1 , saith your God. 2 Speak ye comfortably
to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her
iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all
her sins. 3 The voice of him that crieth in the
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a
highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall
be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: 5 And
the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together:
for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. 6 The
voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field: 7 The
grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon
it: surely the people is grass. 8 The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. (Isaiah 40:1-8)
Here we have another great old Lutheran hymn whose
exquisite beauty and truth is derived directly from God's Holy Word. It tells
both the Advent story as well as that of the Christmas Season. I am so happy we
observe the liturgical calendar year in the Anglican tradition since Christmas
is far too joyous to be observed in one night only, instead of the accustomed
twelve days of Christmas ending at Epiphany (January 6th). Though
intended for use on John the Baptist Day (June 24th), its lyrics
clearly herald the great hunger, need, and realization of the Coming Savior. It
is a paraphrase itself of Scripture that was included in the Genevan Psalter of
1551 Anno Domini. Lyrical content was modified for better meter by Johannes G.
Olearius of Leipzig, Germany in 1671. Musical score is Werde Munter by Johann Schop, 1642.
This hymn celebrates the coming of the Light of
Christ, but it also begs the question: "Who will we be comforted by it,
and how?"
Comfort, Comfort ye My People
Comfort, comfort ye My
people,
Speak ye peace, thus saith
our God;
Comfort those who sit in
darkness,
Mourning ’neath their
sorrow’s load;
Speak ye to Jerusalem
Of the peace that waits
for them;
Tell her that her sins I
cover,
And her warfare now is
over.
For the herald’s voice is
crying
In the desert far and
near,
Bidding all men to
repentance,
Since the kingdom now is
here.
O that warning cry obey!
Now prepare for God a way!
Let the valleys rise to
meet Him,
And the hills bow down to
greet Him.
Yea, her sins our God will
pardon,
Blotting out each dark
misdeed;
All that well deserved His
anger
He will no more see nor
heed.
She has suffered many a
day,
Now her griefs have passed
away,
God will change her pining
sadness
Into ever springing
gladness.
Make ye straight what long
was crooked,
Make the rougher places
plain:
Let your hearts be true
and humble,
As befits His holy reign,
For the glory of the Lord
Now o’er the earth is shed
abroad,
And all flesh shall see
the token
That His Word is never broken.
Comfort, comfort ye My people, Speak ye
peace, thus saith our God; Comfort those who sit in darkness, Mourning ’neath
their sorrow’s load; Speak ye to Jerusalem Of the peace that waits for them;
Tell her that her sins I cover, And her warfare now is over. As we have
noted several times over, the purpose of the great classical hymns of the
church is to convey biblical truth and doctrine in such a way as to aid
memorization and love of God's Word in the heart. It is notable that the first
words uttered by the Angel of the Lord to the frightened shepherds on the
heights overlooking Bethlehem were, "Fear not!" At the sight of such
an amazing sight, why would we not fear? We fear not because such a blessed
sight is from the Lord. Once we understand that all things that come into the
life of the Christian is of God, we can then take comfort in that knowledge. It
was God's Voice that spoke through the medium of the Angel of the Lord to the
shepherds. Why should they fear when the Angel brought them "good tidings
of great joy which shall be to ALL people?" Were the shepherds not
included in that happy term, "all people?" The pervasive spiritual
darkness of the centuries fled before that coming Light of Christ. He is the
Light of the World, and if a candle can dispel the darkness in a pitch dark
room, the Light of the World can disperse the darkness from every quarter of
Creation! The people that walked in
darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of
death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2) This darkness had grown so
prevalent from Adam's Fall that the eyes of the people were now blinded to that
spiritual Light that came down at Christmas - that is, all but the poor
shepherds and those of the Wise Men from afar - and wise men and women
everywhere today.
For the herald’s voice is crying In the
desert far and near, Bidding all men to repentance, Since the kingdom now is
here. O that warning cry obey! Now prepare for God a way! Let the valleys rise
to meet Him, And the hills bow down to greet Him. There would be no
point for men to repent if forgiveness was not made available in Christ.
Repentance and forgiveness does not mean that man is now free to sin wholesale
and reject the Law of God. We must never willingly sin, but we sin a thousand
times without even being aware of that sin at the moment of its commission. We
repent of all, but cannot even remember all. It is for this reason that we have
the General Confession Prayer that all can utter without reservation. It covers
the two categories of sin - those of COMMISSION, and those of OMISSION! John
came preaching in the Wilderness as a forerunner and emissary of the great King
of Glory to come. Many had forgotten even of their need to repent! But
"all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)
Our Lord will not walk in the ways of a sinner, for He is the Way, and the
Truth, and the Life. So the sinner must be converted and follow Christ in the
RIGHT way. With the Coming of Christ, the Kingdom also came down to be among
men; but some are so blinded by the smothering darkness of centuries and
millennia that they comprehend not the Light.
Yea, her sins our God will pardon, Blotting
out each dark misdeed; All that well deserved His anger He will no more see nor
heed. She has suffered many a day, Now her griefs have passed away, God will
change her pining sadness Into ever springing gladness. The New Jerusalem of the God is the
Bride of Christ, and includes all of Israel - not those who are of the fleshly
seed only (for many are NOT), but are Children of Abraham by the Promise and
inner workings of God - both Jew and Gentile. All who are without Christ are
still dead in trespasses and sin. (see Ephesians 2) But Christ paid the sin-debt on the cross for
His Elect. Paul Lee Tan offers a great illustration of that glorious blessing
of freedom from the old dead corpse that we were: "The Romans sometimes
compelled a captive to be joined face-to-face with a dead body, and to bear it
about until the horrible effluvia destroyed the life and health of the living
victim. Virgil describes the cruel punishment:
The living and the dead at
his command
were coupled face to face,
and hand to hand;
Till choked with stench,
in loathed embraces tied,
The lingering wretches
pined away and died.
Without Christ, we are shackled to a dead corpse -
our sinfulness. Only Spirit- evoked repentance frees us from certain death, for
life and death cannot coexist indefinitely.
Make ye straight what long was crooked, Make
the rougher places plain: Let your hearts be true and humble, As befits His
holy reign, For the glory of the Lord Now o’er the earth is shed abroad, And
all flesh shall see the token That His Word is never broken. The first
two phrases are not our labors, but rather those of the Lord. Since He is the
WAY, He is the one who makes the WAY straight. Enter ye in at the
strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to
destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate,
and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
(Matt 7:13-14) But
it is the drawing power of the Holy Ghost that drags us, sometimes kicking and
screaming, to that Way which the Lord wants us to follow. Heartbreak Ridge is a
rugged part of Bear Mountain overlooking the US Military Academy at West Point.
The forced march in full field packs up that ridge is heartbreaking, for the
trail inclines steeply upward and appears to end at a crest; but when the
presumed crest is approached, the cadets are disappointed to find that it only
turns up a steeper incline. I am one of those who knew the disappointment of
Heartbreak Ridge in my younger days at the Academy.
The Straight Way is uphill for it leads up to God.
Not many people wish to travel uphill, so there are few on that Narrow Way. But
many lazy and shiftless sinners are on that Broad and highly trafficked way
that leads down to destruction. They love to be in the company of abject
sinners. They love the apparent ease of sin and the world's recognition and
approbation of sinners. They know not their destiny until the gaping jaws of
Hell appear before them at the abyss when it is too late to turn back. Truly,
the Word of God is immutable and never broken, for Christ is the Word Incarnate
- He changeth not. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day,
and for ever. (Heb
13:8)
