Mid-week Advent 3

December 15, 2004

Isaiah 35:1-10

"A wasteland transformed"

INTRODUCTION: For many, life is a wilderness, a wasteland, and a desert. Like the Israelites who were in bondage in Babylon when this text was written modern man lives in bondage – bondage to fear, anxieties, loneliness, loveless ness. Today people again are living in conditions of ignorance poverty and misery from which they need to be delivered. When God comes Isaiah reminds us that a wasteland will be transformed into a garden.

1.                  From the wilderness of sadness to the garden of joy – “The wilderness and desert will be glad.” (V.1)

A. The personification of nature is quite common in Isaiah. Barren land will bring forth lush growth and vegetation. An about face, and change of the landscape – God is moving among His people.

B. The wilderness of sin and loneliness, isolated from God because of the misery of sin brings forth a new relationship – life with God has He comes to visit His people. In the form of a son, His only Son.

2.                  From the wilderness of fear to the garden of courage – “Encourage the exhausted and strengthen the feeble.” (V. 3)

A.     Feeble arms, legs, bodies need physical therapy. Christ is our therapist. A helper just He comes to Thee.

B.  He offers Himself as He bids us to come to Him. Here we find that great exchange His life of perfection for our futile attempts of piety. He exchanges our sin for His righteousness and carries our sins on His own back on the bloody cross.

3.                  From the wilderness of bondage to the garden of freedom – “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.” (Vv.5-6)

A.         Jesus will quote this verse in Matthew’s gospel to prove that He is the Messiah. “Report back to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.” (Matthew 11:4-5)

B.         God provided water for His children of Israel during their sojourn in the desert. He provided for them then, and He provides for us now. Forgiveness, life, salvation have all been given to us freely. Truly our Father is the provider of all who are in need.

CONCLUSION: A desert becomes a lush garden?  A dream? A dream comes true when the Lord’s Messiah, our Savior, breaks into time and space. Jesus has come to offer His life as an exchange for our life of misery and sin. O rejoice ye Christians loudly! Jesus has come to offer salvation!