The Comfort that Strengthens Exiles

The Gospel Reading on John the Baptist’s Question

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now,.

Here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 11th chapter. When John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, Are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another?

And Jesus answered them, You go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.

And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John. What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? Well, what then did you go out to see?

A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. Well, what then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord. What an interesting text. Now, what are we talking about when we're talking about comfort? I always have to kind of make this point, because there's an old school way of looking at comfort, and then there's kind of the new school way of looking at comfort.

The new school way of looking at comfort is consoling those who've been offended by something spoken by the evil patriarchy. Okay, oh, did that meany, terrible man, did he mansplain something to you? It's okay, honey, it's okay.

God will get him for thinking that he's in charge here. That's not the kind of comfort we're talking about. Instead, comfort in the old school way of thinking always has to do with strengthening people, strengthening them.

And you'll note that when we consider the context of our Old Testament text, strength is exactly what we all need. We need to be strengthened, comforted in this way, because our situation isn't so glorious.

Hezekiah’s Pride and Isaiah’s Prophecy of Babylonian Captivity

Let me explain. Go back to chapter 39 in Isaiah, and we learn the context of this comfort that God is offering to his people. And in this time, it's important to note that King Hezekiah, who was the king of Judah, he had just miraculously been healed of a boil that had gone septic.

We know this from the description given in the history here, what happened to him. In fact, when it went septic, this is the days before antibiotics, he was told by the prophet Isaiah, God says you're going to die, get your affairs in order, you're going away.

And so what did Hezekiah do? He prayed. He cried out to God that God would give him more time and invoked all of the good things that he has done in God's name and how faithful he has been. And God heard his prayer and answered it in the affirmative and gave him 15 more years.

Well, when a monarch gets deathly ill and recovers, that's kind of a big deal. So it says in chapter 39, at that time, Merodach Baladon, the son of Baladon, the king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered.

The king of Babylon sounds like an ally at this point, somebody that you can trust in a pinch. But the problem is that Babylon is a long way off. Back in the days, a military expedition of that many miles wasn't really feasible.

At least it wasn't really considered to be feasible. And so Hezekiah doesn't consider these envoys of the king of Babylon to be anything worthy of fearing. Instead, what he ends up doing is that he welcomes these envoys from Babylon gladly and then he does something really foolish.

He showed them his treasure house. He showed them the silver. He showed them the gold. He showed them the spices, the precious oil, and his whole armory and all that was found in his storehouses. I mean, I don't know what he's thinking because here he's just basically saying, I know you guys don't have top secret clearance, but let me take you over to our military base and show you the weapons that we're working on.

Let me show you all the things that we have here. I'll take you into the treasury and all this kind of stuff. At least with the Chinese, I mean, our government is corrupt enough to charge them for this information rather than giving it away for free.

Did I say that out loud? Yeah, I did. But you'll note then, this is not a good thing. In fact, the text says there was nothing in his house or in all of his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. So Isaiah the prophet shows up.

He comes to Hezekiah and he said to him, what did these men say? Where did they come from? Hezekiah said, well, they've come from a far country, from Babylon, you know, that place that's really far away.

He said, what have they seen in your house? Hezekiah answered, they have seen all that is in my house. There's nothing in my storehouse that I did not show them. And you can hear Isaiah going, who does this, right?

This is really a foolish and vain thing on the part of Hezekiah, kind of showing off, if you would. But you'll note that we know how things go when it comes to Babylon because it's just not going to be that long after the death of Hezekiah before Nebuchadnezzar, who's going to be one of the next kings in Babylon, comes knocking on the doors of Jerusalem with his army in tow.

So Isaiah said to Hezekiah, so hear the word of Yahweh, the Lord of armies. Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon.

Nothing shall be left, says Yahweh, and some of your own sons who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the place of the king of Babylon. Now this is a devastating prophecy.

You're saying, Isaiah, that God has told you that Babylon is going to come and attack? They're going to take all of the riches and wealth of Israel away with them back to Babylon? Oh, and they're going to take some of the sons of the king, and they're going to give them the Lopitophany procedure, and they're going to become eunuchs?

Are you serious? You're going to know that this is a devastating prophecy, and it threatens even the royal bloodline of Judah. Devastating prophecy. So, what's Hezekiah's response? Eh, the word of the Lord that you've spoken is good.

