Prelude to an Invasion

Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8

Cascades Fellowship CRC, JX MI
December 4, 2005
Second Sunday of Advent

In 1944 the entire world hung in the balance. The face of the European

continent and the future was vastly different from what we see today. The world

we now enjoy is due largely to one vast, bloody and terrifying battle fought on the

shores of Normandy.

Every June 6th we celebrate D-Day, the day in 1944 when the Allied forces

landed approximately 300,000 troops in an all or nothing gambit to break the iron

grip of Germany on the Western European continent. Through a mixture of valor,

luck and just plain grit, the Allies won the day. But history records that but for

some exceptionally brilliant pre-battle espionage and a providentially small

window of calm in the midst of a nasty North Atlantic storm, the battle could have

easily gone the other way.

When we celebrate D-Day, we usually think of the men who landed on the

beach – who faced a hail storm of bullets and anti-personnel ordinance. Thanks

to Steven Spielberg, many of us have clear, disturbing images of what that day

must have looked like. But the success of that day actually begins with a gigantic

hoax played out by the allied forces in the days leading up to the invasion.

In order to deceive the German high command the Allies planned and

staged two other mass invasions – one just to the north of Normandy at Pas de

Calais – the closest point of the European continent to the British Isles – and one
through Norway. Scads of false intelligence was fed to German agents, fake

military installations and staging grounds were built, even the creation of a

fictitious military command were created to convince the Germans and throw

them off the scent of the real plan. Paper machete airplanes, plywood artillery

and tube and canvas landing craft were all built to simulate the presence of a

huge task force. And the crowning touch was the assignment of none other than

George S. Patton as the commander of this straw man army. He was paraded

up and down the southern coast of Britain like a commander deep in preparation

for a massive military invasion.

The result was that Germany placed its most powerful divisions north of

Normandy. So convinced were the Germans that the main force was coming

landing to the north, that even after the Battle of Normandy began, they held

divisions in reserve looking for a Patton-led invasion thinking that Normandy was

just a ruse.

It was the prelude to the invasion that made the difference on June 6 th.

The elaborate plans laid by the Allies to conceal their true target ensured that the

German military was in the poor position to respond to the real invasion. If you

think of the Allied invasion as a roadway to victory, through the pre-invasion

planning they straightened out the switchbacks, filled in the potholes and leveled

the bumps. Through the prelude to the invasion the Allies made what would

have been an impossible task, possible; what was unreachable, suddenly within

reach.
 Last week marked the first Sunday of Advent – the time of preparation for

celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a time for

reflecting on two things – the first is a look back at the birth of Christ and all the

events that led up to God wrapping human flesh around his deity and being born

as a frail and helpless baby. Imagine it, God dependent upon his fallen and sin-

flawed creatures for survival. Talk about an unexpected entrance! We look back

to remind us of the great things God has done to redeem us – to claim us for his

own. Hopefully, as we reflect on the unimaginable lengths God goes through to

gain a people for himself our hearts will be stirred to deeper love and devotion.

The second thing we reflect on during this season is our unique place in

history – we celebrate that Christ has already come, but wait in anticipation for

him to come again. Because we are waiting for Jesus to come again, we identify

with the ancient world that languished in anticipation for the Messiah to come.

Because we also wait for the Messiah, we understand their hope and their

desperation. We understand their heart-wrenching desire for the one who will

come establish his kingdom in righteousness and justice.

Such a time of desperation was the setting for our first passage this

morning – Isaiah 40:1-11. Isaish’s ministry as a prophet began during the reign

of Uzziah the King, around 745 BC. Uzziah had been a strong king who

expanded the borders of Judah and led the nation into a time of prosperity. So

when Isaiah begins to prophesy, it is to a people who are experiencing the good
life. Trouble seems far away, but in reality a storm was rising to the north in

Assyria.

The Assyrian king was beginning to disturb the peace. Isaiah began to

speak of the Assyrian king as the rod of discipline in the hand of God. And soon,

it proved true as the Assyrians began sweeping across the known world, taking

whole nations into captivity. By 722 BC, Samaria, the capitol city for the northern

ten tribes of Israel was decimated and the people taken into exile. Before long,

the Assyrians were at the gate of Jerusalem itself, laying siege. Though the city

was not breeched, it took an enormous amount of tribute to avert disaster. Ahaz

who succeeded Jotham, son of Uzziah, became a vassal of Assyria.

