Deo Gloria
January 4, 2026
Sermon
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Isaiah 61:10-62:3
Theme: I Just Can’t Keep Quiet About It!
- God has clothed his people with righteousness and salvation.
- The nations will get to see it too.
What is something you just can’t keep quiet about? Is it the new baby or grandbaby who was born into your family? I’ll bet you have some pictures you’d like to share. Is it the engagement ring you recently received from your boyfriend? Is it the Tickle Me Elmo you got for Christmas? This morning in the verses of our text the prophet Isaiah tells us about something he just can’t keep quiet about. In v. 1 of ch. 62 he says, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet.” No, it’s not a diamond engagement ring or a Tickle Me Elmo doll that he is so excited about. It’s what God has done for his people, that he has clothed them with righteousness and salvation. I hope by the end of the sermon you won’t be able to keep quiet about it either.
The people Isaiah was writing to were the people of the nation of Judah, who one day would be living in captivity in Babylon. Obviously what happened over in Israel a couple of years ago was a terrible, terrible tragedy. But what happened back around 600 B.C. was a thousand times worse. The Babylonian army invaded the land of Judah. They wiped out the army of Israel. They attacked and captured the city of Jerusalem. They destroyed the temple. They burned the city to the ground. And they took most of the people away into captivity. As you might expect, the people were devastated. They struggled with depression and despair. How could something like this happen? They felt abandoned and forsaken. They needed encouragement, a lot of encouragement.
Perhaps you can relate to the people of Judah, because you feel that way sometimes too. I have to confess that I struggled with some of those thoughts when my mom fell on Christmas Eve and broke her hip and then had to have surgery on Christmas Day. That’s the way you like to spend Christmas Day, right, in the hospital? Maybe for you it’s a lingering illness. You can’t remember the last time you actually felt good. Or maybe this was the first Christmas without a dear family member or friend. Christmas just wasn’t the same this year. Or maybe it’s just the let-down after the holidays. The holidays really weren’t much of a break for you. And tomorrow it’s back to work, back to the daily grind. Could you use a little encouragement? Then listen carefully to the words of Isaiah.
“I delight greatly in the LORD,” he says, “my soul rejoices in my God”(61:10). There is some question as to who exactly is speaking here. Is it the prophet Isaiah? Is it God’s people, the believers, the church? Either one would fit. Let’s just assume it’s the prophet Isaiah. He’s obviously excited about something. He is delighted. He rejoices, he says. In what? In the LORD his God. Why? Because he has clothed him in garments of salvation and arrayed him in a robe of righteousness.
Our son Daniel has become of fan of Buc-ee’s. They have a few of those down in Texas. So guess he got us for Christmas? That’s right: stuff from Buc-ee’s—Buc-ee’s coffee mugs, Buc-ee’s sweaters, Buc-ee’s pajama pants. Obviously they were all very nice gifts. But as nice as those Buc-ee’s pajama pants are, they won’t help me get into heaven, because they won’t cover up my dirty, filthy sin-stained clothes. You see the real problem in my life is not that fact that I spilled some gravy on my tie or that I spilled some grape juice on my new sweater. The real problem in my life is the hurtful things that I said to spouse or my children, the fight I got into with my brother or sister, the nasty thoughts I had toward those rude relatives that we only see once a year, at Christmas. The truth is my life is stained with things like that—nasty thoughts, unkind words, hurtful actions. So how in the world can I ever live with God in heaven? God is holy and righteous and just. He isn’t going to let me into heaven even if I’m wearing my Buc-ee’s pajama pants. He’s going to shut me out and lock me out for the rest of forever. And the same thing’s true of you, of all of us.
But notice again what Isaiah says: “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” Isn’t that amazing? No wonder Isaiah is delighted in the Lord. No wonder he rejoices in his God. God has taken away all the yucky stuff in his life—all the sins, all the wrongs, all the unkind words and hurtful actions. God has taken all of that away, and in their place he has covered him with garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness. And obviously with these new clothes he could live with God in heaven.
So how did God do that? Through Jesus Christ, our Savior. But wait a second, Jesus hadn’t been born yet—not by Isaiah’s time. In fact, he wouldn’t be born for another 700 years. I know, but now you’re looking at things from a human standpoint instead of God’s standpoint. When God says that something is going to happen, even if it is still many years off in the future, it is going to happen—no doubt, no question. So often times the prophets speak about things in the future like they’ve already happened. Take, for example, what Isaiah says in ch. 9, v. 2: “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Those words are a prophecy about Jesus. He is the great light that would one day shine on the people walking in darkness. But notice how Isaiah speaks about it in the past tense, like it has already happened. This verse in Isaiah ch. 61 is another example of that. Isaiah speaks about what the promised Savior would do for him like he already did it. He can talk that way because God had said it. And in his eyes it is as good as done. “He has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.”
