Saturday April 1, 2023
Theme: “Jesus is welcomed as King“
Text: Isaiah 40:1-10
1. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2. Speak to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry to her That her bondage is ended, that her iniquity is expiated, that she has received from the hand of the Lord Double for all her sins. 3. A voice cries out: Prepare the way of the Lord in the desert, Make straight in the arid places A road for our God. 4. Let every valley be lifted up, Let every mountain and hill be brought down! Let the hills change into plains, And the narrow defiles into valleys! 5. Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it at the same time; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. 6. A voice says: Shout! -And he answers: What shall I shout? All flesh is like grass, And all its brightness like the flower of the field. 7. The grass withers, the flower falls, When the wind of the Lord blows upon it. -Certainly the people are like the grass: 8. The grass withers, the flower falls; But the word of our God stands forever. 9. Go up on a high mountain, Zion, to publish the good news; Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, to proclaim the good news; Lift up your voice, fear not, say to the cities of Judah: Behold your God! 10. Behold, the Lord GOD comes with power, and with his arm he commands; Behold, the wages are with him, And the rewards go before him.
Let's remember:
Many years before the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah, the prophet Isaiah had already made this prophetic announcement about a forerunner who would come to clear the way for the savior of mankind. This would be responsible for preparing the hearts of the people to receive both the Savior Jesus and his message of salvation. This is why the work of John the Baptist had to be that of weeding out hearts that were filled with all kinds of filth. He had to clean them in order to purify them for the great day of the Lord. All sorts of dealings had to be done to plow up and prepare unhealthy and unworthy hearts, hearts without God and bereft of salvation. This is the meaning of the verses “her iniquity is expiated, Which she received from the hand of the Lord Double for all her sins. Prepare the way of the Lord in the desert, Make straight in the arid places A road for our God. Let every valley be lifted up, Let every mountain and every hill be brought down! Let the hills change into plains, And the narrow defiles into valleys”. When the hearts of the people are sufficiently won over to the cause of Christ, then “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it at the same time; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken”. At the appearance of this glory, the people would welcome him as King; what was done. However, it must be qualified that John the Baptist, just like Jesus Christ, had not been received in the manner intended by God; the greater number of the people had disavowed them. Excellent Saturday. Amen Alain Louz.-
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