The word of God from Isaiah chapter 41, verses 14 through 16. Fear not, you worm, Jacob, you men of Israel. I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord. Your redeemer is a holy one of Israel. Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth. You shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff. You shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest shall scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord. In the Holy One of Israel, you shall glory. This is our last sermon in our Advent and Christmas series. Despite our pincettas pretty much giving up, it's still Christmas, as also witnessed by our Advent candle stand, because it's not over until it's over in the season of Epiphany, which kicks off this Saturday. So Merry Christmas to all of you again, and And what a text to close it out, right? It's a little strange with this worm surrounded by mountains and a sledge that could very much be the source for Santa's sleigh, possibly. I don't know, but you can thank Pastor Tommy for the text. But I do say that honestly, because now that the cultural noise regarding Christmas is pretty much over, We can take some time this morning to bathe in the Christmas tide, if you will, and by God's grace, reflect on how Jesus' first advent ought to impact the way we live our lives throughout the rest of the year and the years to come until his second advent. Now to get the most out of this text, I would like to provide just enough context for the book of the prophet Isaiah to make sense out of his choice of words and his imagery. If you took the book of Isaiah and split it according to who Isaiah addresses in the text, we learn that Throughout the book, he addresses people in three particular historical settings. The first, from chapters one to chapter 39, he is addressing his contemporaries. So this is the eighth century before Christ, right? And he is addressing those that are contemporary to him. In the second section of the book of Isaiah, chapters 40 through 55, he addresses people in the sixth century before Christ. And that is people who have been exiled from the kingdom of Judah and now have been taken captive into Babylon. This is prophetic language pointing to the future. And then the third section, chapters 56 through 66, he addresses the return to exiles and all the people of God in all time. But now, in our text this morning, Isaiah is addressing those who find themselves exiled from the southern kingdom of Judah because of their waywardness, because of their idolatry and their disobedience, and they've been taken to Babylon as a judgment from God for their sin. But a few chapters earlier, We read about Isaiah's own time, and he's confronting the king of Judah, Hezekiah, because of his own foolishness. In Isaiah 39.6, we read that Hezekiah is king, and as king, he gladly receives envoys from the Babylonian Empire. And this probably comes out of a sense of finally belonging to the powers of the day. He has just been miraculously healed and now he's at the table with the big dog, so to speak. And in hopes of befriending them and also establishing maybe a sense of parity among them, he flaunts everything in his treasure house. He just shows them all the gold, all the treasure, not knowing that they had ulterior motives. And Isaiah confronts him, and he says, behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house and that which your fathers have stored up till this day shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the Lord. And this is the first time Babylon is explicitly prophesied as their exilic destination in scripture. And then the narrative moves on to the second section of this book, right, addressing 6th century exiles, where Isaiah, prophetically cognizant of all the suffering, the desolation that will take place, the deaths, the separation of families, the abuse, and the attempts to strip them of their cultural, spiritual identity, he goes into full-on consolation mode, prophetically addressing these exiles. And now, this isn't a circumstantial, hey, things will be better, or just look on the bright side kind of consolation. No, Isaiah is prophesying about an ultimate consolation, a cosmic reality of all things finally becoming what they ought to be. And it's in chapter 40 where we get the comfort, comfort my people passage, followed by the passage prophesying about John the Baptist and Jesus' first advent. A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, prepare a highway. And a few verses after that, many commentators agree that we find a summary of what this whole constellation section is pointing to. In 40 verse five it reads, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Now, this alone is packed, but for now, it's important for us to know that this display of glory will not go unnoticed. It's a display that all flesh will see together, not only the faithful remnant of Israel, not only the people of God or the church, but all flesh. And this display comes as a result of God's word being spoken or manifested in a powerful and undeniable