The text this morning is from the Prophet Isaiah, the 61st chapter:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.Thus far the text.
For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Their offspring shall be known among the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the peoples; all who see them shall acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.
My dear friends in Christ,
In today’s Old Testament text, we have a beautiful picture of the Christ who is to come. We have here the Christ who has been anointed in order that He would bring good news to the poor. Now, that doesn’t mean that the poor are going to get rich; in fact, that’s the wrong understanding of the word “poor.”
The word “poor” has the same meaning as it did in the Sermon on the Mount, poor in spirit, those who are downtrodden and understand their place before their Holy Creator, that they are sinners who are in need of forgiveness, life, and salvation. And so the Good News to them is that they have it in Jesus Christ! Christ has bled and died for them so that they would be with their Savior God forever.
We also hear that Christ will come to bind up the brokenhearted. Here, this word means that their hearts are shattered, broken into pieces, jars of clay that have been thrown down to the earth, crushed, and destroyed, never to be made whole again. Yet, the Lord will come with healing in His wings, He will take the crimson-stained linen burial shroud and wrap it around those who are shattered by this world, making them whole again in His blood.
And we hear, too, that He proclaims liberty to the captives. For Isaiah, this was literal, that Isaiah the prophet had been anointed to proclaim that captive Israel, taken into the Babylonian captivity, cut off from Jerusalem and the Temple of God, would one day be freed and would return home. And for our Christ, this is literally His freedom, proclaimed to us, who are held captive to sin, that we will serve sin, our master, no longer, but are freed in Him who had no sin.
And we hear of the Lord’s favor, the year of the Lord’s favor, the time when our Lord will declare in His Supper the New Testament in His blood, which pleads to His Father for reconciliation with humanity, for the life of Christ is in the blood. This is indeed a day of vengeance of our God, for God, being holy, cannot abide sin to stand before Him, so sin must die. Sin must be destroyed and all the vessels which carry it. God will have His recompense over the sin of Adam and Eve and so must destroy humanity. Yet, it was also in His plan to have mercy upon humanity, for He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to become sin, and there upon sin itself, in the person of Jesus Christ, pour out His wrath.
We who would mourn over our fate, we sinners before an angry, wrath-filled God, yet will be comforted in this divine act of vengeance. For we see the end of God’s wrath on Jesus Christ. God has wrath, it is part of His action, for the very purpose of pouring it upon Christ, and not His created beings. So, when we see Jesus die, we know God’s wrath is done, it is finished.
And because of our Lord’s sacrifice upon that tree, we receive the headdress of Baptism, washing our foreheads with the water and the Word. This is the idea in Paul’s encouragement to run the race that is set before us, winning the prize, the prize of eternal life, the garland, the headdress, that shows us to be standing victorious, in first place. This is nothing but our Baptism.
And the oil of gladness, the richness of God’s grace, that makes us sparkle and shine, is our sanctification, our being made holy. Having been washed in the waters of Baptism, our Lord continues to make us holy in Christ’s name as we love and serve our neighbor. And every good work that is done in the freedom of Christ as we fulfill our vocations makes us more and more like Jesus, giving to us the sparkle and shine of His transfigurating light.
And the garment of praise, we who have washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, this is our alb, our robe, that we may wear. The garment of Christ we receive in our Baptism, we wear through our lives, it covers our casket at our funeral, this is the garment of praise. This shows us to be His, for we are in white, having been freed from the stain of sin.
This is all, then, the picture of Christ, His work, His action, to make us like Himself, to bring us to wherever He is, whether in heaven, before the Last Day, or here on earth when He appears. This is why this is an Advent text. For what happens?
They shall build up ancient ruins, raise up those things that have been devastated, repair the ruined cities. This is a picture of the Resurrection. For Isaiah, again, this is literal. Israel, coming home from captivity will have to rebuild their nation, put their backs into it, and, ultimately, make it ready for the Messiah who is to come. But, we, having been freed from the captivity of sin, having been welcomed into eternal life, and inheriting with Christ the new heavens and the new earth, we are invited to be as we once were: co-creators with God.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And so He will do once again. But, as Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful and multiply, thus co-creating humanity under the authority and blessing of God, so, too, may we be invited to work on this earth Christ has recreated in His perfection, in His righteousness. There, we will be with Christ, working where we will not toil, planting and yet not being tired, we shall neither hunger nor thirst, scorching wind nor sun will strike us, for God will make all things obey under the dominion of His kingdom.
And why? Because the Lord loves justice. You see, He has already poured out His wrath upon sinners in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ took the full brunt of the hit. Imagine a castle with boiling oil at its gate, and our Lord, the general of the army, leads the charge against the kingdom of God. But He holds all the army back so that all of the oil, the wrath of God, is poured out on Him. In this way, because He took the hit, we are invited to come to the kingdom, whose doors have swung open wide, so that we need not fear any arrow, nor assault, but are welcomed in on Christ’s behalf.
God loves justice, and if all His wrath is poured out on Christ, there is nothing left for us. All of our sin, paid for by the blood of Christ, no longer keeps us away from our Father. We find, instead, that Christ Himself is the very image of God, being with His creation, so we are always near God, pleading His blood, so that we know we are God’s good, saved creatures, not by our work, but by Christ’s work alone. This is the covenant Jesus makes, the New Testament in His blood, that being washed, and eating and drinking, our Lord’s blood makes us holy to enter into eternal life with God.
There, our righteous God will be made known to all people, for every knee shall bow at the name of Jesus. Our children and our families of faith, there will they be lifted up among the nations, and all will see that we, and they, are children of the Lord, the offspring of Abraham, the brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ.
And what? What then? For this we will greatly rejoice. Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgments against you. Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory!
There we see the garments of salvation, the robes of righteousness, and we see Christ, decked out like a groom on His wedding day, ready to marry forever, no more the prostitute, but His beautiful bride, His Church. For God has caused righteousness and praise to sprout up in His Church, before all the nations.
All this is a picture of this Last Day, the day that we are preparing for, especially in the Advent season, the day that our Lord Jesus Christ returns to stand as judge before all men. Those who strive for their own righteousness, outside of Christ, will know nothing but fear on this last, great, and dreadful day of the Lord. But those in Him, you, you who are washed in the blood of the Lamb, you who hear His Word and love it, you who eat and drink the Lord’s body and blood, you will rise up out of your graves, and you shall stand before the judgment seat of God, and you will be counted righteous for Christ’s sake. You shall be given the seat of honor in the kingdom of God, and you will be with your Lord forever.
Have no fear, little flock. The Lord, strong and mighty, is yours now and forever. Have no fear, you who are poor, you who are brokenhearted, you who are captive to sin. The year of the Lord’s favor is here, and He has had favor on you, His beloved. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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