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Christmas Day Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, Brookings, SD Rev. Matthew Wurm December 25th, 2016 Sermon Text: Isaiah 52:10 Grace, mercy, and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The sermon text for this morning is Isaiah 52:10, “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Today, we wait for word of some important event by staying close to the television, the radio, the Internet, or to our cell phones. We sit in the waiting room of a surgical unit at the hospital, hoping expectantly for the sound of the doctor’s footsteps coming out of surgery to tell us that “all went well” and that our loved one will be just fine. Parents listen late at night for the sound of footsteps in the house telling them that their teenager has arrived home safely after a night with friends. Relatives wait close to a birthing room, listening for the news of newborn and healthy child. Grandparents wait for the call or even the photos or video clips of the new grandchild. Tweets, texts, phone calls, news reports, and even the sound of the doctor’s feet or the first cries of a newborn can bring some very good news. We pray for that kind of news, and we are delighted when it comes. There was no Skype at the time of Isaiah, but there was a message system—the messenger who could be seen on the hillsides at some distance running to deliver the message. But Isaiah’s reference to the “beauty” of the feet of the runner have little to do with the messenger and have a whole lot to do with the beauty of the message. In Isaiah’s time, the message was about the restoration of Israel, the end of their captivity in Babylon. Though doubts no doubt persisted in captivity about the power of the God of Israel, the souluplifting message of the messenger to God’s people and the central message of Isaiah in this text was “Your God (indeed) reigns.” What Isaiah was foreshadowing for us was the ultimate message of salvation and the eternal reign of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the one who brought an end to the captivity of sin. He is the one who brought to an end the bondage experienced by those with no hope because of their alienation from God. He brought freedom—freedom from the eternal consequences of sin and freedom to experience life here to the fullest and life forever with him in heaven. The Lord Jesus reigns, and through faith in him, we share in his kingdom! Those who bring this message of salvation by grace through faith for the sake of the reigning Jesus Christ can be welcomed with great joy. But it is, of course, their message that brings the greatest joy. Isaiah 52:7 is a familiar passage: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The verses following verse 7 simply underscore the joy associated with the fact that the God of Israel reigns. Paul in Romans 10:15 quotes Isaiah in talking about the importance of those who proclaim the “good news.” (“And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!’”) A temptation may be to glamorize the messenger. We may look at this new, handsome young pastor we have and thank God saying, “Now we have a new, younger pastor with a younger family to save our congregation and really make it grow.” But that is not at all the case, nor the right reason to thank God. We thank God for sins forgiven! We might look at that new-fangled chasuble he’s wearing and think to ourselves, “my how glamorous!”, but that’s not right either. The beauty is not in messenger, his age, his prowess, nor his looks. The beauty is in the message he delivers. The beauty is in Jesus, the one who comes to us in the flesh. For Isaiah and Israel, the captivity experienced in Babylon was real. It hurt. It was destructive. It all but wiped out their peace, happiness, and hope for the future. But the return to Zion was glorious! The message of God reigning was greeted with great joy, and, as Isaiah makes clear in verse 10 of the text, God’s reign and salvation are for all nations. We can identify with the Babylonian captives. Sin (captivity) is still real in our lives. It is destructive. It can bring so much hurt and obliterate true happiness. It wipes out any hope we may have for forgiveness, reconciliation, and redemption. We may be sorry for what we have done, but we can’t fix the problem. We’re captive. And then along comes a messenger with the beautiful message of God’s gift of a Savior, Jesus Christ, whose death and resurrection bring to us forgiveness, peace, happiness, freedom, and hope through faith. We can know for sure that the Lord Jesus reigns. And that message is, indeed, beautiful! Today, you may have checked the weather report before heading out to church. You did so just to hear the latest weather news. Tonight, you might sit by the phone, waiting, hoping, praying that you will get a call on Christmas from your son, your daughter, your relative, your friend and hear the news that everything is alright. News—its something we wait for in anticipation. Here is the news this morning: Today, to you, a child is born and he is Christ the Lord. He was in the beginning and all things were made through Him. He is God in the flesh for you. All the earth now worships Him for he has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and to all the ends of the earth news spreads this day – the salvation of our God has come. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And now may the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus the Lord. Amen.