The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost (OT)

Isaiah 42:14-25

¹⁴  For a long time I have held my peace; 

I have kept still and restrained myself; 

now I will cry out like a woman in labor; 

I will gasp and pant. 

¹⁵  I will lay waste mountains and hills, 

and dry up all their vegetation; 

I will turn the rivers into islands, 

and dry up the pools. 

¹⁶  And I will lead the blind 

in a way that they do not know, 

in paths that they have not known 

I will guide them. 

I will turn the darkness before them into light, 

the rough places into level ground. 

These are the things I do, 

and I do not forsake them. 

¹⁷  They are turned back and utterly put to shame, 

who trust in carved idols, 

who say to metal images, 

“You are our gods.” 

Israel’s Failure to Hear and See

¹⁸  Hear, you deaf, 

and look, you blind, that you may see! 

¹⁹  Who is blind but my servant, 

or deaf as my messenger whom I send? 

Who is blind as my dedicated one, 

or blind as the servant of the Lord? 

²⁰  He sees many things, but does not observe them; 

his ears are open, but he does not hear. 

²¹  The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness’ sake, 

to magnify his law and make it glorious. 

²²  But this is a people plundered and looted; 

they are all of them trapped in holes 

and hidden in prisons; 

they have become plunder with none to rescue, 

spoil with none to say, “Restore!” 

²³  Who among you will give ear to this, 

will attend and listen for the time to come? 

²⁴  Who gave up Jacob to the looter, 

and Israel to the plunderers? 

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, 

in whose ways they would not walk, 

and whose law they would not obey? 

²⁵  So he poured on him the heat of his anger 

and the might of battle; 

it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand; 

it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart. 

It has been a long time that the church has held its tongue. It has dealt with the wickedness of culture as something to foster growth. It uses the filth of social networking to make connections into young lives. It uses the guise of technology to make itself look contemporary. The church has even weakened its message, because it sounds to harsh to people's ears.

Too long have we held our tongue. No more should the voice of the church find itself restrained by speaking in kindness. It is time to speak the harsh truth of judgment. These people will not hear it, because they have already stopped up their ears. These people will not recognize the truth standing in front of them because they are blinded by falsehoods, myths, philosophies, and acculturated eyes.

May we all be turned back and find our heads hanging low in shame and guilt over our sinful behavior. The guilt we should feel for the destruction of marriage by no-fault divorce, homosexuality, and serial monogomy. The guilt we should feel for not protecting the innocent by abortion, and Euthenasia. We spend more time trying to save animals, then our own children. The LORD's anger should truly burn against us.

But the LORD made his servant to blind and deaf. He made Christ to be sin in our place. He poured out his anger and wrath upon the cross. We should own our guilt, but Christ takes it from us. He sacrifices it in his flesh upon the cross for the forgiveness of your sins. He restores you to life, or regenerates you. This how he truly magifies the law, so you can no longer see yourself outside its judgment, and when you confess your sins, God is faithful and just to forgive your sins.