way. Actually, Simeon, will come to declare a similar statement when presented with the Lord Jesus as an infant, as we read earlier in the service. The Holy One, the Holy One incarnate in the midst of His people, He will become a light for Gentiles and glory for His people. But this is still a private context. We are then to expect another advent that will not be taking place during a silent night, but more like the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and he will send his angels with loud trumpet call. And as a church, as God's holy people, we can live our lives anticipating and preparing for that day. But we'll back up a little now and get back into our text. So somewhere in the onset of Isaiah's consolation, chapter 41, we come to today's passage. And it reads, fear not, worm Jacob. In our staff meetings, we kind of have an inside joke where every now and then a phrase or statement comes up that speaks truth with just the right amount of love that we declare it to be a t-shirt worthy statement. Now, if you're someone who plans proficiently for Christmas and are planning to get me a gift, I would love a shirt with this phrase on it, fear not worm Jacob. The Lord is very intentional in the use of illustrations in scripture. It's not just a funny inside joke with Isaiah when he calls those in exile worm or worm Jacob. But why would he choose to do it? Well, he's making a point. Let's ponder the earthworm. Unless you are a young child or very much into composting, it would be a stretch to call the worm a fascinating animal. We don't really delight in its worminess. It doesn't attract our affections as other animals do. Let's say we're happy for it to live and do its thing underground, right? It's surrounded by dirt. It eats dirt. It hangs out. around dead and decomposing organic matter, and every now and then you can find one under a rock or squiggling out of the ground after heavy rain, and that is it regarding normal human-worm interaction. The worm is pretty much insignificant. It's soft, it's defenseless, it's creepy and slimy, it lacks any ability to learn or process information unlike other insects or even invertebrates. And it doesn't even have a face, just one opening to eat and another opening to get rid of what it ate. And that is it. You would think that if God, through Isaiah, would pick an animal by which to call his beloved people, especially for the sake of consoling and encouraging them, he would go with something a little more impressive, like an immovable hippo, or a ferocious lion, or even, this would be the perfect spot to mention dinosaurs in the Bible, right? What a missed opportunity. But no. The Lord, in his tender, loving kindness, addresses his people as worm. How's that? Remember, the intended audience of this message are those suffering exile. So the Lord does this to acknowledge their sense of insignificance and the suffering they are experiencing. They feel trampled on. They feel buried under oppression, soiled and rotten, both in their own hearts and also in their experience. They feel weak and defenseless, probably wanting to hide under rocks and praying for it not to rain so their worminess would not be exposed. The Lord knows, and He is okay acknowledging it without giving any false hope in the lines of, you guys got this, come on. Quite the contrary, you don't have this. But he doesn't leave them there. The Lord addresses first their sense of facelessness as they're being stripped of their cultural and spiritual identity. And he also addresses their confusion regarding God's seemingly forgotten promises by calling them not only Worm, but Worm Jacob. By adding Jacob, the Lord is reminding them of their covenantal relationship. He reminds them that they are the heirs of the covenant made with Abraham, passed on to Isaac, and then Jacob. It's a reminder of the Lord's faithfulness to them, and that He alone is their hope and consolation in the midst of these and any other trials. It's a reminder that He is the only one responsible for their ultimate well-being, and that this should be enough reason for them to fear not. For He is the one who helps them, and He is their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Israel, and they are His holy worm. The Lord, through Isaiah, further identifies those in worm-like circumstances as you men of Israel, in verse 14b, which, according to Calvin, don't take my word for it, could be better translated as dead men of Israel. And that magnifies the actual amount of help required for the Holy One of Israel to actually redeem them. Life in exile feels so disorienting apart from the Holy One, apart from a Redeemer. Tell me if you can relate. When we come together as a church body, It's a beautiful thing to come here and fellowship and pray together and praise God, singing the hymns that we love, to share the bread and wine as we are spiritually nourished, to leave with a common word from God that realigns our hearts with his will and his work. But all of us, as soon as we leave this special instance of heaven meeting earth, to more or less of a degree, we