The Bethany Bullet-Tuesday, December 9, 2008

In good Christmas Carol fashion the prophet Isaiah, on the second Sunday in Advent, asks if we hear what he hears. Isaiah asks, “Do you hear what I hear? The king is coming!”

“A voice of one calling: ‘in the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.’” (Isaiah 40:3)

The King is coming! God is en route! It is hard enough getting prepared for holiday happenings and our usual Christmas company, now we learn that no ordinary guest is bound to make an appearance. Isaiah asks, “Do you hear what I hear?” The LORD is due to arrive and we are ill prepared. This place is a wilderness, a desert, uneven is the ground it is rough and it is rugged. Isaiah is not merely talking about the lay of the land. He has identified the terrain of our tendencies and the soil of our souls. It might be rough “out there,” but it is rugged “in here” to be sure.

Isaiah wrote to a people in exile who were frustrated, perplexed and anxious, after all they were in bondage. Another group to whom he wrote to were a handful of those returned from exile. These returned exiles were busy trying to rebuild what they had ruined. (Note: Same prophet, different recipients, similar situation.) How often haven’t we needed to rebuild what we’ve torn down at home, work or even church? We know the frustration of returning to the chains of bondage, be it lies or lust, greed or gluttony. Isaiah asks, “Do you hear what I hear?” “In here”, in our hearts, we are not in the condition the King neither expects nor requires for His advent. Yet He is coming none-the-less. We will be WOWED - for we will see the glory of God. The glory Moses witnessed on the mountain and that which the inner circle saw in the risen Jesus when he shone like the sun before their eyes.

“All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass. The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Isaiah asks, “Do you hear what I hear?” We are mortal. Like flowers blooming in a planter box we have the ability to hide the ‘weeds’ that lie beneath. We have a glory all our own but it is nothing compared to His. Ours is fleeting and frail. We can gussy ourselves up, make ourselves look better off than we are but there is no denying the fact that we are mortal. We need this King to come least our fate be the same as the flower and our final moment be spent lying beneath a spray of them.

Isaiah asks, “Do you hear what I hear?” This King’s Word is eternal! That Word was made flesh and He withered on the tree of Calvary. Yet, when He rose He won for us a victory over mortality! That Word spoke over you in baptism, and that Word now defends you and confirms you before the Father’s throne. I ask you, “Do you hear what I hear?” This coming King will carry you close to His heart, “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.” (Isaiah 40:11) Until one day He carries you into eternity! Where hearing will give way to seeing and all we have heard and believed in, we shall behold.

(Please note that The Bethany Bullet will take a holiday break on Tuesday, December 23 & 30.)