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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I’m not our Father; I’m not our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text is from Isaiah 49. You will desperately need it for this day. I hope you were able to catch some of these, uh, lying series that is so germane to your and my existence. Just like in the history of war in Babylon, and the culture of Babylon, and the false gods of Babylon, and the ways of Babylon tempted them to take the ways of the Lord and His truth, so you and I are exiled in this world. We are influenced by this culture and its ways, and influenced by this culture’s gods and their ways. And God has continually called us back not to forsake Him and His ways.
Seven years they were in Babylon, and it really hurt. The people that were given the opportunity to leave Babylon by Cyrus the Persian, whom God raised up and brought there to free the people of Israel, now found that most of the people of Israel stayed behind because they had become very lucrative to live there. They wouldn’t have to move the 700 miles back. Those that did return, returned to the land of still suffering family—suffering from God’s presence not being there because they destroyed the temple.
But in C.D.’s text, a servant is mentioned—being raised up, known from the womb, and being given the name from the birth. This is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the servant for you and for your salvation, mentioned in C.D.’s text. It mentions that the servant made his mouth like a sharp sword because out of his mouth grows his word. His word is powerful and mighty and cuts to the dividing of soul and body, to the joints of the marrow of your food and meat. The law of His word lays us bare, and the gospel of His word binds us up and heals our wounds.
Now, you remember the saying that goes, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” The concept that the written word has more power than a metal sword. And that’s exactly what Jesus’ word is: power. In Isaiah, elsewhere, God speaks about His word in these ways. Here’s the first one: “The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever. It doesn’t rust, it doesn’t rot. It doesn’t get old. It does not get blown down or caved in or burned down. It exists forever, and its promises are sure to serve.”
Another one that you’re familiar with: “For as the rain flows, coming down from heaven, and does not return there but waters the earth and makes it where the thorns grow, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out of my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” It’s pretty clear: God’s Word blesses.
Even if it seems to you and me to take years, decades, centuries, millennia, God’s Word accomplishes. The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructive tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. The people of Babylon who return are weary. When you and I have to live in this world, though there are many wonderful things about which we can give thanks to God, we do grow weary. We experience pain and sorrow in our own lives. We see pain and sorrow in others’ lives, and we grow weary—wearied because we know this world is not our own.
And though we are very sure that in our faith our flesh does cry out against us, and though we are certain in our faith that our minds show our goodness along, the people of Israel lived under the promised land again after they had been banished from the family, and after they had been destroyed by the Babylonians. Nothing was left there to rebuild everything. Their weariness caused them to say, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my cause is disregarded.” There are times in your life and mine that I can say, “Yea, yea, yea,” for that statement by the Israelites.
“Lord, don’t you see how this is affecting my family and me? Don’t you see, Lord, the suffering that I am experiencing? Or that I have to witness in my loved one? Don’t you know that things could go so much smoother if Your hand was directly involved in taking care of this family?”
In our weariness, we typically love to take the bull by the horns, thinking that we can do something to change this. We always tend to look for the fleeting, the temporary, the quick fixes to these things, and we realize the futility in other ways. Even the Israelites talked about going for the quick fix. You may be surprised, but they said this: “Let us get wine, and let us drink our fill of beer. Drown our sorrows in their beverages.”
Maybe you’ve never done that, but you may have felt that. Maybe you have experienced that, and you know that it has a word to you. Enter Yahweh’s servant, whose mouth was as a sharp sword. Just one word brings comfort to the weary—one word.
When He was in the wilderness, fasting and being tempted for forty days, He spoke one word. It rocked out. Now we’ve got to translate that with several words, but it was the way He began His sentence against Satan: “It is written.” That’s what gave His soul comfort, because He knew God’s promises were sure and certain.
One word—to you whose faith is like a bruised reed or a smoldering wick—He speaks one word to you: “Katharistotai,” which means, “You are forgiven.” You fear nothing because God is a righteous God who is your God and has made you clean. That’s the Christ, the servant, who speaks one word and comforts you.
To you whose life is like a small boat under the great sea, buffeted by the wind and tossed to and fro by the sea, He speaks one word: “Sealion!” The wind stops, the waves are still, and the boat settles in fear and dismay. He speaks one word, and things happen.
My sin is so filled with so many voices that I can’t seem to hear your Lord because of all these voices that are garnering your attention. He speaks just one word: “Be open.” Listen to my still small voice. The Holy Spirit is speaking to you through my word and through my suffering, and speaks to you words of comfort and consolation.
“Judge not the one you see, just like what you hear from my lips.” The Roman centurion was the one who showed us faith in action. He said to Jesus, when Jesus walked to go with him to his house, “Just say the word. Say the word, and my servant shall be healed.” And our Lord said to all those around Him, “It’s amazing that such faith was found.”
On the cross, when Jesus hung, He spoke a word—just one word—that culminated your salvation: “The Telestai.” It is finished. It is finished. Nothing needs to be added by you. There are no other boxes to check in your life to fulfill an event. There is your fulfillment, which is why He spoke that one word in your ear tonight: “It is finished.”
The Telestai. The circumstance that crushed you for you—the Lamb has been slain for you. The Passover is complete. The atonement has been made for you. The banquet is now ready. He speaks one word, and things happen. His word, one word, is connected to that water which brought you salvation. His one word is spoken with bread and wine and flesh and blood over the ground. For you, for your comfort, for your solace, and especially for the weary.
You and I are awaiting our final restoration—our final entry into our home. St. John, in his book of Revelation, records the Lord Jesus saying one word: “Get gone!” It’s done. It’s time. “Come home!” Until He does, until He speaks those words and calls us home, let our words be back to Him: “Just say the word, Lord, and it shall be done.”
He’s powerful like a sharp sword. Speak, Savior, in Jesus’ name. The peace of God will attract us all to understand and keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus, the life of the Lord.
