Scripture Introduction
Trouble stalks Judah, the last remaining nation-state of God’s people. The king, Ahaz, allied with notoriously evil Assyria, a people who fiendishly delight in death and destruction. They have already deported Israel (the other tribes of God’s people). 2Kings 17 describes and interprets these events.
2Kings 17.6: In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. 7 And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God…, and had feared other gods 8 and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out…. [The next verses further describe the rebellion of Israel.) 16 And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. 17 And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
These punishments were the exact implementation of the curses which Israel had asked for when they entered the promised land. In Deuteronomy 28 and following, God tells his people what is required of those who follow him—holiness—and they say, “Yes, Lord, we will obey.” But they would not, and their punishment is just.
Now, however, Judah travels the same path. They rebel against God, and, rather than repent, reach out to Assyria for help. Isaiah confronts their sin, calls for a return to the Lord, and then confirms judgment because they refuse to hear. Assyria, in whom they trust, will turn and terrorize. And because Assyria is known by the cedars which they exported (like the USA is known by the symbol of the Eagle), God describes the judgment as a clear-cutting, a deforestation—exile, beatings, rape, torture, desecration, abuse—all the result of rebellion leave Judah as nothing but stumps.
At this point we expect that God is done with these people. His patience must be exhausted! No matter how kind he is, they turn away. Their hearts are evil; no good is found in them; therefore, there can be no hope.
But Isaiah has a surprise message. Out of the ruin, God will raise a Redeemer. Now that the full effect of self-made religion is evident, God will supply his own salvation. What we cannot do for ourselves, God himself provides. Let’s read about this Messiah in Isaiah 11 and 12. [Read Isaiah 11-12. Pray.]
Introduction
There are between 20 and 40 denominations in the United States with at least an outward similarity to ours. The PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) is, by far, the largest evangelical, Bible-believing Presbyterian denomination in the country, with about 340,000 members. But many other Presbyterians exist, as well as groups that profess a theology almost identical to ours, but who do not call themselves by the name. Why so many? Can’t we just get along?
Dr. John Frame has posed an answer to that question. Dr. Frame is a PCA pastor who taught for 31 years at Westminster Theological Seminary, and is currently Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy at Reformed Theological Seminary. His article, “Machen’s Warrior Children,” is a penetrating critique of some problems we have with bickering and arguing and promoting discord.
Dr. Frame concludes: “Since Jesus presents love as that which distinguishes his disciples from the world (John 13.34–35), this bitter fighting is anomalous in a Christian fellowship. Reformed believers need to ask what has driven these battles. To what extent has this controversy been the fruit of the Spirit, and to what extent has it been a work of the flesh?… One slogan of the Machen movement was ‘truth before friendship.’ We should laud their intention to act according to principle without compromise. But the biblical balance is ‘speaking the truth in love’ (Ephesians 4.15). We must not speak the truth without thinking of the effect of our formulations on our fellow Christians, even our opponents. That balance was not characteristic of the Machen movement.”
Dr. Frame’s article is excellent and I commend it to all who want to think carefully about the issues which prompt argument and division in our churches. Today I bring it to your attention to remind us that peace and unity should characterize followers of Jesus, not fighting. Dr. Frame distinguishes twenty-two different areas of debate in our churches. He writes: “Machen’s children were theological battlers, and, when the battle against liberalism in the PCUSA appeared to be over, they found other theological battles to fight. Up to the present time, these and other battles have continued within the movement, and, in my judgment, that is the story of conservative evangelical Reformed theology in twentieth-century America.”
This is our story, but it ought not to be. And, maybe, in part, it is also the story of The Church of the Covenant? This text answers both stories by telling another one: that of a Prince of Peace. I am proud that at Harvest Community Church (the church God allowed my family to be part of planting in Omaha) our motto was: “seeking reconciliation in every relationship.” Such must result from faithfully following God’s Messiah. To show you why, first note…
1. We Follow A Messiah Who Brings Peace with All Creation (Isaiah 11.6-9)
In his letter to the Romans, Paul notes that even the created world was affected by the fall of mankind, and it too will be returned to peace and wholeness by Christ Jesus.
Romans 8.20-21: For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
Isaac Watts sings it this way: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; he comes to make his blessings flow, far as the curse is found.” Even the weeds are redeemed by Jesus.
Isaiah illustrates the same. The wolf and lamb will be friends; the leopard will sleep beside a goat and not eat it. Bears will no longer threaten the cattle and mothers will no longer scream when they see a cobra wrapping itself around their infant child. We would say that the Mac man and the PC man walk hand-in-hand down the aisle.
Peace—a pervasive reconciliation seeping into every pore of the universe. Such is the extent of the power and work of Messiah. His new creation restores the harmony and happiness that once characterized Eden.
