Sorrow will Flee Away

Isaiah 35:1-10 - Isaiah's Vision of the Blossoming Desert

It will blossom profusely...

The first two weeks of Advent we walk through the wilderness.  We mourn and confess our sins and the systemic sin of the world in which we live in.  It is a step into darkness; the dark ways of this world and the darkness of our very souls.  As we walk through the wilderness of our sin the proper response is lament and contemplation.  We lament the evil depths humanity (including me) is capable of wallowing in.  We contemplate - we recognize that something is not right here and hope to God there’s a better way.

It’s not hard to feel like God has left us while we walk through the wilderness.  It is easy to feel like He’s distant, like He doesn’t care, or like He doesn’t hear our prayers.  But even in the wilderness, flowers bloom.  The crocus is a small flower that thrives in the dry, gray wilderness.  It blooms late in the season.  After all the other flowers have had their turn, it blooms last.  A last reminder, that even though it is going to get tough, dark, and cold there is still hope.  The crocus is strong; they are known to bloom up out of the first snow - again, one last reminder that even though winter is coming, there’s always hope.

Isaiah has a vision of what it will be like when God rules the world.  Isaiah believes that God already rules and reigns sovereignly over the earth; He is the creator and sustaining God.  But, there is a sense of longing.  When He comes and brings His rule on earth as it is in heaven, things will look different.  Isaiah had a vision.  A vision of crocuses blooming in the desert.  Again, that’s not a surprising image - crocuses in the desert.  So what is unique about Isaiah’s vision?  Verse 2 - it will blossom profusely.  It won’t just be one last crocus sprouting up through the dry desert cracks.  No, there will be so many the dry desert floor won’t be visible.  It will look like a desert no more.

Isaiah 35:4 - “Say to those with anxious heart, take courage, fear not.  Behold, your God will come."  What does it look like when God comes?  When He brings His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven?

The desert blossoms profusely.
The exhausted are encouraged.
The feeble are strengthened.
Blind eyes are opened.
Deaf ears hear.
The lame leap.
The mute shout for joy.
Water breaks forth in the wilderness.
The desert becomes a spring.
The ransomed of the Lord return.
They shout with joy.
Sorrow and sighing turn into gladness and joy.

In Jesus, God comes.  Jesus is how God became King.  Yes, He was already King, but in Jesus He brings His heavenly Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.  “The time is fulfilled,”  Jesus said, “And the Kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15).  Then, everywhere Jesus went He made Isaiah’s vision become a reality.  “The blind receive sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them” (Matthew 11:5).

In the next verse, Jesus adds, “Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me” (Matthew 11:6).  You see, Jesus was offering a response to John the Baptist.  John was wondering if Jesus was the One - the One who would fulfill Isaiah’s vision.  And, John was wondering from prison.  So why does Jesus add this last tagline?  Because Christmas is still true - the Gospel is still true - even if you are in the wilderness, in the desert, or in prison.  Jesus is the reign of God; a reign without borders, a reign with no end.  Prison walls will not separate Jesus from John’s heart.  No pain, suffering, or even death will separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39).

The desert will blossom profusely - and it did.  But even if it doesn’t in your circumstances; the truth doesn’t change - Jesus has come.  Jesus is King.  Jesus will come again.  Blessed are those who believe even when they walk through hell on earth - depression, isolation, addiction, discrimination, that phone call, that diagnosis, that loss, war, etc.  Advent reminds us that He is come - He is with us in the wilderness - because His Kingdom has no boundaries and has no end.

"And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.  They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." - Isaiah 35:10

It is the 3rd Week of Advent.  This week we transition from sorrow to joy.  I’m praying you have the faith to believe in Jesus even when the world shouts that you have every reason not to believe.  I'm praying that Jesus comes to you in a very real and authentic way this Advent - no matter what wilderness you are walking through.  I’m praying that Jesus would come into the wilderness of your life situations and turn your sorrow into joy.