He Shall Not Fail

Here is the final Advent sermon for 2012.  If you've been getting help or a blessing from these, please let us know.

HE SHALL NOT FAIL

ISAIAH 42:1-7

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2012

Our Gracious God, grant that by your Word and by your spirit we may behold your Servant, in Whom you delight, that we may marvel at His judgments, His humility, His gentleness, His dedication to His mission and His triumph, and await His Kingdom, for we pray in His name.

INTRODUCTION

Above all others, Isaiah is the prophet of Advent.  As I pointed out last time (we were in Isa. 59-60), there is an unmistakable change in tone between ch. 39 and 40.  It is so obvious that Bible critics have speculated that there were two different authors.  Surely the guy that wrote the first chapters could never have written the later chapters – at least in their skeptical minds.

The concluding 27 chapters are hopeful, and full of promises and snapshots of a glorious future Kingdom of peace and prosperity, made possible by, and accompanying, the advent of the Messiah.

Early in that second main division we find four “Servant Songs of Isaiah”[1]  which climax in the famous Messianic prophecy of Isa. 53.  Servant Songs are a good name for them, because they are poetry, as you can see if you are reading from a single-column Bible.  If you don’t have one, get one before they are all gone.  It will give you a new perspective on a large portion of the Word of God.  For example, you would see from the way it is laid out that this passage I’m talking about today is poetry.

All of God’s promises are delivered in this Servant of Jehovah.  All man’s hopes are fulfilled in Him. 

There is a progression in this collection of poems.  In the first Servant Song, which is where we are this morning the Servant is introduced.  Read again what it says about Him.  The second Servant Song explains His mission; the third remarks on His obedience to His mission; and the fourth describes His suffering in order to fulfill it.

And as you would expect, they follow exactly the course of Jesus public ministry.  He began by meeting the needs of hurting people and preaching the good news of the kingdom of God, just as Isaiah describes Him. 

As time passed He came to be rejected by the Jewish leaders, and so He began to concentrate on teaching His disciples.  Soon, He began to focus more and more on His coming rejection, death and resurrection, and as you know, finally, that also came to pass.

Some other time we will have go into those other Servant Songs, and look at them all together, but for today, we will have to content ourselves with just the introduction.

BEHOLD HIM

Isaiah preached the law lawfully.  We had 39 chapters of it.  It’s not a good idea to talk about the good news until you’ve made the bad news clear.  Well, Isaiah made it plenty clear.

But He also followed that up with the comfort of the gospel (40:1) – with the preaching of Christ.   Right here where our text begins, once again, Isaiah points to Christ as directly as it can be done – he says, “Behold Him”.  How more “Christ-centered” can you get? 

That’s nearly the same thing that John the Baptist (Jn. 1:29) said when Jesus came to Jordan to be baptized.  It’s not much different from what Pilate said when Jesus came forth,

… wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe.   And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! (John 19:5)

And never forget that Paul insisted,

1Co. 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified .

That is truly the message of the entire Bible – behold HIM!

But what did Paul know about preaching?  Just think how much more successful Paul would have been if he had just been more innovative and creative with his message – a little more relevant and seeker-sensitive – if he had asked people what they wanted and given it to them instead of delivering what God said to give them? 

He would never have been thrown in jail or run out of town or beaten or stoned again and again.  He could have been the world’s most popular Christian. 

What did Isaiah know about Church growth?   If he had preached something people actually wanted to hear, they would never have cut him in half, alive, with a wooden saw. 

But there was just no talking to Isaiah.  Stubborn as he was, all Isaiah could talk about was law and gospel, law and gospel, law and gospel.  You may ask, “What about the Kingdom prophecies?   That’s not law or gospel.”  Well actually, that’s part of the gospel because the gospel is everything that God has given us in Christ – it’s good news about what God the Father has done and will do for sinners through His Son, Who is also His Servant.

Remember now, If you have to do it, it’s not good news.  It’s law, it’s bad news.  Even if you think you can do it, it’s bad news because you can’t, so that means you are guilty of sin, and thinking you can do it, or have done, just adds sin to sin.  

