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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Third Sunday of Advent |
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Isaiah
35 Streams
in the Desert Christians
cannot help noticing the parallels between the history of Israel and our
own pilgrimage of faith with the God of Israel.
Like Israel, we were held in cruel bondage by a ruthless king.
Like Israel, we were led out of our bondage by a great Deliverer
sent from God. Like Israel,
we were led from the land of bondage to the Promised Land of milk and
honey. Like Israel, we often
refuse to enter the Promised Land, preferring to wander in the wilderness
rather than rest in the blessings of God.
Like Israel, God must sometimes take us back into the desert, and
back into bondage to help us learn the surpassing value of the Promised
Land. In
Isaiah 35, Israel has split into two nations.
The first, which consists of the ten northern tribes, retained the
name of Israel. It has been
conquered by the Assyrians and will never be heard from again as the
people of God. The people
have embraced their invaders and have become one with their paganism and
idolatry. They have intermarried with the Gentiles, and are no longer
recognizable as the people of God. The
southern tribes of Benjamin and Judah remain outwardly recognizable, but
they, too, are deep in sin and decline.
They are divided against one another, and strife and enmity are
more common among them than brotherhood and peace.
Empty ritualism has replaced the true worship of God, and even the
Temple has incorporated pagan idolatry into its services.
For generations God has called them to repent, and there have been
times of great revival and holiness.
But, rather than turning the nation around, the revivals simply
slowed the general trend toward worldliness and unbelief. Still,
God did not give them up. He
sent prophets, like Isaiah, to preach to the people.
Isaiah was a comfortable man.
Many believe he was a member of the royal family.
He seems to have lived in the palace, and may have been the
king’s pastor. He certainly
had access to the king, and he had much influence in the nation. We see
that in many passages in his book. The
Word of the Lord burned brightly within the heart of Isaiah.
The vision of the Lord in the Temple never left the prophet, though
he had a spectacularly unsuccessful ministry, by human standards,
proclaiming God’s word to a nation that would not listen.
He proclaimed the word to high and low, rich and poor, even to the
king himself. This was a
great risk. As I said, Isaiah
was a comfortable man, therefore, he had much to loose.
One word from the king would have cost Isaiah his comfortable job
and his comfortable salary and his comfortable quarters in the palace, and
his comfortable respect from the people.
And, let us not forget that kings often kill those who bother them
with troubling matters, like the will of God.
So Isaiah had much to loose and speaking the true word of God would
put it all at risk. He had to
make a decision to let all of his comforts go, if necessary, in order to
be faithful to his prophetic calling. That was a difficult thing to do. Surely this is what the Lord meant when He said it is harder
for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle. I
notice, too, that this issue still bothers people today.
It is hard for those with an abundance of the world’s goods to be
“sold out” to Jesus. It is hard for comfortable ministers to stand
upon and preach the Bible, knowing it may cost them their comfortable
churches and jobs. Yet God
called Isaiah to risk it all. He
even told the prophet in advance that the people would not hear him or
heed his message. Are we sold
out to Christ? Are you?
Or are your goods and station in life worth more to you than the
high calling of God in Christ? Ultimately
Judah did not heed the word of God. Yes,
there was a temporary slow down in their decline, but basically, people
continued their rush toward destruction. By the time this passage is fulfilled in their history,
Jerusalem will have been destroyed, hundreds of thousands of Jews will
have been murdered, and most of the ones left alive will be living in
captivity in Babylon. Yet,
even in Babylon, God will not forget them.
God will deliver them again. He
will return them to Judah and continue to work with them, bringing His
purpose to unfailing fruition in the life of this nation that, like we, is
hard of heart and slow of mind. In
536 B.C., 70 years after their conquest by the Babylonians, God raised up
a deliverer. His name was
Cyrus of Persia, and he accomplished the impossible; he conquered the
mighty Babylonians and took their empire for himself.
Though Cyrus was a ruthless conqueror, he was a wise ruler.
He allowed the Jews to return to Judah and to be free to worship
God. He may even have provided funds to help them secure their
position in the burned out city of Jerusalem. It
would not be easy for the Jews, however.
Babylon was 400 miles from Jerusalem, and the Jews would have to
walk every inch of the way. To
make matters worse, it was 400 miles of empty, barren wilderness. How would they find their way?
How would they find food and water, and how would they escape the
bands of thieves that inhabited the area and preyed upon hapless
travelers? The Jews must have
thought such a journey looked more like a suicide mission than going home. It
strikes me that the desert, here, could have another meaning, too, a
symbolic meaning. Maybe, in addition to the wilderness that stood between
the Jews and their home, it could also represent the spiritually barren
landscape of the world around us. I
use “world” here not to mean the physical creation.
I use it as St. Paul used it in Romans 12:2, “And
be not conformed to this world.”
I refer to the ways of thinking and living that are not based upon
the Scriptures. I refer to
the world and its fallen and sinful ways, as distinguished from the
Kingdom of God. These ways are against the ways of God.
