December 29, 2024

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“The Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and will settle them in their own land. The Lord has established Zion, and in her His afflicted people will find refuge.”

(Isaiah 14.1a, 32b)

REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

I will admit that I do not understand the scope of purge which exists within the expression of the Old Testament. I would have to ask the question even of us in our current culture and climate “How far do we want to push ourselves away from God and God’s way?” or “How far do we want to push God away from us?” What is it exactly that we think is achieved by creating distance between ourselves and God? Is it easier to consider the answer to that question by thinking of what we accomplish by creating distance between ourselves and others? Is God so ethereal to our thinking and “non-visible” that we think there are no consequences to be experienced by the widening gap between us and God? Have we forgotten the very essence of the promise which Jesus brought into the world with His birth which is “Immanuel”? Yes, Immanuel- God with us, is not a statement of assent or affirmation that “God agrees with us.” How many places in our lives does God disagree with us? In those places have we found it convenient to dismiss any knowledge of God or become passionately engaged in distancing ourselves away from God so that what we desire for ourselves becomes sufficient and fulfilling? Satan did it with a single phrase, “God did not really mean He would kill you.” The wedge was driven into the momentary space of doubt. All that was known never spoke of death when it came to the Garden of Eden. In reading through a list of book titles for children with the hope of finding a Christian story to read to a class of first graders, I came across “The Stories of How to Get Back to Eden”. We are never promised to get back to the Garden of Eden. As Adam and Eve as sent out it is clear that the way back in is not only closed by powerfully guarded against any who would intrude. It makes me think of those in the recent years of trial, tribulation and tragedy who say long for “the good old days.” Exactly what were those days and for whom? If we were honest with ourselves, what would it take to live in those days “forever.” To capture that moment in time when all seemed right creates the environment of thinking that everything else was wrong and would be wrong. The truth is that we cannot live in the past. Every desire to recapture a past glory would have to be fitted with the forgetfulness of what we know now has become a consequence of that idyllic life.

As I read through Isaiah, and today it is chapter 14 which presents God’s word to me, I am asked to remember such consequences. What do those consequences look like in summary? Good begets good and evil begets evil. If you push too far in one direction, the push back will become exponential. We can see that in the realm of that which is thought and acted out as evil. The human redemption factor seems to be justifying evil by calling it good. Of course, that is a lie. Evil does not serve any purpose that is good except for making itself known as not being good. This is where we might see how God’s appeal to the enemies of Judah and Israel were transformative and redemptive. If the enemy saw its own desires to destroy the people, and thus the nation, of God as serving the will of God to redeem that same nation and those same people, then they, too, would have to repent and give thanks to God. Instead, they took the opportunity to declare “Their God is on our side.” They would consider that they were right in their venture and desire to destroy Israel and God was not only giving His assent but resourcing it as well. We heard it in our reflection on Zechariah with the “Man in the Myrtles” and the observation of a false peace. What of the words in this fourteenth chapter of Isaiah with all the violence being rendered against the enemy of Israel by the shared enemies of their enemies? Are we seeing a capricious God who viciously speaks in the manner of love but in the next moment is filled with violence? Or is it perhaps an exacting God who knows the value of balance between the extremes and the danger of venturing too far in one direction or the other. Again, good begets good and evil begets evil. Vacating the place of God in the process of promoting self about all else creates a vacuum for which there is only one consequence: the wrath and justice of God. Again, as with the insight of David, there is no place where God is not.

So what is it that we might gain as understanding in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah? Is God truly focused only on Judah, Israel and Jerusalem and their “original” inhabitants? Is all of the retribution about creating only one race, creed, religion and identity as sustainable? I do not think so. The balance point in all of the prophecies given to Isaiah to share with the nations is the Messiah and the Messianic Community. It is the reality of defining the parameters of what makes for authentic life and living. That parameter is righteousness. God will keep the promise He made to Israel (the nation united) and her people. It is a template for the promise He has made to all peoples and exampled within and to the nation of Israel. God is not demanding there be only Judaism but a nation of righteousness. In this view, Christianity itself cannot be seen as a “religion” or a “people” but a nation of righteousness. Righteousness is the benchmark; its fealty is to God. Jesus Christ Himself abided by that same benchmark declaring and fealty to God as the goal and purpose of His life on earth. The desire is that “all” nations turn to God and surrender the hold to their self-serving thinking to the past. In exchange they are, and we are, given a most certain future where there is unity in our diversity. We are able to establish ourselves in the Immanuel thinking of God with us. Not as Immanuel who takes sides but God who abides in us and us in Him to be as one. Sometimes the purge is necessary because the extreme escape from God demands it. It is a sad reality. It is an avoidable reality if we pursue righteousness. Jesus declared this truth in the Sermon on the Mount where He taught “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6.33)

TODAY’S PRAYER IN RESPONSE TO GOD’S WORD:

Father, before we were conceived in the womb, You had already formed us in Your love and by Your Spirit brought us into being. Each one of us is blessed with the opportunity of doing right, being good and producing the fruit of the Spirit in order that others be fed the truth of that same love so that the two will become one. It is our soul’s sincere desire to embrace the oneness You have in mind so we would know we are Your people and You are our God. Lead us in that discovery of the truth and the manifestation of that love for us all. In Jesus’ name, we pray. AMEN.