In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our texts for this sermon are the antiphon of the Introit for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, Isaiah 45:8, and then also Isaiah 61:10-11. I will read them both:

Isaiah 45:8 (ESV)
"Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it."

Isaiah 61:10-11 (ESV)
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations.

Dear friends in Christ, at my parents' ranch outside Normangee, about 100 miles northeast of here, they have about a 1/3 acre garden that doesn't have anything growing in it right now, and based on how dry it has been, it might never grow anything again unless the Lord sends us some rain. But that garden has been one of our kids' favorite playgrounds when we visit. There's something about gardens that attracts kids like metal shavings to a magnet. Whenever we leave the gate to the garden open, we turn around and the kids are out there playing in the dirt, or hopping over the rows. It's like the world's biggest sandbox.

I can remember the same thing as a kid. I loved to play in the garden, digging and tromping around the rows, leaping over them. In the middle of winter, there was nothing really growing that I could hurt if I landed on it, but come late winter and early spring, my parents always warned me to stay out of the asparagus beds. They didn't want me to crush any of the small, tender spears that would be sprouting up and poking their heads out of the mulch. And I didn't want to hurt them, either, because the short period of fresh asparagus each spring was something I looked forward to.

Before the asparagus sprouts through the mulch, if you look at an asparagus bed in late winter, it shows no signs of life, no signs of promise that the spears will be sprouting up soon. And that is how it was for Judah in our Old Testament reading from Isaiah: no signs of life, no signs promising that any hope of redemption would sprout up soon. Judah was a garden in the dead of winter covered by mulch, with no signs of life to be found.

And this lifelessness was actually what they deserved. Because of the northern kingdom's unbelief and rebellion against God, He had sent the Assyrians to crush Israel in the 8th century B.C., and the 7th century would see Judah (the southern kingdom) pummeled by the Assyrians, followed by the Babylonians. Jerusalem was sacked in 587 B.C. and many Judeans were exiled to Babylon. The Lord had predicted this through Isaiah over 100 years beforehand, "For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves" (Isaiah 3:8-9).

Isaiah also describes what God would visit upon Judah for its stubborn unbelief: "The Lord God of hosts is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah support and supply, all support of bread, and all support of water;…5 And the people will oppress one another, every one his fellow and every one his neighbor; the youth will be insolent to the elder, and the despised to the honorable…[To the women:] 24 Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; and instead of a belt, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. 25 Your men shall fall by the sword and your mighty men in battle. 26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; empty, she shall sit on the ground" (Isaiah 3:1, 5, 24-26). After the Assyrians and then Babylonians marched over them, the gardens of Judah and Jerusalem lay desolate, covered in the manure that they had brought upon themselves, and they mourned their rejection by the Lord.

But the Lord would not forsake His people forever. He promised life for their garden, as our sermon text from Isaiah describes: "For as the earth brings forth its sprouts, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up before all the nations" (Isaiah 61:11). The lifeless garden would see sprouts of life popping up here and there. The Lord preserved a remnant and promised to raise up Cyrus the Persian to defeat the Babylonians and bring back the captives from exile. Yet this salvation was only a temporary one, for Judah was more or less dominated by surrounding nations for the rest of its history. And by the end of the 1st century B.C. Israel and Judah were lifeless gardens in winter, again with little hope for the future.

But still, there were the Lord's promises, such as our text from Isaiah promising a future redemption; and God always preserved a small remnant for Himself, with righteous believers sprouting up throughout the ravaged garden, so there were faithful ones awaiting the Lord's salvation. These faithful ones were people of the Book, believers in the Old Testament commands and promises. And they knew from the prophets that a Messiah would come to restore Israel and Judah; the Lord would come to rescue His people from bondage.

And so finally, the Lord called out in the words of our Introit text, Isaiah 45:8, "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it." When the Lord called upon the heavens to rain down righteousness, He was calling upon His Son to come down from heaven and become incarnate of the Virgin Mary. He came as a Little Sprout, tender, vulnerable, just like any other baby, except miraculously conceived without sin by the Holy Spirit to a scared Virgin. This Friday and Saturday we will celebrate His birth at Christmas. After he sprouted from the Virgin's womb, the wicked King Herod sought to stamp out the life of the Little Sprout, but the Lord's providence and Joseph's wise care kept Him safe from harm and let Him shoot up to adulthood. But eventually He would be cut down in the prime of life in order to bring life to the nations.

The angel had told the guardian of this Little Sprout, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). He would save His people from their sins because He is the Lord, our righteousness and salvation in the flesh. At the Jordan River, Jesus told John to baptize Him "to fulfill all righteousness." God the Father said of Jesus, "The Righteous One, My Servant, [will] make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities" (Isaiah 53:11). The righteousness that He accomplished for you on the cross is the righteousness that avails before God, the righteousness that declares you safe from God's wrath and sound in God's household. Indeed, He was put to death for your sins and raised to declare you righteous, holy, forgiven.

And since you have been baptized into Christ's death and resurrection, you can sing with Isaiah, "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness" (Isaiah 61:10). The precious blood of Christ is the robe of righteousness that covers your sin and shame and is the garment of your eternal salvation, for "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27).

Before this righteousness sprang into your life, you were just a lifeless garden, dead in sin and condemned to fruitlessness; but the seed of the Gospel and the waters of Holy Baptism and the light of Jesus Christ have brought forth sprouts of confession and praise from your lips before all the nations. And God continues to rain down His righteousness in the Word and Sacraments in order to cause righteousness, salvation, and praise to sprout up before all the nations through the Christian Church. Sure, much of the world is covered in darkness and shows no signs of life, but the little sprouts of righteousness are seen whenever God forgives our sins through the means of grace, wherever He saves us by Baptism and the Lord's Supper, wherever He uses that forgiveness, life, and salvation to draw forth praise from our feeble lips as we testify to others concerning the Lord's righteousness and salvation and glory.

The Holy Christian Church is the Lord's garden here on earth, and He has given it to us to grow and play in. Yes, just as children love to play in the garden, that glorious place of growth, so also do we children of God get to play in His garden, where He grows your faith, hope, and love by watering you in your Baptisms, enlightening you with the Holy Absolution, and fertilizing you with the saving body and blood of Jesus in the Lord's Supper. You have been set free to tromp around in the Lord's goodness and grace and mercy as you explore the Bible, His words of command and promise given to you to enjoy. You have been set free from sin in order to enjoy all the fruits of His creation and serve Him by tending the little patches of His Garden that He has given you in your vocations.

And unlike little asparagus shoots in the spring, we cannot crush the Gospel Sprout of righteousness, Jesus, because the He has sprouted forth from the grave, never to die again. And because of that, you can also receive all the blessings of our Epistle reading, which contains the Lord's sure promise to you: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:4-7). In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.