Prepare the Highway
A sermon based on Isaiah 40:1-4
Sunday, December 3, 2017 – Advent 2B
So I've been debating it for a while now. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. And I've gone back and forth a bit. There's a circuit meeting up in Anchorage tomorrow and I've been debating whether I drive up or just meet online.
One the one hand, it's always easier to connect with people face to face. Bad internet connections, other distractions, and no real interaction make communication more difficult online. And I am the Circuit Pastor. But on the other hand, staying home would save me a lot of gas money and a lot of time. Plus, travel can be difficult between here and there in the winter.
And yesterday, the Alaska 511 showed driving conditions as yellow ("fair") in some places and orange ("difficult") in others. But no roads were colored green for "good." So, I'm pretty sure I'm going to stay home tomorrow.
But can you imagine how difficult the travel conditions would be tomorrow if there were no highways or roads? Likely the 511 would show all roads purple ("very difficult") or red ("hazardous"). Who knows how early I'd have to leave to make it to Anchorage in time for our meeting? Yesterday? Friday? How many river crossings would I have to make? I'd likely be much better off getting on a boat or chartering a plane.
Well, they didn't have boats or planes in Isaiah's day. And travel was difficult, often taking days or weeks to get from point A to point B. But as in our day, a highway made travel much easier. Paved stones would prevent wheels from getting stuck in the mud. Guard stations would prevent highway bandits from robbing or killing travelers. A highway took a lot of work to build, but it definitely made travel easier.
Today, we hear Isaiah give us the encouragement to prepare the highway. He's obviously not calling us to leave our jobs and start working for the DOT. But he's calling us to level the mountains and fill the valleys as we prepare the highway of our hearts for the coming of our King… for Jesus. Isaiah encourages us in chapter 40:1-11 of his letter…
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice of one calling: "In the desert prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
6 A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?"
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
9 You who bring good tidings to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!" 10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 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.
There were two basic ways that Isaiah said to build the highway for the coming Savior: 1) raise up every valley, and 2) make low every mountain and hill. The idea was to level the road. Steep inclines and declines made travel difficult. So make it all level and travel would be smooth sailing.
So what's Isaiah getting at? To put it bluntly: Law and Gospel. The law levels the heights of pride, of arrogance, of sin. The gospel fills in the deficiencies we have and lifts up. And that, he says, is what the forerunner of the Christ would do. And that's exactly what John the Baptist did.
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall…"
John the Baptist used the law to level those who thought they were good enough without a Savior from sin: When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father.' I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." (Matthew 3:7-10)
And he preached the law with all its severity to crush his hearers. And it led many of them to ask, "What should we do then?" (Luke 3:10)
And then, when they were ready, John didn't hesitate to fill in the valleys with the gospel. He comforted the people. He spoke… "tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim[ed] to her that her hard service ha[d] been completed, that her sin ha[d] been paid for, that she ha[d] received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." He… "lift[ed] up [his] voice with a shout…" and said, "to the towns of Judah, "Here is your God!"
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29) "And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of [1] repentance [2] for the forgiveness of sins." (Mark 1:3)
That's the message that leveled the mountains of pride: "repentance." And that's the message that filled the valleys of despair: "the forgiveness of sins." That's the message that you and I are called to take to heart as we prepare the highway for the second coming of the King…
Dear brothers and sisters, take that message to heart.
"All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever."
Dear brothers and sisters, you are but grass and flowers of the field. Here today, and tomorrow… well… the breath of the Lord will blow on Judgment Day when he comes again. So get ready!
Get ready by leveling the pride of your heart. Knock down those idols that stand in the way. Jesus is coming! And he's coming soon. So here's your homework… And I'm serious about this. Go home and do it! Find some quiet time this afternoon or evening to take an account of your life: the way you spend your time and your money, the food and drink and the entertainment you consume, the way you treat those around you and the way you treat your Savior and his Word. Be open. Be honest. This is just between you and God. Ask, "What is standing in the way of me having a closer relationship with you, Jesus?" Then, in prayer, confess it to God and seriously commit to getting rid of it. Knock down those hills. Level those mountains. Don't confess your sin to Jesus just so he'll give you a pass to keep on sinning. You know that's not how it works! But sincerely confess your sin to him and plead for his help to be done with it.
That will be hard work. It won't be fun. So don't stop there. After you've leveled the mountains, it's time to fill in the valleys…
Now a Roman Catholic friend once described his theology in this way: "Imagine your life is like a board. Every time you sin, you pound a nail into that board and ruin it. Thankfully, Jesus came along, and by his work on the cross took your sin away. The nails are gone! But… the holes are still there. That's what we do with our good works: we fill in the holes. When we've finished doing that and the holes are gone, then we will be perfect and acceptable to God."
Thank God, dear friends, that he's wrong. He's dead wrong. You don't have to do anything to fill in the holes. Jesus has filled the holes in for you! Jesus has filled in every valley for you! The way "you" fill in the valleys to prepare the highway for Jesus, is to simply trust in him and in what he's already done for you.
You will always have deficiencies, friends. You will never achieve perfection in this life. You will never arrive at 100% where you don't need Jesus. But thank God that you don't have to because Jesus has already filled the valleys for you. He lived a perfect life in your place. He died an innocent death for you.
"Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.
And that "reward" isn't for those who have earned it. That recompense, or compensation, isn't for those who deserve it. It's a reward of grace. We deserve punishment—damnation in hell!—for our sins. But instead we receive comfort and a proclamation that our hard service has been completed that our sin has been paid for. "It is finished!" (John 19:30) And we receive from the Lord's hand a double blessing in exchange for all of our sins!
Take that message to heart: law and gospel. Repent of your sin. Trust in his forgiveness. And when you do, the mountains will be leveled. The valleys will be completely filled in. The highway for the Lord will become a level plain. And when the King comes on Judgment Day, it will be smooth sailing for you. The 511 will be "green" all the way!
And while we wait for that day? What now in the meantime? Well, keep leveling the mountains. That work of repentance is a daily task. Keep filling the valleys. Trust in your Savior every day. Stay in the word that helps you build the highway of your heart for the Sovereign Lord to come to you.
And keep building the road for others. Help them to level their mountains of pride and arrogance as you lovingly share the law with them and lead them to see their very real need for repentance and a Savior. Remind them that, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall…" Remind them of what they deserve for their sin and that there's nothing they can do to make it better.
Then, when they're ready to hear it, fill in the valleys for them too, as you too, "go up on a high mountain. You who bring good tidings to [Alaska], lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of [the Kenai Peninsula], "Here is your God!" See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him." Tell them, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29)
Do all you can to build a bridge from your heart to theirs that Christ might cross that bridge and come to them too. Keep preparing the highway, dear friends, that it might be smooth sailing for us all and that the 511 will be green for us and for them too on the day our Lord comes. In Jesus' name, dear friends, prepare the highway! Amen!
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