After Pentecost
Isaiah 35:4–7a
4Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
You are an oppressed people. In the historical situation of our text, Judah was oppressed by Edom. Now today, you are being oppressed too. Oh, you don't think you are. After all, we are Americans. The land of the free. The land of the brave. This nation of ours was built on the principles of freedom and liberty, where all men are created equal. No one has the right to rule unless chosen by the people. No one is above the law. During this election season we are reminded of our founding principles more than ever, especially if you were listening to any of the speeches at the conventions this past two weeks.
But in spite of all the talk, the hype, the enthusiasm, the lofty and uplifting speeches, there is a sense deeper down inside you that all is not right. There is an inner anxiety. There is uncertainty and fear regarding the future. We have anxious hearts! It is to us that God is speaking in our text this morning from Isaiah. "Say to those who have an anxious heart..." That's you.
But who is the oppressor? Who is your greatest enemy? It's not the Democrats. It's not the Republicans. It's not the economy. It's not even terrorism, or global warming, or fossil fuels. The one who oppresses you, keeps you in bondage is inside you. It's your own attitudes and thoughts. It's your own flesh and blood. Your real enemy is yourself, your sin and death. The cause of death is your own personal sin. It's your sinful nature. It's not even the sins you do. Perhaps you don't think you even have any sins. Doesn't make any difference! It's not the things you do, it's the sinful corruption of human nature. It's what you are that counts. And what you are is a sinful human on the highway to death and hell. In the end you will die. There is no way you can escape it. There is no way you can get out of it. Now if that doesn't depress you, nothing will.
So let's take a look at death. Death reigns in this world because this world is Satan's kingdom. When Satan was cast out of heaven, he was cast into the world. God has called him, "The prince of the power of the air." Jesus called him, "The ruler of the world." St. Paul says, "...the god of this world, Satan, has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel..." ( II Cor 4:4). Satan's kingdom is a kingdom of death and darkness.
Death raises its head in our lives every day. You can feel its grip on you every time you are sick, have a cold, a headache, or a pain. It is a sign that death reigns and that you are dying. As you get older and your body starts slowing down, it gets harder to do things, harder to see, harder to hear, harder to walk and move about. That is death at your door. Every time you see a flower wilt, the grass turn brown from drought, the trees toppled from a storm, or the furnace break down and needing repair, that is just another evidence that death reigns. Every time you see a broken family, a divorce, children in a one parent home, toppled and messed up lives from irresponsible living, it is evidence of the rule of death. Death is going to be the end of everyone of you, the end of all things living, and even of all things manufactured by man as they will all wear out and come to an end. Nothing escapes the clutches of death.
And so we have every right to be anxious and depressed. But the greatest sign of death inside you is the lack of love you have for others. The selfishness, the self-centeredness, the stubbornness, the pride. There is no greater death than this. From out of your sinful human nature, your heart, comes death. Every time you wound or offend someone. Every time you are proud and treat someone arrogantly. Every time you refuse to share your blessings with someone else in need. Every time you show partiality to someone and discriminate against someone else, as James tells us in the Epistle: "Show no partiality." "Make no distinctions among yourselves." When we open the doors of the church to our friends but close them to others, outsiders, the poor, the lame, the handicapped we are making distinctions and showing partiality. God tells us, "If you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors....What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?" No it can't! Faith without love for your neighbor is a dead faith.
Yes, you have every right to be anxious. Anxious about your failure to love others. Anxious about the hurts, the wounds, the pain you have caused others. Anxious about the scars you have left on the lives of the ones you love, in your family, among your friends. Anxious about the injustice you have caused to others. The times you were angry, when you said cruel things. When you pointed fingers of blame. When you refused to forgive and reconcile friendships.
Yes, these things should make you anxious. For you have caused injustice, you have caused hurt and pain, you have left scars everywhere you have turned. You are oppressed by sin, death, and Satan. And by them you have become the oppressor. Just as Edom was the oppressor of Judah in the historical context of our text. You have caused harm. Remember Zacchaeus, the short, little man who climbed a Sycamore tree to see Jesus, he had caused damage to numerous people. But when he came to faith in Christ he repaid fourfold what he had stolen or defrauded. He tried to make restitution. He recompensed the harm he had done. But sometimes the hurts and pain we cause to others cannot be undone. No amount can undo the damage or remove the scars left by our unloving words or deeds. Then what do we do?
God speaks to us today who are anxious, anxious about the death that oppresses us, anxious about the injustice we have caused. And to us God says, "Be strong; fear not!" This is a word of comfort; a word of hope. Yes, you have messed up. Yes, you have been oppressed by Satan, by sin, and by death; but be strong, fear not! God will come with vengeance! God will come to recompense! God will come to save! He will set things right. The wounds and hurts you have caused, He will heal. The scars left by your unloving words and deeds, he will erase. He will set to rights your deeds of injustice. And he will pay you back for all the harm and injustice you have caused. He will come with vengeance to avenge your sins. It's payback time!
But be strong; fear not! Because your sins have been paid for by God's Son. God did come; God did avenge your sins. Payback time was when Jesus hung on the cross and died. Jesus is the recompense of God. Jesus came and saved you from God's wrath; from God's vengeance. So to those who are anxious about their sin and the injustice they have caused. To those who are anxious about death and the judgment that is coming, God is telling you: "be strong; fear not!" God's Son has paid back all your offenses and sins. God's Son suffered death in order to replace your death with life. God's own Son is setting to rights all the injustice you have done. Perhaps you cannot pay back fourfold what you have taken from others, but Jesus did. He did and he will continue to payback what you have stolen from God and from others. God will recompense the injured parties. He will come and save you from your own sin.
He has delivered you out of the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan. He has opened the eyes of the blind and is opening them. Every time the gospel is preached, and the Word of God told, God is opening the eyes of the blind. Every time a baby is baptized and a believer receives the precious body and blood of Christ, God is unstopping the ears of the deaf and the tongues of the mute. Jesus, God's very own Son will do these things. That is what we heard about in the Gospel reading when he unstopped the ears and loosened the tongue of a man. And when Jesus comes again on the Last Day, the eyes of all God's elect shall be opened. God has come to save you, he comes to save you still today and every day, and he will come on the last day to make it all compete and bring to fruition all that he has begun in you. "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Phil 1:6).
So be strong. Fear not! You are a work in progress. Because of the cross of Jesus, your anxiety shall be wiped away. The wrong you have caused will be set right. Injustice will be turned to justice. All the damages will be paid for by Jesus. As we sang in the Psalm, God "executes justice for the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry and sets the prisoners free and opens the eyes of the blind and lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves righteousness. Yes, he watches over the foreigners living among you; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin. The Lord will reign forever." (Ps 146:7-9).
The lame man shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. When Jesus healed the deaf and mute man, they people could not stop telling about it. Even when Jesus said to keep it quiet, they could not contain themselves for their joy. They sang out the news to all the world. When the Lord comes with vengeance and repays the evil and saves his people, there will be singing and dancing for joy. The same joy shall fill your heart as when the waters break forth in the wilderness and streams flow in the desert. The joy of the burning sand when it becomes a pool of water and the grass grows like reeds and rushes.
Say to those who have an anxious heart. Announce it to all the world. Sing out the joyful message to everyone: "Be strong; fear not! Behold your God will come and save you." Amen.