Cry out “Comfort my People!”
Is 40:1-11

†  I.H.S. †

The grace of God our Father is yours, as Christ comforts you and causes you to dwell in peace!

• The prophet’s Advent cry – you have to come and..
  • Peace? Comfort – or in Hebrew – need to catch my breath!

As we meander through advent, hearing the cries of the prohetcs ofGod to pour out hope, peace, joy and love on His people, I really praise God for this cry fin Isaiah—for in it we see the heart of God,

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. ²  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem.”

What an incredible thing to know, that God wants you to be comforted! As we talk about the advent concept of peace – that Christ comes to bring peace, we have to realize this has been God’s desire for His people.

Comfort, peace…

And I love the word picture behind the Hebrew here, the word means “to let someone breathe deeply!”

Or maybe as we say it—God wants those ministering to God’s people to help them “catch their breath!”

What a concept!

To relax, knowing everything is taken care of, that everything is finished, and perfect!

Even for those who sin! Hear the full passage in context!

““Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. ²  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned.”

Hmmm – part of that comfort is that the sad days are gone, and all our sins are pardoned—and that is part of the comfort.

• Without God – you fade with

That is what all the raising and lowering and straightening out the roads. It’s about making things easy, allowing us to breathe easily, to rest, to be at peace. Which is Christ’s goal, and it should be ours as well…

But the challenge is how we help people to catch our breath.

First, we have to deal with what stops us from breathing…

A voice said, “Shout!” I asked, “What should I shout?” “Shout that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. ⁷  The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people. ⁸  The grass withers and the flowers fade,

Again, there is a picture behind one of the words, that word “beauty.”

It is that favorite word of mine in Hebrew, “cHesed.” What is facing as quickly as flowers without water is the ability to love. What ability to love?

The ability to love God,

The ability to love our neighbor, including those who are enemies and adversaries.

That is not only the symptom of sin, but it is the root and because of it. It is what causes us to dry up. That is why we fade, why we die off when caught in sin, when we are in the midst of rebelling, when we don’t ask for mercy and forgiveness.

This dried out, unable to breath feeling, as if the life is sucked out of you…

To which the Lord of heaven tells Isaiah that He is crying out,

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. ²  “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem. Tell her that her sad days are gone and her sins are pardoned!”

• Who heard the cry?

So one question I ask Bob and others who work on sermons is where is Jesus in this passage. Simply because if you don’t see Jesus in a passage, you can’t preach on it. You can give a lecture, or a talk—but you can’t preach the gospel, the news that comforts the broken, that allows us to breath when we are crushed by the sin of the world, and even your own.

So where is Jesus in this passage? Simple –

He’s who the Father is crying out to—He’s the one that will comfort us, and allow us to breathe. The cry is to Jesus, and is a prophecy as much as a cry…

For on the cross, Jesus died so that we could breathe, just like the skeletons that were reassembled—and then the Spirit blew life into them.

He comforted them…

He comforted us…

He allows us to breathe, knowing He has saved us, knowing He has taken care of it, all of it, for us.

• The second cry

There is a second cry – and this one is not to Jesus, but to the people of God.

That means to us!

Here are those words,

⁹  O Zion, messenger of good news, shout from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. Shout, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”

Our job is to take this message and shout it, shout it even louder, and not be afraid of doing it!

But what is the content of that message?

Those sinners, those who God longs to comfort – this is how He will comfort them…

Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!” ¹⁰  Yes, the Sovereign LORD is coming in power. He will rule with a powerful arm. See, he brings his reward with him as he comes. ¹¹  He will feed his flock like a shepherd.

Here is the part that blows my mind,

He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.

What a picture of Jesus!

At those moments when life is crushing the breath out of us, Jesus is lifting us up, holding us to his heart, and guiding us along…and safe in His arms, cleansed and made whole… and now, there, you can breathe… as can all who you help come there! AMEN!