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Advent devotions 2008

DEC. 2 - CALL TO THE PROPHET
By Carl Helrich, professor of physics

SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40:1-11 (NRSV)
Scroll down for complete Scripture.

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DEVOTIONAL:
This chapter begins a second part of the book of Isaiah. The people had fallen short of what they may have been and pain, sorrow and exile have been their lot. But now the time of atonement for sin is over. The nation has received punishment for her sin. Now the time of darkness is over. And now the calling of the prophet is to console the people.

The consolation is not simply a release. The call to the prophet is to prepare a way for Yahweh in the wilderness and a straight pathway in the desert. The deep valleys of our souls must be filled in and the heights of our pride and arrogance must be broken down. The rocky and jagged cliffs that may have been our fortress or our monument will come down and we will see Yahweh. This is a promise. We will see and know the glory of the Lord. And we will be part of the seeing and of the knowing.

But we are like grass and the flower that withers. We have been crowned with glory and splendor (Psalm 8). And still that glory and splendor does not last and cannot be grasped. We cannot find the source of our consolation in ourselves or in the work of our hands. Only God is eternal. Only God's promise will last.

And the Lord Yahweh is coming in power. All will be subdued and we will be gathered in as lambs.

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SCRIPTURE: Isaiah 40:1-11 (NRSV)
Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out:
'In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'

A voice says, 'Cry out!' And I said, 'What shall I cry?'
All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.
The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever.
Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,'Here is your God!'
See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms,
and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.

Posted at 12:08 #