1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word in our Lenten
Midweek series, “Coming Home from Exile:
The Exoduses of the Scriptures,” is taken from Isaiah 11:11-16 and is
entitled, “The Promise of a Cosmopolitan
Exodus.” Dear brothers and sisters
in Christ.
2. Sometimes it sounds as if God has
promised more than he can deliver. We might even wonder whether he’s just
joking around with us. I mean, what military planner wouldn’t have to stop his
laughter upon being told that the walls of Jericho would be blown down by lung
power alone? Did God laugh when he gave that order? Or what doctor wouldn’t
chuckle at heaven when Moses bid dying Israelites gaze up at a bronze snake to
be cured of their snakebites? There’s no way he could be serious, is there? And
we’re even told that Lot’s sons-in-law thought he was merely joking when he
informed them that God was going to reduce Sodom to one big ashtray by sunrise.
It sounded far too far-fetched. But as we know, the Lord was not speaking
tongue in cheek to Joshua, Moses, or Lot. He was serious, dead serious.
3. So also, as impossible, even
laughable, as it seemed, the Lord wasn’t kidding when he told old childless
Abraham that through him would arise descendants as numerous as the stars in
the sky and as countless as the sands on the seashore. God meant what he said.
Through this one man, Christ would bless all the nations of the earth. It
sounded as if God had bitten off more than he could chew. Why, Abraham was—if
you’ll pardon the expression—a prime candidate for Viagra! And Sarah, his wife,
dazzling though she was, would’ve been cashing Social Security checks! In fact,
when eavesdropping on her husband’s visit with God, Mrs. Abraham began to
giggle when she overheard that she, at her age, was to be a mother. So about a
year later, when Sarah, at the youthful age of—ahem—90 years, held a baby boy
in her arms, Abraham gave him the name Isaac, which means laughter (Gen 21:3). You
see, it was God who had the last laugh, as he always does. While his skeptical
people chuckle and shake their heads, he comes through and does what he says,
without fail.
4. But always without fail? What about
this promise preached by Isaiah, that Abraham’s descendants, scattered here and
there and everywhere, would be gathered once more to Jerusalem? Sure, in days
of old the Lord brought the Israelites out of one nation, Egypt. But the
prophet says here that another exodus is coming, one in which God will extend
his hand to recover the remnant of his people not only from Egypt, but from
Assyria, Pathros, Ethiopia, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coastlands of the
sea. Hey, Isaiah, while you’re at it, why not tack on America and Australia,
Germany and Mexico, Russia and Japan? And why limit it to just the Israelites?
Why not include the Gentiles as well in this cosmopolitan exodus? “That’s exactly what I’ve done,” Isaiah
might well respond, for he goes on to preach that “[God] will raise a banner
for the [Gentile] nations and gather the exiles of Israel . . . from the four
quarters of the earth” (11:12 NIV).
5. But how could these things be? How
could the heavenly Father rescue his captive children from all over the globe,
remove every barrier that stands in their way, build a highway for them to
travel upon, and lead them safe and sound to the holy city? How could men and
women, Jews and Gentiles, young and old, be so closely linked together that
jealousy departs and harassment ceases? How is it possible that these folks
could overcome every enemy, represented by Isaiah as Philistines, Edomites,
Moabites, and Ammonites? Stand beside giggling Sarah if you’re so inclined,
laugh at the seeming impossibility of it all, but remember who it is that
always has the last laugh.
6. But hold back your laughter, all
you Sarahs, long enough to enter with quiet awe into that rustic birthing room
in David’s hometown. There in a feed trough lies an infant like all other
babies, yet also unlike any other. For here is God in the flesh, come down to
reign over a nation whose citizens are scattered over the 4 corners of the
world.
7. Hold back your laughter, all you
Sarahs, long enough to listen to what this One preaches, that when he is lifted
up on the crucifix, he “will draw all
people to [himself]” (Jn 12:32). Hear him when he says that he will be a
shepherd not only over the flock of the Jews, but the flock of Gentiles as
well, so there will be one flock and one shepherd (Jn 10:16). Give ear to the
words by which he sends out his apostles, that they go into all the world and
make disciples of all nations, by baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to observe all that he
has commanded them (Mt 28:20).
8. And all you Sarahs, zip shut your
lips, stifle every hint of laughter, when the Seed of Abraham undergoes his own
bloody exodus from the city of Jerusalem, up the mount called Golgotha, onto
the tree of the knowledge that God loves you. Let the demons laugh, but you
keep silent at the sound of Roman hammers driving Roman steel through royal
flesh; at the sound of his preaching, even while dying, from the pulpit of the
cross; at the sound of his final breath, as those lungs, which breathed life
into Adam, now breathe life back into all of us creatures of dust. Keep silent,
all you Sarahs, laugh no more, as his holy corpse is laid to rest. Wait one
day. Wait two. Wait three.
9. And then, if you want to laugh,
then by all means, when our resurrected Jesus climbs out of the grave on day
three, then laugh with all the joy you can muster as the soldiers guarding his
tomb faint like dead men. As demons shriek in astonished horror, as the world
strips off her garment of mourning to greet the Creator and Savior of all,
alive once more, never to die again! Laugh, Sarah! Laugh, Abraham! And laugh,
all of you, their sons and daughters! Laugh joyfully and triumphantly, for God
has accomplished the impossible. And all of it, every last bit of it, he has
done for you!
10. Now is fulfilled all that Isaiah
foretold. Lift up your eyes and behold all the nations turned upside down. See spilling out of them men and women, boys
and girls, every color of the rainbow, spilling out and streaming to Jesus.
From Assyria to America, from Egypt to Japan, from the 4 corners of the globe,
those once fettered in sin are freed in Jesus. In his own bloody exodus from
the city of Jerusalem, the Son of God has paved the way for all of you to enter
the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church of the living God. The demons are
demolished; hell is vanquished. All our enemies tuck their tails between their
legs and head for the hills when our new and greater David marches before us
with the decapitated head of the devil, hell’s Goliath raised high in his hand.
11. You join them, you children of
Abraham; no matter who you are or what you’ve done, you are a member of this
pilgrim throng. Sin, death, shame, regret, failure—all of you, be gone! You
have no power, no claim over the children of God. You are drowned in the waters
of the Sea reddened by heaven’s blood. Sin, accuse no more! Death, die! Satan,
burn in hell! For our new and greater Moses has rescued us from the deepest
depths of the deepest dungeons in the deepest, darkest, most depraved Egypts of
the world. It is done. It is finished. The exodus of exoduses has been accomplished
by the Lord of lords, all to bring you into the Holy of Holies above.
12. Without fail, Jesus has done it
all. And he who sits in the heavens, at the Father’s right hand, he laughs. And
we laugh with him. Yes, even in Lent! For he has kept his promise. The last
laugh is his, as well as ours, for God has kept his Word, now as always. Though
we laugh to ourselves at God’s promises, we laugh with God as He keeps His promises
through Jesus. Amen.
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