November 29: Comfort My People
♫ Music:
WEEK ONE INTRODUCTION
TITLE: PART 1A--PROPHETIC UTTERANCES CONCERNING THE COMING OF CHRIST
November 29 - December 5
Bible scholars tell us that there are over 350 Old Testament prophecies regarding Christ, the Messiah, and his appearance on earth. Author Kay Arthur suggests, “It’s as if God was shouting, ‘Christmas is coming.’” Twenty-one verses from the book of Isaiah are found in Handel’s Messiah. It is the most frequently quoted book in the oratorio.
Isaiah was one of the great prophets who ministered in the 8th century before Christ, a century of tremendous upheaval and unrest. Isaiah was called to bring God’s truth to the Children of Israel, both messages of warning, as well as comfort. He spoke frankly about the people’s rampant addiction to sin and the complete destruction that would soon be visited upon them if they did not repent. Of course, the majority did not listen to Isaiah and as a result drought, famine, exile, and foreign occupation followed.
Yet, there was a remnant who clung to the prophecies of hope that Isaiah also had proclaimed. These people longed for deliverance and a ruler who would make everything right. Sometimes Isaiah is called the “evangelical prophet” or ”the prophet of the good news,” because he foresaw and recorded the divine mission of the Messiah like no other. He spoke in lucid details about the coming of the Son of God and vividly described the cross and the suffering Messiah. The heart of Isaiah’s writings depicts the substitutionary death of Christ--his righteousness for us sinners.
Almost three thousand years later, Isaiah’s beautifully poetic language continues to stir our hearts as we drink in his divinely inspired words.
Day 1 - Sunday, November 29
Title: COMFORT MY PEOPLE
Scripture: Isaiah 40:1-2
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
Poetry:
Witness
by Denise Levertov
Sometimes the mountain
is hidden from me in veils
of cloud, sometimes
I am hidden from the mountain
in veils of inattention, apathy, fatigue,
when I forget or refuse to go
down to the shore or a few yards
up the road, on a clear day,
to reconfirm
that witnessing presence.
COMFORT MY PEOPLE
As wonderful as verses 1-2 of Isaiah 40 might be, they fit within a chapter, containing an overall message that makes these two verses even sweeter. Reading the 31 verses of this chapter, it is not difficult to see clearly its three-fold structure.
· Verses 1-11 serve as the introduction to the promise of world-wide salvation.
· Verses 12-26 sets forth the premise that God is more than capable of fulfilling this promise.
· Verses 27-31 concludes that, even before the actual fulfillment of this promise, one can live above present difficulty and enjoy the pleasures of God’s enabling presence.
In chapters 1-39, Isaiah has confronted the sins of his generation. The picture is bleak. But chapter 40 catapults the reader into the future, offering a promise of what God’s amazing mercy can accomplish in the lives of sinful people.
This promise is offered to people who are experiencing anything but mercy. They are in captivity, enduring seventy years of exile from their homeland, the memories of which have all but disappeared. The sights are different. The smells are different. The tastes are different. The people and customs are different. The Israelites have started businesses and adopted their new culture. Some, like Daniel and Esther, have even risen to the highest places of governmental authority and position. Sons and daughters have been borne who no longer speak the language of their parents. They play with children who have a different worldview. They have never seen their homeland. They have a new home now. In many ways, perhaps, the Israelites feel that they have been forgotten by God.
But, then, God speaks. In Isaiah 40:1-11, God speaks eleven imperatives. Six of these imperatives have to do with God moving toward his people. It is this movement of God toward his people that offers the only hope. If left to themselves there would be no hope…only more of a culture that would continue to move them away from the ancient paths.
In the context of their failure, God speaks, “Comfort, O comfort, my people…Speak kindly to Jerusalem.” In the midst of their pain, God provides hope. He also provides the means for his people to rise above the difficulty and experience him and his glory.
This amazing God still speaks today. In the midst of our failure, he speaks comfort. In the midst of our pain, he offers hope. And he provides the means for us to rise above all the difficulty and experience him and his glory through the gospel.
The essence of the gospel is that God desires relationship with his creation. So, he moves toward them. In fact, Christianity is all about the saving grace of the Lord. He overrules our foolishness and rebellion with his own pardon through the finished work of Christ on the cross. Do we sin? Yes. Do we experience his discipline as a result? Yes. Is that where God leaves us? No. God moves toward us and cries out, “Comfort, O comfort, my people.” It was not only his message to Israel; it is his message to us today.
Do you believe God can bring comfort? According to Isaiah 40:27, Israel wondered, even doubted. Maybe you do too. But God was able to make good his promise to Israel (see verses 12-26), and he is able to make good his promise to you. He moves toward, and he comforts. What an amazing God.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for your promise to move toward me. Help me to know your presence, to experience your goodness, and to rest in your promises.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen.
