"The Coming King"

Preached by Rev. Ed Brouwer at The Gathering Place, Osoyoos

Pulpit Series Volume 20 Issue 2 January 17, 2010

Isaiah 40:1-4  “Comfort you, comfort you my people, says your God. Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry to her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 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.”

Now, don’t take this in the wrong way, but “what did you come here for this morning?”  I’m not trying to sound rude or unwelcoming.  It’s great you are here.  The reason I ask that question, is because Jesus once asked such a question. “What did you go out into the desert to see?” He asked.  You see, people had been going out in droves to hear the strange preacher now known as John the Baptist.  Jesus asked, “Why did you go?”

I’m not sure if any people actually responded out loud to Jesus’

question.  But we are pretty sure they wanted to see what John was all about.

John didn’t pull any strings.  He told people to repent because the King was coming.  He wanted Jesus to be able to come and do what Jesus does best, comfort people.  But the people needed to repent first.

And since we too need to get ready for the coming King, I’m preaching the same message that Isaiah and John preached thousands of years ago: The King is coming.

Ever since Adam and Eve fell into sin, God has sent His messengers to tell people to acknowledge their sinfulness and turn to God for forgiveness.  That’s what Isaiah, the prophet was trying to do.  He was trying to get his countrymen, to see that they needed God.  That they couldn’t ignore him for their entire lives and expect everything to always be alright because they offered the right sacrifices and spent some time at the temple.

God had flat-out told them, “Burnt offerings and sacrifices, I don’t desire. I just want a humble and contrite spirit.”

God didn’t want hypocrites.  But the Israelites felt that as long as they put on a good show, everything would be okay.  But everything wasn’t okay.  And God tried teaching them.  He sent prophets, but they ignored the prophets.  Some of them even killed the prophets.

God sent some difficult things into their lives: famines and invading armies.  And they turned to Him for a little while.

John the Baptist and Jesus still preached the same message Isaiah had preached hundreds of years earlier.

“Repent!” John said, “The axe is already at the root of the tree, and every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire!” cried the Lord.

But for some reason, even John’s and Jesus’ powerful preaching didn’t work.

The blind pride in human beings

can be amazing.

The Pharisees thought they knew everything they needed to know.  But when Jesus came, they rejected Him because he couldn’t possibly have been the Messiah.

God doesn’t want any of us to perish.  His heart just isn’t in sending

people to hell.

Yeah, the prophets and Jesus had some harsh words at times.  They were all “fire and brimstone” when they spoke to those who refused to humble themselves.  But even when they spoke like that, it was only because of love.

In love they tried to shake people out of their denial.

Remember how Jesus said that He came as a doctor.  That He came for sick people.

Well, at times He was the doctor saying to the patient, “Unless you change your diet, start exercising, and take this medicine, you’re going to die!”

· Jesus demands repentance because He wants to forgive. 

· Jesus wants empty hearts so that He can fill them with forgiveness, joy and hope for the future. 

· Jesus came to give the hopeless hope.

He was the most compassionate man the world has ever seen.  Think of how humbly and gently Jesus lived.  Jesus was the man who was more than eager to associate Himself with the repentant failures of this world.

He ate with the liars called tax collectors and the home-wreckers called prostitutes.

And finally, He even let himself be arrested and put to death by hypocrites.

He lived that life and died that death

so that He could give us hope.

His entire life was geared around saving those who by God’s grace, realized that they couldn’t save themselves.  He didn’t come to condemn the world, but to save the world.

That’s what your King is all about.  Our King comes to fills us with hope till our joy runs over.  Even though we continue to make messes of our lives, our King forgives us, takes us in His arms and says, “Take heart my child; you’re sins are forgiven.”

And then He promises you, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart; I have overcome the world!”

This is that King we think about today.  And this is the King who is coming back one day soon.  And when Jesus comes, the humility will be over. 

We won’t have any more Peter moments where we go into our bedrooms and weep bitterly over our sins, because our King will cure us of our disease of sin once and for all.

So we won’t have to come before

Him with empty hearts ever again

because we will always be filled

with every good thing that

God has to offer.

We will have life and we will have it to the fullest.

So, prepare your hearts to meet your King. He comes to take you from your lowly position and move you to a place of honor.  He comes to fix you.  He comes to comfort you because that’s what He does best.

The King Is Coming

The marketplace is empty,

No more traffic in the streets,

All the builders' tools are silent,

No more time to harvest wheat;
Busy housewives cease their labors,

In the courtroom no debate,
Work on earth is all suspended

As the King comes thro' the gate.

Happy faces line the hallways,

Those whose lives have been redeemed, Broken homes that He has mended,

Those from prison He has freed;

Little children and the aged

Hand in hand stand all aglow,

Who were crippled, broken, ruined,

Clad in garments white as snow.

O the King is coming, The King is coming!
I just heard the trumpets sounding,

And now His face I see;
O the King is coming, The King is coming!
Praise God, He's coming for me!

I can hear the chariots rumble,

I can see the marching throng,
The flurry of God's trumpets

Spells the end of sin and wrong:
Regal robes are now unfolding,

Heaven's grandstand's all in place,

Heaven's choir now assembled,

Start to sing "Amazing Grace!"

O the King is coming, The King is coming!
I just heard the trumpets sounding, And now His face I see;
O the King is coming, The King is coming!

Praise God, He's coming for me!