are in exile too. The world is not what it should be, and quite frankly, we are not who we would like to be either. And that's a reality we ought to acknowledge. We get hurt and hurt others. We weep and cause weeping. Our identity is threatened. Our values are trodden upon. Our hopes are misplaced. Our families are broken or perhaps have become a source of pride and boasting. Our jobs become who we are rather than a resource. or an instrument to obtain and display power rather than an opportunity to serve others and exert kingdom influence. We struggle daily with pride, envy, covetousness, jealousy, hatred, and all sorts of evil and sin, both in us and also around us. We become dissatisfied with this world, pointing to the fact, as C.S. Lewis would argue, that we were made for a different one. Just as in Babylon, the world's influence is strong, its pleasures are enticing, and its powers and ways of operating seem easy and very rewarding. One example of this is politics, having become the religion of our age, the source of hope for our culture. One side argues to more or less of a degree that the state is the sovereign and the redeemer. The other argues that the market is a sovereign and redeemer, both offering empty promises of justice, peace, joy, and fulfillment. But dear Christians, I hope you can assert wholeheartedly that the Holy One of Israel is the only sovereign and redeemer. But we still struggle, don't we? Even that particular name of God, the Holy One of Israel, Because of our cultural moment, world events, and political climate, how much unbiblical baggage do we allow that name to carry? Knowingly or not, we are affected by the cultural narratives around us. And that's part of the struggle of living in exile, living in the not yet of the realization of the kingdom of God. No political system, societal structures, or even family dynamics are able to fully satisfy us. Neither will our obsession with technology, nor our situational ethics or loose morality, nor will indulging in our consumeristic appetites will do it for us, because we were made for something totally different. We were made to experience the shalom of God, the right ordering of all things in subjection to our holy God, the satisfaction of being at peace with him and with those around us, the setting apart of all of life as holy. And that is exactly what we have been exiled from, even if we enjoy a relationship with Christ and are blessed enough to be called we're in Jacob. On this side of eternity, we need to constantly be brought back into right relationship with the Lord and with each other. And praise God for the means of grace given to the body of Christ, because worship does that as a regular rhythm in the life of a Redeemer, of our believer. And that's what God's people did, even in Babylonian exile, right? By the rivers of Babylon, In the rivers of Babylon, they sat down, they wept, but they sang songs remembering Zion, remembering God's faithfulness, remembering that God remembers. And Zion being Jerusalem, right? But in a truer sense, the eschatological Israel, meaning the entirety of God's people living in harmonious unity where nothing but shalom is experienced. We need that rhythm in our life. The hope that they had and the hope that we continue in is that Zion will be fully realized. But for that to happen, we need redemption. We need a redeemer, not only to rescue us from captivity from Babylon and the way of the world, but from our own disordered love for Babylon and its ways. We need a new heart which desires Babylon no more, but rather the glory of the Holy One of Israel. This Redeemer has to be willing to step in and get dirty, dig up the worm, and transform it for His holy purposes. Our next point is, behold the transformation. I'm really excited about being able to go to Chile in a few weeks, back where my family and friends are. And just this week I was telling you... I'm telling one of you how much I miss gazing at the horizon and looking at the mountains, just seeing mountains all around me, the massive Andes mountain range at the east and the coastal mountain range at the west, and realizing that those are just the first line in rows and rows of mountains. It's a glorious sight. But now imagine those mountains as actual piles of everything and anything that has ever prevented the people of God, or everything and anything that has prevented you from rejoicing in the Lord, as we see in verse 16c. These piles are the very things that form your sense of exile. Some things are huge and apparently insurmountable, like corruption, systems of injustice, persecution, even death. Others are not that big but still cause real suffering, like financial distress, ongoing health issues, and broken relationships. And then there are things like the guy who cuts you off as you made your way here to church, your favorite team losing a match, or your boss assigning you difficult passages, I mean, tasks. And then, of course, and we all have to be honest here, there's our own selfish desires and ambitions, our pride, and all of our own sin