Socially, things aren’t going well either. The leaders of the country grow

more and more corrupt. The rich get richer and the poor only get poorer. Israel

neglects the law, particularly those aimed at promoting social equity. The judicial

system becomes biased toward those who can pay a bribe. The priesthood

begins incorporating pagan rituals into the worship life of people. False prophets

pop up everywhere saying, “Peace, peace.” But there is no peace.

Outside the borders, a cruel and powerful nation threatens the life of God’s

people. Inside the borders, only a remnant continues to keep the Word of the

Lord. Most do what is right in their own eyes. The situation looked dire.

Meanwhile, Babylon was growing and beginning to show signs of having designs

for world domination.

 And, quite frankly, the only thing that the Hebrews could expect from God

was judgment. The people had forgotten the covenant God had made with them

before entering the Promised Land. He had warned those placed as judges to

show no partiality, yet they did. He warned them about kings who take many

wives – yet Israel’s kings did and often had their hearts led astray. He warned

them to care for the poor and the widowed and the stranger in their midst – to

leave the corners of their fields for the poor to glean. But the Hebrews not only

gleaned the corners of their fields, they also used dishonest scales in trade. So

corrupt, such a stench had the Israelites become in the nostrils of God, that the

curse God spoke in Deuteronomy 28:36-37 had already come to pass for the

Northern kingdom and must soon come to pass for the Southern kingdom of

Judah, as well. God said to them, “The LORD will drive you and the king you set

over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other
37
gods, gods of wood and stone. You will become a thing of horror and an object

of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.” 1 This is

what the residents of Judah had to look forward to – what they could expect from

the hand of God. Over and over they had ignored or beaten or imprisoned or

ridiculed the prophets sent to warn them. So what else could they expect but

judgment? What else could they expect Isaiah to say but what Daniel said to

Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar “Mene tekel – God has numbered your days

1All texts taken from The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing
House) 1984.
and brought them to an end, you have been weighed on the scales and found

wanting.” As the writer of Hebrews so poignantly points out in chapter 9:26-27,

“If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of

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the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of

judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.”

You have to believe that people of Judah and Jerusalem were there – were

at that point of fearful expectation. I can imagine they must have started to

cringe whenever Isaiah came into view. Now, imagine how you would feel in

their place when the prophet opened his mouth and said,

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard
service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she
has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD;
make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.
5
And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all mankind together
will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Isn’t God amazing? Just when you think you have him figured out he

surprises you. Here are the Israelites – far astray, thumbing there nose at the

prophets and ignoring the signs of the times – like we all do. The hammer starts

to fall and all seems lost. Then God says, “Enough! “How can I give you up,

Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel…? My heart is changed within me;

all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I turn

and devastate Ephraim. For I am God, and not man— the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.”

Instead of destruction; instead of finally just getting rid of the free radical in

creation – that would be us, mankind – God plans an invasion. So great is the

love of God, that rather than lose us – even though we tried to be lost – he chose

to wrap human flesh around Deity and come to earth in the fragile form of an

infant. An infant – you know, the little buggers that cannot eat on their own, can’t

hold their heads up, has the muscle tone of a noodle! Need constant supervision

from a grown up in order to survive. God planned to break into time by becoming

one of us. Isn’t that just the most foolish thing you have ever heard? But love is

crazy that way. It doesn’t know a limit or boundary when it comes to the object of

its affection. Love will go to whatever lengths are necessary to win the heart of

the one Love desires.

So God plans an invasion – one in which his people would receive double

for all their sin from his hands, his nail-scarred hands. And tells his people, here

is the sign that the real battle is about to begin. There will be one calling: “In

the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a

highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and

hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a

plain.” In other words, people of God prepare your hearts. Cast off the old rags

of sin and clothe yourselves in the robes of righteousness and holiness. Lay the

groundwork that will lead to successful invasion.

 On this second Sunday of Advent, we celebrate God’s successful invasion

over two thousand years ago. In fact, God’s invasion still continues and its

success grows with each heart that hears the cry “In the desert prepare the way

for the Lord!” and responds.

This Christmas, as we look back at his First Advent in anticipation of his

Second Advent, let us listen for that voice crying out in the wilderness. Is your

heart prepared? Are your crooked ways made straight? Have you leveled every

barrier and raised every pit to make a straight path for God into your heart?

Have you cast off your sin and made room for God? Children of God, love that

would endure such abuse at our hands and then go to such lengths to rescue us

deserves no less.