ISAIAH 35, 3-7
Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, “Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.”
Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs. In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
Ever go back to your old High School for Homecoming! Boy how things change! The “Home-Ec” classroom you had is now a “media center.” They have an entire new science wing with state-of-the-art equipment. But then you go to the football field to watch the game, and it’s just like you remember it. And all the memories of Friday Night football games you attended come rushing back. Yes, as so many things in this world keep changing, some things never change!
This morning is a sort of “Homecoming” for us at Hope! We think back over the 64 years that this congregation has existed. Oh, some things have changed. It used to be my grandma taught Sunday School, and my uncle always took the offering. Now there’s a new bunch of people taking care of all these things. Instead of hearing the “Thee’s and Thou’s” of the King James version of the Bible, we are hearing the “You’s” of the modern translations.
But there’s one thing that hasn’t changed, and hopefully never will change! It has to do with why a group of men and women met with a WELS pastor in Bangor, back in 1959 to see if it were possible to start a Lutheran Church here in Hartford! Maybe some of you were involved in those discussions. Or maybe it was your parents or grandparents. They wanted a church that would teach them and their children, God’s Word, instead of man’s philosophy. And that’s exactly what happened. 64 years! Seven different called pastors, four different vacancy pastors. All preaching the same thing. “Thus says, the Lord.”
And that is why we celebrate this morning. In a world that is constantly changing, we have a God who never changes. Neither does His Word. The Message our parents heard from this pulpit 64 years ago, is the same message you will hear this morning. Because, praise the Lord, SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE!”
I
And it’s not just for the past 64 years that SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE! The same message was preached by Isaiah who lived 700 years before Jesus was born.
Isaiah writes, “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way, say to those with fearful hearts…” So, what has God’s people so terrified that their knees are knocking their hearts are racing? A nation called Assyria! Their army had just conquered the northern ten tribes! And now this killing machine is heading toward Jerusalem. No other nation has been able to stand up against them. No other god has been able to deliver his people out of their hands. And now, the Assyrian army looks at Jerusalem and says, “You’re next.”
But God says, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear.” Oh, yeah? Why should the people of Jerusalem not fear? How in the world can they be strong? Doesn’t God know what is happening? Doesn’t God realize that this Assyrian army is unstoppable?
So, what can possibly give God’s people the courage to fight? The sturdy city wall of Jerusalem? How many walls has the Assyrian army tore down? Or maybe God is pointing to Israel’s army? No army so far has been able to stand up against Assyria.
God says, “Say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.” God doesn’t point to Jerusalem’s wall, or Israel’s army, or the king’s ability to negotiate peace terms. God points to Israel’s God! The Assyrian General will tell the people of Jerusalem, “Don’t expect your god to protect you, because no other god has ever been able to stand up against the Assyrian army!”
But Israel’s God will! Israel’s God will come to their rescue. He will come “with vengeance,” and “with divine retribution,” against those arrogant heathen fools who think they can defy God. God will come to “save you.” And that’s exactly what the God of Israel did! In one night, while the Assyrian army was sleeping, the angel of death went through their camp, and killed 188,000 soldiers. The next morning the Assyrians didn’t even pack up their possessions. They just ran home. God’s people were saved. Because of their God!
We see it displayed in the Scripture page after page. The God who created this universe, and set up the laws of nature, can also set those laws aside, and accomplish anything for the sake of His people. And we’ve seen that power displayed by our God even today. Yes, SOME THINGS DON’T CHANGE!
II
But it’s not just the power and majesty of God that hasn’t changed since the beginning of the world. It’s also God’s compassion, love, mercy. It was there in the Garden of Eden when God made that first gospel promise. And it is still with us today.
“Then will the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.” It’s not that God only concerns Himself with huge things, that affect world politics, and the balance of power in the universe. God is also concerned about each and every individual in the world. Not just those souls who will make a discovery that will affect the world. But for ordinary common folks like us. Here God mentions that He has compassion on those who were troubled with physical maladies, the blind, the deaf, the crippled! Most people who suffered from these things felt ostracized from society, but more so, felt like they were being abandoned and punished by God. But the God of Israel says, “No! They aren’t cursed and abandoned by God. God loves them and will heal them.
And that’s exactly what Jesus did when He came to this earth. His entire ministry was filled with giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, and healing the crippled. The Gospel lesson this morning gave one more example. Jesus had compassion on a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment. And He healed him. And the people who witnessed this, realized that Jesus was fulfilling these very words of Isaiah, about Israel’s God who will come “to save you.”
But God didn’t come to “save you” from one more enemy of Israel! Nor did Jesus come to “save you,” from earthly maladies and diseases. Oh, sure Jesus did heal a lot of people during His ministry. But then those people contracted another disease, another malady, and they ended up dying anyway.
Jesus came to “save us” from a sickness and disease of our souls that separated us from God, and would end up in death, not just physical death, but an eternal death in Hell. This healing would not be accomplished by Jesus simply saying, “Be healed,” or by touching your ears.” This healing would demand much more from Jesus. It would demand that Jesus humble Himself and be executed on a cross like a vicious criminal. It would mean that Jesus would carry your sins, like the Precius Lamb of God he was, and take those sins away, so we could become children of God, loved by God, and assured of eternal life in Heaven. That was the promise God gave Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. And that’s the same message Jesus gives you this morning, throughout this service. And we rejoice. Because SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE!
God’s Word doesn’t change! Ever. The Ten Commandments Moses brought down from Mount Sinai, are still in effect today! And God expects us to follow them. What James told us still applies today. God wants us to take what we learn on Sunday morning, and live it on Thursday afternoon. Don’t just listen to God’s Word and nod and say, “Hey that’s good.” Live what we’ve learned. Do the things God wants us to do every day, everywhere we go, no matter who we are with. God’s law doesn’t change!
But there’s another message from God that we need to understand even more so! A message that has also been from the beginning. Not what God wants us to do for Him. But what God has done for us. The sacrificial love God would have for the likes of us, that would cause Jesus to be crucified on a cross to take away my sins. The love of God that has make me a precious child of God, and an heir of heaven. Oh, I need to be constantly be reminded of what God wants me to do, and how I am to live. But when I have failed to do what God wants, when I’ve messed up big time, when I am covered with guilt and shame, I don’t need to hear what God expects from me, and the consequences if I don’t. I need to hear what God did for me, I need to hear that Jesus died to forgive a weak and foolish sinner like me.
That is what those meetings with Pastor Hoenecke in 1959 were all about. Hartford had plenty of churches. In fact, some people wondered why we needed another one. Well, those churches were very good at telling people what they needed to do for God, and the consequences if they didn’t. But they failed to tell people what God had done for them, and the salvation that is theirs because Jesus died for them. That’s what those faithful Christians wanted for themselves and for their children. And that is what they got. And that is the message that was preached regardless of which pastor preached from this pulpit. This is what God wants you to do. So go out this week and do it! But this is also what God has done for you to save you. So, rejoice in your forgiveness wherever you go. And we pray that this will be the message that will be proclaimed from this pulpit for the next 64 years and more!
Yes, welcome to our Homecoming. A lot has changed over the past 64 years. But the gospel message about what God has done for us has not! That message was preached here on February 21, 1960, is still being preached today! Because that is the precious message we sinners need to hear. And so, this morning, we rejoice because SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE!
