Lift up your Voice with Strength

"Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid. . .” (Isaiah 40:1-2)                                                                                                                        

Five hundred and thirty-eight years (give or take a year or two) before John the Baptist “proclaimed the way of the Lord in the wilderness,” the unknown prophet we call “Second Isaiah” proclaimed the restoration of Israel from captivity in Babylon.

 

        The Prophet cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

 

The prophecy continues, “All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’ See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.” (Isaiah 40:6-11)

 

The pastoral imagery of God lovingly feeding and gently leading his people must have been a comfort to people returning to the unknown after sixty years as strangers in a foreign land. Truly this prophecy represents the restoration of Israel after her long exile. The people will be allowed to go back home, to restore and rebuild the city of Jerusalem and their Temple. They will rebuild their identity as a people in relationship to one another and to their God.

 

Over five hundred years later Mark records John the Baptist using similar words and actions to proclaim the Advent of Jesus and God’s continuing love and desire to and lead us as a Good Shepherd.

 

“’The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.’ As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;’ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’” (Mark 1:1-3, 7-8)

 

Both of these events, as well as many in between reveal God’s glory, reveal God’s love and care for God’s people. As we know from the Bible, ‘bad things happen to good people.’ These two powerful events demonstrate God’s love for all people in good times and bad, ‘in season and out of season.”

The Psalmist says it much better than can I. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.” (Psalm 23)