church

INI
27th Sunday after Trinity
November 23, 2008
Ascension Lutheran Church, Tacoma WA
Paul Naumann, Pastor

WHEN THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD RETURN
Isaiah 35:3-10

Peace to you all who are in Christ Jesus. Amen. On this final Sunday of the
church year we hear the Word of God as spoken through the prophet Isaiah,
chapter 35, beginning with the third verse, as follows:

Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who
are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with
vengeance, With the recompense of God; He will come and save you." Then
the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be
unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb
sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert.
The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water;
In the habitation of jackals, where each lay, There shall be grass with reeds and
rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway
of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, But it shall be for others.
Whoever walks the road, although a fool, Shall not go astray. No lion shall be
there, Nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; It shall not be found there. But
the redeemed shall walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD shall return,
And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall
obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. So far the holy
Word.

In the Name of Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life, Dear
Fellow Redeemed,

In the early sixth century B.C., the prophet Isaiah predicted disaster for the
people of Judah. The Jews of Jerusalem and it’s surrounding region had forsaken
the true God for idols. Despite repeated warnings, they continued their
idolatrous ways. Instead of trusting the Lord, they trusted in shaky foreign
alliances to protect them from the threatening power of Babylon, gathering in
the north. A century later, the prophesied disaster struck. Those who weren’t
killed by the army of Nebuchadnezzar were carried away captive into the land
of Babylonia. There they languished for many years.

But Isaiah not only prophesied the disaster, he also prophesied the deliverance
from the disaster. The words I just read to you describe that deliverance. God
would ransom His people Israel and allow them to return to their homeland.
Seventy years after the captivity God would raise up a new leader named Cyrus,
who would allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their capital. It
would be a time of great joy, and that joy was part of Isaiah’s prophesy, too.

Well, but that's all ancient history. What does this have to do with you and me?
A lot. Because as often happens with prophesy, Isaiah’s prediction not only had
a near-term fulfillment in view but a remote fulfillment as well. He was talking
about the joy that we ransomed believers will experience when we finally reach
our home in heaven. This is a message that all of us Christians need to hear on a
regular basis. Why? Because our life’s journey is liable to become quite difficult
and discouraging as soon as we lose sight of the glorious goal that lies at its end.
Our theme today:

WHEN THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD RETURN
I. Then strength will replace weakness.
II. Then a lush garden will replace desert wasteland.
III. Then joy and gladness will replace sorrow and sighing.

=2 0Commenting on this text, one Lutheran pastor wrote, "No matter the
hardships of life, the opposition of an evil world, suffering or sorrow, none of
these should weaken our faith or dim our hope." And that's exactly what Isaiah
had in mind when he wrote, Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the
feeble knees. Have you ever felt so tired and discouraged that you could hardly
lift your arms? Your hands just hang limp at your sides. Your knees shake and
your legs feel like they’ll hardly support you. That’s the picture that Isaiah
paints here. Certainly it was a good description of how the exiled Jews would
feel as captives in Babylonia, far away from their homeland. But it’s also a good
description of how discouraged we Christians can sometimes become with our
life in this world. Life is hard. There are unpleasant surprises along the way.
There is real suffering to endure and real hardship to overcome. But it helps so
much when our Lord in His word gives us a glimpse of the glory that will one
day be ours in Christ. For WHEN THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD
RETURN, then strength will replace weakness.

You may recall that that was Paul’s conclusion, too, in the book of Romans
when he said, For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. – 8:18. It
doesn’t mean our suffering isn't real. It doesn't mean our trials in this life aren’t
difficult, it only means that, if we could see our final destination, those
sufferings and trials would fade into utter insignificance by comparison. Isaiah
agrees, and that’s why he says, Strengthen the weak hands, And make firm the
feeble knees. 4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear!
Behold, your God will come with vengeance, With the recompense of God; He
will come and save you." That is, in fact, why we are meeting here today. It's
why gather here to listen to God's Word and sing His praises every Sunday.
You're building each other up in the faith. You're strengthening his hands.
You're supporting her and making her strong, just when her knees were starting
to get a little wobbly. You're saying to one another, "Be strong! Don't worry!
The day is coming! We're on our way, and it won't be long!"