But if it’s done for you, it’s gospel.  We need both of course.  We need to hear the law so we realize and remember our need for the gospel.

But now; Why does the prophet point to Christ right here, right now, in this way? 

If all he wanted to do was use up some ink and paper he could just as well given them another blessing out.  But it’s apparently time for some good news.  Why now?  Well, let’s see what he just got done saying.

41:26  Who hath declared from the beginning, that we may know? – good question.

…and beforetime, that we may say, He is righteous? – Can you think of anybody that qualifies as righteous?

…that heareth your words.  – There’s the truth of it.  We all pretend we hear God’s Word and take it seriously, but when really put to the test, we know better.  That’s bad news.

41:27  The first shall say to Zion, Behold, behold them: and I will give to Jerusalem one that bringeth good tidings.  So here’s the promise to give Jerusalem some good news, even though there really isn’t any to report just yet.

41:28  For I beheld, and there was no man; even among them, and there was no counseller, that, when I asked of them, could answer a word.  29 Behold, they are all vanity; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

Why was there no good news?  Because there were no good men – not even anybody that could give truly good advice.  They knew it too, so they made idols.  And then, man points to this idol thing, or that idol person and says, “behold that” or “behold him”. 
“He is righteous.”  Or, “Here’s some good advice for us.”  That’ll do the trick!

But God looks on the same thing and says, “I looked, but all I saw was a whole lotta nothing (v. 28).  Wind and confusion and nothing more.

Well then, we’re in a fine mess aren’t we?  What in the world can we do.  We’re worthless, our idols are worthless.  Everything we think is good advice – when it comes to fixing the real problem – which is our soul-damning hell-deserving sin, we’re out of luck, out of cards to play, out of tricks, out of hope.

But there is Hope, because there is a God Who loves and intervenes.  There is good news.  There is something worth looking to.   There is something of real value; something solid and steady.  And that of course, is “His Servant”, whom He upholds.  And here is where He is introduced.

What are some of the things that stand out immediately when we behold Him? 

1.   He is (as the Father says) My Servant

That is to say, He is divinely chosen, divinely called, divinely equipped, divinely sustained, and divinely commissioned. 

We’re not going to try this morning to unravel the mysteries of the divine counsels before time and space and matter were formed by the Word of God.  But we do know, because God has revealed it, that the Father, the Son and the Spirit all agreed that the Son would come to do the will of the Father – to fulfill the law perfectly (active obedience) and to suffer the full extent of its penalty (death, passive obedience).

He is, as the Father says, “Mine elect”, and in Him the Father is delighted.

2.   He is A Servant

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. (John 5:30)

For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me. (Romans 15:3)

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (Philippians 2:5-7)

3.    He is upheld of the Father

HE IS UPHELD FROM SIN

Adam fell.  We all fell with Him.  He sinned under the best of conditions, and we would have done the same.  Every “hero” in the Old Testament fell.  Some of the greatest of them fell the hardest.  

But the Servant of The Lord – never.

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:22-24)

And when Peter wrote that, he was making a loose quotation from Isaiah himself, who wrote 53:9-11 (see)

HE IS UPHELD IN HIS MISSION

We all need somebody to hold us up from time to time.  That goes for the God Man as well.  You might at first think that He would have less need to be upheld, but then you might want to recall just what it was that He had to bear. 

As God He was Omnipotent, but as man, He had limitations and could wear down.  At such times, He could rely on the Father.  The Father had “put His spirit upon Him” at His baptism.

Moses had Aaron and Hur to hold his hands up. Paul had his various companions at different times to assist him.  But Jesus had nobody to lean on that understood what it was that He was carrying.  He had some friends, and His disciples.  But only the Father and the Spirit understood.

The woman with the alabaster box of ointment – that broke it, poured it on his feet, and washed it off with her tears and her own hair - she seemed best to understand the load he carried.  She was just the sort of bruised reed and smoking flax mentioned in v. 3.

And that’s how it is with really broken people.  We’re all broken by sin, but some of us know it deeply.  We’re not looking for a little help in achieving the greatness of our potential.  We’re bruised beyond healing and we know it.  We aren’t luminaries right now – we aren’t stars.  We’re burned-out wicks that barely give off anything more than a whisp of smoke.

