Isaiah announces God's surprising plan of grace and glory for his rebellious people and, indeed, for the world.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.
A voice cries:
“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.
And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1-5 ESV)
There is an interesting discussion of why Christmas is celebrated on December 25 at this link http://www.christianitytoday.com/ch/news/2000/dec08.html. What I find interesting in this article is that Church leaders of the third century chose the date to coopt pagan celebrations. There were a number of pagan festivals around that date in the Roman world, and the feeling was that celebrating the birth of the savior would overcome the allure of idolatry. I think those leaders might revisit their decision if they could see what is happening today, because essentially the opposite seems to have happened.
But from my point of view it seems appropriate. Starting in November (Halloween is apparently the kickoff for the “holidays”; retailers are putting up “Christmas” decorations before the pumpkins and candy are even off the shelves) we as a people embark upon a spree of over-indulgence. Retail sales figures for the day after Thanksgiving are national news, signifying, I think, where our values as a society lie. The “Holiday” season is accompanied by aggressive driving, bad tempers, discourtesy, reports of fist fights and worse over scarce but coveted merchandise, people robbing each other in broad daylight, riots and stampedes in retail establishments. And all of this in pursuit of “the joy of Christmas.” I can’t imagine the ancient pagan festivals could have been any more raucous or obscene.
Probably the date itself doesn’t matter. Because of course the Advent season is really all about this human tendency to completely miss God’s point. When Isaiah wrote the prophecy above there was no Christmas and the entire nation of Israel was in a sort of Advent season. What that meant for them was that God had miraculously saved them from bondage and had constituted them as a people to be set apart as a light to the nations. They had been rescued from the tyranny of Pharaoh to fulfill God’s promise to Abraham that he would bring them to the Promised Land and to bless all nations through them (Gen. 12:1-3). But Isaiah made a living giving them the unpleasant news that they had blown it.
For the Israelites, the Promised Land was to be theirs but not for their own benefit. God’s blessing of Israel and the abundance they were to experience was to be a sign of their devotion to God and his ways; concrete evidence of God’s faithfulness and a beacon of hope to a world lost in selfishness and sin. The covenant God made with the exiles from Egypt promised great rewards for obedience, but at the same time warned of grave consequences for abandoning their faithfulness. By the time of Isaiah the people of Israel had all but forgotten the covenant. Ignoring God’s warning to remain apart from the surrounding pagan cultures,they had fallen for the temptations of idolatry. Far from being a beacon of hope for the pagans surrounding them, the Israelites had become indistinguishable from them.
In the theological history of God’s people, the consequence of Israel’s idolatry would be the destruction of Israel, Jerusalem, and the temple, and a new exile in Babylon. In the above passage Isaiah is assuring the people that their great calamity would be followed by a restoration and rededication. Was Isaiah referring to the historical return from exile or was he referring to something else? For centuries the Christian Church has believed it was both.
The exiles really did return from Babylon in 538 BC, but the comfort Isaiah promised did not materialize. In the following centuries God’s people would suffer conquest, loss of independence, and persecution. Many gave in to pressures to abandon their faithfulness to the one true God in favor of once again relying on foreign customs and idols. Even those who redoubled their efforts to remain true to the covenant came to rely for salvation on adherence to the law rather than on God’s grace. Ultimately the Jews would suffer the complete loss of their national identity and a new dispersion into exile. If you were a Jew living in first-century Palestine you would have good reason to be skeptical of Isaiah’s prophecy of comfort.
But that was not the end. The same prophecy is recalled by all four of the Gospel writers in reference to John the Baptist, the voice crying in the wilderness, "Get ready! God's coming!" God was going to rescue His people again, this time not from an earthly exile but for a final freedom from bondage to sin and death. The words of the ancient prophet found a new resonance; the people once again had reason to hope. This is what the Advent season signifies, our need for and assurance of rescue. And then, the miraculous moment. God came to earth. The long awaited deliverance was at hand. Christ was born, and accomplished the reconciliation that men could not.
This is the event that has been celebrated on December 25 since the third century. This is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises to His people. The truth of God’s deliverance was of such magnitude that the early Church leaders felt sure that commemorating the fact of Jesus’ birth would overshadow and ultimately banish the pagan practices. And yet here we are in the third millennium since God came in the flesh and I think the world doesn’t look that much different. The rebellious hearts of humankind have made a mockery of Christmas. We celebrate His birth by banishing His name and obscenely dancing around a golden calf.
As for the wayward Israelites, however, for Christians this is not the end. The travesty of “Xmas” and “the Holidays” makes the expectation of Advent that much more important. What better time to hopefully await Christ’s birth than in a season when our need for salvation is most obvious? As Christians seeking to retain the meaning of Christmas ours may be, like John’s, voices crying in a wilderness of self-centered materialism. But if I rightly understand Jesus’ commission, our task is not to cut ourselves off from the world, not to condemn or moralize, but to make disciples of all nations by being salt and light. Our light must shine like Israel’s light was to shine, so that our identification with Christ draws all people to Him. Let us use the time of Advent not only to celebrate once again our own expectation of deliverance but to let the light of God’s love shine so brightly through us that it shouts to the world, like Isaiah’s messenger, “Behold your God!” (Is. 40:9)
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