For he thought, well, there will at least be peace and security in my days. Wow, that's terrible. So, note, he has comforted himself by basically saying, well, that's too bad for y 'all. I won't be here.

So, I've only got 15 years left on the planet, so I'm comforted because I ain't going to see any of this. Okay, that's a little self-focused, shall we say, a little myopic, because aren't kings not only supposed to be responsible for the kingdom while they're reigning, but also set things up so that the kingdom can continue on in perpetuity and strength?

So, he's a little short-sighted here because he's only thinking about himself. And so, while Hezekiah is comforted, God then has Isaiah change things up a little bit and offer comfort to those who have heard this prophecy and see what is coming is going to be devastating.

And so, God commands Isaiah to prophesy these words. Comfort, my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins.

And now, all of a sudden, it's as if Isaiah has completely changed the subject. This vision here, this oracle from God seems to be out of place because it begins to invoke things not of Isaiah's time or even of the times of Nebuchadnezzar.

Instead, it begins to invoke things that can only be fulfilled in the New Testament, in the Gospels, in the life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. And so, a good way to think about it is this.

When we first hear that God is going to take the wealth of Judah, send it to Babylon, and that King's sons are going to be taken to Babylon, this invokes a major theme in Scripture and one that we would be wise to pay attention to because it involves each and every one of us.

And that theme is the theme of the Babylonian captivity. So, when we think of the Babylonian captivity, well, we think, well, that was back then. This is now. I mean, I know that some of the older people in the congregation just missed Nebuchadnezzar, but still, it doesn't, it can't mean that.

Okay. Sorry,.

David.

Christians as Exiles in Babylon

But all of that being said, we have to recognize something in Scripture, and that is that when we look at how the New Testament is written, I would show you evidence of this in two places, in 1 Peter as well as the book of Revelation.

1 Peter, Peter legitimately starts off his abyssal by saying that it's being written to elect exiles. Elect exiles? What's an elect exile? And how is it that he's talking about Christians being exiles?

And this is where the book of Revelation helps us tremendously because in the book of Revelation, what is the name of the evil world political system that has it out for Christians and is trying to destroy them off the face of the earth?

It's called Mystery Babylon. And so, we recognize then as Christians that that Babylonian captivity of the Jews in the time of Nebuchadnezzar, that's a type and shadow for all of us to embrace and consider it in kind of a wider spiritual sense.

And that spiritual sense is this. Each and every one of us, we were born under and in the dominion of darkness. This world is run by the devil. By the way, have you noticed how many conspiracy theories are running around out there talking about how evil the political system is and whether or not they're involved in some kind of a satanic cabal?

Of course they are, even if they're not aware of it. Of course they are because who's running everything here, right? The idea here is that Satan is absolutely at work. And by the way, his attacks have nothing to do with getting rid of freedom.

It has to do with getting rid of the church. We are the target. And so, you'll note then that in this life, it's always as if we're living on the knife's edge. Currently, we're enjoying freedom. That's rare in human history since Christ's death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.

And so, we'll note that that's all being chipped away at. And once that's all chipped away at, they're going to have clear shots to take at us. And when they have it, they'll take it. And we should be prepared for that.

And so, you'll note then that just like Esther and Mordecai, just like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, we're living completely in prayer, crying out to God to deliver them from the machinations of evil within Babylon.

We too must embrace that same mentality. We are in exile. None of us has been home. In fact, we've all been born in exile. And I can't even begin to tell you the names of the streets in Jerusalem. How long it is, how wide it is, how tall it is, those dimensions are given in Scripture.

But what's in the middle of it and what my mansion, your mansions, are going to look like, I couldn't even begin to tell you because we've never been home. And so the comfort that is offered to those reading the prophet Isaiah from the time this prophecy was first heard by the people in Judah to us who are hearing it today in the 21st century, these words of comfort that are being offered are designed to strengthen those who are in exile or going into exile.

And the same words of comfort that were given to them comfort us. And it invokes all of the things that we read in the Gospels about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. So comfort word number one. Comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and tell her that her warfare is ended and that her iniquity is pardoned and that she is received from the Lord's hand double for all of her sins. What warfare is this referring to by the way?