God has done the same for you and me through Jesus, our Savior who was born in Bethlehem. Through Jesus’ death on the cross God has washed all our sins away. All the dirt, all the filth, all the wrongs—they’ve all been taken away. And in their place God has clothed us with the righteousness and salvation of Jesus. The apostle Paul says the same thing in Galatians ch. 3. He writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ”(vv. 26+27). As a result God now sees us as his holy, precious children and the doors of heaven are open for us. We don’t have to worry what’s going to happen to us when we die. We know our loving God will welcome us into his heavenly home. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that tremendously comforting and encouraging?
Do you need some more encouragement? Notice what else Isaiah says the Lord will do for his people, what he will do for you and me: “You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow”(62:2). Isaiah doesn’t tell us what this new name will be, but he does give us some clues in the verse right after our text. In v. 4 of chapter 62 he writes, “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate.” I know a few other names it won’t be. It won’t be Sinner. It won’t be Outcast or Unwanted or Unloved. Instead Isaiah says, “But you will be called Hephzibah”—a name that means “my delight is in her”—“and your land Beulah”—a name that means “married.” Again I have a few other suggestions, a few other names our Lord might give us: His Redeemed, His Holy People, His Precious Possession, His Dearly Beloved, His Joy and His Delight. Isn’t that tremendously comforting? Isn’t it encouraging to know that God looks at you that way?
And that isn’t all. Take a look at the v. 3 of chapter 62: “You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” A crown is probably the most precious possession a king or queen may own. Here’s a picture of St. Edward’s crown, the royal crown in the British collection of crown jewels. It is valued at roughly $57 million. Here’s a picture of the tiara worn most often by Kate Middleton. It’s valued at roughly $135 million. That’s what you are like to God. That’s how beautiful you are to him. That’s how valuable you are. That’s how precious you are. Wow!
And do you know what else? God not only wants you to know how beautiful you are to him, and how special you are, and how precious you are. He wants others to see it too. He wants all people to see it. This is the point Isaiah is making in v. 11 of ch. 61. He writes, “For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” And in v. 2 of ch. 62 he adds, “The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.” Yes, it is true that God made righteousness and praise spring up before the nations when Jesus our Savior was born in Bethlehem. In Jesus God allowed the nations to see his righteousness and kings to see his glory. But Jesus isn’t here anymore, is he? So now God has another way to make righteousness and praise spring up before the nations, another way for people to see his righteousness and his glory. They can see it in you.
God wants people to see your righteousness and your glory. God wants people to hear about the wonderful things he has done for you: that he has taken away your dirt and your filth and your sins and has clothed you in garments of salvation and arrayed you in a robe of righteousness. God wants people to see how blessed you are, how loved you, how special you are, how precious you are. He wants them to see and hear about it so they will want it too, so they too will want to be clothed in garments of salvation and arrayed in a robe of righteousness, so they too will be loved by God and be special to God and be precious God.
But how is that going to happen? How are other people going to hear and see the amazing things that God has done for you? How are they going to find out how blessed you are and how loved you are and how precious you are in the eyes of God? Well, I suppose I could tell them. And I would be more than happy to do that. But here’s the problem: I might not have the chance to talk to your neighbor or your co-worker or your classmate or your friend. So who’s going to tell them?
That’s you, isn’t it? God wants you to tell them. God wants you to show them. God wants you to help them see the amazing things God has done for you, that he has washed all of your dirty, filthy, stinky sins away through the blood of Jesus Christ your Savior and has covered you with the garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness so that you can live with him forever. God wants you to tell others how he has not abandoned you or forsaken you or deserted you, but how he loves you with all his heart and how special you are to him and how precious you are to him. And hopefully as you tell them all these amazing things, they will come to faith in Jesus as their Savior too and realize that God has not abandoned them either, but that they too are loved by God and precious to God and that he wants nothing more than for them to spend eternity with him in heaven.
Do you need some help with that, some help with what to say to others, some help with how to reach out to that neighbor of yours or that coworker or that friend or that classmate with the good news about your Savior? That’s the point of the new Bible Class that is starting in a couple of weeks on January 18th. The title of the class is Let’s Go. The point of the class is to help you, to equip you, so that you might feel more confident and encouraged to reach out to the people in your life and share with them the good news about Jesus, our Savior. I hope you will come. I pray you will come. Because like Isaiah, this is something we just can’t keep quiet about. What God has done for us in Jesus Christ our Savior is something I just can’t keep quiet about. And I hope you can’t either. Amen.