The Desert will be Glad

Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord as long as I live (Psalm 146:1-2). Amen.

Racine – in southeastern Wisconsin, where we recently moved from – has already received 13 inches of snow, causing travel issues, school closures, and buried cars. Then Racine warmed up and had rain. Now they're experiencing single digit, and even negative, temperatures to freeze all that rain and melted snow to create even more dangerous conditions.

That's way east of us. How about north and south of us? Up to 2 feet of snow is expected in Yellowstone National Park this week. The Snowy Range has already received 75 inches of snow in 40 hours!

Yet here we are in Casper, enjoying 50-degree weather for several days in a row. We've also had several days of 50 plus mph winds. Because everything is a contest, I may have rubbed it in to my friends back in Racine about our wonderful weather. I did admit that it was a tad breezy, though.

Wyoming meteorologist, Don Day commented on this week's wind, "If it's windy, it's not going to be terribly cold. It's rare to have 50-degree days and no wind in winter. When it gets really cold, it doesn't get really windy. It's when we're in between cold snaps and warmups, that we have the worst winds." Day calls these "50-50 days." "When it's 50 degrees, you'll have 50 mph winds," he said. "If you don't like the wind, you better like the cold. That's just what it is to live in Wyoming." I don't know if you agree with him or not. He's the Wyoming meteorologist. You're the ones who've been living in Wyoming.

Either way, you must admit this is pretty great weather for winter in the desert.

The Sahara Desert is an "absolute desert" where almost no rain falls. Isaiah's original audience lived in a "tame desert" like here in Casper. In Israel, the rain is confined to the spring – March, April, and May. It's similar here, plus the snow in the winter. The Israelites lived in a physical desert.

The Israelites also lived in a spiritual desert. The ten northern tribes of Israel were on the brink of destruction. The Assyrian army was about to overrun them. The people in the northern tribes would be carried into captivity to disappear from history.

The two remaining southern tribes in Judah would be spared … but not for long. In a few generations, the Babylonians would move south to carry them into captivity in Babylon.

Things looked bleak for Isaiah's audience. Things looked hopeless. Things looked desperate in the desert. The cities would be ghost towns. Their fields would be wastelands. Their people would be gone.

God sent Isaiah as Israel's prophet because he wanted his people to understand why this was happening. It wasn't because God didn't love them. He did. He refused to watch them wallow in the filth of their sin any longer. He needed to show them how much they needed him. They needed a taste of his earthly discipline to repent and return. If they continued down their own way, they would experience God's eternal wrath.

Do you feel like you're living in the desert? Not the physical desert of Casper or Wyoming. But the spiritual desert where your life appears bleak, dry, and dreary? Where it feels like God doesn't love you? If that's how you feel, I ask you, are you living in unrepentant sin? Are you confessing some sins while holding onto other sins? Are you going through the motions of Christianity while being passionate about other pursuits? Are you confessing one thing on Sunday morning but living out other things the rest of the week?

Could your bleak, dry, and dreary life be brought on by yourself? God does not bless sin. He doesn't bless anything that pulls you away from his presence. Or could your spiritual desert be a result of God disciplining you like he did with Isaiah's audience?

Like a good father, the Lord disciplines his children for their good. Jesus said, "I rebuke and discipline those whom I love. So take this seriously and repent" (Revelation 3:19). God uses discipline to lead us back to him. He lets us feel the pain of past mistakes. He permits us to stand in place surrounded by our shattered dreams and broken relationships. He lets us feel the misery of our own making. God does this to gain our attention. When we're lost in the desert, there's only one road that leads us to safety.

Isaiah speaks of this road. "A highway will be there, a road that will be called the holy way. The impure will not walk there. It will be reserved for those who walk in that holy way. Wicked fools will not wander onto it. No lion will be there, nor will any ferocious animal go up on it. They will not be found there, but only the redeemed will walk there. Then those ransomed by the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with a joyful shout, and everlasting joy will crown their heads. Happiness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away" (Isaiah 35:8-10).

Earlier this week, Austin Dirks was out hiking by himself in Arches National Park when he broke through what appeared to be solid ground. He got stuck at a 45-degree angle in quicksand. Thankfully, because Dirk is an experienced desert hiker, he had his satellite phone handy. He was rescued in the desert after 2 hours.

Those in Isaiah's audience – and we in this audience – are stuck in something far worse than quicksand in the desert. We are stuck in a spiritual wasteland. Jesus our coming Messiah arrives to rescue us. He comes on the holy way that leads to Zion – the New Jerusalem – of the Christian Church. Our Messiah comes to us in Word and Sacraments to rescue, redeem, and lead us out of trouble into the safety of his Christian Church.

