Isaiah 12:1–6

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

¹You will say in that day: "I will give thanks to you, O LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. ²"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." ³With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴And you will say in that day: "Give thanks to the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the peoples, proclaim that his name is exalted. ⁵"Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. ⁶Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."

Life is a series of relationships. The key relationship to our existence as people is our relationship with God. Our primary relationship, the one which forms the basis and foundation of all others, is our relationship with God. The First Table of the Law is the foundation and source of the Second Table. Luther points this out in his explanations of the commandments by beginning, "We should fear and love God that we may...." And our relationship with God is a reflection of the relationships between the three persons of the trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Our relationship of love, communion, trust, and unity with God is an extension of the inter Trinitarian relationships.

Adam and Eve were created for relationship with God. Adam and Eve were created to live in the garden in communion with God. Without a relationship with God we cannot ever be fully human, for the essence of humanity as seen in the creation narrative of Genesis 1 and 2 includes communion with God. As a plant without water will not thrive and eventually dies, humanity without God will not thrive and eventually dies. As a cell phone without a charger will eventually die, so also humans without God will eventually die.

But, this relationship was destroyed by the fall. We are told in our text, "You were angry with me." That's right! For our sin God is rightly angry with us. Because we are now sinners, God has sent us away from him. A sinner cannot stand in the presence of a holy God and live. God pronounced judgment on Adam and Eve. Thou art dust and to dust thou shalt return. God cursed the land and all creation on account of their sin. God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and locked the door. God is a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation. God has cut us off from Himself and vowed to punish us with eternal death. And this life estranged from God on account of sin is draining. God has cut us off from a relationship with Him and on account of his anger we will all die.

That overwhelming sense that things are not right in this world is a recognition that we've been disconnected from our life-source and are feeling ourselves slowly wither and die. For good reason, the Lord was angry with me. The very existence of pain, illness, disease and death shows us God's wrath on sin and his curse on all of creation. The very fact that we often have problems in our relationships with other people, arguments, hurt feelings, unfaithfulness, is in indication that our relationship with God is broken.

Unless there is a way that God's wrath can be turned away, we are doomed. We need someone to turn away God's anger and reconcile us with God. Here is where our text says, "I will give thanks to you, or Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away, that you might comfort me. Behold, God is my salvation." God's anger has been turned away. Here he is talking about Jesus Christ. We may wonder at the statement that "All Scripture is pure Christ." And even ask how can Christ be in the Old Testament, but right here it is talking about Christ when it says God's anger has been turned away. For apart from Jesus' death on the cross we have only an angry God, full of wrath and condemnation. Without Jesus, God is an angry God, a vengeful God, a consuming fire who will utterly destroy us on the day of judgment.

But his anger has turned away (v 1) by the death of Christ on the cross. With these words in our text the Holy Spirit is speaking of the cross of Jesus. For only by his death is God's anger turned away from us. Apart from his death on the cross; apart from his spilt blood, God is and remains an angry God full of wrath and punishment. We know only separation from God, sorrow and despair, agony and death. His anger must be appeased. His wrath must be accomplished.

But Isaiah knows reconciliation, and he knows why! He's talking about "that day" when the Lord will send Immanuel, God coming to be with us when we were parted from him (Is 7:14). He is talking about the Prince of Peace (Is 9:6), the Branch from the root of Jesse who restores the original peace (Is 11:1–9).

That's Jesus, God in Christ reconciling the world to himself by his cross (2 Cor 5:19) and saving us from God's wrath. God said the wages of sin is death. God cursed mankind and the whole creation with death on account of sin. For God to be reconciled and our relationship with him restored, there must be a death. Our sins must be atoned for. There must be payment. That death and that payment is what Jesus did on the cross when he suffered the punishment of hell and died. There God "shows steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

We need a Savior. By his death on the cross, Jesus became our savior. "Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid, for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." By his death, Jesus appeased God's wrath. By his death the Father receives his son back home, embraces him, kisses him, clothes him with the garments of a son, puts the ring on his finger, kills the fatted calf, and makes a great celebration. By the death of Jesus, God receives us back as his children.

Jesus has reconciled us to God by his death, and that restored relationship with God becomes the foundation for all our human relationships as well. Forgiveness and reconciliation are the foundation of our relationship with our spouse, our children, our friends, and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Because every man, woman and child is a sinner, at some point, we all need reconciliation in each of our human relationships as well. No matter how much love there is between two people, there will always be offenses. There will always be sin that separates, that breaks any and every relationship, whether it be between husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, boss and employee, friends and coworkers, or members of a congregation. Without reconciliation, relationships wither and die like a plant with no water. Children will need reconciliation with their parents after some foolish decision made in the passion of youth. Parents will need reconciliation with their children after some abuse of parental authority or other failure. Without reconciliation, one offense festers and breeds resentment. Slowly, the resentment overcomes the relationship as a plant is overcome by lack of water or a phone battery drains over time. Without reconciliation, the relationship of parent and child will not survive. Without reconciliation, the relationship of husband and wife will not survive. Without reconciliation, the relationship between brother and sister in Christ will not survive.

Jesus came and died that we might have abundant life (Jn 10:10). Jesus is the vine; we are the branches. We draw our life from him (Jn 15:5). Because we have been reconciled to God by the death of Jesus, we now share in his life. Because we have been reconciled to God we are reconciled to one another. We are made ambassadors of Christ to reconcile one another. "From now on we regard no one according to the flesh.... God has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ."

But sharing in the life of Christ means walking in forgiveness and reconciliation with our neighbor. That brings us joy

Because Our Relationship with God Is Restored, We Have Joy in Our Life with the Father and we have joy in our relationships with one another.

As with the prodigal son, reconciliation with God is a cause for joy and celebration (Lk 15:21–24). Like Paul, we can rejoice in all circumstances, even when bearing our crosses, because we are reconciled with the Father (Rom 5:11; Phil 4:4–13). The reconciled life is full of joy. We who are reconciled have been given the ministry of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:16–21). The ministry of reconciliation includes living in the joy of being reconciled, which is described in our text. It is a life of thanksgiving, trust, joy, proclamation, praise (vv 1–6).

A life disconnected is draining, exhausting. And it's not what we were created to live. Thanks be to God for the reconciliation we have in Christ Jesus, our Lord! In him we are restored to a right relationship with God and with those around us. Shout and sing for joy, O inhabitants of Zion, for you are right with God! Rejoice in the abundance of your life, for the Lord God is your strength and your song, and he has become your salvation! Amen!