But God loves broken people, because they have a much better idea of the load that others are under.  Privileged people never do.  That’s why it was her, and not Simon, the wealthy and influential owner of the great house that washed Jesus feet that evening.

And her attention was some comfort to Him.  But it was nothing compared to the load.  He didn’t create her to help Him carry His load.  He came to relieve her of her load, to take the load born by that bruised reed upon Himself, and carry it to the cross as her substitute.  If she had even a glimmer of the load He bore, it would have quenched her.

And on the night of His betrayal, Jesus was abandoned by all of His disciples and left alone and He stayed that way till He came out of the tomb. But Father upheld Him and sent angels to the garden of gethsemane to minister to Him as He prayed in agony. 

All through the betrayal and the arrest, the Father upheld Him.  During the trials before the Sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod, the scouring and the mocking, the Father upheld Him.  As He wearily bore the up the side of the mountain, as nails were driven, during the nailing and the thirsting and the hanging and bleeding and dying one drop at a time, the Father remained with Him, carrying Him, sustaining Him

And that is why He did not cry out, or lift up His voice to be heard in the street.  That’s why He did not fail or become discouraged.  The Father upheld him and the Spirit was with Him.

HE IS UPHELD, UP TO A POINT, AND THEN FORSAKEN

 

But there came a point in time, there on the cross, at which Jesus assumed upon Himself the sin of the world – when it was all laid on Him, and He felt the total load of it.  And we can’t begin to imagine the weight of it – how crushing it must have been. 

What we can understand though is the guilt we feel concerning those things about which we are most ashamed.  Those things that have so bruised us and snuffed out our little flames and made us realize what nothings we really are (back to ch. 41, right?). 

Those things that we try to forget, but when we are alone they come back to us and mock us and torment us.  He bore all that.  And not just all of yours.   But all of mine too.  And all of everyone else in this place, and not just this place but all over the world, and not just today, but yesterdays, and tomorrows, from the beginning of humanity to the last sinner will have come and gone. 

He bore it, and the Father could not sustain Him then.  At that time, the Father turned away, and the Spirit went out, and it was there and then that Jesus cried, “My God, Why hast Thou forsaken me?”

But by then, He had made it to the cross.  By then, it was too late to turn back.  By then, He was too weak to pull himself together enough to use His will to come down from the cross and leave the work unfinished.  Deity could have done it, but humanity had been stretched beyond all limits. 

But by then, He had “set judgment in the Earth”. 

Think of it this way - the Father upheld Him right up to just the right time, which was also just the worst time to be left alone.  And yet for us, it was the very best time – for the Father to drop Him like a bad habit and leave Him in heartbroken agonized solitude to carry all alone and completely forsaken, your sins and mine.

And now, that work being accomplished, “the isles shall wait for his law.”  And that will be at His next coming.

CONCLUSION

“Behold my servant”, the Father urges us.  Behold Him for just a little while, and you won’t want to hear relevant life tips for making yourself more successful, or be lectured on the “spiritual truths” in the latest blockbuster movies when you come to Church.  You won’t want to hear about how to cope with the rat race or make more money.

You’ll want to hear more about this Suffering Servant that gave up Himself completely for your salvation.

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[1] 42:1-4; 49:1-6; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12

THE PATH OF LIGHT

THE PATH OF LIGHT

ISAIAH 59:16-60:22

Our Gracious God, grant that by your Word and by your spirit, every one of us may be drawn to you afresh; that we shall see in Jesus Christ  the light shining in the midst of darkness;  and find in Him once again our dawn of hope.  By your grace, may it be that we find ourselves embattled less  in this world, and that we who are often  hopeless might find again the hope of life eternal.  Draw us heavenward that we may behold afresh the glory of our God, and rejoice anew in the provision of your love, in Jesus Christ revealed, for we pray in His name.

