The reason why Jesus is such a good deliverer is because He has already gone the way we have to go from death to life.
Here, we have a great opportunity to preach on Isaiah’s second Servant Song (the others are 42:1-7; 50:4-9; 52:13-53:12) for Epiphany 2. The image we are going to use for this homiletical help will focus on the womb and, more specifically, on the birth of our deliverer (Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 7:14; Micah 5:2; Psalm 22:10). Homiletically we can set up the gospel by first speaking about our experience in the world as being like the experience of a person in the womb. Then, we will connect that imagery to how Christ is the one who came into the world, from a womb, to safely deliver us to Heaven (Colossians 1:15,18; Romans 8:29).
Notice how our experience of the world is much like that of a baby in the womb. Think about it. A baby in the womb thinks its whole world is the womb. It does not even comprehend, nor could it possibly fathom what the outside world is. You could even tell the baby, while it is in the womb, about everything out here in the world and it would sound like the noise the parents make on the old Charlie Brown Christmas Special (‘Mwa-Mwa-Mwa’). But have you also considered this: A baby in the womb has not yet begun to live and move in the way God designed them to be. Their eyes are not yet seeing in the manner for which they were designed. Their lungs are not yet breathing the air they were created to breathe. They have not yet begun to move in the way they were made to. But there is a day, a difficult day, a dark day, a scary day, when doctors and nurses are gathered around. On that day, the baby moves from the womb to the world and then they really get to live in the world as God intended.
Our spiritual experience of this life is much like that of a baby in the womb. Before Christ we live in this world, and we think this is all there is. But God’s Word tells us there is this whole other place called Heaven. But we cannot understand what that means, and we cannot begin to fathom what that would look like. God’s world sounds as confused and garbled as one of those parents on Charlie Brown Christmas Special (‘Mwa-Mwa-Mwa’). It seems to be just noise and not very clear. Before Christ we are pretty comfortable in the womb and that would be enough for us.
But then the time comes, and we hear about that day, the difficult day, the dark day, the scary day, when soldiers and mockers gathered around Jesus. It is the day Jesus died on the cross. When the Holy Spirit works by creating faith in our hearts, we begin to move from this world of death and sin to the new life of a Christian by faith. Then, when we hear how three days later Jesus was delivered through the tomb, we move into the light of the world of faith, and we believe. All that used to sound like garbled confusion from the Word of God is now made clear by faith alone in Christ alone. Our eyes by faith now see the world as God made it, and our lips can now sing the praise they were designed to sing, and we begin to move in acts of service toward our neighbor as God intended. What a glorious thing to be born of God by faith on account of Christ.
Our eyes by faith now see the world as God made it, and our lips can now sing the praise they were designed to sing, and we begin to move in acts of service toward our neighbor as God intended.
But that is not all is it? No, we still live in this world, a child of God, much like a womb still, because there is still Heaven to wait for. We see the world as God intended, but we are still waiting to enter Heaven. So, our experience of being born again in Christ by faith will also undergo another birth by being born into Heaven forever with God and the whole family of the Lord which we long to see. Because, you see, there will be another day for us, a scary day, a dark day where, yes, doctors and nurses will be gathered around. On that day, we will pass from this world into eternity. But on that day, we do not need to be afraid. Why? Because Christ is our deliverer! He will safely deliver us from this world, which is like a womb, into Heaven itself. Then, we will again see the creation as it was made to be, restored and perfect in eternity forever. In Heaven, we will meet our family of faith, and we will see Christ face to face. He is such a good deliverer!
This is what John the Baptist points out to us in our appointed Gospel lesson of the day from John 1:29-42a. There, in the first verse of the reading, John says it clear enough. Speaking of Jesus, he says: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” Here, John proclaims, points out, pushes to the front our great deliverer. But people could not understand what he meant until Jesus would suffer, die, and rise again. Sometimes, the life of faith is a labor of love whose end result is nothing short of beautiful. Think about it, the reason why Jesus is such a good deliverer is because He has already gone the way we have to go from death to life. He has already gone from the womb to the grave and is alive again in Heaven forever. He is a good deliverer because He knows the way. In fact, later on in John’s gospel, Jesus rightly proclaims Himself as the Way (John 14:6). There is no other deliverer who can safely bring you into heaven.
Isaiah 49, the second servant song, uses the experience of being in the womb to talk about Israel’s life with God, but then it takes a turn in verse 5 to add a dimension that changes everything. The one called Israel in verse 3 is to bring Israel back to the Lord, which means the Servant is not the nation of Israel, but one who is representing the nation for its restoration. In much the same way, Adam, though one man, is also representative of the whole human race (Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:45). So, Jesus is the same Israel/Adam reduced down to one man. Israel had to pass through the waters for deliverance.
Last week we saw Jesus went into the waters of baptism for your deliverance. Baptism is where we are born again (John 3:5-7) but only through His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:1-10). Jesus has made the way for us because the prophet Isaiah has made it clear that, “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother He named my name” (49:1), and John rightly identifies this as Jesus (John 1:29-42a). If we would have tried to deliver ourselves, we would agree with Isaiah that we “have labored in vain; we have spent our strength for nothing and vanity” (49:4). So, God in mercy and in “the fullness of time... sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father’” (Galatians 4:4-6)! With that, we can say with Isaiah, “Surely my right is with the Lord, and my recompense with my God” (49:4). It was not “too light a thing” (49:6) for Jesus to bring forth this great salvation, this great deliverance for us. In fact, Jesus says: “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12), because His whole mission was to bring this new life to light by His incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection. He is the only qualified deliverer who was promised, sent, delivered, and stands forever for you. Using this image of womb to world will serve best as the structure for a sermon on this Old Testament text.[1]
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out 1517’s resources on Isaiah 49:1-7.
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Isaiah 49:1-7
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
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[1] https://concordiatheology.org/sermon-structs/dynamic/imagistic-structures/central-image/