Because you'll note that as Christians we are told to daily put on the full armor of God and that we are still at war. The warfare here that is claimed to be ended is not the warfare that we have with Satan and the world and our own sinful flesh, the unholy Trinity.

The warfare here that is being spoken of is the warfare that we've had with God because each and every one of us born under the dominion of darkness, we were born at enmity and at war with God. And God has pardoned us by the blood of Jesus Christ.

You and I have received full pardon from God. Each and every one of us, full participants in the war against God, war criminals every one of us. God rather than giving us what we deserve and hanging our carcasses on the gallows over the fires of hell has instead chosen to pardon us by having Christ take that punishment upon himself by nailing him to the cross, him bleeding and dying in your place.

Therefore all of your iniquity is pardoned and your warfare with God has ended and God has declared peace with you by the shed blood of Christ. And we have received from the Lord's hand double for all of our sins.

And here it's not saying double punishment, the better way to think of it is double grace. We've received from God more than enough mercy, forgiveness, and grace, and pardon than we have sinned. And so as a result of it, these words comfort us.

First and foremost, we are reconciled to God, our warfare with him is over, and we are pardoned. Thanks be to Christ. Second word of comfort gets really weird, and I'm sure for the original readers of this when this prophecy first came out, they didn't know how to make heads or tails of it.

And so second part of this comfort then says this, a voice cries, in the wilderness prepare the way of Yahweh, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill made low, the uneven ground shall become level, the rough places a plain, and the glory of Yahweh shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken.

John the Baptist and the Humble First Advent of Christ

Well we know what this is invoking, this is invoking John the Baptist, who makes an appearance in our gospel text today. But you'll note then when we take a look at a text like Mark chapter 1, you'll note that John the Baptist begins, you know his ministry is prominently featured in Mark chapter 1 at the beginning of the gospel, in fact here's what it says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold I will send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

And so John the Baptist did appear, just as Isaiah prophesied, the one who would prepare the way of the Messiah, and what was his message? His message was a repentance of repentance, a call that comes across even the millennia to us and calls us to be prepared for Christ's second advent by repentance, to abandon our sin, to cry out to God for mercy, to receive from God the forgiveness of our sins in the waters of baptism.

His cry still calls to us today, and we who have heard his call and by the power of the Holy Spirit have been brought dependent in faith in Christ, we are truly prepared for Christ's advent, second coming, and the celebration of his first.

And it's here where I think a little excursus would be fun. I've been known to have a bunny trail every now and then, right? That's okay with you guys, alright. So the question is then this, in our gospel text, it seems, it appears that John the Baptist, as he was getting ready to finish his course, that he was having doubts as to his entire ministry.

Did he point to the right one? Or did he make a mistake? That's what it appears like, but on a more careful reading, that's not what's going on. And we remember that John the Baptist was put in prison because he was faithful to his call to prepare the way of the Lord, which means that even Herod needed to have the way of the Lord prepared for him.

And even his adulterous wife, Herodias, who was before the wife of his brother Philip, and then she jumped into his bed and things went like that. And so what did John the Baptist do? What did he say to Herod and Herodias?

Oh, you need to repent! It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. And of course Herodias was humiliated by having heard such a thing, and so she bore a grudge against him, and then Herod had him arrested.

And it's just a few days from this that John is about to lose his head and it's going to be placed on a platter for a dirty dancing girl, the daughter of Herodias. But all that being said, on a first look, it sounds like John the Baptist is having doubts.

John’s Witness from the Gospel of John

So the text says, When John heard in prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and he said to him, Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? That's an interesting question.

Shall we look for another? How come it doesn't say, shall I look for another? And the hint there is in the words. And I would remind you that John the Baptist nowhere else in Scripture has any doubts as to who Christ is.

In fact, there is a passage in the Gospel of John that you may already be familiar with that records for us the words of John the Baptist. But you may not even recognize that these words were spoken originally by John the Baptist.

In the Gospel of John chapter 3, that famous text where it says that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Yeah, that same chapter, the Nicodemite chapter.

In verse 22 of chapter 3, it says,. After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and Jesus remained there with them and was baptizing. John also was baptizing at Anon near Salim, because water was plentiful there and people were coming and being baptized, for John had not yet been put in prison.

So a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over purification rights. And so they came to John and said to him, Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan to whom you bore witness, look, he is baptizing and all are going to him.

