Sermon and Worship Resources

The strangest thing happened on Christmas night last year. You may have heard about it on the news. In a small town in Pennsylvania, a man got into an armed standoff with police. Such events occur so often nowadays, we’re likely to forget the details of any particular episode. This episode, however, is different.

This man was acting erratically and shooting at police officers. Members of the local SWAT team surrounded him and tried to talk him into surrendering, but he wouldn’t listen. This standoff lasted for ten hours, and it could have ended tragically. But it didn’t.

A police negotiator with the SWAT team gave up talking with the suspect. Instead, he began singing. The song he sang was the old Bing Crosby song, “White Christmas.” “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas . . .”

Then something dramatic happened. The song soothed the armed man so much that he gave himself up to police without anyone getting hurt. (1) That’s a message all by itself.

We’ve all experienced the power of hearing a particular song that moves us to tears or joy or nostalgia. It’s especially true at this time of year when we hear traditional Christmas songs around the clock. They’re so familiar, we don’t even have to think about them. For most of us there is at least one Christmas song that really puts us in the mood for the season.

Our Bible passage today—Isaiah 35:1-10—is appropriate for the Christmas season because it’s about the songs of joy that the nation of Israel will be singing when God restores His people and brings Israelite captives and refugees home from foreign countries where they are scattered. For us, it is a picture of the restoration God plans to do through God’s Son, Jesus Christ, for all humankind. And the joy on that day will be so overwhelming that everyone will burst with songs of joy.

Isaiah 35:1-10 reads like this: “The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’

“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.

“In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow. And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.

“But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.

Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

What a vision of God’s plan for His people! This vision in Isaiah expresses everything that God is—the Giver of Life, the Restorer, the Redeemer, the Healer, the One who brings His children home from faraway lands.

There is a bridge in Sunderland, England, called Wearmouth Bridge, and it has been the site of several suicides. These tragic events led a young woman named Paige Hunter to begin writing notes of encouragement and sticking them on the bridge, to give hope to those who might think of ending their life there. The notes say things like, “Even though things are difficult, your life matters; you’re a shining light in a dark world, so just hold on.”

Other citizens of Sunderland have been so inspired by Paige’s notes of encouragement that the Police Superintendent presented Paige with a commendation for her contributions toward the mental health of her community. (2)

Isaiah 35 is like God’s note of encouragement to a hopeless people. It comes right after a handful of chapters announcing God’s judgment against Israel and the destruction they will face. And then comes chapter 35, with its vision of complete restoration and healing and a homecoming full of singing.

God is speaking to a people who are afraid, who have no hope for the future, and this fear has made them weak. Do you know what that’s like? Fear drains your focus, disturbs your sleep, ties your stomach up in knots, makes your chest tight. Fear steals your joy in the moment and your hope in the future. For some of us, the Christmas message of hope, joy, love and peace is drowned out by the voice of fear whispering in our ear. How can we escape that voice?

The people of Israel were living with voices of fear. Fear had made their hands feeble and their knees weak. What does that mean? It means they are too afraid to lift their hands in praise to God. They are too drained to use their hands for purposeful work. Weak knees keep us from kneeling to pray or walking with God. Weak knees can’t support us under the burden of worry and stress. What can restore strength to feeble hands and weak knees? Hope. Hope that there is a God, and that this God cares about us. Hope that there is a God, and that this God has a plan and a purpose for us. Hope that there is a God, and this God has the power to heal everything that’s damaged and fix everything that’s broken and revive everything that has withered and free everyone who is held captive. That’s the kind of hope God wants us to see in the coming of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the hope of God’s presence with us. That’s a good word in every season of the year, especially in a time of great trial. Jesus is the hope of God’s presence.

In January, 2010 a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the island of Haiti. It destroyed buildings, and killed or maimed tens of thousands of people. As hope for victims began to fade, the discovery of a survivor in the wreckage of a grocery store renewed the resolve of many. Rescuers pulled Wismond Exantus from the rubble eleven days after the earthquake. Exantus told reporters from his hospital bed that the first thing he wanted to do was find a church to give thanks. What was his experience like? He said he spent his time under the rubble praying, reciting psalms, and sleeping.

He summed up his experience saying, “I wasn’t afraid because I knew they were searching and would come for me.” (3)

The message of Isaiah the prophet in chapter 35 and the message of Jesus at Christmas is the same message: God is searching for you and will come for you. God is searching for you and has come for you.

In his book Destiny Is Character, the late, great Senator John McCain shared an experience from his years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. McCain was captured when his plane was shot down over Hanoi, and he spent five-and-one-half years in a brutal North Vietnamese prison. He was tortured frequently in those years and spent much of his time in solitary confinement.

One night, as punishment for communicating with another prisoner, McCain was tied up tightly and thrown into the punishment cell. To his surprise, a North Vietnamese guard snuck into McCain’s cell and loosened the ropes binding his arms, so he wouldn’t suffer so much pain.

McCain didn’t understand why his enemy would show him such kindness until a few months later. It was Christmas morning, and the prisoners had been allowed outside for a few minutes of fresh air. The guard who had snuck into McCain’s cell a few months earlier walked up beside him. He did not speak or make eye contact. But in the dirt, the guard scratched the image of the cross with his shoe. Then he rubbed the cross out and walked away. The enemy guard was a follower of Jesus. That’s why he had risked his life to help John McCain.