Christ's way is a safe highway in the desert. There aren't any ferocious beasts on his highway. No lions in Israel. No coyotes, bears or mountain lions here. There won't be any wicked people or foolish people on this road. Unlike the semi drivers blown over on I-80 in 105 mph winds, clogging up traffic and putting everyone in danger. Everyone on Christ's highway knows where they're going. This road is reserved only for those who "walk in that holy way."

This highway is only for the redeemed and ransomed. Those who were stuck and have been rescued. Those who were lost and have been found. Those who were trapped by the Devil and have been redeemed. Our Messiah traveled from the paradise of heaven into the desert of this world to rescue us. He brings us back on his highway.

Brings us back to where? Christ rescues us from a bleak, dry, dreary desert to bring us into another desert. This is a very different desert. This is a desert that will be glad.

"The wilderness and the desert will be glad. The wasteland of the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like a crocus. It will bloom lavishly, and there will be great joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it. It will be excellent like Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. … Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged. The crippled will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy. Waters will flow in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland. The burning sand will become a pool, and in the thirsty ground there will be springs of water. There will be grass, reeds, and rushes where the haunts of jackals once lay" (Isaiah 35:1-2, 5-7).

Christ's ministry as the Messiah is prophesied in these verses. What a dramatic reversal this will be! The wilderness will be watered. The wasteland will blossom. The desert will be a lush green place. The blind, deaf, lame, and mute within the desert will also be changed. The blind will see. The deaf will hear. The mute will speak. The lame will leap. I believe even the color blind will see colors. Like Jesus told John's disciples, these are the signs that point to him as the Messiah (Matthew 11:2-6).

But this isn't just a physical transformation that will take place. Jesus doesn't promise your surgically repaired knees, old bones, sore muscles, hearing-aided ears, and glasses-improved eyes will be returned to new right now. Isaiah is prophesying an even more miraculous transformation that will take place within the heart of every traveler on his holy desert highway.

With your eyes, you look upon your Savior on the altar. With your ears you hear the voice of Jesus calling you in Scripture, sermons, and Bible studies. With your tongue you pray, praise, and give thanks. With your arms and legs, you fulfill your vocations as Christian parents and children, citizens and students.

Isaiah encourages, "Strengthen the weak hands, and make the shaky knees steady. Tell those who have a fearful heart: Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your God will come with vengeance. With God's own retribution, he will come and save you" (Isaiah 35:3-4).

The author of Hebrews quotes these verses, "Therefore strengthen your weak hands and feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but rather healed" (Heb 12:12-13). The author's readers were being tempted to give up their faith because of persecution. He quotes Isaiah because there's an important message for those who are afraid of the Church's enemies.

That important message is that our Messiah has come to rescue us. Jesus is no weak God or soft Man. He is the divine God-Man who flipped over tables and created enemies wherever he went. This is the Christ who comes with vengeance and divine retribution. Because we are followers of Christ, his enemies are our enemies. God wants us to stand strong in front of these enemies because these enemies won't be able to stand in front of him. God may use us as the arm of his vengeance. Get lean and in shape to be God's retribution. Strengthen your hands and knees so you are prepared to be God's vengeance when he calls you into battle. When we are strong in our hands and knees, we say with our Messiah, "They surrounded me, yes they surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord I cut them off" (Psalm 118:11).

God's vengeance is the just punishment for sin. When God brings his judgment upon his enemies, that will also mean salvation for God's people. St. Paul writes, "Certainly, it is right for God to repay trouble to those who trouble you, and to give relief to you, who are troubled along with us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his powerful angels, he will exercise vengeance in flaming fire on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Such people will receive a just penalty: eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious strength, on that day when he comes to be glorified among his saints, and to be marveled at among all those who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed" (2 Thessalonians 1:6-10).

All this will happen in the desert. The landscape parched with idolatry and paganism will become well-watered and green with the worldwide preaching of Christ's gospel. All this happens with the imminent arrival of the Messiah.

Fellow desert inhabitants, our situation in life may not change. After all, we are still living in the desert. Thank God that – at least for now – our desert weather is better than everyone else's weather. Our physical desert of Casper and Wyoming is beautiful. By the grace of God, with the arrival of Christ our Messiah, he makes our spiritual desert beautiful, too. It's a desert that will be glad. Amen.

The Lord reigns forever. Your God, O Zion, rules for all generations. Praise the Lord (Psalm 146:10). Amen.