News Flash! The Church Is Glowing!

2nd Sunday after Epiphany, 1/20/19
Isaiah 62:1-5


News Flash! The Church Is Glowing!
I. In the righteousness of Christ
II. As the bride of Christ


We receive local, national and international news instantly these days on whatever mobile device is nearest to us. News alerts are an every-day, all day long occurrence.
You might have received one ten days ago. Nearly three months after her parents had been murdered before her eyes and she had been kidnapped, Jayme Closs was found alive and well. It was quite a story. No doubt you enjoyed hearing and seeing the details as much as I did.

But that’s the exception, not the rule. Usually news alerts inform us of something tragic: a mass shooting, an earthquake, a wildfire, a missing person, another suicide bombing, a tragic accident on land, sea, or in the air. They seem to break into our world every day. In fact, there are times when we intentionally don’t pay attention to the next news alert because we’ve had enough bad news.

And that seems to be the truth in our Christian world as well. The church on earth doesn’t seem to be thriving; instead, it seems to be hurting. In some places, it’s on life support. What’s more, Christians are routinely murdered for their faith and face ridicule and open oppression. We live in a world in which the denial of God’s truth and the attacks against his Church are the rule, not the exception. And it fills us with embarrassment when the perpetrators of the evil come from within the church. It’s almost as if we don’t want to hear or see the next news flash about the Church.

But did you notice Isaiah’s message this morning? Even though it was originally written to Jews living in 700 BC, it wasn’t concerning their national situation. This message—this alert—is about the Church, God’s people. And it’s quite a glowing report! And since it’s about the Church, it’s about us—God’s people by faith in Jesus living in today’s world. It was and still is a glowing report!

So sit up and take this news alert to heart. New flash! The Church is glowing! Can that really be true? Indeed it is! May our God convince us of it and strengthen us in it!

Part I.

As often as I see them—and it’s not like I see them every day—but as often as I see them, they always hit me hard. I’m talking about video footage of places like Damascus that have been shelled relentlessly for months and years as the civil war in Syria staggers on. The fact that people once lived in those bombed-out structures is hard to imagine; the fact that some still do is horrifying. Rubble everywhere. How hopeless!

If you have ever read through Isaiah’s book, it contains chapter after chapter of that same footage. Destruction for God’s people and for the people around them. That judgment from God would take more than a century to arrive.

But in the closing chapters of Isaiah’s book, the footage changes dramatically. Two chapters earlier we read, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you” (60:1). The previous chapter speaks about year of the Lord’s favor, not the Lord’s destruction. And now in this chapter before us this morning, Isaiah’s message centers on the glory of God’s people.

But this message is not about the nation of the Jews. Their glory days were over, never to return. Destruction awaited Jerusalem, and, even though the Jews would return to it and rebuild it, things would never be the same. The Jews would be at the mercy of one world power after another.

So, is this news flash fake news? Not at all! The Lord isn’t speaking here about the Jews; he’s speaking about his people of all time. He’s speaking about his Church—the gathering of all those who trust in him for their salvation. Instead of the people of that kingdom getting used and abused by foreign nations, listen to what God intends, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch. The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.” The holy, almighty God will contend for his people and he won’t stop until he has accomplished what he has planned for them.

Well, just what are his plans? Earthly glory? The outward success of the Church and her people? The uncontested truth that God is right and the world is wrong? Not at all. Listen again. “Till her righteousness shines out like the dawn.” What’s he talking about? The greatest truth of Christianity, that’s what. That truth is this: even though we sin each and every day, God justifies us. He declares us not guilty. He does that because Jesus died for every sin of every sinner. And then, by faith in Jesus, the righteousness or holiness of Jesus is mine, it’s yours. Every member of the Church by faith in Jesus is robed in the righteousness of Christ. It shines out like the dawn. What we could never do—make ourselves righteous—God does for us.

And that glory of the Church is something the whole world will see. “All kings [will see] your glory.” Don’t mistake what Isaiah writes here. He’s not saying every sinner of every nation will become righteous before God. What he is saying is that the Church will be worldwide. It will be comprised of people from every nation, tribe and language. It knows no borders. But how will this be accomplished? By the power of the risen Lord Jesus. Jesus himself will empower the Church to carry his saving message to every nation, and Jesus himself will bless that message.

What a Church! There’s no organization, no body of people, no entity, like it on the face of the earth!

News flash! The Church is glowing, glowing in the righteousness of Christ.

Have you ever wondered what God sees when he looks at you? Does he see a proud sinner who thinks too much of himself or herself? Does he see a guilty sinner who needs to pay the price? Does he see a lazy sinner who isn’t trying hard enough? Is it possible he thinks of you as a waste of his time and effort? After all, at times we just can’t seem to be the people he wants us to be. Is he near the end of his patience with you? Let’s admit it, we certainly have given our God every reason to think or feel that way. The truth is that none of us can claim any glory of our own when standing before our God. We’ve all failed him—miserably so. But what does God see? Glory! Individually and collectively he sees glory shining forth from us. It’s the glory of his Church—his own people wrapped in the righteousness of Jesus. Jesus lived and died so that we could become the holiness of God. With that holiness we are the people God wants us to be. With that holiness we’re eternally destined to be the people God wants us to be—his own.

The world today might think that the Church is a dying hoax, but news flash! The Church is glowing, glowing in the righteousness of Christ.

Part II.

In the world’s eyes, the Church is dying. So is marriage. You don’t have to be an expert on the human family to know that fewer and fewer people think that a God-pleasing marriage should be the foundation of it.

But marriage is still God’s way of blessing a man and a woman with happiness. Marriage brings the blessing of companionship. It also creates the institution in which those who enter into it know that they belong to someone. And that’s good thing!

It’s no wonder, then, that God frequently uses marriage as a picture of his relationship with us. In the Old and New testaments, God’s calls his people—his Church—his bride. And that’s precisely the picture and the language he uses here. Listen to it once again. “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married. As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”

You are the bride of Christ. He calls you Hephzibah. Perhaps that’s not a name you’d choose for yourself, but it’s the name God chose for you because you are God’s delight. Just as a groom is delighted, to say the least, with the beautiful bride standing next to him on the day of their wedding, so God is delighted in you. Hephzibah.

In fact, he wants you to know that you belong to him. And so he calls you Beulah, which means “married.” You are God’s possession. Not so that he can use you for his own purposes, but so that he can bless you with everything good. You don’t have to live your life in the uncertainty that God’s eyes and heart are on someone else. His eyes and heart are on you. He wants nothing more than to live with you forever.

Incredible, isn’t it? Knowing our shortcomings, our faults, our sins, as we do, it’s hard to believe God would say that about me. About you.

News flash! The Church is glowing, glowing as the bride of Christ.

Have you ever come to the conclusion that you must not matter to God? Are you convinced he’s forgotten about you, that you’re unimportant to him? Is there enough evidence in your life to make you think you’ll never be close to God?

Listen once again. You are Hephzibah. You are Beulah. God delights in you and he’s made you his bride. Your God loves you so much and he cares so much about what happens to you that he sacrificed nothing less than his Son to make you his own. What’s happening to you in your life right now has no bearing whatsoever on what a crucified and risen Lord Jesus has already done for you.

The Church is glowing and you are that Church. Now there’s a news flash to ponder and enjoy every day! Amen.