• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

West Park Baptist Church

  • I’m New
    • I’m New
    • About Us
    • Core Values
    • What We Believe
    • Our Staff
    • Times & Directions
    • FAQs
  • Ministries
    • Adults
      • Adult Bible Fellowships
        • Groups List
      • Growth Groups
        • Groups List
      • Training Classes
      • Women
        • The Mom’s Chair
      • Men
      • Senior Adults
        • Senior Adult Luncheon (FEAST)
        • Golden Heirs
        • Mt Pisgah Scripture Printing
        • Resources
      • International Friends
        • ESL / English Classes
    • Students
      • College
      • High School
      • Middle School
    • Children
      • Nursery
      • Preschool
      • Elementary
      • First Steps
      • Awana
      • Parent’s Day Out
    • Disabilities
      • How do I volunteer?
    • Global Missions
      • Missions Conference
      • Go Trips
    • Prayer
      • Request Prayer
    • Worship Ministry
      • Worship Team
      • Media Team
  • Community Care Ministry
    • Adult Education
    • Biblical Counseling
    • Bread of Life Food Pantry
    • DivorceCare
    • Furniture Ministry
    • GriefShare
    • Local Partners
      • Boys & Girls Club
      • Knox Area Rescue Ministries
      • Serenity House
    • Our Journey of Hope – Cancer Care
    • Renewal
    • Request Prayer
    • Resource Call Line
  • Resources
    • Messages
    • The Pulse Newsletter
    • West Park’s Blog – Get Inspired!
    • Podcasts
    • RightNow Media
    • West Park Connections
      • Log in to West Park Connections
  • Events
    • Event Registration
  • Giving
    • Give Online
  • Contact Us

December 6, 2020 By Joe Leave a Comment

Advent 2020 – Isaiah 40:3-5 (Dec. 6)

Isaiah 40:3-5

3 A voice cries: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

4 Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low;

the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.

5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

We are now in week 2 of Advent, and our focus redirects this week to the importance of faith.

Isaiah the prophet had so many good things to share. Chapter 40 is a treasure of comfort for God’s people, and God begins His message through Isaiah with “Comfort, comfort my people… speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins” (1-2). Judah was a war-torn, beaten-up nation when they received that message. As a whole, the people of the nation thought that God had given up on them. But God had not abandoned them. He speaks tenderly these words of comfort.

But what would God do to bring about the security and comfort of His people? What way would He work to bring those things to pass?

God sent a messenger ahead of Him, a voice, to clear the way. “Prepare the way of the LORD! Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.” Whatever God was about to do would take faith to believe, and that was God’s intent, to call on His people to believe on Him.

It would take a miracle, a mountain-shifting miracle to show Judah that God was still in control. It would have to be a miracle on par with making the rough terrain of treacherous mountains with thieves and hidden dangers on the eastern path to Jerusalem as smooth as a plain. Can God eliminate threats by making even the mountains flat – leveling the field of battle?

Hundreds of years after Isaiah spoke these words, a voice did cry in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord!” John the Baptist preached his message of repentance and belief in the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. The way forward that Isaiah said God was making was the way of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. Jesus is the glory of the LORD revealed.

This week we will learn more of Jesus as the “Way” of God. We will be challenged to exercise our faith in Him, to believe on Him. And we will be comforted by our powerful and majestic God.

As we close, consider your faith. Do you recognize that God intends comfort for you? Do you believe that He speaks tenderly to you, wanting you not to see your sin as insurmountable but the certainty of salvation through His Son Jesus? God is so eager to display His own matchless glory through the giving of His Son, and He has made a way for you to bring your sin to Him and find forgiveness and complete acceptance in Christ.

That is the way forward. By faith, walk in that way today.

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Related

Filed Under: Advent Tagged With: advent 2020, comfort, faith, Isaiah, voice, way

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Upcoming Events

Sunday Morning Worship Service
10:30am
Livestreamed here

DivorceCare
Wednesdays at 6:30pm
Details & Registration

Awana
Wednesdays at 6:30pm
Details

GriefShare
Thursdays at 6:30pm
Details & Registration

Life@West Park
Sunday, May 16 at 2:00pm
Details

 

 

 

Our Weekly Newsletter

The Pulse Newsletter

Subscribe to The Pulse

 

Recent Message Series

The King’s Mission

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Footer

Our Church

Times & Directions
About Us
Our Staff
Contact Us
West Park Connections
Campus Map
Weather Alerts

Get Involved

Life@WestPark
Bible Studies
Groups

RightNow Media

Giving
Employment

Search Our Site

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 | West Park Baptist Church | 8833 Middlebrook Pike | Knoxville TN 37923 | 865-690-0031 | Privacy Policy