They promise life and happiness, but they cannot deliver it.
They are like a desert of the soul, and no one can live there. There
is yet a third way to understand the desert.
It could symbolize the many trials and burdens of life that we face
in our journey through this world. It
could represent the troubles and temptations, and crosses we are called to
bear as we follow the Savior. I
have had many conversations with people who feel they are unable to face
the desert any longer. I’m talking about people who faced serious
illness, financial ruin, the rejection of trusted friends, the death of
loved ones, or some form of great loss they were not prepared to face.
I once spoke to a person at a funeral who said he just doesn’t
trust God anymore. In his
opinion, God hasn’t done a very good job in his life, and he was angry
and resentful and he didn’t believe Romans 8:28 anymore. I
know how he feels, because I’ve been there.
Sooner or later everyone begins to realize the deepening sorrow of
life. I remember reading Hal
Lindsay’s book, The Late Great
Planet Earth as a young man. I
thought, with many others, that Mr. Lindsay was correct about the Book of
Revelation. I believed Jesus
was going to return before 1980 and Rapture us out of the world in a
painless, joyful event that would lift us bodily into Heaven.
I believed life on earth would be short, but incredibly sweet due
to the fellowship of God’s Church, and that we would not get old, or
sick, or die because the Rapture would rescue us from all of those
sorrows. Well,
if there is a Rapture, as the dispensational brethren teach (no, I don’t
believe there is), it has been delayed long enough to allow me to see many
friends die an unpleasant death, and to realize I may go the same way.
It has been delayed long enough to allow me to experience sorrow,
trial, and loss, sometimes to the point where I doubt God, or doubt His
love, or become angry at Him like the person I described a few minutes
ago. Like many others I
don’t like it in the desert. Do
not be surprised at this, even Christ prayed to be spared the cross. The
wonderful thing about Isaiah’s prophecy, is the great promise of God
that He will make streams in the desert.
We understand this image, almost intuitively.
A desert, by definition, is a place without water, and without
water, no life, as we know it, can survive.
There are no trees, no shrubs, no grass, no animals, no life.
Contrast this image with that of a fertile and well-watered valley.
Life abounds there. Life
luxuriates there. And Isaiah
says under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “and
in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert.” In other words, that dry barren desert will become the well
watered valley, and shall “blossom
as the rose.” For
those in Babylon this was a promise that God would bring His people safely
back to Jerusalem. He would
provide for their needs. They
would be made strong for the journey, the dangers would be overcome by
Divine power, and the desert itself would blossom with abundant provisions
to sustain them on their way. The Great God who raised up the Babylonians
to chastise His people, and raised up the Persians to deliver them, who
also raised up the prophet Isaiah to preach the word of God to them, would
make provision to get the Jews back to their homeland.
His purpose for His people cannot be blocked by a few miles of
sand. For
those in the desert of a lost and Godless world, the promise is of a
Savior who will come to deliver you.
He will be your streams in the desert.
The Savior is Christ the Lord.
He is the stream of mercy. He
is the Stream of Grace. He is
the Way of Salvation and the Highway of Holiness.
What makes the world a spiritual desert?
Is it not that our sin has separated us from the source of life and
peace? Is it not that we
realize ourselves to be suffering the wrath of God for our rebellion
against God? Is it not the
fear that we shall stand before the God of Holiness and give account of
every word and deed, knowing that we are not the good and righteous
creatures we try to convince ourselves we are, but guilty of wickedness
and evil by our own free choice? And
it is not the realization that the pleasures of this world do not satisfy
our real needs? And that the
ideas and promises of the world always cause more problems than they
solve? And is it not the
awful realization that we are absolutely without power to change any of
this by ourselves? Yet
into this desert comes the Gentle Jesus who went to the cross to save us.
In Him we are forgiven. In
Him we are reconciled to God. In
Him we have new life based on the will of God; life that works, riches
that satisfy, pleasures that never end.
He is the stream, the river of God in the desert.
Look at the desert. Even
now it begins to bloom with the souls of the redeemed.
“It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing.” To
those suffering under the trials and burdens of life, He is the river of
power. He is the strength to
see you through. If you feel
like you cannot bear your cross, or that the road is too long, too steep,
too difficult, that it leads through deserts and dangers you can’t
overcome, you are right. If
you think you cannot stand before God or continue in the faith because you
have not the strength within you, you are correct.
But the good news is, you don’t have to.
God will strengthen you. The
One who called you out of your darkness and sin, and forgave your sin by
paying its price on the cross, will also cause you to stand and even to
prosper in the things of God. Even
the desert will bloom for you. He
who began a good work in you will not desert you, but will bring it to
completion infallibly. He
will carry you safely to the glories of Heaven, by His power.
Jesus sustains us in the desert, and brings us through the dangers,
at last to the throne room of the Father, safe and whole, forevermore.
Thanks be to God. In
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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