We are celebrating the Lord’s Supper as a church family today. With this being the first Sunday of the month, I would assume others are as well. Our meditation for the Lord’s Supper is coming from Isaiah 61:1-3. The title of the sermon: “Comfort in the Messiah’s Proclamation and Work.”
Our church family is going through a season of heaviness. For a small church family there are many with sickness. We have had two individuals go Home. There is also the unrest in our country and other issues constantly in front of us. We are in a season of seeing just how terrible the effects of the fall are. Sin has brought death, destruction, sickness, sorrow, pain, and everything ruinous into God’s creation.
So, we mourn. Yet, the Messiah, our Lord Jesus proclaims comfort to His people. He is the Anointed of God to bring Good News to the poor, bind broken hearts, set captives free, and comfort the mourning. He does this with the proclamation of the Lord’s favor and vengeance.
Here is an excerpt from the sermon. May the Lord accomplish His work in it.
The year of the Lord’s favor and the day of the Lord’s vengeance bring comfort to God’s mourning people (Isaiah 61:2).
We mourn. Mourning is part of life for everyone at one point or another. For some much more than others. This is true, because of sin. Sin has brought destruction. Where there is destruction there is mourning. You and I can be certain that where there is death there is mourning. Where there is sickness there is mourning. Where there is poverty there is mourning. We mourn.
Christian mourning is mourning that comes from a growing understanding of the evil of sin. The more we understand, recognize, and believe that sin is evil, the more that we mourn. Sin robs God of worship that He deserves. It robs us of joy, loved ones, comfort, abilities, and true happiness. It robs humanity of life. The Christian should increasingly hate sin in ourselves and the world around us. This will bring sorrow for sin and its effect.
But we do not mourn without hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Jesus comforts those who mourn.
He comforts us with the Gospel. He proclaims the year of the Lord’s favor. He has died for our sin, so that there is no condemnation for those united to Him. He has died so that we are set free from sin. The power and sting of death is gone (1 Corinthians 15:50-58). He has come proclaiming this favor. The grace of God has appeared, and we are comforted (Titus 2:11-14).
He comforts us with the knowledge of His coming. We read of His coming, and we rejoice. We will always be with the Lord. The Lord comforts us with these words, and we are to comfort one another with these words (1 Thessalonians 4:18). We read that He will come in justice to make war on His enemies, and He unquestionably wins. (Revelation 19:11-21). So, we are comforted. We read that Satan will be thrown into the lake of fire, and we are comforted (Revelation 20:7-10). We read that God will make a new heaven and new earth. God and Lamb, the Lord Jesus, will dwell with us, and we will be His people (Revelation 21:1-8). We are comforted.
He will comfort us completely on that Day. Revelation 21:4, says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” We will always be with Him, and in Him we will be completely whole and satisfied.
So, we can give a hearty “Amen!” to Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” We rest in a joy and contentment that is founded in Christ. We rest in Him, because His work on our behalf guarantees that there will be complete comfort in the day of His return.
Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20) Amen.
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Unless otherwise noted Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by
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