The text this morning is from the Prophet Isaiah, the 62nd chapter:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch. The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married. For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
Begin by imagining that some force, let’s say Canada, amasses thousands of troops and tries to take over Bemidji. Makes sense, right? We’re pretty awesome. By taking over Bemidji, they have control over the area that goes between themselves and the Cities. They have good reason to take over Bemidji. But, when they get here, they don’t think the people will submit to their rule, eh? They also don’t like the layout of the place. So, they send all the people of Bemidji up to Canada to live in exile, and on top of that, they loot all our stores, all our houses, and they destroy, burn to the ground this church.
Now, we didn’t see any of that because we were already in exile. We didn’t see the devastation the Canadians caused in their oh-so-polite manner. But, 70 years later, our children and our grandchildren are finally allowed to return home by the Canadian overlords. When they get here, they see nothing but devastation, and they see this church, the place where their families were baptized, were fed, where they worshipped God in Spirit and in Truth, without roof, without walls, without any of the holy things that exist here today. And they weep. And they lament. And they begin to worry that nothing will even be the same again.
That’s what the Israelites who returned from the Babylonian exile would feel. Isaiah is telling them, ahead of time, not to fear over the destruction of their holy city, Jerusalem, nor of their temple, Zion. God, Isaiah says, will not keep silent over their destruction, He will have His vengeance, and He shall do it by making the Temple and her city even more beautiful than anyone had ever seen, had ever expected, had ever encountered.
Nations would flock to her because of her beauty. Kings would follow the brightness of her righteousness. She would stand before the world as the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen in their lives.
Imagine the comfort this must have given to the people of Israel as they surveyed the destruction. As they saw their beloved city burned to the ground, the comfort that God would provide them in the promises of beauty and light would have told them indeed that their God was with them. It would have told them their land was indeed not forsaken by God, nor was it desolate, but that it would again show itself to be the delight of God’s eye.
Sadly, however, it never got back to normal for the returning Israelites. Just as our descendants, returning from Canadian exile, would never be able to bring back this place exactly the way that it was, neither could the Israelites. The Temple they built to replace Solomon’s Temple, well, it made them weep because it was nowhere near as glorious as the first. The city itself, well, that came back, but it’d be hard to walk down the streets wondering if that dark stain you saw on the corner of the building was the blood of your grandfather as he fought away the invading hordes. It just wasn’t the same.
But God’s promises did not fail. Though the people did not see them with their eyes, that’s not how God’s promises always work. They should have seen them by faith. Just as people expected Jesus to be the kind of Messiah who would cast out the Romans and defeat the enemies of Israel, if they saw Him through the eyes of faith, they would have recognized their true Messiah. If they had heard Isaiah’s words from God with eyes and ears of faith, they would have truly begun to understand all that was going on.
Last week, Isaiah told us that God saves all who are called by His name. We know that name of God is given to us in our Baptisms, just as it was given to Zachary today. He is, as you are, now named with the name of God, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. And this week God tells us more about that name, more of what it means.
When God places His name upon you, you individually, and us as the Church, it means that you are not forsaken, but you are the one in whom God delights. You are not abandoned to your sin, you are not deserted of righteousness, but you are filled with the presence of God for He fills you with the very righteousness of Christ given to you from the cross. He cannot help but take delight in that righteousness, for it is holy and pleasing to Him. So you are holy and pleasing to Him, too, if you are in Christ. Notice Zachary is holy and pleasing, not because there’s anything that he’s done, he’s a baby, he can’t do anything, but because he has been given the gift of Christ’s righteousness. He is not forsaken, but a delight of God.
And you shall also no more be missing anyone when you have God’s name upon you; you shall not be lonely or alone. You shall be married. Luther says a good translation of this is that you shall have one who loves you. You shall be with Him. And who is this but Christ, and, through Him, all those who belong to His body? You shall not be empty, nor shall you be alone, but you shall be filled with righteousness and you shall have for company all those whom Christ has called unto Himself. Zachary is a member of that company today, and he has inherited you all as his company forever.
