Sermons

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Rejoice!
December 12, 1999
Rick Hudson
Isaiah 61           

The man was a prisoner for years in a dark dungeon. He had almost no human contact besides the jailers. He had been put there as a teen and, now in his mid-20’s, he still didn’t even know why he was there. He longed for freedom. What made it worse was that an iron mask was locked around his head. This mysterious situation is found in The Man in the Iron Mask the last of the Alexandre Dumas stories about the Three Musketeers. There are at least three movie versions of the story, including one last year.

The prisoner, it turns out, was the twin of the French king and had been thrown into the Bastille to keep him from competing for the throne. It was a secret known by only 3 or 4 people and the iron mask kept anyone from seeing his face and suspecting the truth. Not even the prisoner suspected his own identity because from his birth up until the time he was put in prison he had been sequestered in a country house with a couple of caretakers, who were then killed.

One of the Musketeers had known the secret from the beginning and involved his fellow Musketeers in a daring plan to secretly take the prisoner out of his dungeon. Of course, they succeed, after all they are the Three Musketeers. Now put yourself in the place of the prisoner. Imagine what it would have felt like for rescuers to lead you out through the dungeon door you had not passed through since you entered 10 years earlier. After years of having only the dungeon ceiling above you, imagine finding yourself out under the starry night sky. Then in a safe place, your rescuers remove the iron mask that has enclosed your head for so many years. How do you think you would feel? The Musketeers don’t stop with releasing him. They tell him who he really is, give him new clothes, and begin working to restore him to his royal position.

Our story this morning is that story…only better. It’s a story that repeats itself in different contexts and gets better and better. We see the story in the context of chapter 61 of Isaiah. The Israelites are in captivity in a foreign land. Most of them were born in captivity since it has been 70 years since the Babylonians transplanted much of the population to Babylon. The historical context of Isaiah 61 centers around this time of release from the Babylonian Captivity, return to Israel and Jerusalem, and restoration to their rightful place.

Many prophecies and Biblical stories have more than one layer as Jeff reminded us last week. About 10 years ago I had the privilege of visiting Israel with a group of folks. As we visited different places we soon learned that we had to pay a lot of attention to what layer we were looking at or hearing about from our teacher. He would tell us something and I’d have to think “What context is that in? The time of Abraham? David? New Testament? Contemporary?.

Isaiah 61 has many layers to it. God addresses the Israelites in the context of the Babylonian Captivity and their rescue. God simultaneously communicates about a time to come a few hundred years later when the Messiah would arrive. Jesus left no doubt in Luke 4 that this prophecy refers to Him when he read the first few lines of Isaiah 61 and then said, “this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”. Another layer of Isaiah 61 concerns eternity.

Today we’re looking at this passage in the context of celebrating Advent. Advent is one of those times in the year (such as Lent and Holy Week) when we focus on what God has done in the past, in order to worship and experience God more fully in the present, and look with hope and expectation to the future. Specifically Advent, which means an “arrival” or “start”, helps us remember that God, in the person of Jesus, came to live on earth as a human. During Advent we almost pretend that Jesus hasn’t come yet so that we can experience again the sense of longing and expectation of his arrival, His advent, 2000 years ago. A second reason to celebrate Advent is that we may realize our continuing need for the arrival of Jesus into places in our lives and our world in the present. Thirdly, in Advent we remember and experience the longing and expectation that Jesus is coming again in the future.

In the first 2 weeks of Advent we have kept the past, present, and future aspects of Advent in mind. The first week theme was of longing for a messiah, for God to meet us in our need. Last week we focused on God’s comfort for us in the midst of our suffering and waiting. Today we move to joy and expectation as we focus on God’s promises of freedom and joy in the person of a savior, a deliverer.

Let’s walk through this passage of promise together. I encourage you to look for God’s amazing love in what He has done in the past, in what he is doing now, and in what He will do in the future. I want to point us to some key words that will give us some handles to hang onto. Each of these words starts with “re-”.

The first word is the only one not found in Isaiah 61 because it occurs prior to the context of this passage, but it helps us understand it. That word is rejected. In Leviticus 26, among other Scriptures, God warned His people that if they rejected Him he would remove them from the promised land for a period of time. 2 Kings 17 tells us what happened.

2 Kings 17

... they ... did not trust in the Lord their God. 15They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their fathers and the warnings he had given them. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do,” and they did the things the Lord had forbidden them to do. 16They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshipped Baal. 17They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.

23… So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile….

The Israelites were in captivity because they rejected God and His laws. They were in captivity in a foreign land. So, too, we are captive to our sin and are prisoners of darkness when we reject God. We don’t usually set out to do that. As we see reflected in many stories in Scripture, the rejection of God and His ways often begins in small, seemingly insignificant, steps and decisions away from God. Rejection of God resulted in captivity for the Israelites and it can still result in some form of captivity for us. If we reject God entirely we are captive to death. If we reject God in particular areas of our lives it can result in bondage to sin and other dark consequences.