piled up in a tall, snowy peak. In the sight of these, if the sight of these mountains is impressive to one as a human being, imagine it from a worm's perspective. That's a picture Isaiah is painting in verse 15c. The squirmy yet powerless worm is surrounded by these massive mountains, impeding the worm to rejoice in the Lord. And while it's pretty impressive that a worm can eat its body weight in dirt in a day, it stands no chance working its way through these mountains on its own. So in verse 15, we read about the Holy Redeemer's first act, transforming worm Jacob into a new and very capable threshing sledge. What is a threshing sledge? I am glad you asked. A threshing sledge is a big wooden platform with sharp rocks and pieces of metal sticking underneath it. And this platform is laid on top of a harvested crop and dragged on top of it so that the grain or wheat can separate from the chaff and the straw. Now, keep in mind that in 8th century BC, this was the latest technology. This is what people got catalogs of in their mailboxes. So this is exciting, and it's a great one. It's new, sharp, and having teeth. That's how he describes it. This sledge, unlike Worm Jacob, is somehow capable of threshing entire mountains, crushing these hills, and winnowing them so that the wind and tempest can blow all the impurities away, separating wheat from chaff. But this means that there is at least part of these heaps of circumstances and experiences that are useful and good, and have in some way sustained and nourish us as wheat or grain does. And these need to be seen as such, as instruments of God's sovereignty to save us, to shape us, to call us back, to grow and nourish us. From our perspective and experience, they may seem only to hinder and detract us from rejoicing in the Lord, but from God's omniscient vantage point, they are doing exactly what they are meant to do for the same ultimate purpose of rejoicing in the Lord. The straw and chaff are dealt with by God himself. That's the image of the wind and tempest that we see in verse 16, blowing all that away. But the mountains are ours to thresh in the power given to us by our Redeemer so that we would harvest the blessings of doing so. All things God's people experience in life are sovereignly directed by the Holy One of Israel, who is purposefully using these mountains to produce holiness in us, to sanctify us, to move us along the path of godliness and Christ-likeness as we await for glory. Now it's crazy because sometimes at our worst, you and I don't even act like worms. We are the mountains in other people's lives. But at our best, we are threshing sleds. We are redeemed worms having become such an instrument in the hands of its redeemer that a path is made straight. A highway is made in the leveled wilderness for you and others to rejoice in the Lord and glory in his salvation. We are made then active participants in the work of Christ. Here's the thing, when Jesus Christ became incarnate in his first advent, he exiled himself from heaven to be born into God's people for the sake of becoming a worm. It was the only way for Him to become our Redeemer, our worm-like next of kin, in the sense of Redeemer, that would empower us to live life to the glory of God. The Holy Son of God was tempted with so much more than what Babylon or any modern day empire has to offer at the hand of the devil himself. He suffered injustice, he suffered persecution, oppression, and even death of loved ones. He even prayed for another way besides becoming a worm. Yet in all these things he remained holy and blameless. Having many words to choose from to say worm, the specific Hebrew worm, Isaiah word, Isaiah refers to a scarlet worm, a crimson worm. And this just blew my mind. And there are great videos on YouTube. You can Google it, what crimson worm does. But in ancient times, The crimson worm's body was crushed to make a crimson pigment, basically a bloody red color with which fabrics were dyed. Fabrics such as those used in the tabernacle and priestly garments. Also fabrics used for the purification of lepers and the scarlet cord that Rahab hung from her window to distinguish her family from the rest of Jericho, and there are many other accounts in Scripture. And all of these are our accounts of making something holy, of setting it apart, of redeeming, of threshing mountains. Now, the quintessential expression of this was our Savior's cross. His body was crushed so that his perfect, righteous, life-giving blood could cover us, gifting us his own righteousness, atoning for our sin, and reconciling us to God, making us holy. And even greater than his physical suffering, he suffered exile from God's presence. And when he suffered that, he exclaimed, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And very likely, he had in mind what follows a few verses after in that same psalm. I am a worm, not a man scorned by mankind and despised by the people. And that's the same word for the crimson worm, by the way. Jesus endured scorn and despising on our behalf, bearing the consequences of our sin, so that