Rev. Dustin ParkerHe burst from Heaven
Who is this King of Glory?
The One who burst froms the Heavens!
Isaiah 64:1-9
† IN THE NAME IMMANUEL †
Clearly knowing the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may your desire His coming grow deeper than any other desire, any other need!
Do you want, desire Jesus to Come?
As we begin advent, I would have you consider the prayer of Isaiah that starts our Old Testament reading of this morning….
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
Hear the desire in Isaiah’s voice, hear the kind of desire that goes beyond any black Friday shopping adventure,
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!
(pause)
This morning, can you say those words not only honestly, but for the “right” reasons?
The goal of this sermon is simple – that you would so clearly grasp who this King of Glory is, that your desire for His presence is so strong that would cry out! That you would ask, even beg Him to burst from heaven, and realize the joy that is yours, a joy beyond anything that you have ever heard, or seen, or dreamt of, because you are His people!
So let’s get to it…
Why do we, or don’t we, desire His return?
The why’s – our lives suck!
They why not’s – we want!
A moment ago, I asked you to consider Isaiah’s prayer, that God would burst open the heavens….and come here…..
So having considered it, I am going to ask.
Would you like that to happen, right now? Do you want Jesus to come to us, this very moment?
Why?
Some of us will answer with a tremendous resounding “YES _ COME LORD JESUS!!” If asked why, we will answer, because our lives in a word suck, they are too challenged, and we are tired, so tired of the struggle! Tired of the pains, the betrayals, the finances, the sicknesses, the anxieties that barely lets us sleep some nights, and greets us the moment we wake up.
Have to admit, there are days I so want Jesus to return!
We know He is the answer to it all, and we hear that in Heaven there will be no sorrow, no tears, and we long for that… oh we long for that….. when God makes it all perfect! There are days where we are ready to escape this world….
Yet there are times when our desire is not that Jesus would come back.
The day’s when we say, “No, it’s not time yet… I want to..” as we create a list of things we desire..
… a birth (of a child, grandchild, great grandchild..)
… a child to grow up, or an adult child to finally grow up
… a graduation
… a wedding
We want God to delay Christ’s return so we can
… see where a new chapter of life leads..
… or for a friend to finally hear God’s voice…
… or just to see the patriots to win a couple more super bowls,
.. or see Concordia again worship in the hundreds, and finally build the “church on the corner..”
The issue is not the things we desire in our lives, or the trauma and anxiety from which we desire to be freed. Some may say that the issue is that we place our desires, our wills above that which God intends, that which He has planned. That is of course, the issue seen in the first command, where we almost instinctively, as children of Adam and Eve, determine that we know what is best for us. We don’t replace God with idols made of marble and brass anymore – we are as blunt as Adam and Eve – we desire to be the god of our own lives, the captains of our own ships – as we form our lives in the images we have created.
I think the real issue, is that we don’t grasp who this King of Glory is, who Jesus is, and why it is critical that we grasp why we pray that He burst open the clouds…
The King who rends the heavens
He’s done it before!
In order to grasp why he desires God to burst from the heavens, he calls us to remember God has come to His people before, and that His coming has been…beyond belief. Look at verse 3!
3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!
God’s presence can literally shake up the world. Isaiah reminds us – it has in the past – because of what God does when He is present among His people.
For people in Old testament times, reading this would bring to mind the deliverance from Egypt, from the work of God through servants like Moses and Aaron . That Pharaoh would let God’s people go in the first place, and the incredible rescue at the Red Sea. The incredible events of the Exodus, where the miracles where overwhelmed by the Cloud that led them by Day, and the Pillar of Fire that guarded them during the desert nights.
I love this verse four, perhaps the most striking verse in all of Scripture. NO one has ever heard of, nor seen any other God like our God, the God who works, who serves those who await on Him.
That’s what the incarnation and the second coming are all about – God crafting His people, His making of them something incredible and beautiful, a community, a people for His pleasure. At Sinai – He delivered people from their oppression to be His people – that’s the reason Moses told Pharaoh in the first place. Certainly that is the reason for God’s coming to the Judges, and the Propehts, that is what David understood, and why Solomon built the temple.
To make us His own, God burst through the heavens once more, this time not just sending His presence, but living among us. It is why He comes again, to dwell with us for eternity… for to this end has been ALL of His work… for us to enter into His joy!
What we don’t get?
It is that simple – even though we don’t get it.
We can ask Him to burst through the heavens, to come and save us, to rescue us, to deliver us but we must realize that He will save us for something, that He rescues us that we may live, that He delivers us… to the Father and into His glory and joy.
Isaiah struggles with it, as we do, as he documents our fears – Lord – how can we be saved… Lord you were angry with us, please don’t be angry with us forever, please remember we are your people…
Unlike Isaiah, who only had the hope and assurance that God would again burst from the heavens, that God would restore and heal…
We have the proof…We have the answer…
He burst from heaven.. to be born and laid in a manger…
He burst from heaven… and would be nailed to a cross…
He burst from heaven, that we would share in a feast…
He has burst from heaven to come that we would have life.
A life crafted by Him, for what we need to realize – He is the potter, He has formed us… and made us His. We can trust Him to mold our lives, to bring about what is truly perfect…. As we walk with Him.
When we get that… we can cry for Him to burst from heaven one more, final time…
Joy to the world, for the Lord has come – bursting through Heaven, and He has come to us.
Peace to the world, for HE will come again..in all His glory… He will come again. to us.
The One who burst froms the Heavens!
Isaiah 64:1-9
† IN THE NAME IMMANUEL †
Clearly knowing the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, may your desire His coming grow deeper than any other desire, any other need!