INTRODUCTION

As you should already understand, by the time you arrive at chapter 59 or 60 of any book, much has been said already leading up to that point that needs to be understood in order to understand what came after it.  The Bible is no different, although I will admit that it is easier than most books when it comes to jumping in to the middle.  We should never rip any verse out of its proper context and meaning, BUT as long as the teacher or preacher knows that context, it is possible to handle the Scriptures properly and deliver the real truth of the passage to the congregation.

Now, I cannot summarize very well for you the first 58 chapters of Isaiah in the time allowed on a Sunday morning, although I think I have a pretty good understanding of them.  But I also cannot properly deliver anything from ch. 59 or 60 without at least reminding you of a couple of things.

1.    Isaiah prophesied to Israel and Judah prior to the Assyrian Invasion and captivity in a722 BC, and somewhat after that. 

2.    The first 39 chapters are pretty dismal and severe, always calling for humility, repentance, obedience and faith, and threatening severe judgment if it didn’t happen.  They end with a short historical narrative about the actual invasion of Samaria by the armies of Assyria, led by Rabshakeh.

3.    The remaining 29 chapters are much more hopeful, and full of promises and snapshots of a glorious future Kingdom of peace and prosperity, made possible by the coming of the Messiah.

4.    Early in that second main division is the “Book of the Servant of the Lord”, which includes the famous prophecy of Isa. 53.  All of God’s promises and mankind’s hopes are contained in Him and brought to pass by Him.

5.    Our text this morning comes right out of the heart of that second  portion of the book, and immediately after the “Book of the Servant of the Lord.”

A good place to get a handle on the tone in this part of the book is at the start of Ch. 55.

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. (Isaiah 55:1-3)

This is one of the greatest invitations in the Bible, and in it, the prophet essentially sings with joy the Lord’s invitation to His people.  This is altogether different from the courtroom scenes in the first chapters, full of stern denunciations, accusations and charges of covenant-breaking and infidelity.  What changed?

Well, in Ch. 49, the Lord introduced His Suffering Servant - who would be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, wounded for our transgression, bruised for our iniquities, chastised for our peace, and by having strips beaten into Him, provide for our healing. 

Because of Him – because of what He did, The LORD God Jehovah can offer sinners an invitation to come and drink living water.  The Suffering Servant has done everything necessary to prepare the table for us.  Look again and you’ll see  water, wine, milk, bread and fatness – the sure mercies of David – in other words, Christ Himself. 

I’ve come now to where I see the Lord’s Supper (communion) in more places than I used to – not because I think that the act of taking communion saves anybody, but because it symbolizes the things that God has prepared for us and gives us in His Son Jesus Christ.   Any meal or feast – however lavish, or however meager, that God serves His people is a picture of communion.  So when I see this invitation, especially with the bread and wine, my mind just automatically goes to the Lord’s Table.  This is an invitation to be saved.  And we come to Church, at God's invitation, to receive the things He has to give us - the forgiveness of sins, and Jesus on the table for the nourishment of our souls. 

In chapters 56-59:15, the prophet speaks mostly about man’s inability to satisfy the law or in any other way, actually “get it right”.  We can’t even really understand what it means to do the right thing, let alone actually carry it out.  So much works against us.  Our leaders are irresponsible (56) and bent toward evil, our hearts are inclined away from God and toward idols (57), we even fast for the wrong reasons (58), and so evil and oppression continue everywhere (59:1-15).  We are in a mess.

Now, skipping ahead to chapter 59:16, we begin the final section, which describes the Messiah’s correction of that mess – His conquest of, or reclamation of, all created things.

It begins by summarizing -

I.  MAN’S CONDITION               59:16.

·       It is APPALLING

There was “no man”.   That is, of course, because there is none righteous, no not one.  We have all, like sheep gone astray and turned every one, to our own ways.

There was no intercessor for the same reason.  Even Isaiah could not claim to be righteous in the sight of God.  After denouncing everybody else with woes in Ch. 5, he has his famous vision of God in Ch. 6, and cries “woe is me…”  Nearly all the priests were apostate.  Even good King Uzziah, who did many commendable things, near the end of his life lost his rudder and thrust himself into the priest’s office and attempted to burn incense before the Lord, and wound up a leper because of it – ceremonially unclean, diseased and excommunicated. 