Into this dark dungeon steps a deliverer whose words are given voice at the beginning of Isaiah 61 as he proclaims release to those inside:

"The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.<
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,"

To the captives in Babylon this promise meant political release from Babylon and freedom to return to Israel & Jerusalem. It meant they would no longer be under the tyranny and control of these enemies that had controlled their lives for decades.

When Christ came in the flesh it meant personal freedom as He released people from blindness, paralysis, leprosy, hunger, ignorance, the tyranny of legalism. When He died on a cross and rose from the dead it meant spiritual freedom as he released from sin and from death all those who believed. It meant release from the power of sin that so easily entangles us, and from the spiritual death that results from our sin.

The passage indicates that this deliverer was sent for specific types of people. For the poor, economic or spiritual. For the brokenhearted, for captives and prisoners, for those who mourn and grieve, for those with a spirit of despair. The promise of release is not much good to those who don’t realize they are prisoners, or who have become comfortable in their dank, dark dungeon and are unwilling or afraid to be set free. The man in the iron mask was at first uncertain whether to accept the offer of freedom, but in the end he embraced the offer of deliverance. We also need to recognize our need for deliverance. Where do you need Jesus to enter in and release you?

We rejected God, he comes to release us. Our third word is actually three: rebuild, restore, and renew. After the Musketeers arrange the prisoner’s escape they don’t leave him alone but help him to be restored to his proper place. In verse 4 of Isaiah 61 God promises that his people will not just be released from captivity but that:

4They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.

The armies that had defeated Israel destroyed cities, towns, and even the Temple. The Israelites were returning not to houses and cities but to piles of rubble. God promised that they would be able to rebuild, restore, and renew what had been destroyed. The Promised Land, Jerusalem, and, most specifically, the Temple, was the place God had given the Israelites to worship Him and to live in relationship with Him. This place where they were at home with Him was to be rebuilt.

The consequences of sin in our lives result in places of destruction in us. God promises us as he releases us from captivity that he will also help us to rebuild, renew, and restore our relationship with him. He promises to rebuild, restore, and renew the places of brokeness in our lives. Jerusalem and the Temple were rebuilt, but it’s important to note that it took decades. God’s time schedule is usually not the same as ours. We need patience and trust when He moves more slowly that we’d like. We need courage and trust when He wants to move faster than we’d like.

Not only does he rebuild the broken places but then he promises that we will receive much more.

7Instead of their shame
my people will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
they will rejoice in their inheritance;
and so they will inherit a double portion in their land,
and everlasting joy will be theirs.
8"For I, the Lord, love justice;
I hate robbery and iniquity.
In my faithfulness I will reward them
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the Lord has blessed."

I’ve been to a couple Fan Appreciation nights at Mariner games. At the end of every inning they give away several prizes based on what seat you’re in. They announce the prize and then the winning seat number. After a few of those each inning the announcer gives previews of prizes to be given away in later innings. After naming a few prizes he says “We’ll be giving away these prizes and much, much more”. By the last couple innings the whole crowd is chanting with the announcer: “and much, much more”.

I think that is what God is telling us here. He gives several wonderful promises and then tells us that in the future there will be much, much more. Instead of the shame about being captive or about sin, God’s people will receive a double portion of what he wants to give; instead of being disgraced they will receive grace and an inheritance to rejoice over. Because of God’s favor, through the Christ, God’s people will not receive punishment but a reward, he will make an everlasting covenant with them. God promises all these things, and much, much more. It will be so obvious, says the last verse, that all who see God’s people will acknowledge that they are truly blessed.

Our rejection of God and his ways results in captivity. But in His faithfulness God comes to release us. He then rebuilds, restores, and renews us and our relationship with him. In that restored relationship we receive more and more from God. We can’t help but respond with Isaiah:

10I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11For as the soil makes the sprout come up
and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord
will make righteousness and praise
spring up before all nations.

Rejoice!!

The man in the iron mask went from wearing prison rags to wearing the royal robes of a king. God promises to remove the garments of despair and darkness and mourning and to clothe us with the white garments of salvation and the royal robe of righteousness.

As you reflect on your life where have you seen God enter your life to release you from some dark place? How has he rebuilt, renewed, and restored you? What amazing things have you received from Him?

Rejoice!! Celebrate what God has done, how He has shown his faithfulness throughout history. Celebrate how he has shown his faithfulness to you and to us! Celebrate the coming of our deliverer, Jesus, the Son of God, our King.

As you look at your life today is there some way that you are rejecting God? Is there any darkness, any area of captivity where you need Jesus to come to bring about release and freedom? What needs to be rebuilt, restored, renewed? Are you open to receive all that he wants to give?

Rejoice!! Celebrate what God is doing, releasing captives from their sin, restoring their relationship with God through this Jesus whose arrival we celebrate. Celebrate the ways God is working in you and in us in the present, how he forgives, and renews us.

Rejoice!! Celebrate what God will do in the future, that Jesus will come again, promising to reward us, promising that we will receive a double portion, promising that we will receive salvation, promising that we will receive everlasting joy

Rejoice!!