When that Day arrives, every physical flaw and weakness and disease that now
torments us will be banished. People keep talking about the wonderful things
that medical science will accomplish if only the stuffy politicians will let them
experiment on human embryos. I'm skeptical. I really don't expect stem cell
research to cure every illness. But I know what will - heaven! There, perfect
strength will replace every weakness! Isaiah says, Then the eyes of the blind
shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame
shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. Can you imagine? When
THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD RETURN, people who have been blind
all their life will not only see, they will see Jesus! People who were deaf will not
only hear, they will hear the songs of angels! People bound to a wheelchair in
this world, when they reach the next, will not only stand, and run, they will run
into the loving arms of Jesus their Savior! How wonderful it will be just to
watch that, can you imagine!

Furthermore, Isaiah says, WHEN THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD
RETURN, then a lush garden will replace desert wasteland.

Maybe you didn't realize that we live in a desert wasteland, but we do. We live
in a spiritual wasteland of sin and unbelief, a society that is offended by the
Gospel of Christ crucified, and scornful of the believers who worship Him.
Even we believers are afflicted with the sinful flesh that spoils our service to
God and taints all our actions. The LORD looks down from heaven upon the
children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They
have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who
does good, No, not one. -- Ps 14:2-3. But you have a Savior in Jesus Christ the
righteous, a Redeemer who=2 0has ransomed you from sin and death. That is,
He has paid the price necessary to buy you back from the punishment your sins
deserved. He bore your punishment for you. By faith in Him, you may now
count yourself among THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD.

All that is true, of course. God has convinced us that by giving us faith. But did
you know that sin has affected not only the spiritual world, but even the
physical world - the world of nature? You might not think it when you get up on
a beautiful, clear Northwest morning like today, with a sliver of moon on the
blue horizon and sun just beginning to light the top of Mount Rainier. No, you
might not think it, but it's true - that compared to what this earth was before
the fall in to sin, even it's greatest beauties fade to nothing. For when sin came,
not only was man cursed because of it, but the rest of creation, too. I will curse
the ground for your sake, God told Adam, thorns and thistles it shall bring
forth. And ever since then, all creation is waiting and yearning for the final
redemption, just like we are, says Paul, For the creation was subjected to
futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because
the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation
groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. -- Rom 8:20-22. The
Apostle Peter tells that what we see around us now will be destroyed and
replaced: The heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will
melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for
new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. -- 2 Pet 3:12-13.
"A new heavens and a new earth." That new, wonderful place is the place that
Isaiah envisions in our text for today. He says that, WHEN THE RANSOMED
OF THE LORD RETURN, a lush garden will replace desert wasteland.

Have you ever visited Phoenix, Arizona? When you fly into Phoenix, it's
startling how the grays and browns of the surrounding desert are suddenly
replaced by the rich, luxurious greens and blues and turquoises of Phoenix itself.
Phoenix used to be desert. It has no water of its own, but imports huge amounts
of water from the remote Colorado River and the Valley of the Sun. Thus
Phoenix has been transformed from a desert into a lush garden. It has over
eighty well-watered golf courses, and over 300,000 swimming pools. The city of
Puyallup could be supplied with all the water it needs for a year simply from the
water that evaporates from Phoenix swimming pools.

Amazing as the story of Phoenix may be, that's nothing compared to the
changes the earth will go through when THE RANSOMED OF THE
LORD=2 0RETURN. Our text says, For waters shall burst forth in the
wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool,
And the thirsty land springs of water; In the habitation of jackals, where each
lay, There shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A lush, new garden of Eden will
replace the parched and barren wasteland in which we now live.