And by now you should know well that even if there was a good king, and a clean priesthood, and a red-hot prophet, and revival taking place, all men are sinners, and in need of a true mediator. 

There was no one qualified to save poor fallen humanity, no one – no prophet, no priest, no King, who could lift a hand or a finger for our rescue.  But man’s extremity was Christ’s opportunity.  And Jesus, the Servant of Jehovah, came down, and fought for us, and bled, and died for us, and conquered sin, death and hell on our behalf.

Heb 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

II.  CHRIST’S CLOTHING          59:17-18

·       It’s AVENGING

The verbal picture is that of a military man – more than an ordinary soldier – a leader, a commander, a mighty conqueror, suiting up for battle.  And we see  also Who the armor of light really belongs to.  We are told to put it on, but who here would claim to always be wearing it?  But yet, we can be in it because we are in Him.  When we put Him on, we are also putting His armor on.

Now we think we have this Advent stuff all worked out.  As we see it, Christ came as lamb to be slain, and He is to come a second time, as a lion to reign.  The first coming was peaceful, the second coming will be militant.  As we see it, we need Him, but only for some things, like overcoming temptation and helping us deal with stress, but not so much that it can’t wait. 

But when things get bad enough, He’ll come back and ease Himself of his adversaries, and win the victory for truth and righteousness, and the whole earth will know what Christ can do, and that we were right about Him, and they were wrong. 

Yeah us!, right?  No.  Yeah him, who cares about whether or not we are vindicated.  He will be, and that will be more than enough.

But have you ever considered that when He came the first time, it was to wage war as much as the second?  That seems to be the picture here.  Even at the First Advent, He takes it to His enemies. 

He brings vengeance – which is rightfully His alone.  And He breaks the power of sin and of the devil, and overthrows death and the grave.  You had better believe that He waged war at the first coming.  It wasn’t the sort that the Jews were looking for.  It wasn’t against Rome or any of the other nations that had been picking on Israel for the last several centuries.  But it was war, to be sure, and it was bloody and violent, and miserable and noisy and ugly and horrifying and there was vengeance and there was death.

But in yet another wonderful paradox, victory was achieved, not by the death of the enemy – not by the death of the antagonist, the villian, but by the death of the protagonist, the hero.  His thoughts are not ours, and His ways are not either.

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.  Ro. 11:33

You see, the only way to kill death is to die and rise again, and stay risen.  And in order to have the power over death to rise again, and not be held by death, or reclaimed by death, one would have to live entirely without sin.  A man that could live without sin could only die if He arranged His own death, and afterward, He could come back from death, because He would not deserve to be dead.  And that’s exactly what Jesus did. 

But death has power over everybody else, and it’s coming after you. 

But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. (Romans 8:11)

That all appears to be First Advent.

III.  CHRIST’S COVENANT         59:19-21

·       It’s ABIDING

Now we get to the present age.

God’s promise is that the Church of God shall have both the Spirit of truth and the Word of truth ever abiding in her midst – from Jerusalem, and Judea, to Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the Earth, from the West to the “rising of the Sun”, even to the end of the world, as long as she wants them..

God will not break his covenant by withdrawing his Spirit from his Church.  He does not promise to be with the counterfeit Church, in our day or any other day, although there is surely some kind of spirit there. 

But the Redeemer put on His armor, wrapped Himself in zeal, and come and conquered death from coast to coast, and finished His initial work of redemption in order to give us access to the Father, and to deliver His Spirit to His Church, and that will not be thwarted by human bungling.  The blessed Holy Spirit of God has come, and His work is being performed from day to day.  He comes like a mighty rushing wind, and the Spirit will never be withdrawn while any part of his ministry remains unfulfilled.

It will be working somewhere.  May this be one of those places.

And His Word has been given too.  And we still have it, although they keep trying to replace it. 

And finally, we move in to -

IV.  CHRIST’S COMING             60:1-16

Chapter 60 is full of good news, a prophecy of the bright days that are yet to come to this dark world.  These dull days are not to last for ever. The reign of wickedness will come to an end, and the Earth will enjoy the brightness of Christ’s presence.

