Isaiah 40:1-11
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are looking at the book of Isaiah today, Isaiah chapter 40. And this passage begins with some wonderful words that we often will sing in hymns during this time of year. Comfort, comfort my people says your God, the hymnal that I grew up in the old read hymnal 1942. The hymn goes for comfort he might be people speak up start says our God. Maybe you know that one. Maybe you don't. It's that old read him No, right? I see some of you nodding, some of you not so much. This book marks a transition in the in the book of Isaiah, as it moves from a discussion about the old conflict that has been going on to the the words of comfort that Isaiah is going to be bringing to Israel, to Jerusalem, specifically in this passage, and all her people, that the warfare is ended, that she has received double from the Lord's hand for all her sins, that God is coming, and he's going to fix some things. And what I'd like to focus on today is a passage towards the middle of it, where it says in verse eight, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. The word of our God will stand forever. Why is this an important message to the people of Israel and Isaias day, it was a big deal. The situation that Isaiah is confronting before all of this, in the first piece of Isaiah, is the great conflict that was in a part of Israel's political conflict, the fight with the northern kingdom, and an alliance with a Syria so very early on, you get, you get a conflict. There is the southern kingdom of Judah. This is David's family, running things with the promise of God. And then there's the northern kingdom of Israel, and they are all allying with another kingdom to fight against the nation of Assyria. A Syria is the big bully in the land, a Syria is gobbling up kingdoms and empires and building this huge tribute network taking over everything. And Israel goes down to Judah and says, ally with us against Syria, or else will attack you and make you ally with us. Now, I'm not sure whether it makes a whole lot of military sense for you to fight your nearest neighbor and kill their military to make them fight with you. But that was what they were trying to do. The king of Judah he thinks he's got a better idea. What he does is he writes to a Syria and says, Hey, uh, Syria, why don't you come in and attack Israel? And then we'll join your side? What a great idea, right? You get the big dog to go fight the little dog and then all you do is watch. Isaiah does not think this is a good idea. That's because God has given his people a promise that he will defend them. That if they remain faithful to Him, they do not need to make alliances with other kingdoms and more specifically, with their gods. Because in the ancient world when one people fought another, it was not just a battle with spears and shields. It was a battle between their city's gods. And if you asked the kingdom of Assyria to come in and fight for you, it meant that your God could not defend you that the Assyrian God was the God that was in charge. And it meant that your king had to worship that Assyrian God. And so the whole book of Isaiah the beginning part is all about out. Can we trust a Syria? Are we do? Do we trust the one true God? I bet you know which side Isaiah fell on. Not too hard to figure that out. And it's back and forth. Do you trust a Syria? Or do you trust the true God? And when we get to this point, Isaiah is looking around and he says, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Promises of God stand forever. For the people of Judah, this was both a promise and a threat. For those who waited for the Lord to come and save them, as they are looking at their political situation, the dangers and the threats and all of the problems around them. And they wait for God to save them. It's a promise. It's a promise that Assyria is not the final word that the king of Assyria is like grass, as it says, All flashes grass and its beauty like a flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. Compared to the Lord, the King of Assyria is nothing. His power comes and it goes it fades over time. And they don't need to worry about it. Trusting God. The same thing is true when Babylon comes in many, many years later, King the king of Babylon comes through and he destroys the city of Jerusalem and he knocks down their walls and he burns the temple and knocks it over and they take all of the temple stuff and bring it back to Babylon along with the best and brightest of the people to serve in the kings in the Kings administration. And Isaiah reminds them, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Assyria was destroyed, and Babylon would be next. And we see Isaiah as promises towards the people come true in the book of Daniel. Whenever there is a conflict between Daniel or the faithful of, of Israel. God comes out on top. Daniel gets caught praying when it's against the law and the king throws him in a lion's den. And what did the hungry lions do? They snuggle. Right? Like a kitty. I imagined Daniel given the little scratches behind the years of the lions while he's down there after a little bit, right? Because God's promise lasts forever. The power of Nebuchadnezzar was nothing compared to that. When Nebuchadnezzar builds up a statue and says Everyone must worship it, whenever they hear the sound of music Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego get thrown in a fire. And they come out. That's because the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of the Lord will stand forever. And finally, when Nebuchadnezzar gets to be too proud to grade a king, God makes him go crazy. And he spends a few years crawling around like an ox, eating grass, before God restores him. God shows that he is the one who has power. He's the one who has mite. And finally, Babylon gets taken over. And the very man that Isaiah predicts would send the people back to Israel, help them rebuild the temple and the walls of Jerusalem. Cyrus the Great does exactly what Isaiah says he was. The word of the Lord will stand forever. These are the promises that God gave His people through Isaiah, but they're also threats. If you're on a serious side, if you're the ones who are helping them out if you move their gods into your home and worship them outside the temple this is all heard against them.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but God is coming. Right? If you go into Babylon, and you decide to worship the Babylonian gods and follow the King Nebuchadnezzar, and you're one of the people who bow down before the giant statue, watch out, The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Babylon is going down, Nebuchadnezzar is going down, and God is coming. God gives promises. And these promises, the opposite of them are the threats. When he comes he comes with grace and he comes with judgment. It's just as true now. As it was back then. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. We have to ask ourselves what flesh? What people? What things of this world do we trust in the grass withers, the flower fades with the word of our God stands forever is just as much a threat as it is a promise for us today. The things that we trust in the world that is going on around us. It is like grass. As Isaiah says, The Voice says cry in what shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades but the word of our God will stand forever
we have so many things that we trusted it's just part of being a human being is that our our hearts are trusts our minds end up resting on the things that we interact with. Luther explains the first commandment when he says we should fear love and trust in God above all things. And there's always something that we end up fearing, loving or trusting more than God. Isaiah reminds us, just like a Syria just like Babylon. These things will fade away. Your fear your love your trust in these things. They cannot take the weight of it. They will collapse. They will fall and only God's word remains. Ask yourself what do you trust? What do you put your heart on? And how can you change that? That him that I pointed out comfort comfort ye my people. It has a companion him. It's called or Jerusalem that we passed. You know it's old 1942 hymnal, right? It uses the same melody. It's refers to the story where Jesus is looking out over Jerusalem. It starts or Jerusalem thou we pierced in compassion, dearest Lord, and the hymnal uses the melody, the same melody to remind us that the same thing Isaiah said to Jerusalem comfort comfort ye my people was the opposite of what Jesus said when he looked at the city. Because Jesus came to a city with His love and His grace. And they rejected him. And they trusted in the things of the flesh. The powers in the politics, and he said, Oh Jerusalem, how I would gather you in like a hen gathers her chicks. But you would not. grass withers. The flower fades. But the word of the Lord endures forever. We have a promise from Jesus. All of us. who are gathered here? And he will come and raise us from the debt. And the reason you're here is because you know, this promise is the most important, even as our hearts drift to put trust in other things. And Isaias call to you today is simply to remind Jesus Christ promise is the only thing that lasts. His death and resurrection for you for the forgiveness of sins, is the only thing that will last forever. This world will burn. As Peter says, The heavens will fade and melt. Just like all of the other things around us. The promise of Jesus lasts forever. He will raise you from the dead. He will give you eternal life and the new heavens and the new earth that he will make on his return and he will live forever with Him. This is the one thing the one thing that lasts forever in Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai