Last November we started reading the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. And we’ll continue right up until Easter. I called this sermon series “Images from Isaiah,” because the prophet uses so many strong and memorable images.

If you’ve been here recently, you might remember three weeks ago when we discussed one of the strongest images, found in chapter 20. That was the chapter in which God told the prophet to walk around Jerusalem naked for 3 years! And we talked about how Isaiah was enacting the prophetic word…God was warning Jerusalem that if the people didn’t repent and trust God, they would walk naked as well, which was the garb of a slave…they would be enslaved.

Well, being the careful listeners that you are, a couple of you alerted me to a news story that came out about that same time.

“First Christianity-themed nudist resort to open in Florida!”

I’m not kidding. A Christian nudist resort! In suburban Tampa. They’re calling it “Natura.” I’m serious! The resort will cover 240 acres, have 500 homes, a hotel, a water-slide park (ouch!) and a non-denominational Christian church. Defending this rather ludicrous idea, the founder says, “There are 40 passages in the Bible that refer to nudity.” And do you know which one he gives as an example? Isaiah 20! He says “…in Isaiah 20…God tells Isaiah to go naked for three years…so there’s historical basis for a Christian nudist lifestyle.”

Amazing. But, there is a more reasonable side: Although nudity will be mandatory at the resort, attending the church services will be “clothing optional.” Just so you know, here at Bethany…we will stick with the “Clothing Mandatory” option.

Today we move into a new section of Isaiah. We’ll be reading in Isaiah 40:1-11.

I listened to a rather amazing tape that a friend sent me last week. It was a tape of a man named E.V. Hill, one of the more well-known African-American preachers of our times.

E.V. Hill was pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church in L.A…Watts…for over 40 years. He was an early colleague of Martin Luther King Jr. in the early days of the Southern Baptist Leadership Conference, and a nationally renowned speaker. He was a passionate preacher with a great booming voice. The tape I heard was from 1987, and it was the eulogy that Rev. Hill did at the funeral…of his own wife of 32 years, whom he called “Babe.” It is remarkable.

As a text on that day, E.V. Hill used the verse from Job that says,

“The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away…blessed be the name of the Lord.”

In this eulogy sermon, Rev. Hill becomes, as you might guess, very emotional. As he tells stories about his Babe, he keeps coming back to that verse from Job to say how much God had given him in his wife…and then to say that God also takes away.

He says that in the hard times, the word that came over and over from God, even as his wife was dying, was this:

Trust me.

Trust me! The Lord gives, the Lord takes away…TRUST ME! By the end of the tape, E.V. Hill is screaming so loud that you have to turn the tape down before the speaker absolutely blows out,

“Trust me! Trust me!” God says, “Trust me!”

It’s this amazing mix of a man preaching with all of his passion, and a man grieving his own loss.

It struck me as I listened…that E.V. Hill’s refrain, “Trust me!” might sum up the first 39 chapters of Isaiah, which we have been in since November. I don’t know about you, but I feel a little bit like I have been just hit over the head with the harsh prophecies of Isaiah. Thus far, there have been few pictures of a compassionate God, and lots of warnings.

Underneath it is always a desire for God’s people to return to him…but it is not at all gentle. At every turn, God seems to tell Jerusalem, “Trust me!” Not armies, not power, not alliances, not Assyria, not Egypt…but me! Trust me! Trust me! 39 chapters.

Today, in chapter 40 the tone is very different. So different, in fact, that scholars noticed years ago the abrupt change in this section of Isaiah. Many actually think that from chapter 40 on, it is actually the record of a different prophet, one whom they often call “Second Isaiah.” Many think that this section of the book, regardless of whether it is the same prophet as the first section…abruptly fast forwards over 100 years. I think this is likely.

Whether it is the same Isaiah seeing far into the future, or a different prophet addressing contemporary events, the historical setting seems different. Portions of this section now seem to be beyond the era (of chapters 1-39) when God miraculously saved Jerusalem from Assyria. Now, it seems that the lack of trust in God has played out into the natural consequences of the next century (6th BC)…when a different power, Babylon, rose to dominate the Middle East and, in fact, conquered Jerusalem, destroyed the temple that Solomon built and carried off many of the leaders and residents into captivity in Babylon.

This word comes, then, to a devastated people. Crushed. Hopes for the future gone. The sense of being under God’s special protection destroyed. Leadership transplanted to a far country. No sense of direction or of future. The permanent dwelling place of God, the temple…a heap of a million pieces of rubble.

I suspect that you have felt some of these things, at some point. Maybe right now.

When something bad happens, it feels like God disappears. You have been unemployed, and cannot find a decent job for months. Loved ones around you get cancer, or die. A spouse tells you they no longer want to be married, or it looks like no spouse will come on the radar. You feel depressed… The joy of life, the hopes and plans for the future, the sense of intimacy with God gone. God has abandoned me. And other hard questions:

• Did I do this?
• Did I drive God away?
• Where is comfort when things are painful or out of control?
• What does comfort look like?

Let me point out four features of “comfort” in this passage, some of them rather surprising.

The same God who shouted “Trust me” to deaf ears now tells Isaiah,

“Comfort, O comfort my people. Speak tenderly.”

The shouting is done. Speak tenderly…but don’t ignore reality. It’s interesting to me that the first things the tender voice says deal with sin. It’s not ignored. Speak a word of grace…by starting with the sin. That doesn’t make sense to us. We think that grace means everything wrong is called okay. No, grace means something is clearly wrong. But it’s forgiven.

