Opening Prayer
Lord, let our soul keep Your glorious testimony. Amen.
Text: Isaiah 35
The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes. A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Devotion
What this beautiful chapter foretells about the glory of Christ’s Church and God’s rich grace upon the believers began to be fulfilled at the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. How many troubled hearts have been made confident, how many thirsty souls have drunk from the water of life in the Word and Sacraments! How many blind, deaf, lame, and mute Jesus has healed! How many simple Christians have heard these words: “This is the way, walk here,” when they wanted to veer to the right or the left. And who can count the redeemed who have already come home to Zion’s eternal dwelling places? Isaiah’s words do not sound like a prediction of coming events, but as though he saw them already fulfilled, and such proclamation is strengthening for our faith. O how true God’s Word is! O how sure and certain it is to hold on to!
But these glorious words are not yet completely fulfilled. Some day God’s people, now like a desert, shall blossom, and rejoice unspeakably and have the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God without measure and without end, – when the first heaven and earth have passed away, and the new Jerusalem descends from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her Bridegroom. Here our hearts easily give up and our hands droop. Here there is still evil both day and night. It shall be gone forever when God Himself dries every tear from our eyes, and there shall be no more sin nor sorrow nor death. We now see in a mirror dimly, but then we shall see face to face (1Co 13:12). We shall hear the harps of heaven, we shall sing a new song, and we shall drink unhindered from the water of the stream from the throne of God and the Lamb (Rev 22:1). Still we are in danger. Brethren, here we have to watch and pray, so that we do not fall into temptation! But there is no more danger there: eternal joy shall be upon our head. Yes, we “shall obtain joy and gladness, but sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” These words are faithful and true; the Lord has spoken them.
Closing Prayer
You come to us in lowliness, Lord Jesus, to bring us to glory. Blessed be Your name! Lead us through the wilderness, for You are the life of the world, and make this desert a spring of water for us. Anoint our eyes, that we may see You. Open our ears, that we may hear Your voice. Precious Savior, say to our soul: Be strong and do not fear! Keep us close to You, keep us close, strong and faithful God. Amen.
Hymn
Thou mak’st the deafened ear to hear Thee,
And givest to the blind their sight;
Thou healest lepers who draw near Thee,
The palsied walk with great delight;
Thou life and health to all hast given,
And to the poor Thy gifts from heaven.
When Thou hast thus Thy might exerted,
And let the world Thy glory see,
Why is my face from Thee averted?
O Jesus, turn my heart to Thee!
I know Thou art the same forever
In meeting Satan’s vile endeavor.
Gotter: Break forth, O Sun of grace most tender L 118:3.6 HCH 221:3-4 tr. P. C. Paulsen;
tune: Bryd frem (Zinck HCH 221); alternate hymn: The Bridegroom soon will call us ELH 100:1.4.7