Princeton Presbyterian Church (EPC) Sermon # 1615
December 3, 2023 - Advent 1
Isaiah 2.1-5 Click here for audio worship.
Dr. Ed Pettus
(This is an extended outline, not a verbatim transcript.)
“A Vision of Advent”
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it, 3and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.
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Blurred Vision
A favorite Christmas song begins with these words: Said the night wind to the little lamb:
"Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb, Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night, With a tail as big as a kite, With a tail as big as a kite" As I was working on this message this week, I thought about this song as a good one for the world to hear. Do you see what I see? Of course, the song is about seeing Jesus. The star points to Jesus. Do you hear what I hear? A song that points to Jesus. Do you know what I know? A child, a child. Jesus. We see things going on in the world right now that shows the blurred vision of people, of governments, of corporations, of cultures and systems and so forth. The world shows its blurred vision in how it deals with Christmas. The world does not know what to do with Christmas. In Canada the Human Rights Commission has suggested that Christmas and Easter are a symbols of “systemic religious discrimination”. The goal of such idiotic groups is that “Canada must work towards the ‘eradication’ of such so-called religious intolerance”. I guess the thought is that celebrating Christmas is religious intolerance toward those who do not celebrate Christmas or believe in Christ. We may not be too far removed from groups in American government proclaiming the same kind of idiotic rhetoric. Theirs is a blurred vision as they cannot see what we see, Jesus. The blurred vision could be the problem of sin, I’m sure that is the case for most. The blurred vision could be caused by pure evil intent. The blurred vision might be the distractions of the world.
Our message to the world is a question that points to Jesus, do you see what I see? Come and see Jesus. Come and hear His message of salvation and righteousness and love and peace and joy. Come out of the blurred vision and see what we see. This is why that particular song might be one for the world to see. Do you see what I see? Do you hear what I hear? Do you know what I know? If your vision was corrected you could certainly see.
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Corrected Vision
Isaiah, the prophet, offers ways to correct the vision of those blurred by evil and sin and pure stupidity. The invitation to see what God’s people see comes about by coming to the mountain of the Lord. It is basically a call to come and see the Lord – to be taught His ways, to walk in His paths, to walk in His light. This is what Canada, USA, all nations desperately need in today’s twisted and crooked thinking about all things biblical, Christlike, and holy.
Isaiah’s vision is clear, not blurred, a vision of advent, the coming of the Lord. The advent of God is evident through the establishment of peace and justice, worship and education. Out of Zion shall go forth instruction. God shall judge between the nations. Isaiah invites us to expectations of what shall be. Isaiah sees this in a vision. It is a fascinating vision that begins with “the words that Isaiah saw.” The invitation of verse 5 is that we walk in the light of the Lord. The light enables us to see the word, and in this vision, to look beyond what is to what shall be. Isaiah offers new possibilities beyond the crisis of exile and captivity for Israel. “In the days to come…” There shall come a day when the current situations of the world will be different. Advent is the time of looking beyond the current situations of our world. Could we possibly imagine a world without war in the middle east? Could we imagine a world where many people will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord”? Isaiah’s vision is a vision of the future. “It shall come to pass in the latter days …” They do not know when those days will come, but they will come.
In those days, notice the future tense:
...the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains
The nations shall flow to it,
many peoples shall come, and say
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between the nations
they shall beat their swords into plowshares
It is a clear vision and what clear visions do for us is give us direction and clarity for today! Because we see, because we have heard, because we know, we have a clear vision for the future and for today. We know that today’s troubles are not permanent. We know that today’s sufferings will come to an end. We see with new eyes a gospel of hope and message of a future filled with the things of God. No more suffering, no more death, no more sickness, no more of the nonsense of the blurred vision of the world. No more woke, no more multiple genders, no more war, no more senseless acts of violence, no more confusion, because, The nations shall flow to it, many peoples shall come. And many will finally see what we see.
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A Vision of Advent
It is a vision of advent. A vision of the coming of Christ at His birth and His coming again as He has promised. Today is the first Sunday of Advent and we have surrounded ourselves with Christmas anticipation and preparations. Advent is a time of expectation. It is a time to look forward, to anticipate the coming of Christ, both his first coming at His birth and also the Second Coming promised in Scripture. In essence, we pay attention to the Advent season looking two ways, back to Jesus’ birth and ahead to Jesus coming again. This is our vision of the past and of the future. We tend to major on the Christmas story and the great expectation of a birth. It is more familiar to us because we know the expectancy of birth. Advent, and particularly Isaiah, invites us to have a vision with eyes clear to what is just and holy and right. In that vision we have the courage not just to sing the words of the hymn, Do you see what I see?, but to also express those words to others that they might gain a cleared vision of Isaiah’s vision of the Advent of God.
It is an invitation and a vision inviting all to come. Come and see. Come and hear. Come and know. Out of this vision of future tense, “what shall be”, comes an invitation. Because of what shall be, the prophet is bold to invite people to walk in the light of the Lord. There will come a day when this vision of Isaiah will be reality – a reality we will see if we are walking in the light. In the days to come there will be nations streaming to the mountain of God. In the days to come God will teach us God’s ways and that we may walk in God’s paths. In the days to come instruction will come out of Zion, God will judge, and nations shall not learn war anymore. That day is not today, but it is coming. This is the promise of Advent.
We do not know when that day will come, but it is coming. It might be very difficult for us to see such a day coming. We get glimpses from time to time when peace comes after a conflict or war. Advent is the time to rekindle our vision, to develop the vision to see beyond the day to what shall come. Isaiah invites us to a prophetic imagination and, in Advent, we seek to develop a vision inspired by God’s word for all we see in Isaiah. War will end. Poverty will cease. Judgment will come. Ridiculous proclamations from government agencies, like that I mentioned from Canada, will cease. What we see today is not the final word on what the world will one day be like. God has promised a better day. Advent points us to that better day. Isaiah is our constant reminder of the vision we share in Christ of a day to come. This is our vision of Advent. It is a vision that brings clear and concise hope in the midst of a broken world. It is our responsibility to proclaim a vision of Advent because without that vision, that message, that gospel of hope, the world will continue on its way of blurred vision, the blind leading the blind. Advent vision leads us to “walk in the light of the Lord” and to proclaim Isaiah’s Advent vision to all who will listen. Come to the mountain of the Lord. Come to the Lord, for the Lord is coming again, soon and very soon. Amen.
