ADVENT SERMON SERIES:                      

                 The Coming Messiah:

                   Hear the Good News

 

                         

                                       Zephaniah 3:14-20 and Isaiah 61:1-11

 

   Pastor Robyn Hogue                 December 13, 2015          Skyline Presbyterian Church

 

 

Isaiah the prophet understood the good news/bad news concept. For a while it seemed that everything was bad news. The people of Judah had lived with bad news for so long that they wondered if there would ever be any good news. Suddenly, the prophet brings those who have been beaten down good news. This good news overcame all of the bad news which had been in place for so long. In words that bolster and strengthen, the prophet gives words of promise and deliverance. The people had confessed their inability to save themselves. God had intervened with grace and power and brought redemption and the reaffirmation of his everlasting covenant. 

The prophet’s good news is so good that the people know that the bad news has ended. This “good news” of the prophet Isaiah is also “good news” for the Church during Advent. The prophet announces to the people that ...

There Is Good News in Judah 

The weary exiles had finally come home. As they glanced at the piles of rubble of their once-elegant city, all they could think of was what had been lost. Babylon and exile seemed in the far distant past. As they looked at the ashes of their holy city, as they stood in the midst of devastation, they grieved and mourned for a glory that was lost. 

From out of nowhere, a prophet appeared on the scene in Judah with news -- good news from God. This prophet was certain that he had been sent and joyfully announced: “The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners” (61:1). 

The message of the prophet is simple, startling Good News! It is this: “God is faithful to His word and His promise. He keeps the covenant He makes. But there is more, much more; God is a God of salvation who brings relief and comfort to His people.” 

The prophet wants the returning exiles to understand that their cities will be restored, and they will be compensated for their loss. 

These people, so beaten down, needed to be freed from their fears and have the joy of living restored. When we look at this lesson for the Third Sunday of Advent, it is as if we are seeing a woman dressed for a funeral. The symbol of ashes, the sound of weeping, and a faint spirit are apt descriptions of those in mourning. Judah suffered these symptoms because the people had lost all hope and felt they were doomed to death. 

This lady who has received a death notice and is dressed for a funeral receives a message that a mistake has been made. Instead of receiving a death notice, she should have received an invitation to a wedding. What does this person do? Immediately, she washes the ashes of mourning from her face, changes from funeral clothes to clothing appropriate for a wedding, and then decorates her hair with a garland of flowers. The ashes of death have given way to a crown of joy. 

The prophet Isaiah envisions this change of Jerusalem as a bride preparing for her wedding, making ready with a blush on her cheeks, singing, humming, smiling, and laughing. The wedding dress of Jerusalem is the “garment of praise” which symbolizes the transformation of character. Jerusalem is now a beautiful bride dressed for her wedding and not a sad mourner headed to a funeral. 

Something has happened to the people of God. They have been given a new name and a new status. The new name will remind them that they now have a new identity which will offer them potential. They are now large trees with deep roots for the purpose of displaying God’s glory. 

The people will now be able to repossess the land that was destroyed and taken from them. All of their ruin and brokenness will be restored. 

We have in these scriptures a picture of the hope of Advent. God will keep His word. Our Redeemer will come and take away the funeral dirge from our lips. In its place He will give us a song of praise. Too many people are living dressed in the garment of death, but the good news of Advent is that there is One coming who will give us “life and that more abundantly.” 

The Good News over in Judah is the Good News of Advent, for you and for me. Not only was there Good News over in Judah, but Advent reminds us that ...

There Was Good News in Nazareth 

Before the coming of Jesus Christ there was not a lot of joy in the world or in Nazareth. Poverty, slavery, superstition, and fear ruled the lives of people. They were dominated and controlled by a foreign power. There was no hope. God seemed remote and distant from the scene. One day a young man thirty years of age, a Jewish craftsman and the son of a craftsman in Nazareth, a despised village in a despised district, stood in a Sabbath service in the synagogue and was handed the Isaiah scroll to read. He read a portion of this lesson. To everyone’s amazement, when He finished, He stated: “Today this scripture is fulfilled!” Who would have thought that God would appear in Nazareth, of all places? Who would have thought God would come down to dirty old Nazareth? 

They didn’t rejoice or celebrate when Jesus made that claim in Nazareth. He was just a hometown boy. Their response was to rush Him out of the service and try to throw Him off a cliff. The people of Nazareth were scandalized by the offer of unlimited grace and therefore did not receive the “good news.” Jesus, the Son of God, was there in Nazareth! Salvation day had dawned, and God’s promises were fulfilled. It was the dawning of a new day; a new age had started. 

Advent is advance notice that our God is coming. The “good news” which was rejected down in Nazareth is now available to you and to me. Today, this day, the scripture is once again fulfilled in our hearing. 

Yes, there was good news down in Nazareth, and there’s more good news…   

The Good News Is Our News 

God is breaking through. In the person of Jesus who is the hope of Advent, God is coming to where there is sorrow, sin, and guilt. Advent anticipates Jesus coming to meet us in our despair, sin, guilt, and death with the good news of forgiveness. This lesson reminds us that He will come to us when everything seems wrong, and we are wringing our hands in despair wondering if it will ever be right again. The great message of Advent is that when we are down, sick, and depleted, “Jesus is coming.” We should not fear; He will make all the difference. 

The story is told by Ian Macpherson of a tourist in Switzerland who spotted a beautiful mansion on the shore of a lovely lake. The tourist was deeply impressed by the large and well-manicured garden in which the mansion was set. Not a weed was to be seen anywhere. As the tourist was admiring the garden, he spotted one of the staff, the curator, and began to praise its beauty and order. He asked the curator, “How long have you worked here?” 

 “Twenty years,” was the reply. In the ensuing conversation, it was disclosed that the owner of the mansion was absent most of the time.
“How often has the owner been in residence during your twenty years of service?” 
“Four times,” replied the curator. 
The visitor was amazed. “To think,” he exclaimed, “that for all these years you have kept this mansion and garden in such superb condition! Why, you look after them just as if you expected your master to come tomorrow!” 
“No,” corrected the curator, “I look after things as if I expected my master to come today!” 

 

This is a picture of Advent people. They live each day as if the Savior is coming.

Advent is like the preparation for a wedding. There is the moment of great expectation as the marriage partners await for each other. For Isaiah it is a picture of both the bride and the bridegroom clothed in special garments, which are the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness. This is the same spirit of excitement that God wants His church to have at Advent, for God wants “praise to spring up before all nations.” 

There is good news over in Judah, good news down in Nazareth, and this good news if for you and me. We are now the good news bearers to those around us this Advent.