Dr. David L Talley
Chair, Old Testament Department
Talbot School of Theology
Faculty Athletics Representative
Biola University
Pastor of Theology and Teaching at Cornerstone Church
Long Beach, CA
For more information about the artwork, music, and poetry selected for this day, we have provided resources under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab.
About the Artwork:
Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Jean-Marie Pirot (Arcabus)
1986
Oil on panel
Arcabas Museum in Chartreuse
Formerly Saint-Hugues-de-Chartreuse Church
France
Handel chose the first verses of Isaiah for the opening chorus of Messiah. It is significant that the prophet’s emphasis to the people of Israel is a word of forgiveness and promise of deliverance. This prophetic word of encouragement foreshadows the redemptive arrival of Christ. In Arcabus’ painting, the city of Jerusalem is partially surrounded by dark, foreboding storm clouds that represent the hardships which have beset Israel. However, gleaming gold breaks through these dark clouds to confirm the promises and presence of an ever faithful and forgiving God.
About the Artist:
Jean-Marie Pirot, also known as Arcabas (1926-2018), was a contemporary French artist best-known for his paintings, which feature biblical characters and scenes. He also worked in sculpture, engraving, tapestry, mosaics, cabinetry, and theater scenery and costumes. Arcabas graduated from the prestigious Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He undertook various commissions for the French government and local authorities, but his magnum opus is the Ensemble d'art Sacré Contemporain in the Church of Saint Hugues-de- Chartreuse, begun in 1953 and completed in 1986. For over forty years, Arcabas created all the artwork that now adorns the church’s interior, including murals, canvases, stained glass, brass-work, and sculpture. In addition, he also worked in close collaboration with his son, a sculptor known as Etienne, designing the liturgical furnishings of other churches and cathedrals. His international recognition and reputation has grown exponentially in recent years.
http://www.arcabas.com/biographie/index.php#
https://musees.isere.fr/musee/musee-arcabas-en-chartreuse
Music #1:
“Intro Comfort My People” from the album Comfort My People
Lyrics:
Comfort my people, said a king.
Comfort them. Comfort them.
They have suffered long enough.
They have suffered.
Performer/Lyricist/Composer:
Chrisinti is a Jamaican singer/songwriter who has been recording since the early 1990s. Since his recording debut almost 30 years ago, Chrisinti has toured Africa, Europe, and the United States on the strength of songs like “Heart of A Champion” and “36 Bullets.” His musical catalog is built around a flood of songs he did for a number of grassroots producers and labels. Comfort My People, his first album, was released in 2003. His second, Again, came out two years later.
https://sflcn.com/roots-reggae-singer-chrisinti-says-yes-to-life-on-tuff-gong-international/
Music #2:
Messiah, HWV 56, Pt. 1: 2. Comfort Ye, My People
Lyrics:
Comfort ye,
comfort ye my people,
saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her,
that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned.
Messiah Performers/Musicians/Lyricists/Composer:
Unless otherwise noted, all Messiah performances are by Margaret Marshall, Catherine Robbin, Anthony Rolfe-Johnson, Robert Hale, Charles Brett, Saul Quirke, the English Baroque Soloists, and the Monteverdi Choir conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Biographical information for the performers and musicians can be found by clicking here.
About the Poet:
Priscilla Denise Levertov (1923–1997) was a British-born American poet. After Levertov moved to the United States, she was heavily influenced by the Black Mountain Poets, especially by the mysticism of poet Charles Olson, the style of William Carlos Williams, and the Transcendentalism of Thoreau and Emerson. Levertov’s conversion to Christianity in 1984 was the impetus for her religious poetry. In 1997 she brought together 38 poems from seven of her earlier volumes in The Stream & the Sapphire, a collection intended, as Levertov explains in the foreword to the collection, “to trace my slow movement from agnosticism to Christian faith, a movement incorporating much doubt and questioning as well as affirmation.” Levertov published more than twenty volumes of poetry and was also the author of four books of prose.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/denise-levertov
About the Devotion Author:
Dr. David L Talley
Chair, Old Testament Department
Talbot School of Theology
Faculty Athletics Representative
Biola University
Dr. David Talley loves teaching the next generation of students the incredible and eternal truths of God in order to prepare them to impact the world for Jesus Christ. A Professor of Old Testament and Faculty Athletics Representative, he also serves as Pastor of Theology and Teaching at Cornerstone Church in Long Beach, California, and partners with the international church, providing training to pastors and churches in Northern Africa and in persecuted countries.