The Word of our God Will Stand Forever

The text, title and refrain for my sermon today is taken from the prophet Isaiah: “The Word of our God will stand forever.” Title, text, and refrain. The Word of our God will stand forever. The word, God’s word, is eternal, present and strong, across all time. Think about the power and significance of that statement. The Word of our God will stand forever.

Consider the things in our life that we think of as strong or safe or solid or secure. Isaiah reminds us that human life is ephemeral. All life, no matter how much we may cling to it, fades away. Our life on earth fades after barely a season like a flower at first frost. And then is blown away like grass in the wind. Life passes and fades. And our human institutions… the structures that order our lives, that we look to for security and support… they are frail and transient. Look at the economic institutions of our society. The grass withers; the flower fades; but a word is eternal. The Word of our God will stand forever.

Speaking as someone trained as a geologist I can tell you that even the most massive and majestic of mountains will, over time, erode to dust carried away by the waters of a stream. The literal bedrock on which we stand only seems firm for a time. It shifts and is carried away by the earth’s forces. The orbits of the planets around the sun or satellites over the earth degrade over time and collapse. But a Word will stand for ever, the Word of our God.

Even great nations and civilizations are not eternal. Think of the Incas or the Anasazi. Nobel people with rich cultures, now barely a shadow in memory. Whole cultures faded within the passage of time. But the Word of our God will stand eternal.

The Word of our God will never die. The lifespan of the Word is eternal; winter and death mean nothing to God’s Word. And the color, the content and the meaning of God’s word do not fade with the seasons or the passing of time. Nothing can chip away at the Word or make it less. It does not weaken or shrink or fluctuate. It does not lose value or power. No power can mar or diminish the Word of our God.

But for the Word of God to communicate God’s presence, for the word of our God to bear God’s power, the Word must be spoken. The Word of God must be spoken. Eternal and powerful as God’s Word is, to have meaning in the lives of men and women, the Word of God must be shared. It must be expressed. It takes a human voice to give voice to the Word of God in the world. A human voice, or pen, or action is the vehicle for the expression of God’s eternal word.

John the Baptizer is one of the focal figures of Advent. The voice who cried out in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord.” We often call John the Baptist a prophet, and we mistakenly think of prophets as people who tell the future. John did not predict the future. He spoke God’s word into the time and place in which he lived. The word he spoke is right here in Isaiah. But John cried out, gave voice to God’s word. John shared, communicated, God’s word so that the people around him in his world could hear and know the power and eternal truth of that word in their lives.

We are here today, gathered together in worship as people of faith because countless other people of faith before us have spoken God’s Word into the times and places in which they lived. Countless individuals have given voice to God’s eternal word. Let’s pause this second Sunday in Advent and give thanks for these people who have, across time, made God’s word real and powerful in the world.

John the Baptist who cried out in the wilderness that the kingdom of God was at hand. Our own John the Evangelist who communicates through the words of his Gospel the power and ministry of Jesus Christ, God’s Word incarnate. All of the figures in our windows who gave voice to God’s Word in their own times and places. And today I give thanks for Charles Jennens ad George Frederick Handel. There are no less than three arias in Handel’s Messiah taken from today’s reading from Isaiah. Handel and Jennens gave expression to God’s Word. Many people have come to know God’s word because they gave it expression into the world.

And let us give thanks for the generations upon generations of anonymous Christians who, over the centuries, have shared God’s word with others. Preachers and Sunday School teachers. Lectors who literally give voice to God’s word, so that the congregation may hear it in worship. Parents and godparents… godparents, whose special charge it is to give expression to God’s Word into the lives of those they sponsor in baptism. Who has given voice to God’s eternal word for you in your life? Give thanks.

And remember that we are the voice of God’s Word today. We are the ones called to express the eternal presence and power of God’s Word today to a world that desperately needs to hear it. An insecure world needs to hear God’s word.

Isaiah gives us some pretty good words to use. “Comfort. Comfort, my people.” Be comforted. God says to his own people. Comfort. Be comforted. I am here. “Lift up your voice with strength,” Isaiah says, “Here is your God.” These words are spoken to us. And they are also ours to speak. Comfort. Be comforted, God is with you. Speak to the frightened, to those who sit in darkness, to the cold, the lost, the alone. Give voice to the eternal word of God in this, our time and our place. Be comforted. Your God is here.