1/27/08 - Epiphany 3 - Isaiah 9:1-4

AS IN THE DAY OF MIDIAN'S DEFEAT
- Your yoke has been shattered
- Your joy has been increased

Do you remember what happened on the day of Midian’s defeat? And the only reason I ask that question is because the entire second half of our sermon text for today is based on that event: the defeat of the Midianites. Listen again to what the prophet Isaiah says about the Lord in chapter 9, “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them.” All these great things will happen to you, Isaiah prophesies, just like they happened in the day of Midian’s defeat. And so to fully understand what the Lord is saying to us today it is imperative to know what that battle was all about.
And I’ll have to admit: I didn’t remember the day of Midian’s defeat at first either. I had to look it up. But you can find this event that Isaiah refers to in the book of Judges chapters 6-8. During that time period, the Lord handed the Israelite nation over to the Midianites because his people had sinned. And the Midianites were so oppressive that God’s people had to abandon their homes and live in the shelters and caves of the mountains. And every time they tried to grow crops the Midianites would come and ruin what they had planted. And on top of all that, the Midianites killed every cow, sheep, and donkey that they came across. Scripture says that the Midianites “came up with their livestock and their tents like swarms of locusts. It was impossible to count the men and their camels; they invaded the land to ravage it” (Judges 6:5). The Israelites were not in a good situation and so they cried out to the Lord for help.
This story of the Midianites is also the story of Gideon. Gideon was called on by the Lord to save his people. And with only a group of three hundred men Gideon led the people of Israel against the Midianites and destroyed them. The Lord handed a nation whose people were impossible to count over to Gideon and that small group of warriors. “Thus,” the Bible tells us, “Midian was subdued before the Israelites and did not raise its head again. During Gideon’s lifetime the land enjoyed peace for forty years” (Judges 8:28).
That day when Gideon and his three hundred men saved Israel from the Midianites is the event Isaiah refers back to in our text for today. “As in the day of Midian’s defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them.” But these words, of course, were not just meant for the Old Testament Israelites. Just as in the day of Midian’s defeat, the Lord has shattered the yoke that burdens you as well.
A yoke was a wooden frame placed on the shoulders of oxen and other large animals so that they could pull heavy loads. And many times Scripture uses the word “yoke” to describe the bondage and slavery that one nation places upon another. Now, we have never been subjected to the yoke of a nation called Midian, but we were at one time carrying around a yoke of slavery nevertheless. Midian’s yoke in our lives was sin. Sin was our yoke because a yoke is a burden on you. A yoke weighs you down and forces you to do what your owner tells you to do. That’s what sin once was to us. Before the Lord brought us to faith we were burdened by sin as unbelievers. It weighed us down and forced us to do whatever it wanted. We were slaves to sin. Sin is all we could do and there was nothing else we could do about it. And that yoke of sin that we were subjected to was leading us straight to hell.
But as in the day of Midian’s defeat - when the Lord shattered the yoke that nation had placed on his people - the Lord has shattered the yoke that once burdened us. He took that yoke of sin upon his own shoulders and carried it throughout his life. And he bore it on the cross as his life was taken from him. And there on the cross, by his blood from the nails and the scourges and the thorns, he shattered that yoke. That yoke of sin is forever broken. It does not need to weigh us down any longer. It does not control us as Christians. It does not force us to do what sin wants us to do. Christ took that yoke and destroyed it so that we can be free to believe in him.
It’s a beautiful picture that Scripture paints: Christ takes that heavy, wooden yoke off our shoulders and completely shatters it on the blood soaked wood of the cross. That event motivates us to thank him with all we have because he has given us everything we could ever need. But at times, in the weakness of our sinful nature, when we think the Lord isn’t looking, we try to put that yoke back on, don’t we? Because, let’s face it: we don’t always mind feeling that yoke across our shoulders. It’s not all that uncomfortable following our sinful desires. In fact, it’s fun! It’s exciting! It’s natural! It’s easy to say to yourself, “Oh, I know I shouldn’t be telling this story about that person, but it’s so funny!” “I know I should be helping that person with that particular thing, but I just don’t want to take the time right now.” “I know it’s important for me to tell others about Christ or invite them to church or connect them with their Savior - but I just don’t feel like I’m up to it today.” And on goes the yoke. There are specific sins that each one of us struggle with - different sins for all of us here. You know the temptations that strike you severely. And every time we fall into those sins, every time we find ourselves breaking God’s command again, we’ve put the yoke back on our shoulders. We’re like a determined dog that will not listen. A disobedient child that knowingly and consistently keeps doing what he/she shouldn’t be doing although they’ve been told 10 times over.
