It seems like it’s our nature as human beings to find ourselves in trouble. It’s part of our existence. The way I see it, there are at least three kinds of trouble: (1) trouble we bring on ourselves by behaving foolishly, (2) trouble that comes our way in apparently random fashion (as Jesus pointed out, it rains on both the just and the unjust), and (3) trouble that comes as a result of God’s direct intervention in our lives. This last we usually call punishment or chastisement.
Regarding this last kind of trouble, let me remind you that Jesus suffered on our behalf. He took all the punishment that we might have had coming. If you believe in Jesus, then there is no punishment for you, either in this life or in the next. And as far as chastisement is concerned, I remind you that the children of a good Father always know why they are disciplined. The good God is not cruel. He does not discipline us without making us aware of the problem.
So anyway, I see these three kinds of trouble, all of of which are definitely trouble, and all of which are capable of causing us great pain. And I find in the scriptures (Isaiah 40:1) the amazing fact that God desires that His people be comforted when they have trouble, even when that trouble comes from His own hand.
What form might such comfort take? Generally we expect comfort to make the trouble go away. The easiest and most obvious way to ease pain is to take away the hurt. This is not always what God does, however, as the scriptures demonstrate time and again. Even the apostle Paul was left with a thorn in his flesh, despite the fact that he begged God three times to remove it. God gave Paul grace, but not healing, and Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians show that God’s grace was sufficient comfort.
When God provided comfort for His Old Testament people, what He gave them was hope. Look at Isaiah 40 -
3 The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth;
5 The glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
In the prior verses, Isaiah had heard the voice of God commanding that His people be comforted. In verse three, he heard another voice, the voice of a herald, crying out the command to make a straight highway for God.
Former President Bush was here in Omaha recently. Do you think he stayed overnight at the Motel 6? Do you think he was driven to the stadium in an old Ford Pinto? I doubt it. I suspect that if he was here overnight he stayed in one of our nicest hotels, and I’m sure he traveled by limo, not Pinto. People of importance travel in style.
Things were no different long ago. When important folks traveled, arrangements were made to see that they were comfortable. That’s what verses 3&4 are about. When the king was coming, a decree would go out, and the roads he planned to travel would be rebuilt. The tops of hills would be pushed into the valleys, the twists and turns would be removed, and the bumpy places would be smoothed over.
So what the voice was saying, “Get the highway ready. Make it level and straight and smooth, because the King is coming – and not an earthly king – the reference is to God: the King of kings! His glory will be revealed, He will be here with us!”
This was the comfort that God offered to His troubled people in Isaiah’s day – the comfort of a hope in the form of a promise, that one day their King would come. That one day His glory would be revealed, and He would make it all right for His people. To those who understood, these words said, “Take heart, don’t give up. He’s on His way.” There was comfort in that, and there still is.
When it came time to fulfill this promise to His people, God gave more than He had promised. And He gave it in an unexpected fashion. Look at Matthew chapter 3:
1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea,
2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the LORD; make His paths straight.’”
It had been a few hundred years since Isaiah, and a lot of history had happened, and then John came along, quoting those words from chapter 40. The message is the same – He’s on His way. He’s coming. But this was no longer a hope for the distant future. Instead it was current events, because the Promised One was there, walking among His people, and would very soon begin His ministry.
So, the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus. And “when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son.” And His people saw Him, and sat under His teaching, and saw the miracles, and in doing so they experienced a bit of the glory of God that had been promised.
And then they killed Him.
But even in the murder of Jesus, especially in the murder of Jesus, God had a plan, and accomplished it. And that plan provides hope, not just for the nation of Israel, but for all of mankind, because Jesus died for the sins of the world and to redeem all who believe.
Remember I said that God gave more than He promised and gave it in an unexpected way?
In the darkest of days, in the most troubling of times, in the most hopeless of moments, the comforting hope that God came to earth and died to make things right is historical fact. It’s a done deal. Your circumstances may be dire and your tunnel may have no light, but the Comfort of God’s people has already come, and our sins are forgiven if we believe. In Jesus, we are guaranteed that the weeping only lasts for the night. Joy will come in the morning, because He has given His life for us, shed His blood for us, and has risen victorious over sin and death. If we find no hope in that, then surely we are beyond all comfort.
But there’s more.
What Jesus did 2000 years ago was amazing and wonderful, but it was not the complete fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in chapter 40. Did “all flesh shall see it together”? No. The literal glory of the Lord was not revealed to every eye. Not in the way Isaiah promised. Some folks saw a little of God’s glory in the miracles. And a very few saw more of God’s glory at the Transfiguration. But His full glory was not openly revealed for every eye to see. God keeps His promises, so there must be more. Look at Acts 1 -
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel,
11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
There’s a reason to smile. He’s coming back. The same way He left. Alive. In the clouds. And revealed in His full glory. In Titus, Paul calls it the blessed hope. In 1 Thessalonians, he calls it a comfort.
So, no matter what your lot right now, listen to Isaiah and hear the voice of the messenger, because the King is on His way. Let your mind go back to the cross. Find comfort there because your eternity has been cared for and assured. And then find some more comfort by anticipating the moment when “the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” Because as bad as it may be right now, it’s guaranteed that you will see the glory of the Lord. It’s guaranteed to get better. He’s on His way.
Audio link here.
