Welcome to Advent! After traveling these many Sundays in our ordinary time, we are suddenly interrupted by a time of great expectancy, patient waiting and diligent preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus and his promise he will come again. The term Advent is taken from the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming". It is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the second coming of Christ. In this season, we find ourselves on the brink of something utterly new, something long yearned for but beyond our capacity to act. We are invited to wake up; to wake up from our dulled endurance and domesticated expectations, as one commentator puts it, to consider our life fresh and new in light of the new things God is about to do. Are you ready for the ride?
So during this Advent season as we prepare for birth of the Christ child and his coming again, we will look at what will be but is not yet: the hope for justice, peace, and well-being for all people. We will examine several texts from the prophet Isaiah: our text today from Isaiah 2. Next Sunday we will move on to Isaiah 11:1-10, followed by Isaiah 35 vv. 1-10, then back to Isaiah 7 and Isaiah 9 on Christmas Eve. One of the first things you should know about Isaiah if you don’t know already is that there is more than one Isaiah. Scholars agree that the book of Isaiah as it appears in the Bible is actually a composite work; a product of different prophets who ministered at different periods in the history of Israel. The first section commonly referred to as First Isaiah, consists of chapters 1-39, written in the 8th century BC in Jerusalem before the Babylonian exile. Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55, was written in the 6th century BC during the Babylonian exile and the possibly Third Isaiah, chapters 56-66, was written around 539 BC in Judah post-Babylonian exile. Our focus for the next several weeks will be on First Isaiah.
First Isaiah was attached to the Judean royal court, and his long career of approximately 44 years spanned the kingships of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, all kings of the southern kingdom of Judah, of which Jerusalem was the capital city. Writing amid the threat of war and exile, Isaiah reveals God’s ultimate vision of peace and hope not only for the people of Judah and Jerusalem but for all nations. Isaiah’s vision of the new heaven and the new earth is the fullest version of this idea in the OT and will significantly influence later writings on the subject, especially in the New Testament.
Isaiah’s vision of what the end times will be sees people from all nations of the earth streaming toward Jerusalem and its center point — the mountain of God, Mount Moriah, the place where the temple stood, the Temple Mount (2:1-2). While not the highest point in the city, the temple mount represented God’s dwelling place among the people and, in Isaiah’s vision, would be the focal point of worship for all the peoples of the earth, not just the nation of Judah. God’s vision of the future thus breaks down the barriers that separate people from one another and offers an opportunity for all people to learn God’s ways and “walk in his paths” (2:3).
In a world that’s becoming increasingly polarized, Isaiah’s vision tells us that, in the end, he’s invited all people into his dwelling place. Not all may choose to come, but those who seek God’s instruction and want to be in his presence are welcome, regardless of the differences they may have had before. God will be the one who judges between the nations and “shall arbitrate for many peoples” (2:4) so that all receive and offer justice and peace. Isaiah invites us to imagine a world where boundaries have been erased and all become one in God’s presence.
The apostle Paul would later tell his readers that, in Christ, this was already beginning to happen — that in Christ the distinctions between male and female, Jew and Greek, slave and free (we might add Democrat and Republican, high church and low church, emerging and traditional) no longer matter. What matters is that in the end “every knee shall bow and every tongue confess” that Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11; Philippians 2:10). In the meantime, we should be looking to connect with others who may be different from us, recognizing that we all have a place in God’s kingdom.
Isaiah’s vision also offers what the life of people who are redeemed by God’s grace will look like. God’s judgment would be corrective, and God’s grace would be redemptive and restorative. The Babylonian exile wouldn’t destroy Judah and Jerusalem forever but would bring them to a place of understanding and repentance, enabling them to see God’s ultimate salvation — not only for themselves but for all the nations (2:2). God would forgive their sin and offer them a chance at a new life of peace and prosperity in his coming kingdom. In the same way, God reminds us that our failures aren’t final when we repent and ask his forgiveness for our waywardness. God’s grace and forgiveness are all the more redemptive because we remember where we’d be if God actually gave us what we deserved. Judgment and grace act together to keep us focused on God’s future.
Our concern today must be with that future. The words “and yet” are two of professor and political activist Elie Wiesel’s favorite words, for they are “applicable to every situation, be it happy or bleak. The sun is rising? And yet it will set. A night of anguish? And yet it, too, will pass. The important thing is to shun resignation, to refuse to wallow in sterile fatalism.” Isaiah’s vision is an act of imagination that looks beyond present dismay through the eyes of God, to see what will be that is not yet. This is the function of promise in the life of faith and therefore of Advent. In Advent faith sees what will be that is not yet. This vision comes in two parts. On the one hand, the promise is very sure, as sure as the intent of God. On the other hand, the poet does not know when. It is the nature of faithful promise to trust the one who promises and therefore not to need a timetable. The promise proceeds by making a sharp contrast between what is and what will be; Jerusalem in Isaiah’s time was not the powerful, metropolitan city it once was. Jerusalem lived, flourished and suffered at the will of the great world powers. It is against their current shabbiness that First Isaiah imagines a majestic future for the city. A future based on the return of God’s presence in the Temple, one that would draw the peoples of all nations together to accept Israel’s Torah or “teachings” as their bond for well-being.
When the nations of the world accept the Torah, God will be established as the judge for all disputes big and small. God has equal authority with the disputing parties to help settle their differences. To use war as a mode of national policy is no longer needed. Thus, we hear a description of an alternative economy and the dismantling of weapons of war. As the instruments of death are dismantled, there is the production of instruments of life. Human energies and public resources are reassigned; the economy is transformed; the earth is transformed, from a battleground to fertile garden. It is what will be but is not yet.
What God is trying to say to us is we must look beyond our present situation, to see what God intends for us; to see outside our circumstances to the purpose and good God has yet to fulfill. Like the blind man with mud covering his eyes who had to go the pool of Siloam and wash, we, too, stand in the circumstances of what will be but is not yet. The blind man continues to be blind after his encounter with Jesus. He needs to find the Pool of Siloam while he is still blind and trust in Jesus that his promises are true. It's not easy to understand about God’s promises are true of what will be but is not yet. We live in a world that can be so cold; a world that steals the souls of man. A world where cloudy skies rain down on all our dreams where we wrestle with fear and doubt; a world where wars are raging, lives are scattered, innocence is lost and hopes are shattered. A world where the old are forgotten and the children are forsaken.[1]
Sometimes it's hard, but we must believe that there's a better place. There’s a better place where our God waits. There is a better place where every tear will be wiped away. The darkness will be gone and the weak shall be strong; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (2:4) Hold on to your faith because there will come a day.[2]
How long will it take for that day to come? How long will sin blind our hearts? How long? Not long. Because truth crushed to earth will rise again. How long? Not long, because one day soon every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus as Lord of all. How long? Not long. Because Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord; He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; he hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword. His truth is marching on. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; he is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgment seat. Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Him! Be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. Glory Alleluia! Glory Alleluia! Glory Alleluia! His truth is marching on.[3] He is coming! He is coming! Amen.
[1] “There
Will Come a Day” performed by Faith Hill, written by Aimee Mayo, William Luther,
Diane Eve Warren. Copyright Silverkiss Music,
Universal Music – Careers, Realsongs. www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/faithhill/therewillcomeaday
[2] Ibid.
[3] Battle
Hymn of the Republic, written by Julia Ward Howe, 1861.
No comments:
Post a Comment