into motion. Remember, Isaiah is looking forward to what he is telling us has already happened.
God does everything. He is the one who sent His Son to give His life for us on the cross. He is the one who gives us faith through His Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism. He is the one who gives us strengthening of faith through His means of grace, as we remember our baptism, as we confess our sins and hear the words of absolution, “Your sins are forgiven,” as we come to the Lord’s table to eat His body and drink His blood. He is the one who gives us forgiveness of sins. He is the one who gives us eternal life. He is the one who gives and gives and gives and we are the ones who are given to.
God gives us grace through His Son. I am sure you have heard the definition of grace. Grace is God’s riches at Christ expense. God gives us His grace, His undeserved love, His good gifts and blessings. This gift of grace is shown in the giving of His one and only Son to die on the cross for our forgiveness. As we continue to prepare ourselves during this Advent season we do so keeping in mind that as we will celebrate the birth of the Savior, we do so in the shadow of the cross.
The bad news is that we are sinners and there is no way of getting around it. We daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. We daily break all the commandments. We are conceived and born in sin and every inclination of our hearts is evil all the time. The good news, the best news, the greatest news, the Gospel is that there is hope and as Christian we understand hope to be a certainty, not an iffy thing. Our hope, our certainty is that Jesus was anointed to give His life on the cross as a ransom for all people, and that is what He has already done, so that we might be given the righteousness that He earned. And we are moved by Him to give praise and glory, eternally, to His holy name. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
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