One Day We Shall Arrive

Text:  Isaiah 51:3 “For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”

Patrick Henry is a name known to every school boy. Best known perhaps is his heroic exclamation: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” He was an orator of top rank and also a wise and fearless statesman. He had an active and important role in forming the government of the United States and particularly some of the provisions of the Constitution.

However, he lacked business ability in the sense of building up a personal fortune, so that at his death in 1799, his family was not surprised when they opened his will to read: “This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family: The religion of Christ will give One which will make them rich indeed.”

God has given His church a wonderful promise.  Some would think that Isaiah’s prophecies belong exclusively to Israel. I have no objection to your so understanding them in their original and literal sense, however, no Scripture is of private interpretation.  In God’s sight, neither Jews nor Gentiles are recognized under this dispensation of the gospel, for he has made both one in Christ Jesus. I, therefore, as a Christian minister, when I preach the gospel, know neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, bond nor free, but I simply know men as men, and go out into the world to “preach the gospel to every creature.”

It seems to me that this is the order in which God would have his Church carry out every evangelistic effort, forgetting and ignoring all fleshly distinctions, understanding that now men are either sinners or saints.

Zion was the stronghold of Jerusalem. Originally a fortress of the Jebusites, it was taken by a feat of arms by David and his valiant men. Afterwards, it became  the residence of David, and there, too, was the residence of the Jesus Christ; because in Jerusalem was built the temple which became the glory of all lands. Hence the True Church of God—which has been captured by Jesus Christ from the world, which is the palace where he dwells, which is the temple where he is worshipped—is frequently called “Zion,” and the Zion of this passage, I believe, we are permitted in interpreting as the Church of the living God.

We are told here, that the Lord will comfort his Church. He will because His church is chosen. Any young man in his right mind wants his young bride to be glad and happy.   Jesus desire for His bride is that she be glad and joyful.  The elect of any great king would have reason to be thankful, but the chosen of the King of Kings should rejoice continually in the God that chose them!

He wants his Church rejoice because he has not only chosen her, but he has cleansed her.  Jesus has put away the sin of his people by his blood, and by his Spirit he is daily renewing the nature of  his children. Sin is the cause of sorrow, and when sin is put away sorrow will be put away as well. The sanctified should be joyful. The Lord will comfort his chosen because he cleansed us. The Church of God is placed where God dwells and lives, therefore we are going to enjoy the best of what He has when we get over to the other side!

There once was a king who would not allow anybody to come into his presence sad.  In all our afflictions we can and should draw near to the Lord, but his presence should cause our sorrow and sighing to flee because the children of Zion should be joyful in our King.  If the Lord dwells in the midst of his people, there ought to be shouting  for joy in this place and in our daily lives.

Zion enjoys the things her king enjoys.  Since Zion is on the same wavelength with her Messiah, then God wants to comfort Zion.  God has Zion at heart.  We simply don’t fully grasp just how dear and precious Zion is to the heart of God.  To help us understand a bit, (and please don’t take this to mean that I have slipped into the Trinitarian camp), but to help us a bit to grasp what it was like:  A man leaves father and mother, and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.  The flesh of God was conceived in the womb of Mary, and all the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwelt in that child.  The Son of God was brought onto this earth……He left the Father’s house to cleave to his bride, the church!  Why?  that he might lift her up and set her upon his own throne, that she might reign with him as the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife!

Jesus wants His church to be joyful, happy, and content!  Eternal love has fixed itself upon her. Eternal purposes cluster around her. Eternal power is sworn to protect her. Eternal faithfulness has guaranteed eternal life to all her citizens. Why should she not be comforted? The text says the Lord will comfort the people whom he has  favoured.

And the Lord himself is the Comforter. “The Lord will comfort Zion.”

In order to comfort a saint who is weak and feeling hopeless, I must obtain the remedies from my Master’s pharmacy.  Jesus must be involved in the process.  The Lord must build the house!  No doubt, those of you who have ever stepped out to obey the command, “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,” you found that it was not your word that could comfort Zion, nor your sympathy, but God’s truth applied by God’ Spirit, only this alone can comfort Zion!

“The Lord will comfort Zion; he will comfort her waste places.” He that made the heavens will become the Comforter of his people. The Holy Ghost, who came to chaos, and brought order out of confusion; the mighty Spirit of the Living God, who came down at Pentecost in tongues of fire, with a sound like a mighty rushing wind—that same awesome Spirit of the Lord will come to the hearts of the members of his Bride and comfort them. There are situations in life for which there is no comfort available if all we look to is mortal man.   There are problems in life that will confuse and  baffle anybody, even the highest IQ‘s alive.  But the good news for the Bride is that we are His chosen and we serve the great problem solver and the great comforter.  Therefore, even in the face of unprecedented odds, it is joyful  for us in the end because Jesus Christ,  the Omnipotent and Holy One of Zion comes to our aid. It is “he who telleth the number of the stars; calleth them all by their names”; who also “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds!”

There are Christians of a certain tribe in Africa who never say of their dead “who die in the Lord” that “they have departed!” Speaking, as it were, from the vantage point of the Glory world, they triumphantly and joyously say, “They have arrived!” What joy, even in sorrow, is ours when we say of our loved ones, who enter life eternal trusting Jesus Christ: “Absent from the body—at home with the Lord!”^[1]