What have we done to Jesus’ cross? He went through a grueling life, a horrible torture, and a painful death that included the punishment of hell itself. He lovingly and willingly took that yoke from our shoulders and shattered it. And so what do we do? We try to piece it together and put it right back on! And the Lord sees that. He sees everything - and so whenever we put that yoke back on we put it on right in front of his face. Every sin we commit, even those sins that lie hidden deep in our own minds, even those sins are in full view of the Lord. He is looking straight at us and we sin anyway! What do you think the Lord should do with us? If a parent tells a child, “Do not touch that,” and that child looks directly at the parent and deliberately touches it anyway, what should that parent do? Our heavenly Father should give us nothing but punishment. We have disobeyed him in so many ways, so many times, so blatantly. The Lord has every reason to let that yoke remain on our shoulders if we want it there so badly.
And so the Lord looks at us, we who have once again defied his commands and picked up the yoke that he worked so hard to shatter, and he says… “I forgive you.” Every time: “I forgive you.” He doesn’t say, “That’s it. It’s over.” He doesn’t say, “I’ve warned you enough. Now that yoke will stay on your shoulders for eternity.” He doesn’t say, “Have it your way. If you do not appreciate what I’ve done for you I’m not going to bother.” No. Amazingly the Lord doesn’t mind shattering that yoke again! And again. And again. He hears our words of repentance and says, “I forgive you, my child. Your yoke has been shattered. You are free of your sins through faith in me.”
That’s exactly what he did for the Israelites during the time of Midian’s defeat. Because the only reason the Midianites were ruling over them in the first place was because “the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord again” (Judges 6:1). This is a reoccurring theme in the book of Judges: they sin, they are punished, they repent, the Lord sends them a deliverer, and then after he dies they fall into sin again. Doesn’t that sound familiar? We sin, we repent, we are forgiven, and then we sin again. Our cycle of sinfulness never ends, but neither does God’s forgiveness. That’s why he is described as a God with “unfailing love.” His love never runs dry. He never gets tired of offering us forgiveness. He is more than willing to shatter that yoke we put upon ourselves as often as he needs to. He is that patient with us. He wants to see us in heaven that badly.
And because of that love our joy is increased that much more, isn’t it? Knowing that God forgives us time and time again for our sins, never getting fed up with us, never giving up on us, but always showing us his love when we need it the most - that has to increase our joy! The Lord’s love and forgiveness can have no other effect! And so we are, without a doubt, included with the Israelites when Isaiah prophesies, “They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest.”
We rejoice before the Lord as they rejoiced at the harvest. The harvest was a critical time of year back then. People’s lives depended on the harvest because the amount of food for the coming year was determined by the size of the crop. It’s hard to imagine that situation today because if there is a drought in this country or if certain crops do not produce enough fruit because of the weather, the prices may go up on the food that we like but we certainly do not go hungry. The people living during that time would. If there was no harvest, there was no food. And so they understandably rejoiced when the harvest came! Their lives could go on and they would not go hungry. The Lord had supplied them with what they needed and so they expressed their thanks for his unending kindness every year at the time the harvest came around.
We, too, should rejoice as they rejoiced at the harvest. Because the Lord has supplied everything we need. He has come for you. He has saved you. And he will come for you again. Your life is secure and you do not have to worry about a thing. The yoke of sin that once enslaved you is now shattered and lying at the foot of the cross. So that you will one day rejoice before the Lord himself! You will one day be in the presence of the Lord himself. The King, the Creator, the Almighty. And you will be thrilled! There will be no fear in his presence. There will be no guilty feeling over the sins you’ve committed against him. There will only be a sense of love and relief and joy. You will praise him to his face and you will be in his presence forever.
This is the comfort that the Israelites during Isaiah’s time held on to. Because they were about to go through a lot more trouble in the very near future. The nation of Assyria was about to conquer the land of Israel and take part of the Lord’s people into exile. They were not going to be pleasant times, there would be no stability, and very little peace. And so right before God sent this punishment for their sins, the Lord sends them this prophecy about their Savior. Reminding them that in the days to come - days that would be filled with war and blood and pain - they could still rely on their Lord. They may not have a nice life on this earth in the coming days, but they would have a perfect eternal life. And the Lord would make sure that it happened. This fact is no less true today. Because just as in the day of Midian’s defeat, the Lord has already shattered our yoke of sin. He has already increased our joy because of our Savior. And he will make sure that our eternal life will happen just the way he has planned.
We may… we will pick up our yoke of sin again every day of our lives. We will throw it on our shoulders and break God’s commands just like we always have. But those sins are no match for the cross. So when you do sin, when you do catch yourselve breaking God’s commands, when you do feel the weight of that yoke on your shoulders, look to Christ. Look to his cross. Look to the wounds in his hands and feet and side because the Lord’s forgiveness lies in those wounds and he cannot wait to share it with you.
Amen.

“Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory.” - Rev. 19:6b-7