McCain wrote, “For just that moment I forgot all my hatred for my enemies, and all the hatred most of them felt for me. I forgot about . . . the interrogators who persecuted my friends and me. I forgot about the war, and the terrible things that war does to you. I was just one Christian venerating the cross with a fellow Christian on Christmas morning.” (4)

In the middle of a prisoner of war camp, John McCain experienced the presence of God. That’s the hope that Jesus brings us. That God cared enough to come to us, no matter where we are. If the presence of Jesus can bring hope to prisoners in a foreign land, then Jesus can restore anyone’s hope.

And that brings us to the second message of Isaiah 35 and of the Christmas story: Jesus is also the hope of new life in God. This psalm is filled with images of withered plants blooming again, dry river beds gushing with fresh water, and people undergoing miraculous healings. This is a vision of the kingdom of God when Jesus returns to restore the world to God’s original vision. There will be no death or hurting or mourning. God is making all things new. And when we choose to give our lives to Jesus, he plants the seeds of the kingdom of God in our minds and hearts, so we start to see the new life, the new beauty, the new hope God intends for God’s people.

In 1969, neurologist Oliver Sacks began testing an experimental drug on patients suffering from encephalitis lethargica, better known as sleeping sickness. The patients afflicted with this disease live in a state somewhere between sleeping and wakefulness. They couldn’t connect with the world around them or communicate with anyone. Dr. Sacks’ experiments with this new drug were so successful that he published a book on his findings. The book titled Awakenings was made into a movie starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro.

In the movie, Robert DeNiro’s character, Leonard, has been in a catatonic state for thirty years. The drug therapy brings him out of this sleepwalking state and allows him to return, at least for a while, to some semblance of a normal life. In one scene, he calls his doctor and announces, “We’ve got to tell everybody, we’ve got to remind them, we’ve got to remind them how good it is.”

“How good was is, Leonard?” the doctor asks.

Leonard picks up a newspaper: “Read the newspaper. See what they say, all bad, it’s all bad. People have forgotten what life is about, they’ve forgotten what it is to be alive, they need to be reminded, they need to be reminded about what they have and what they can lose. And what I feel is the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life!” (5)

Once you’ve experienced new life, you can’t imagine taking a moment for granted. Hope in God restores to us the joy of life, the gift of life, the freedom of life, the wonderment of life. Hope in God is our security and our joy.

And finally, the message of Isaiah 35 and of the Christmas story is this: Jesus is the hope of a new walk with God. Verses 8-10 of this passage read: “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”

The Way of Holiness starts in the heart of every person who has Jesus’ spirit living in them. Jesus promised that his spirit would live in the hearts and minds of all those who put their faith and trust in him. This spirit teaches us the truths of God and leads us into a new way of living as the people of God. We no longer wander without a purpose or aim in life. We are walking with God. We are walking toward Zion. The Highway of Holiness is leading us home.

Pastor Jon Walton tells of a Christmas season a few years ago when he was searching for a gift for a child in his family. She wanted an old-fashioned typewriter, and he had to search hard to find one. He found just the right typewriter in a repair shop.

The rough-looking young man working behind the counter noticed Pastor Walton’s clerical collar, and asked him about his church. The young man mentioned that he attended a drug and alcohol recovery group at another local church.

“I pray every day, Reverend,” he said. “You know the Serenity Prayer?” He handed Pastor Walton a wrinkled card with the Serenity Prayer typed on it. He obviously treasured that card and kept it close at hand.

As he was leaving the store, Pastor Walton said, “Merry Christmas.”

And the young man answered, “Oh no problem there, Reverend, I’m going home for Christmas, gonna be at my mother’s house. Haven’t been there in seventeen years. So I know I’m gonna have a merry Christmas.” And then he said, “Hope you get there too!”

Pastor Walton was a little confused. He said, “Excuse me?”

And the young man said, “Home—home for Christmas. I hope you get there too.”

And Jon Walton writes, “. . . every year, I remember his question and his wish. ‘I hope you get home for Christmas, too.’ Because deep inside of all of us, whether we know it or not, it’s what we all want for Christmas, or better said, need.” (6)

Isaiah 35 is a vision of coming home to the God who loves us and who created us for new life. It’s full of songs of joy of those who have been restored, healed, set free and set on a new walk with God. And this homecoming is a gift to all those who put their trust in Jesus Christ, the Messiah.

1. “Armed standoff ends after SWAT member sings Christmas carol,” The Associated Press, AOL & The Associated Press, Dec 28, 2018.

2. Nicole Darrah covers breaking and trending news for FoxNews.com. Follow her on Twitter @nicoledarrah.

3. Jim L. Wilson, Fresh Illustrations: Faith, Hope & Love (FreshMinistry.org. Kindle Edition), p. 103.

5. http://www.yateschurch.org/clientimages/41513/sermons/2011-12-18%20streams%20in%20the%20desert.pdf.

6. Copyright Jon M. Walton, 2003. http://jonwalton.org/sermons/2003/031221.htm.

Dynamic Preaching, Fourth Quarter Sermons, by King Duncan