Worship Preparation Guide for Sunday, November 8

“The Lord has taken his place to contend; He stands to judge peoples.  The Lord will enter into judgment…..” (Is 3:13-14).   This is the theme and central message of the first few chapters of Isaiah.  The prophet proclaims the coming ‘day of the Lord’, a day in which the full fury of God’s righteous judgment will be poured out of the “haughtiness” and “lofty pride of men” (Is 2:17).  That God rises to judge and crush the prideful rebellion of man is not be surprising.  We  should expect no less from “the Lord God of Hosts”. 

Yet rising up from the ruins of judgment is the unexpected promise of “the branch of the Lord”, the coming Messiah who will be beautiful and glorious, and will wash away the filth and cleanse the stains of God’s people.  In the context of Isaiah’s day this grace is amazing!  It should amaze us as well.  “How truly surprising is the saving work of the Lord!” (Alec Motyer)

“The Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious”.  In The Old Testament the title ‘Branch of the Lord’ points to the Messiah in “his kingly and priestly offices” (Motyer).  Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land (Jeremiah 23:5).  And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne (Zechariah 6:12-13). 

The prestige and attractiveness the people sought in prideful rebellion is found only in the true beauty of the Branch of the Lord.  The “glory” men sought apart from God had been their destruction.  Now, in the Branch of the Lord, God’s Messiah, glory dwells among men and true pride and dignity are found in Him.  

In this week’s text we also see a beautiful picture of covenant love and care: “for over all the glory there will be a canopy” (Isaiah 4:5).  In The Old Testament “canopy” speaks of the marriage chamber, and points us to the glory of Christ joined to His bride – the church – that we see in Revelation 19:

Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come,

and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen,

bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.  And the angel said to me,

“Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:7-9)

Words like beautiful and glorious describe our Lord and Savior.  Words like bright and pure describe His people – His church.  In Isaiah 4 we see God promise to wash and cleanse His people “by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning” (Isaiah 4:4). Paul combines this picture of marriage and this promise of cleansing in this familiar passage:  Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25-27)

This Sunday we will have communion.  So as we prepare for worship it would be good if we pause and ask God by His Holy Spirit to show us where and how we have sought prestige, beauty and satisfaction in anyone or anything other than Jesus.  Read again Isaiah chapters one through four, and pray that the Holy Spirit will wash and cleanse you by the “washing of water with the word”.

We will have a special missions focus this week.  We will hear from Andrew and Sheila Stover as they give us an update on their family and their work in Central Asia.  We will also hear from Joel Bradsher and Moncy Mammen about Penial Gospel Ministries, an indigenous church-planting ministry in northeast India led by Moncy’s father.

In Isaiah 11 we read, There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11: 1 & 11) 

As we gather and worship we will set our gaze on Jesus who by His blood has “ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation”. (Revelation 5:9)

I look forward to seeing you there!