Isaiah was a prophet during very troubled times in Israel, war was always a part of their existence. Israel, the northern kingdom and Judah had split after Solomon died, the kings of Israel were not Godly men and as the Assyrians began to rise to prominence and then conquer areas around them, they needed to find ways to protect themselves from domination too.
You might say that Assyria was the only super power of that day, and they were not beneficent. Alliances were forged with Syria and others to try to stave off the Assyrian war machine. Yet there was a feeling in the land that there was really no hope, they would eventually fall to Assyria.
During the time of Paul we find Israel under the heel of Rome, actually this is what Isaiah knew as the kingdom of Judah the southern part of David’s Kingdom. This was a world living under the Pax Romana, the peace of Rome. Yet there was no peace for those under the Roman heel. The temple had been cleansed of the latest of the Roman moves to make it like their own temples, full of false gods and goddesses. They knew it was just a matter of time before God would be insulted again, there was of course rebellion afoot in the land. There were also those in other lands whom the Romans could not conquer, the empire itself was beginning to rot from within and the peace was not always very peaceful. There was even strife within the church of that day, between Jewish believers and Gentile believers. Sometimes it seemed as if the church was going to tear itself apart.
Today we live in a world that is constantly tearing at itself, there are people all around us who hate us because we are Americans and live debauched lives. There are those in the world who hate us because we are Christian or Jew. Within our own society we have hatreds between groups as well.
In the land where Isaiah lived and preached, the land where Paul learned about God, there is great strife and hatred. It is always interesting to me that these people who hate so much are the cousins of those they hate. Abraham was the father of 24 tribes. 12 from Ishmael and 12 from Isaac. Chapter 25 of Genesis gives the genealogy of Ishmael, and as we read further, we find that Esau the son of Isaac took a wife to himself from Ishmael. This is found in the 28th Chapter of Genesis.
Here in our own nation we also find strife, we hear hateful speech from all directions, and we hear those who would take away the freedoms that our ancestors fought so hard to attain. We find too those who hate God, and want to remove any mention of Him from our society. Inside the Church there are also movements that would remove Christ from the Godhead, make him a man, a great teacher but only a man. There are those who speak against the scriptures saying that there are parts that are untrue, so that none of it is trustworthy. This too has been tried over and again in the history of the Church. Yet there is also the word of God that says to us this truth, Jesus Christ is to be born in a place little known, called Bethlehem, the city of David in the time before he became King.
We know this to be truth because it is recorded for us in documents outside of the Bible, we know that Jesus lived and died, that he was crucified and rose from the dead. Even Josephus mentions this as fact. The Bible tells us that if we are to be brought into the presence of the Glory of God, it is through belief in Jesus, Son of Man, and Son of God. Perhaps this is the problem in a nutshell, the Moslems, the Jews and the Unitarians do not believe there is a trinity. They believe only that God is and therefore that Christ cannot be the Son of God, nor can there be a Holy Spirit.
The story of the birth of Jesus begins with Mary, hearing from an angel that she is to be impregnated by the Holy Spirit and that she will bring to life the Son of God. If we allow that this is true, then all is well and there is no problem. Yet many will not allow that God, the supreme being, the creator of all things seen and unseen, cannot do this one thing. That our God, cannot become a man and live among us, and then die for our sins and return to His place in glory. If that is so, is there hope?
Can this world in which we live possibly hold out hope for peace? Can the politicians bring peace through negotiations, or will we have to continue on until we destroy ourselves completely? Is there hope?
Reading Isaiah we find him telling the rulers that they needed to forget about all these political machinations and trust in God, today’s reading speaks of a ruler to come from the line of David, one who will end all strife and bring peace to the land. Hear the word from Isaiah 11 "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked." (Isa 11:1-4 ESV). In the 7th Chapter of Isaiah and the 14th verse Isaiah tells of the Virgin Birth of the Savior to come.
Now let us see what Paul has to say to us about the Church in Rome and our own church today.
In Romans 15 Paul is speaking to the church in Rome he has dealt with the divisions in the church, primarily divisions between the non-Jew and the Jewish believer. I think this can apply equally to all who are members of the church universal. Whether it be Catholic, Orthodox, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist or one of the many other man made flavors of church that we have today. The truth is still the truth, that is that, Jesus Christ is the Lord of all, that it is He who is the foundation for the church, not Luther, Wesley or even Peter or Paul. All of these men felt the same way, that division in the church was not to be. Paul makes a wonderful stand against this when he says: What I mean is that each one of you says, "I follow Paul," or "I follow Apollos," or "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" (1Co 1:12-13 ESV).
So the question becomes for all churches, why are we here? Who do we follow? Is there Hope? The answer can be found in our scriptures, and for Methodist people that should always be the place we turn to first. Wesley claimed to be a man of one book, although he was well read, all that he did was done in accordance with the word of God. In this season of Advent, perhaps it is time for all Christians to begin again to look at the Scriptures for what they truly are. The story of God’s activity in the world, through those who He has called to be His people. We claim in the creeds that we recite, to believe in Jesus as the Son of God, yet we do not seem to be able to depend upon Him for direction.
Is there Hope? For the nation, for the world, for the church? Can we come together as one people? Or are we destined to be fragmented and torn apart because we don’t want a Lord over us, we want instead a buddy, or perhaps even a god that will think and act like ourselves. Or like some, no god at all.
Is there Hope? That is an age old question, God has tried time and again to break in, to open up our hearts to hear what He will say. It is a truth that many are weary of the strife in our world, yet, they have no hope, because the people of God seem also to have no hope. We celebrate the coming into the world of a baby, forgetting the basic truth of the gospel.
That baby grows into a man, and preaches and teaches for 3 years and then is killed on a cross at Calvary outside of Jerusalem.
On the third day it is proclaimed that he has been risen from the dead, and he promises his followers again that he will return. Not only that he will return but that while he is gone they will still have a line to God, through the Holy Spirit who will indwell each of them. That Holy Spirit comes upon them on the day of Pentecost, and the church begins to grow and to spread until it becomes a world wide entity. It has had its problems, and we know them today, but the truth is, we are brothers and sisters in this endeavor. We are that because our God adopts each of us into the family of God, our big brother is Jesus, and so we are to act like family.
That is hard to do when we let our man stuff get between ourselves and God, we need to stay in His word and act in His ways, then His power and glory shall flow through us. We can then proclaim: YES THERE IS HOPE! His name is Jesus, Emmanuel, God with Us!