Oh no, your ministry is being threatened.

Right? You think John cares about such a thing? No. John answered, A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.

The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friends of the bridegroom who stands and hears him rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore, this joy of mine is now complete. Famous words now follow.

He, Jesus, must increase, but I must decrease. That's a very good motto for all of us by the way, not just John the Baptist. But he's got this right. He knows full well that now that Christ is on the scene, he was the one sent ahead of Christ to prepare the way.

And now that he's on the scene, it is absolutely good, right, and salutary that everybody's going to him. And now John's ministry is turning into a ghost town. Indeed, that is correct. So then he says this, He who comes from above is above all.

He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all. He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony. Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.

For he whom God has sent utters the words of God. For he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. And then listen to these words. These are words spoken by John the Baptist.

Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him. Does that sound like he was having a crisis, doubts, concerns, that maybe he had somehow missed the point?

No, not at all. These are words of confirmation. These are words of confidence. These are words of faith spoken by John the Baptist about Jesus. So what's with this gospel text of ours where it seems like John is now having doubts?

Well, the key is found in what I just read. Christ must increase. He must decrease. John the Baptist is about to be decreased by, well, he's not going to be as tall as he used to be. About this much of him is about to be taken off.

He's definitely going to be decreased to the point where he's going to be put into the grave. He knows it. He can see what's coming. But he still has faithful disciples who are attending to him and his needs.

They will eventually attend to his burial in much sadness. So when he sends his disciples and sent word and asked the question, are you the one who is to come or shall we look for another? The answer to the question was John's polite way of saying to his disciples, brothers, it's time for you to go.

I need to kick you out of the nest. It's time for you to go to the one for whom I was sent to prepare the way for. I'm finished. I'm done. He is why I am here. You need to go to him. So Jesus answered them.

You go and you tell John what you hear and what you see. The blind receive their sight. The lame walk. The lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead are raised up. The poor have good news preached to them.

All amazing things. And blessed is the one who is not offended by me. Now, let's pause and think about that for a second. Blessed is the one who is not offended by me. That's a great statement of Christ.

Why would Jesus need to make a statement like that? Because here's the thing. Jesus didn't come in the way that everybody expected him. They expected him to be a conquering king. They expected him to come in power and in glory.

But Jesus doesn't come to us in his first advent in power and glory. He comes to us humble. Humble. Born of a virgin in a barn. In an animal shelter. With a smell of manure. He's not in a palace. Jesus, you'll note, this is kind of the way God works throughout the scriptures.

He doesn't come to us in this glorious powerful fashion. He comes to us hidden. Hidden in the, well, in the small package of a baby. Hidden behind the fact that he is a human being, taken on human flesh, who gets hungry, who gets tired, who needs to sleep.

This Jesus is not the powerful God that everyone expects. And here's the thing. A lot of people within the Christian church today, they still want that power God, and they keep missing the fact that God comes to us humble.

Hidden. In fact, if you didn't know what was going on, and you were to just simply look with your eyes today when we have the Lord's Supper, you would think that all we were consuming was bread and wine.

Great juice for some of you. And that that's all there is to it. But the idea then here is we hear with our ears the truth about what this is. We don't see it with our eyes. We hear the truth that there, when we have the Lord's Supper, we are receiving not only bread and wine, but also truly the body and blood of Christ, hidden in, with, under the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins.

So you'll note Christ's words here, blessed is the one who is not offended by me. That's a warning to those who are looking to God to come in great power and glory right now. He doesn't. And he doesn't do that for our sake.

Because if Christ comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead, it's the last day. Instead, God, noting our weakness, noting our sin, continues to come to us humble. The words of the Holy Spirit, written in a book called the Bible.

And you'll note then that if you look at this with your eyes and try to think it out with your reason, you'll miss God altogether. And that's the point that Christ is making. So as they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John.

So what did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? And you can hear the crowd go, no. So what then did you go out to see? How about a man dressed in soft clothing? And they went, no.

And behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king's houses. So what then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes. And I tell you more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, behold, I will send my messenger before your face who will prepare the way before you.

John the Baptist is truly the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the New Testament evangelists. It's a fascinating thing. He's got one foot in the Old Testament, one foot in the New, which is why he wears the uniform that he wears of camel hair and a large belt.