we might be spared from enduring such fate at the hands of a holy God. If you are in Christ, by faith in His atoning sacrifice on the cross, you are set free from sin and eternal death, and have great reason to rejoice. Amen? But, it may perfectly be the case that you still live like a worm, that you look up at the mountains in despair and sulk in exile rather than anticipate and prepare for glory. And that leads us to our final point, rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Today as believers, same as the exiles in Babylon, we can either sulkily endure exile in worm-like fashion, knowing that things ought not to be this way, or we can refuse to let our time in exile go to waste and begin threshing mountains, investing heavily in that which is imperishable, namely our own souls and the ever-expanding kingdom of God. During the Babylonian exile, the people of God did not have a central place to worship anymore. The temple was destroyed. They had to adapt, and this resulted in the foundation for synagogue and rabbinic Judaism, which in turn set the stage for Jesus' ministry and the eventual formation of the church as we know it. Now, similarly, our commitment to worship and disciple-making, even in challenging circumstances, is crucial. But there is one aspect of both worshiping God and making and growing disciples that I would say requires our attention this morning, which is our sanctification, our process of becoming who we were made to be, holy. I trust that if you've been attending this church for more than a couple of services, you know by now that our salvation does not depend on any kind of action or determination on our part, but that it is a gift given to us by grace alone, which we humbly accept by faith alone in Christ alone. This is how we are made a holy people. but our sanctification is a totally different game. It consists of growing and developing the way we manifest our salvation, from worm Jacob-like to threshing sledge-like. It's a process that will find its ultimate fulfillment in glory at Christ's return, but it's not a linear, automatic process that just happens as we idly wait. We have been told that the Christian life consists of repentance and faith, and that is absolutely true. Yet it would be a sad thing for us to simply believe, fall, and repent in a repetitive cycle without progressing in our spiritual maturity, without deepening our dependence on the Lord, without understanding more profoundly the gravity of our sin, and thus the magnificence of God's grace, and living that out in our exile. We could continue with worm-like diets and not experience much growth or impact, but we would be missing out, unlocking arms with Jesus himself as we thresh mountains around us in his power. You see, for the Holy One of Israel, our repentance alone is not the end game. Repentance is the starting point. And from then we move forward. Instead, our holiness is the end game, without which we are told in Hebrews, no one can see God. And we get to work on that even now. Tonight, we are kicking off another year, and we have the opportunity to either let it come and go as we hide under rocks, or as we quietly or blatantly engage in Babylonian idolatry, or mistake mountains for walls and remain unsatisfied and fearful Or we could use this opportunity to engage our Redeemer. Believe in His call to be His holy people. Pursue and behold His transformative work in our lives. Actively pursue godliness, making decisions and forming habits that will lead you to join the party at the threshing floor, where together with all of God's people, we can fully rejoice in the Lord, anticipating His glorious return. Let us not be content with mere survival in our exile, nor be ensnared by the lures of our modern day Babylon. Instead, let's seize this opportunity to deepen our relationship with our Redeemer, carrying the joy and wonder of Christ's first advent while pursuing the glory and consolation of his second. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray your word back to you this morning, from 1 Peter 1, 13 through 21. Lord, we come before you with our minds prepared for action, and sober-mindedly, we set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Christ Jesus. As your children, we long not to be conformed to the passions of our former ignorance. Instead, as you who called us are holy, we strive to be holy, for that is what you have asked of us. Knowing you as our Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, we commit to conduct ourselves with fear during our exile. We are deeply grateful, knowing that we were redeemed from the futile ways inherited from our forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver as gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish or spot. We are humbled and awed, O God, that Christ was foreknown before the foundation of the world and has been made manifest for our sake. Through him we have come to faith in you, O God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory. Father, may our faith and hope always be firmly placed in you. Amen.