Today's Reading: Isaiah 55:10-13
Daily Lectionary: Job 5:1-27; John 2:13-25
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the LORD for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 55:13)
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. When man fell into sin, part of the curse upon the creation was that the ground would produce thorns and thistles and make it difficult for the man to dig out his living in the field. Isaiah's prophecy points to a time when that curse is overturned.
On the Cross, Jesus wore a crown of thorns. You can't get more cursed than that. Besides causing excruciating pain, the crown caused, it was also a reminder that Jesus came to wear our curse and the curse of the world. He came to be under that same curse which ultimately ends in death. So He wore thorns and died.
But on that Cross, by taking the curse, the Cross which was a tree of death becomes for us a tree of life. As Isaiah says now it is a cypress or myrtle, instead of thorns and briars. Instead of death, life. Instead of condemnation, forgiveness. Instead of a curse, a blessing. The Son of God hanging on the Cross turns everything upside down and undoes what sinful man brought upon the world.
Now that Cross and the Name of Jesus are an everlasting sign that are not cut off. That means that since Jesus rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death, the Father need never behold our sins again. Now He must see Jesus in us and the Cross over us, the blood covering us and the curse lifted. Because of Jesus, you cannot be cut off from God's kingdom.
That same Name of Jesus is put upon you in Baptism, put into your ears in the preaching, and put upon your lips in the Supper of His body and blood. All are signs and promises of God that you will never be forsaken, because you have gone from cursed to blessed in Christ. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
No more let sin and sorrows grow Nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow Far as the curse is found, Far as the curse is found, Far as, far as, the curse is found. (LSB 387:3)