Advent 3:2. 16 December 2013

image by ivanmarn

by Jason Lowe

The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
say to those with fearful hearts,
"Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you."
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
No lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35:1-10

The promise in this verse is first to the Jews, exiled from the Promised Land, imprisoned under pagan rule. Yet its fulfillment has not yet come to pass, and (as is made clear from the whole of scripture) the promise will be universally fulfilled to all the nations of the world. As the Israelites were held captive by the enemies of Nebuchadnezzar, under the oppression of the Chaldean Empire, so all the nations of the world are currently held captive by Satan, under the oppression of sin and death. As YHWH promised to rescue the Israelites, so he promises to rescue a remnant of people from every tribe, nation and tongue. Just as the Israelites had the hope of the Promised Land, so we believers have the hope of the new Promised Land---the new heavens and the new earth---the entire universe resurrected as a fat and glowing paradise. This can be seen in Isaiah's personification of the inanimate nature joining in the joy of God's people.

As the "whole creation groans and travails...being subjected to decay" (Rom 8:19-23), so every tree and creature will be freed at the resurrection and will, in a sense, join in the celebration of the great goodness of God to man. The earth, and physical matter altogether, are often underappreciated, even in Christianity. The meaning of the flesh and the spirit are often misunderstood to mean the material and the immaterial, leading for a disdain of God's good creation, and a hope in some ethereal, immaterial heaven, as if God and his creation are enemies; as if the Devil created our bodies, food, birds or stars. Yet the scriptures place the creation as the very thing which reveals the goodness of God. That was the plan in the Garden of Eden. It's still that way, to a lesser degree. And that's how it will be in the new heavens and earth under Messiah's reign.

We may not realize it, and we often don't, but God is screaming his goodness and glory to us in everything around us. We often don't think of it but we are supposed to enjoy the world. We were designed to enjoy and give thanks for the pleasures of food, relationships, rest, work, and the fruit of our labor---that's why we're told to always give thanks and praise, because we're always to be enjoying God's goodness. If we can enjoy God's goodness through a creation that is under bondage to decay, how much more will we see and taste the glory of the Lord in the resurrection! We "will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown our heads. Gladness and joy will overtake us, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."

Take some time to consider the following. Perhaps it would be helpful to record your responses in a journal.

If this thinking permeated our thoughts, we may have the joy and worship, with the thanks and praise it produces, that we were designed to have. So as you look through the windows of your senses into the world of colors and shapes, people and ideas, what ways can you see God's goodness? God's faithfulness is seen in the perpetual rising of the sun, and his compassion is seen in the coat of fur on animals. What other characteristics of God's heart and mind can you see by looking at what he has created? Every detail reveals something! Perhaps you can make a list of the ways God's goodness is evident in your life.

Here is a prayer in response to today's text. You can pray this as your own or use it as a prompt for a spontaneous prayer.

The Crafter of the galaxies, the Inventor of our minds, thank you for giving us life. Thank you for sewing our tissues together when we were in the womb. Thank you for all the thousands of ways that your kindness, power, and generosity are shouted by what you have made. Thank you for revealing your glory in all that you have made. Please give us eyes to see that we are at all times swimming in a deep ocean of your goodness. And lead us to be what you made us for: a people who enjoy you and reflect you in our character. Reveal yourself to us, and thereby transform us more into your likeness.