Sermon for second mid-week Advent service - Isa 43:16-21

 

Mid-Advent 2

                                                                                      Isa 43:16-21

                                                                                     12/13/23

 

          My dad lived in Nebraska, and then did his Masters degree at the University of Nebraska.  Because of this connection, I grew up rooting for Nebraska in football.  During the 1970’s, 1980’s, and 1990’s this was a fun thing to do.  Nebraska won conference titles, finished in the top 20 and vied for the national championship – winning it five times.

          However, things changed at the end of the 1990’s when their coach, Tom Osborne, retired.  Nebraska has now had six coaches since 1998.  They last competed for a national championship in 2001.  During the 2000’s the program went from being elite to just good.  And then a rapid decline occurred as during the last seven years they have never won more than five games.

          Today Nebraska fans have their tradition – they have their past history – but little more.  It’s hard when you have nothing but your past.  It’s hard to wait for the future when you are living in the past.

          In our text tonight, God speaks to Israel. He declares to them that his action is not something that is trapped in the past.  He is going to do a new thing to rescue them.  They can wait in hope because he is the God who does amazing things.

          Isaiah wrote in the eighth century B.C.  In his prophecy he confronts Judah’s sin.  He began by saying, “Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the LORD, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.”

          Because of their sin and unfaithfulness, Judah would be taken into exile by the Babylonians in the sixth century B.C.  In his prophecy, Isaiah looks ahead to this event. He offers hope to the people who will wait in exile as he promises that God will bring them back.

          Our text begins with the words: “Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings forth chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick.”  The Lord introduces himself on the basis of what he has done in the past. He is the God who brought Israel out of Egypt in the exodus.  He brought Israel through the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptians in the water.

          But God is not trapped in the past.  He is a God who acts in the present and gives hope to those who wait.  And so he goes on to declare, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  God was going to carry out a new act of rescue for his people.

          We hear in our text, “I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.”  In poetic language God describes his action as causing rivers in the desert.  He will give drink to his chosen people.  God declares that he is going to do something brand new.

          Yes, Judah had sinned. But God says later in this chapter, “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”  God would forgive his people and he would act to bring them back from exile. There was reason to hope as they waited.

          God did act.  He did the unexpected. In chapter 45 Isaiah names Cyrus as God’s anointed.  He declares to Cyrus, “For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.”  Cyrus was the Persian king who unexpectedly defeated the Babylonians.  In 538 B.C. he issued a decree that the Judahites could return to their land. God used Cyrus to bring his people back from exile.

          God’s act of bringing Judah back to their land was an act of deliverance.  And this action pointed forward to an even greater action that God would accomplish.  God says in our text, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

          God did a new thing as he sent his Son into the world.  Isaiah speaks of this One. This was a new thing, but it was a thing that God had promised in the past.  We hear this in Isaiah’s prophecy as he says, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

          During Advent we prepare to celebrate the fact that God did this new thing.  He did something that had never happened before. The virgin conceived.  Mary became pregnant through the work of the Holy Spirit. The child she carried in her womb – the One to whom she gave birth – was Immanuel.  He was God with us. 

          This was new.  God in the flesh.  Yet the reason Jesus Christ was in the world was surprising.  We would expect that God would come into the world to bring judgment. After all, we are no less sinful than Judah.  We have weighed down God with our transgressions. 

          But God had not sent forth his Son to judge us.  Instead, Jesus Christ had come into the world to be judged by God for us.  Jesus said, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”  Christ offered himself on the cross as the sacrifice for our sins. 

          Jesus was buried in a tomb.  But God was not done doing his new thing.  Instead, he did something completely new. Death had entered into the world through Adam.  Now, through Jesus the second Adam, God worked the resurrection of the dead.  He carried out the action of the Last Day as he raised Jesus with a body transformed so that it can never die again.

          God has done this new thing.  And because he has, he has also done something new to us.  He has caused us to be born again. Through water and the Word he has given us new life as we received regeneration in baptism.  We now live as those who are a new creation in Christ Jesus.

          This new thing defines our present.  We have received the love and forgiveness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Because we have, we are able to wait.  We can wait on God in our life.  We can be patient as he works out the course of our life. We can trust in God because we are not trapped in the sins of our past.  Instead, we have received this new thing that God has done for us.  We are saints – we are the forgiven children of God.

In our text God says, “Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  God did the new things for Judah as he brought them back from exile in Babylon.  This act of deliverance pointed forward to an even greater new thing. 

During Advent we prepare to celebrate the new thing that God had done in Jesus Christ.  Through the incarnation of the Son of God, God has acted to redeem us from sin.  In Christ’s resurrection he has begun the new life that will be ours.  Through the work of the Spirit we are a new creation in Christ.  We live in the confidence of what this new thing means for us. And we wait in hope as we look for God to do his final new thing when Jesus Christ returns and gives us a share in his resurrection.