But you'll note Christ affirms then his prophetic ministry and that this was the one prophesied, the one who would prepare the way before him. So truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The Three Words of Comfort for Exiles

So we see then in our Old Testament text that God has chosen to provide comfort by pointing us back to John the Baptist. First, pointing us to the shed blood of Christ by which our warfare has ended with God and our iniquity parted.

Second, pointing us to the voice of John the Baptist calling us to repentance. And then we have a third word of comfort. And this one takes a little bit of work to unpack but let me walk you through it.

So then the third word is this. A voice says, cry. And I say, well what shall I cry? All flesh is grass and all of its beauty like the flower of the field. The grass withers. The flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.

Surely the people are grass. Well this doesn't sound very comforting at the moment. But you'll note here that we human beings have this funny thing that we do. And that is that we all start off young.

We all start off beautiful. We all start off handsome and strong, right? But then, well life happens. In fact I was just thinking about this the other day. I saw a picture of Jeff Kenny and his wife Rachel when they were dating and they looked like, I mean were you even shaving back then?

And he looks so.

Sparkly and shiny, right? But then what happened?

So this thing.

Happens to us and that is that just like the word says, all of us, our life is like grass. We wither and we fade. In fact I keep complaining. The image in the mirror gets worse and worse by the day. And so we human beings do something weird.

And that is that when we start to really begin to feel it, oh no, I'm really getting old, we do all kinds of strange things. Like this is where the guys have their midlife crisis. They trade their wife in on a newer model.

They buy an Aston Martin. Weird things like this, right? But other people, aside from going that direction, other people they do things like starting reading articles in the AARP magazine about longevity and things like this and figuring out which vitamin supplements they can take to begin to kind of like extend their life a little bit.

Because the last thing we want to do is just go headlong into the grave. We're trying to figure out a way to put the brakes on the bad progress that is coming. And so we all do this. But at the end of the day, are you going to keep the grave from you?

No, not at all. So note then that in the setup for this word of comfort is a reminder that each and every one of us still pays the wages of sin. The wages of sin is death. And we have that death coming to all of us.

That being the case, where's the comfort? Well, it's in the last sentence. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. The word of the Lord endures forever. That sounds familiar.

It should. But why is that comforting? Because it's in the word and the word only that we hear the great promises of eternal life. Jesus himself says to us Christians, you will never taste death. You who have been baptized into Christ's death and into his resurrection, you have already died.

And as a result of that, despite the fact that my body is falling apart slowly, daily, yours too, despite all of that, I know that the word of the Lord will stand forever. And his word says I'm forgiven.

His word says you will live forever in a new earth. His word says that when Christ does return in glory, he will raise you from the grave in a body that will never die. In a world where there is no sin, where there is no illness, where there is no death, where there is no suffering, where there is no disease.

In a world without end. All promised to you because of what Christ has done for us on the cross. All as a free gift. We can basically say yep, this grass is withering, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

And that word says I will live forever as well. And you will live forever as well. Comfort, comfort my people. These are indeed comforting words. I think it's appropriate to be wearing pink today. Have you guys considered the psalm for today?

Have you considered the psalm? The psalm is Psalm 85. And I cannot think of better words to end this sermon than the words from the assigned psalm for today. Psalm 85. Lord, you were favorable to your land and you restored the fortunes of Jacob.

Indeed, God has. He's restored the fortunes of Jacob in Christ while Christ is preparing a place for us in eternity when he returns in glory. Indeed, our fortunes have been restored despite the fact that even though we live in a hard, mean world of scarcity and lack and of pain and suffering, we know that our fortunes have been turned around and restored because of Christ.

And because of this, the text goes on to say you forgave the iniquity of your people. You covered all of their sin. You withdrew all your wrath. You turned from your hot anger. So restore us again, O God, of our salvation and put away your indignation toward us.

Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger to all generations? Will you not revive us again that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your steadfast love, O Lord, and grant us your salvation.

Let me hear what the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints, but let them not turn back to folly. Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.

Steadfast love and faithfulness meet. Righteousness and peace kiss each other. Faithfulness springs up from the ground and righteousness looks down from the sky. Yes, Yahweh will give what is good and our land will yield its increase.

Righteousness will go before him and make his footsteps away. Comfort, comfort, my people, says our God. And today we are comforted with these great words of promise. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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