Finally, WHEN THE RANSOMED OF THE LORD RETURN, then joy and
gladness will replace sorrow and sighing. Isaiah says that the redeemed shall
walk there, And the ransomed of the LORD shall retur n, And come to Zion
with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and
gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Zion is another name for Jerusalem. The picture Isaiah uses here may sound a
bit strange to you. But to the people of Judah to whom Isaiah was speaking, it
wouldn't sound strange at all. It would sound quite familiar. For several times a
year - at the time of the major Jewish festivals - all the people in the
surrounding countryside would make the journey up to Jerusalem to worship in
the Temple. Jerusalem sits on top of a hill, so everyone would be making their
way uphill toward the beautiful city. Sometimes groups of these pilgrims would
travel together, singing hymns as their steps brought them nearer to the holy
city.

That's how it will be for us, the Redeemed of the Lord, as we travel to our
heavenly Zion. A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the
Highway of Holiness. We'll walk on that holy road, through a renewed and
beautiful countryside. We will come to Zion with singing, and everlasting joy on
our heads, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

What a contrast that is with our life on this earth! One writer pointed out that
life in this world can sometimes seem like just the opposite of that. Don't you
feel that at times? Like you just get over one painful episode, you start to catch
your breath and recover your=2 0spirits, and then some other sorrow comes
along. Something else to give you sighing and grief and sleepless nights. And
don't we sometimes, if we're honest, have to admit that a lot of that grief and
trouble comes from our own sinfulness? How sorrowful is the knowledge of our
own sins, our own failures, our own dissatisfaction with God's way and
insistence on doing things our way! We can almost feel how heavy and
grief-stricken the Psalmist must have felt when he wrote, There is no soundness
in my flesh Because of Your anger, Nor any health in my bones Because of my
sin. 4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; Like a heavy burden they are
too heavy for me. 5 My wounds are foul and festering Because of my
foolishness. 6 I am troubled, I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the
day long. -- Ps 38:3-6.

But Good20News: Jesus died to give you relief from that sorrow and sighing.
His love for you carried Him all the way to the cross. There on Golgotha he
received the prints of the nails in His hands and feet and side. They were in the
truest sense wounds of love. They were evidence of the everlasting love of God
for lost mankind, a love that would stop at nothing to accomplish our salvation!
Have you ever wondered what they look like, those wounds? We're going to
find out! We're going to see them, when we meet our Savior face to face in that
holy city. Can you imagine that? I wonder if you were struck, as I was, when we
sang the second stanza in last Sunday's final hymn. It referred to those wounds.
We sang:

Those dear tokens of His passion
Still His dazzling body bears,
Cause of endless exultation
To His ransomed worshipers.
With what rapture,
With what rapture,
With what rapture
Gaze we on those glorious scars!

In heaven, Isaiah says, we shall obtain joy and gladness. To "obtain" is a
descriptive word. It means "to pursue and overtake." Did you ever wonder why
people are always talking about the "pursuit" of happiness? Everybody pursues
it, but nobody seems to overtake it! Well, one day we're going to finally catch
up to what our hearts and souls have been yearning for all along. What C.S.
Lewis was talking about when he said, " If I find in myself a desire which no
experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was
made for another world." We were made for another world, and by faith in
Christ we're headed toward that world right now. There we will obtain joy and
gladness. There we will leave sin and every sorrow miles behind, and we'll find
true, everlasting happiness in the p resence of our dear Lord Jesus Himself.
Now that is going to happen. It's as certain as the fact that the sun rose in the
east this morning and will set in the west tonight.

The fairy tales that we read as youngsters often ended with the familiar cliché:
"…and they lived happily ever after." And as we grew up, we realized that
that's one of the reasons they call them "fairy tales," because nobody actually
does live happily ever after, and even the most blessed lives are marked with a
measure of sorrow and suffering. But all that's going to change! WHEN THE
RANSOMED OF THE LORD RETURN, strength will replace weakness, a
lush garden will replace desert wasteland, and joy and gladness will replace
sorrow and sighing. And then, by the grace of God, we will indeed live happily
ever after! AMEN.