But God doesn’t stop at just bringing things to some kind of line where we feel sort of okay. It is not enough that our God brings us home, in this sense. It wasn’t enough that the Israelites went back to Jerusalem. That’s not where God stops. He doesn’t just bring you to a place and then abandon you. Instead, God brings you to the place, even this place, this church, this congregation, and here builds you up into something more beautiful than the Temple of Solomon. He builds you into something that attracts the nations and the kings, for your righteousness, the righteousness He gives you, shines forth bright as a burning torch.
But, have you ever wondered why we’re beautiful? Have you wondered why it is that Christ decides to make us a light in the darkness or a city on a hill? Have you wondered what that all looks like?
Again, Isaiah says nations would flock to her because of her beauty. Kings would follow the brightness of her righteousness. She would stand before the world as the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen in their lives.
But we know that it is not truly we who are the beacons of light, but it is the Light that is in us that beckons to those who need it. Yet, that Light, that Jesus, doesn’t appear as so many other lights do. In fact, though He is indeed high and lifted up for all to see, He is bloodied and beaten and bruised. His light is purple bruising, black scars, and crimson blood. This is the Light of the World, this is the Light that no darkness can overcome, this is the Light that the darkness cannot understand.
How does it make sense that Light is a broken and bleeding man? How does it make sense that salvation comes through the death of one who was sinless? How does it make sense that by this heinous act of murder, light and righteousness and glory would come to you?
It doesn’t, but that’s how God works. What we see on the cross, as Paul tells us, is gruesome, and if we only see it with our eyes, it doesn’t look like anything of what we should want. But, in truth, by the eyes of faith, we find the cross of Christ as the most beautiful thing in the world. We find the cross of Christ as the only place righteousness lives. We find the cross of Christ glorious.
Nations would flock to the cross of Christ because of its beauty. Kings would follow the brightness of His righteousness. He would stand before the world as the most beautiful thing anyone had ever seen in their lives.
But, remember, it doesn’t look like what we should expect. Neither then does our light. Neither then do our actions. Though we are called by the most beautiful name any could imagine, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, people don’t see that, they see us, in our flesh, just the way we look today. Why then should people flock to this righteousness that is in us?
Because the power of God is still there. He has redeemed you, He has saved you, He has declared you to be righteous in His death, you have been forgiven. And because you have been forgiven, because you have been freed by the blood of Christ, you then may forgive others. You may live as if there is nothing anyone can do wrong to you. And as you live forgiven in Christ, you forgive others their great sins and beg forgiveness from them, too.
In this, it’s true that none may understand. It’s true that none may comprehend. But it’s also true that none will overcome it. If you forgive others all the time, and if you are always apologetic for the sins you commit, none can hold anything against you. More than that, it is the burning light that goes forward from the Baptismal font, from the cross of Christ, and all the nations shall see it. What happened to Zachary today, this is glory, it is the glory of Christ and it is the glory of Christ in you. And when we all do this as the Church in Christ, we are all together, not alone, not desolate, not forsaken. We are in Christ and we are always together in Christ.
It doesn’t matter what happens in this life. The nation could self-destruct. Our family may fall apart. Someone may do something heinous to you. All these things are terrible but they are sharing in the suffering of Christ. When this happens, His glory shines even more fully through us for He has borne it all for your sake. Your suffering, even should you do it silently, is not separating you from God, but bringing you closer to Him. You have the name of God put upon you, you are called by His name, and when you suffer, He comes even closer to you, to comfort you, and ultimately to bring you to where He is.
While we breathe, where Jesus is is here, in this place, with your brothers and sisters of the faith. And when we cease to breathe, He brings us to Himself in heaven to await His second coming. And when He comes again, we will rise from the dead, always to be with Him, for we have His name on us, and His name cannot, will not be kept in the grave. His delight is in you, friends, and you shall always have the one who loves you, no matter what may come, no matter what suffering you endure. 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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