12/31/12- Isaiah 40:1-11. SEE, THE SOVEREIGN LORD COMES-My devotional

Key Verse: 40:10                                                                                 Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”

    Dear Lord heavenly Father, thank you for helping us to be part of your world mission plan. Thank you for making our hearts excited about being a missionary. I pray that we may continually reach out to those around us, to our neighbors and also have a heart to reach out to those cross culturally. I pray that you may send out missionaries to the First Nations People of NW Ontario. I pray that you may also help me and Julie to be missionaries one day. But may you strengthen us to serve you where we are right now. Lord, grant me hope and vision in 2013 that I may know you more and that I may draw near to you and preach your word. Please grant me one word of God through this passage. I thank you and I pray I Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: Prepare The Lord’s Way (1-5).

Verses 1-2, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.”

Isaiah spoke God’s message of comfort to his people suffering in Babylonian captivity (39:6) as a message of hope and restoration. Jerusalem’s hard service was completed and her sin was paid for (2). This was partly fulfilled when they returned to Israel after 70 years in exile. The greater fulfillment came when John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord Jesus through a baptism of repentance (3; Mt 3:3).

In that OT time, their sin was paid for through their hard suffering. After 70 years in exile, they were brought back. It took a lot of suffering to receive God’s grace of forgiveness. I liken this to some peoples’ concept of purgatory. They feel after they die, they will go to a halfway place, where they will go through many years of suffering in order to be forgiven of their sins.

I don’t believe this at all. I do believe that my sins have been paid for, yes. They have paid for by Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross and shed his sinless blood so that God can now completely forgive me of my sins. My “hard service” to sin and the devil has been over since I accepted Jesus’ atoning sacrifice. Recently, I was under hard service do to despair and depression and isolating myself. But at the Family Life- Weekend to Remember, the power of the gospel set me free to have a new relationship with my wife, Julie and my kids. Now God is working in all of our hearts. He is forming something new among us. He is remaking our house church. My sin has been paid for. My hard service is over. Now what?

Verses 3-5 reads, “³ A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. ⁴ Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. ⁵ And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  John  the Baptist referred to these verses  in Matthew 3:3 which reads, “This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah, “A voice of one calling in the wilderness ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’ ” Jesus came to deliver people from sin. All people need to repent, that is make straight paths for the Lord top enter into their hearts. Believers must overcome their despair (valleys), pride (mountains), and crookedness (roughness). When they do then God’s glory will be revealed and all will see it.

We are very limited to how we can change our hearts. I would venture to believe that we can do nothing and that God is the only one who changes hearts. But there is one thing we can do. We can confess that our hearts have become crooked and hilly and depressed. We can repent of allowing our hearts to become like this and ask God for his strength and his grace and mercy. We can make an environment for God to work by repenting, humbling ourselves before the Lord and his word and taking practical steps to coming to the Lord. When we do, then God will work to fill in the valleys. He will shave down the hills. He will make the crooked ways straight.

In the past 1.5 years I have had many valleys of depression. But God has filled in the valleys and made an even road for Jesus to come into my heart. I have had crooked ways, where I was rejecting those close to me and become isolated, even from family members. My best friends were my pets. But God straightened that crooked path and helped me have a straight road for the Lord. Thank you Jesus for your grace.
Part 2: He Is Like a Shepherd (6-11).
Isaiah was told to cry out a message. Verses 6-8 reads, “A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. ⁷ The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. ⁸ The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” The message states that people and their faithfulness are like grass and flowers which quickly fade away. But God’s word endures forever (1 Pe 1:24-25). How true this is! One of Satan’s greatest deceptions is making people believe that they are living in this world longer than they actually are. When I sing in nursing homes with the barbershop chorus, I see 80-90% women and 10% men. Why is this? It is because the men are dying of heart attacks and strokes and cancer and the like. As a nurse I see people in their 50’s who are at the end of their lives. A personal friend’s young life was cut short in a roll over accident. It happened so fast that she never seen it coming. I cannot fool myself thinking that I am going to live forever in this world.

I would love to live to 120 years old and write many books and go on speaking engagements and found a university or a hospital etc., but I will go sooner than I think. Whatever human glory I may procure in this world is fleeting at best. I need to be ready to spend eternal life with my Lord Jesus. Jesus has made me ready through his shed blood on the cross and his resurrection. The Gospel has made me ready. The only thing that lasts in this world is the word of God and the glory of God. Thank you Lord. Help me to live for your glory and place all of my hope and trust in you.

The gospel is such goods news. We need to proclaim it. Verse 9 reads, “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!” I cannot be silent. I must lift up my voice. I must say to the people of DeKalb and Sycamore, and the to the First Nations people of NW Ontario, “Here is your God. His name is Jesus. He died and rose for you to give your eternal life.” May God grant me the wisdom and the cultural sensitivity to make the cry faithfully and consistently. May Ron and Jen K., a young missionary couple, make the cry to the people of their generation.

Verses 10-11 read, “See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. ¹¹ He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.” The good news for God’s people is “Here is your God!” (9). The Sovereign Lord comes with power, his arm ruling for him, his reward with is him. He is a gentle Shepherd, gathering his lambs in his arms, carrying them close to his heart. What a wonderful Savior. I really need my king and my wonderful shepherd. This world really tries to bring us down. It gets us to crawl up in the fetal position in the corner of our lives. We just want to be isolated from others. But we can overcome this trend when let our mighty king Jesus, rule our hearts. He is our strength to remain engaged in life and with others and to serve. Jesus is my gentle shepherd, leading me to himself and to eternal life with him in his kingdom. Where in this world can I find such a shepherd? My own parents can not be such a shepherd to me. My wife tries and she is pretty good. There are pastor friends who are shepherding me and I thank them for it. But Jesus is the ultimate friend, leading me and guiding my soul. I would be helpless with Jesus shepherding me. There would be so much emotional stuff dragging me down. Lord, guide my heart and my life and family and ministry. We trust you. You are our strong king.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for giving us forgiveness and hope through Jesus. Though our lives quickly fade, your word endures forever. Carry us gently, close to your heart, O Lord our Shepherd.

One Word: “Here is your God!”