Many translations say here “Her sin has been paid for,” or “she has received pardon.”

In the Old Testament law, if a thief was caught red-handed with the goods, he would be forced to pay the victim back…double. But Jerusalem is not getting what she deserved…rather, she is being pardoned.

You’ll remember four years ago, literally on his way out of office, President Clinton pardoned hundreds of criminals. Now, we may not have liked his choices on which people to pardon. But boy was it effective! People were let out of jail, or didn’t have to go…because of a single declaration that had power.

God has marked “paid in full” upon Jerusalem’s legal sentence. Comfort starts with God clearing the decks. We thought our sin had sent God far away. God’s comfort begins with pardon.

A voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare the highway. The best thing that exiled people might have hoped for was to have their feet on the road back to Jerusalem. But this is far bigger…the Lord is coming. Get the obstacles out of the way. He is coming, it shall happen. God is actually the one straightening and filling and leveling. Thank goodness Isaiah doesn’t say,

“Once you, you people, have prepared everything, straightened everything out…God will come.”

Otherwise I suspect we would be waiting forever.

Several times in recent weeks, friends have told me that they haven’t come up for communion on a Sunday. When I asked why, it was the same answer: because they have felt too far away from God…their life was too messed up. I told them I thought that was kind of ironic, because that’s exactly why I do come for communion…because sometimes I’m far from God, or my life is messed up.

Because at this table God meets us, forgives us, gives us strength and begins to straighten us out. Yes, we’ll pause before we come to confess…but we still depend on God to clear the path. If only those of us who feel great about our lives come to this table…it will be a short line this morning, I assure you. What happens at the table happens because God is at work.

The gospel writer Matthew applies this verse to John the Baptist, announcing the way of the Lord, announcing the glory of the Lord to be revealed. What does that glory look like? It looks like the Son of God, Jesus Christ. It looks like glory that will be revealed to all people. When Israel thought they were all alone, when God’s voice had been silent for several hundred years…the glory of the Lord came.

Someone once said that the Old Testament is a picture of sinful people seeking God…and that the New Testament is a picture of God seeking sinful people. If that’s true, this part of Isaiah seems to foreshadow what is to come. God comes down the highway. We thought we were all alone…yet God comes to be with us. Comfort starts with pardon…then God’s comfort says we are not alone.

“Get you up to a high mountain.”

Forgive me if I’ve told some of you this before, but I can’t read verse 9 without remembering one of the times God spoke most clearly to me. When I left the business world after 11 years, feeling that God was calling me towards ministry, I had one overriding fear…in fact it’s this, right here. Preaching.

I had experienced lots of parts of ministry, or could at least imagine myself doing things that pastors do. And I had done plenty of speaking in business settings…but not preaching. And so I found myself in the cafeteria of Princeton Seminary one morning for my quiet time, knowing that I was just days away from preaching in the chapel to the gathered students and brilliant PhD students and distinguished faculty. And I was shaking.

What did I possibly have that I could offer? Maybe I’d heard wrong about full-time ministry.

When I turned to my little devotional for the scripture for the day, it pointed me towards Isaiah 40, verse 9 & 10. It was as though God were saying to me personally,

“Here is your purpose.”

Many of the people of Israel thought their day had come and gone, that their identity as God’s chosen ones had been revoked. But here, in the midst of the darkest days, God says,

“I have a new purpose for you. I want to use you…you are still of use, of value to Me.”

Indeed, God has a new purpose for Israel…to be a light to the whole world. People will bear testimony to God’s saving this small, insignificant people. And the message of salvation will come through them in Jesus. They still have a part to play in God’s amazing scheme, in fact a far bigger part than they ever dreamed. We thought we’d been written out of the will. God’s comfort says, Do not despair. I have a purpose for your life.

Israel thought they knew God. But he was often a harsh taskmaster: demanding, fearful, mighty, distant. And indeed, with one arm -- the last part of our scripture says -- he holds power and authority, demands obedience and sometimes seems determined to change us whether we accept it or not.

But that’s not the whole story. That’s only one arm. He is also the shepherd. The good shepherd. The same arms embrace the lambs, gathering them to his bosom…literally close to his heart. He will walk slowly and take gentle care of the pregnant mothers to make sure they don’t fall.

When we lived in Minneapolis, I was driving down the street one day and saw a picture I’ve never forgotten. On the sidewalk ready to cross the street was a man I’d say was in his seventies, a white-haired grandfather. He had a grandchild by either hand, young kids I’d say who were maybe 3 and 5.

There was something about that grandfather, the gentleness with which he walked with his grandkids. He was stooped over just a bit so he could hold both their hands. He walked slowly, because the kids took little steps. As they crossed the street, he looked carefully all around to make sure they weren’t in danger. And as they crossed, you could see he was talking to them, urging them to walk a bit faster…but not wanting to drag them.

“I am the good shepherd,” Jesus says. “I lay down my life for the sake of the sheep. I know my own…and my own know me.”

We thought God was powerful and distant. God’s comfort reminds us that he holds us close to his heart.

Friends, many of us this morning have difficult situations in our lives, or in the lives of people we love. The presence of difficult things in our lives does not mean God is absent. The comfort of God does not necessarily mean the elimination of hard times. But God says to us this morning,

“I have not abandoned you.”

The words of comfort through Isaiah this morning: No matter what your circumstances,

• you are pardoned,
• God has a purpose for your life,
• God is with you…
• you are close to God’s heart.

Let’s pray.