These words are addressed to the Church of God – Jew and Gentile alike are all one in Christ, and there is no distinction in the message to both Jews and Gentiles.

One of the things I enjoy about Advent is that for four Sundays we have an opportunity to join with other Christians around the world, in the present, and also in the past and the future, and think of what it means for God to come to us. 

He is with us, and as a consequence, He changes us.  He comes with light.  “The rising sun has come from heaven”.  The Sun is here, shining on those that dwell in darkness.  He comes into our midst to be our light in our darkness, and He even shines out of us sometimes.  By His grace and mercy, may our light increase.

Chapter sixty is a blaze of light in the spiritual darkness that covered the whole earth. Jewish people and Gentiles are sitting in darkness of unbelief. The prophet shouts, "Arise, shine; for your light has come…

Earlier, in the Book of the Servant of the Lord, someone, it isn’t Isaiah, is told,

"I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. " (49:6).

Now we don’t have to wonder Who that may be.  We know Who is this "light" that has visited those dwelling in darkness.  We know Who can penetrate the spiritual darkness that covers the earth.  We know it because we’ve experienced it.  He’s already done it in most of us, I hope in all of us.   His glory has risen upon us and been seen among us.  He is, as He said in Jn. 8:12, “the Light of the world” and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness, but will have the Light of life.

·       It is AWAKENING                      60:1-2

We have had abundant proof of the darkness, and of the grossness of that darkness, for these many centuries.  We had a terrible example of it out in Connecticut on Friday.  But we can see more than that.  We can behold the arising of the SUN of righteousness, first upon the Church (already), and then upon the whole world (not yet).

·       It is ATTRACTING               3-16

At times the Church has seemed left and forsaken.  There have been dark days throughout its history.  At times it looked as if the Church must even cease to exist, but it did not.  Again and again, God brings them in. 

To-day, the Church of Christ has to go. The message to Christ’s disciples still is, “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” The Church must send her heralds far and wide to tell the good news; but in the future Kingdom, a blessed change will be come, and the nations will come to hear the story, flocking in crowds to listen to it, and Christ will be sought by those who never sought him before.

That future time was anticipated by the wise men, in Mt. 2.

“O long-expected day, begin;

Dawn on these realms of woe and sin!”

                                   

Take note here of the word “Kings” in v. 3.   This is no accident that we see Gentile kings coming to something lit, and bright.

60:5  All the abundance of the sea and the wealth of nations— the armies and the navies and all agents of production, shall come and prostrate themselves before the Lord Jesus. Jesus one day will be the supreme power on earth in the midst of his Church.

60:6  This is also interesting.  Gentiles on camels will be attracted by the brightness of His coming. 

Where Mohammed’s crescent has cursed the nations, there shall shine again the Sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings.

60:6,7  Now here are three Gentile nations – Midian, Ephah, Sheba.  Some like to poke fun at the song “We Three Kings”, referencing the fact that Matthew does not mention that they were 3 in number, nor that they were from the Orient.  But here’s this prophecy.

These were all nomadic people — travelers from place to place in the wilderness — shall come to Christ. There shall be no untamed nation, no barbarous people that shall continue to oppose the coming of that glorious kingdom of the blessed God in those happy days. Even wandering tribes of wild men are going to come and bow before Christ, and lay their wealth at his feet.

60:11-17  Now, I need to finish.  But before I do, let me suggest that the

next time somebody turns you to Jeremiah 10, and tries to prove that you shouldn’t celebrate Christmas, take them here, show them the “Three Kings of Orient” bringing gifts of gold and incense, and the evergreen trees with the lights all around.  It is no less applicable than Jer. 10, and frankly, it seems more so considering the Advent context.

·       It is ENDURING

60:17-22   There is no time to point out anything that is there, but you can see enough for yourselves.  Oh, that “his time” were come!  We ought not to be dispirited by the delays, because it will surely come; it will not tarry a moment beyond the time appointed by God.  Blessed be the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, now and forever, Amen!