A sermon on Isaiah 40:1-8 for the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Delivered by Pastor Caleb Strutz.
“O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.” This beloved Advent hymn is a rephrasing of the ancient O Antiphons, which is the original Christmas countdown. An antiphon is a refrain that is used during the daily prayer offices of the church and these seven O Antiphons, which are reflected in “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” were sung in the seven days leading up to the celebration of Christmas. O Emmanuel is the first verse of the hymn but is actually the last of these antiphons, sung on December 23. And the hymn paraphrase features this rich Biblical picture of captivity. “O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear.”
And it’s this context of captivity that our Old Testament lesson is speaking to. The prophet Isaiah is a big figure in Advent. Historically, the book of Isaiah has been read throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons in those same prayer offices, and we’ll be reading from Isaiah both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And here in Isaiah, we see God’s message to His exiled people. We’ll meditate on this message first by looking at the recipients—those exiled in sin—and then at the content—the Gospel of comfort.
I. The Recipients: Those Exiled in Sin
Isaiah 40 is in some ways a turning point in the book of Isaiah. The first half of Isaiah is very heavy on judgment. God’s judgment is pronounced on many different nations individually, but especially on Israel.
Isaiah is prophesying in the years immediately preceding the Babylonian captivity. God had shown patience and had sent prophet after prophet to call His people to repentance, but they continued in their idolatry and sin, they continued to reject God. So the big warning in Isaiah is the punishment that’s coming their way.
And the Babylonian captivity is one of the defining events in the history of Israel and it raised a lot of questions for the Israelites. For the faithful remnant in Babylon, they could look back at the prophets’ warnings and say, “Yeah, we deserved it… but now what?”
When King Nebuchadnezzar won, he claimed that his gods had won. Was the LORD defeated? Was He too weak to protect His people? The alternatives were even more troubling. Had God rejected His people entirely? Was He just done with them now? Or did He even ever exist in the first place?
You can see how the Babylonian captivity would create this negative spiritual spiral, raising questions and doubts that inevitably lead to despair and unbelief. And it’s to these people that God addresses this message.
Now, in many ways, our situation is entirely unlike that of the Israelites in captivity. Our lives are pretty comfortable and pretty peaceful in comparison. But we also have to recognize that we are in exile.
The history of Israel is really the history of humanity. Ever since the fall into sin in the garden of Eden, we have been in exile, in a sin-filled world which is not our home, separated from the fullness of God’s presence. And just because we’re better off than the Israelites materially, that doesn’t mean that we don’t struggle with the same spiritual questions that they were asking.
We, just like them, can see our sin. We see how we have disobeyed God, rejected Him, committed idolatry in our hearts. And we see what that sin deserves. Death and hell. Eternal separation from God. And we are also pained by the terrible effects of living in a sinful world. So those same questions come up.
How can God love me after what I’ve done? What if He’s done with me? What if I messed up so bad that there’s no coming back from this? How could God have let that terrible thing happen? Why does He hate me? Or does He even really exist at all?
God knows the questions in your heart. And just like He anticipated the needs of those in exile before the exile even happened, He knows how to speak to your troubled heart.
II. The Content: The Gospel of Comfort
“‘Comfort, yes, comfort My people!’ Says your God.” God speaks to His prophets, to His messengers, and tells them to comfort His people. This is more than mere sympathy, this is encouragement, this is grace. “Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,” and then there’s three parts to this message of comfort, it’s layered on thick.
“That her warfare is ended.” This warfare word has a couple different meanings. There’s this aspect of military service, speaking to those in exile who have been taken as prisoners of war. And that war is ended. It could also refer to compulsory labor, speaking to them as slaves in a foreign land, that their debt has been paid and their service completed. It also came to be used as a word for difficulties and hardships more generally, speaking to whatever it is that you must endure.
This speaks most immediately to the end of the Babylonian captivity, to the return of the exiles. But it also speaks to our deeper human condition. That God has rescued and redeemed us from the exile of sin, that He will bring us back to be with Him again.
Whichever meaning of that word you take, the comfort is the same. The warfare is ended, the struggle is over, the battle is done. You are freed from slavery, bought back by God, liberated from the captivity of sin. Struggles are over, hardships have ended, you have peace and comfort.
And the second part of this message shows how that’s all possible. “That her iniquity is pardoned.” The sin which led to and caused the captivity has been taken away. That’s how her warfare is ended. That’s why freedom can be given. Because the sin which caused this whole mess in the first place has been forgiven.
Christ has ransomed captive Israel. The punishment that our sins deserved has been placed on Him. He has freed us from the captivity of sin, rescued us from the exile of death, paid the price of our release by His precious blood.
Emmanuel has come. God is with His people. He has removed everything that would separate you from Him, given the answer to every spiraling spiritual question, comforts you with the Gospel. Jesus was born to come to this world, to come to His people. He lived a perfect life to make up for all of your sin and died an innocent death to pay the price for your release. He rose again to assure you of His victory and to fill you with hope that your greatest enemies have been defeated, that God loves you and has rescued you, that exile is ended.
And the third part of this comforting message, “For she has received from the LORD’s hand Double for all her sins.” Here we see the rich blessings of the Gospel, that God pays us back for our sin with His grace. We have received double for our sin, double grace, double blessing, more than enough, overflowing mercy.
Our sins have been placed on Christ and His righteousness has been given to us. He pays for sin and gives us righteousness instead, showers us with grace and blessing. He does not give us what our sins deserve, but gives us generously His undeserved love. We have double comfort, extra assurance, bountiful forgiveness.
That’s the message that God has for His people. That’s the message that He gave to Isaiah to proclaim to exiles who hadn’t been exiled yet. That’s the context for the voice crying in the wilderness, that the Lord is coming to rescue His people. And as John the Baptist quotes this prophecy and applies it to himself, we see what is of the most importance. Yes, there’s the voice crying, yes, there’s these messengers God has sent, but the emphasis is on the message itself. In Isaiah, there’s frustratingly few details as to who is the one to proclaim this message, but that’s not what matters. The messenger doesn’t matter, John doesn’t really matter, your pastor doesn’t really matter. What’s important is the message that is conveyed through these messengers, a message of comfort and forgiveness, that God has rescued and redeemed His people. Amen.