Do you want, desire Jesus to Come?
As we begin advent, I would have you consider the prayer of Isaiah that starts our Old Testament reading of this morning….
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down! How the mountains would quake in your presence! 2 As fire causes wood to burn and water to boil, your coming would make the nations tremble. Then your enemies would learn the reason for your fame!
Hear the desire in Isaiah’s voice, hear the kind of desire that goes beyond any black Friday shopping adventure,
1 Oh, that you would burst from the heavens and come down!
(pause)
This morning, can you say those words not only honestly, but for the “right” reasons?
The goal of this sermon is simple – that you would so clearly grasp who this King of Glory is, that your desire for His presence is so strong that would cry out! That you would ask, even beg Him to burst from heaven, and realize the joy that is yours, a joy beyond anything that you have ever heard, or seen, or dreamt of, because you are His people!
So let’s get to it…
Why do we, or don’t we, desire His return?
The why’s – our lives suck!
They why not’s – we want!
A moment ago, I asked you to consider Isaiah’s prayer, that God would burst open the heavens….and come here…..
So having considered it, I am going to ask.
Would you like that to happen, right now? Do you want Jesus to come to us, this very moment?
Why?
Some of us will answer with a tremendous resounding “YES _ COME LORD JESUS!!” If asked why, we will answer, because our lives in a word suck, they are too challenged, and we are tired, so tired of the struggle! Tired of the pains, the betrayals, the finances, the sicknesses, the anxieties that barely lets us sleep some nights, and greets us the moment we wake up.
Have to admit, there are days I so want Jesus to return!
We know He is the answer to it all, and we hear that in Heaven there will be no sorrow, no tears, and we long for that… oh we long for that….. when God makes it all perfect! There are days where we are ready to escape this world….
Yet there are times when our desire is not that Jesus would come back.
The day’s when we say, “No, it’s not time yet… I want to..” as we create a list of things we desire..
… a birth (of a child, grandchild, great grandchild..)
… a child to grow up, or an adult child to finally grow up
… a graduation
… a wedding
We want God to delay Christ’s return so we can
… see where a new chapter of life leads..
… or for a friend to finally hear God’s voice…
… or just to see the patriots to win a couple more super bowls,
.. or see Concordia again worship in the hundreds, and finally build the “church on the corner..”
The issue is not the things we desire in our lives, or the trauma and anxiety from which we desire to be freed. Some may say that the issue is that we place our desires, our wills above that which God intends, that which He has planned. That is of course, the issue seen in the first command, where we almost instinctively, as children of Adam and Eve, determine that we know what is best for us. We don’t replace God with idols made of marble and brass anymore – we are as blunt as Adam and Eve – we desire to be the god of our own lives, the captains of our own ships – as we form our lives in the images we have created.
I think the real issue, is that we don’t grasp who this King of Glory is, who Jesus is, and why it is critical that we grasp why we pray that He burst open the clouds…
The King who rends the heavens
He’s done it before!
In order to grasp why he desires God to burst from the heavens, he calls us to remember God has come to His people before, and that His coming has been…beyond belief. Look at verse 3!
3 When you came down long ago, you did awesome deeds beyond our highest expectations. And oh, how the mountains quaked! 4 For since the world began, no ear has heard, and no eye has seen a God like you, who works for those who wait for him!
God’s presence can literally shake up the world. Isaiah reminds us – it has in the past – because of what God does when He is present among His people.
For people in Old testament times, reading this would bring to mind the deliverance from Egypt, from the work of God through servants like Moses and Aaron . That Pharaoh would let God’s people go in the first place, and the incredible rescue at the Red Sea. The incredible events of the Exodus, where the miracles where overwhelmed by the Cloud that led them by Day, and the Pillar of Fire that guarded them during the desert nights.
I love this verse four, perhaps the most striking verse in all of Scripture. NO one has ever heard of, nor seen any other God like our God, the God who works, who serves those who await on Him.
That’s what the incarnation and the second coming are all about – God crafting His people, His making of them something incredible and beautiful, a community, a people for His pleasure. At Sinai – He delivered people from their oppression to be His people – that’s the reason Moses told Pharaoh in the first place. Certainly that is the reason for God’s coming to the Judges, and the Propehts, that is what David understood, and why Solomon built the temple.
To make us His own, God burst through the heavens once more, this time not just sending His presence, but living among us. It is why He comes again, to dwell with us for eternity… for to this end has been ALL of His work… for us to enter into His joy!
What we don’t get?
It is that simple – even though we don’t get it.
We can ask Him to burst through the heavens, to come and save us, to rescue us, to deliver us but we must realize that He will save us for something, that He rescues us that we may live, that He delivers us… to the Father and into His glory and joy.
Isaiah struggles with it, as we do, as he documents our fears – Lord – how can we be saved… Lord you were angry with us, please don’t be angry with us forever, please remember we are your people…
Unlike Isaiah, who only had the hope and assurance that God would again burst from the heavens, that God would restore and heal…
We have the proof…We have the answer…
He burst from heaven.. to be born and laid in a manger…
He burst from heaven… and would be nailed to a cross…
He burst from heaven, that we would share in a feast…
He has burst from heaven to come that we would have life.
A life crafted by Him, for what we need to realize – He is the potter, He has formed us… and made us His. We can trust Him to mold our lives, to bring about what is truly perfect…. As we walk with Him.
When we get that… we can cry for Him to burst from heaven one more, final time…
Joy to the world, for the Lord has come – bursting through Heaven, and He has come to us.
Peace to the world, for HE will come again..in all His glory… He will come again. to us.