Matthew Henry notes how these words apply to us: “The old complaint that man is a wolf to man, shall be at an end. Those that inhabit the holy mountain shall live as amicably as the creatures did that were with Noah in the ark…. Now, (1) This is fulfilled in the wonderful effect of the gospel upon the minds of those that sincerely embrace it; it changes the nature, and makes those that trampled on the meek of the earth, not only meek like them, but affectionate towards them…. (2) Some are willing to hope it shall yet have a further accomplishment in the latter days, when swords shall be beaten into ploughshares. Lastly, Observe what shall be the effect, and what the cause, of this wonderful softening and sweetening of men’s tempers by the grace of God. 1. The effect of it shall be tractableness, and a willingness to receive instruction: A little child shall lead those who formerly scorned to be controlled by the strongest man. Calvin understands it of their willing submission to the ministers of Christ, who are to instruct with meekness and not to use any coercive power, but to be as little children, Matt. xviii. 3. See 2 Cor. viii. 5. 2. The cause of it shall be the knowledge of God. The more there is of that the more there is of a disposition to peace. They shall thus live in love, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, which shall extinguish men’s heats and animosities. The better acquainted we are with the God of love the more shall we be changed into the same image and the better affected shall we be to all those that bear his image.”
This peace will characterize our relations one with another, the more we know God and his Messiah.
One other application: peace with creation marks those who know Jesus. It is to our shame that we read our Bibles and claim to know when God made the world and how long it took him, but we know little of protecting and caring for the world. Environmentalists have carried the day. Yes, of course, their excess devotion to “mother earth” is idolatry. Yes, of course, the alarms about world overpopulation are often as surely an attack on children as were the Israelites’ offering their sons and daughters to pagan gods.
But criticism of another’s errors does not excuse ours. When we know this Messiah, we will be leaders in recycling and reusing and a rejection of the philosophy of consumerism. We are not consumers—we have been bought out of that slavery. This is my Father’s world—we are its caretakers.
I am amazed at the passionate care we provide for sports fields. From the putting green to the fifty yard line, people labor to provide perfect grass to play on.
Look at our grounds, the grass and trees, the flower beds and yard. Does it say, “These people follow a God who cares about creation. Their God reconciles creation back to glory”? Or does it say, “See how the curse has affected even the ground”? Even the University Hospital has a manicured garden. This spring, let us resolve to be a church demonstrating the reconciliation that Messiah brings with all of creation by making our campus a garden retreat, a beautiful oasis, a lush sermon of peace on earth.
2. We Follow A Messiah Who Brings Peace with All People (Isaiah 11.10-16)
In these verses, God tells Israel and Judah that though they have been punished, they will be restored. As a result, they will no longer hate each other; the jealousy shall depart. They will not squabble and fight like selfish brother and sister; they will be best friends, bosom buddies as it used to be called.
Nor will the peace between people limited to a few tribes of Jews. In Isaiah 2 we find that all the nations will come together at the house of the Lord, so that God can teach us his ways and cause us to walk in his paths.
All of this begins at the cross. Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself” (John 12.32). Jesus creates peace between those who are his followers.
It is a sad commentary on our churches that theological precision is the primary (maybe even the sole) test of maturity. Dr. Frame correctly observes that one part of the solution to our failure is to begin to “honor one another as much for character and witness as we do for agreement with our theological positions.” I would say it this way: a man’s peacemaking skills are a better and more Biblical test of his call to leadership in the church than his ability to draw sharp doctrinal distinctions.
God gave us the “ministry and message of reconciliation because he is in Christ, reconciling the world to himself” (1Corinthians 5.18-19). “He makes us one, breaking down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility” (Ephesians 2.14-16).
The story is told of a pastor, new to a city, who wanted a chaplain ministry involving mercy and compassion. So he went to the local mental hospital to see if he might pray and counsel with the people. One section of the hospital was separate, blocked off because the people there were dangerous. The pastor asked if he could serve in that section. He was led to the section, but was shocked to find there only three guards watching over hundreds of dangerous patients. He asked his guide, “Don’t year fear that this people will get together, overpower the guards, and escape?” The reply was: “No, not really, lunatics never unite.”
I do not know if that story is true; I do know, however, that this congregation will have a different character when we again focus on the cross. When we realize that we are jealous Israel, that we are untrusting Ahaz, that we need a supernatural work of grace to find reconciliation in our relationships. God’s present of the price of peace is everything we lack.
3. We Follow A Messiah Who Brings Peace with God (Isaiah 12.1-6)
When Isaiah looked out at the congregation to whom he preached, he saw a 1) sinful people, a 2) fearful people, and a 3) sorrowful people.
1) They were sinful, and God’s curse lies heavy on them. Each day brought new conviction that their lives were inconsistent with their profession; each failure increased the grief they felt and the guilt they carried.
2) They were afraid, for they could not help themselves. Sure, the world, the flesh, and the devil were against them—but those are the high school marching band against the New England Patriots. They have made God their enemy—and no power can restrain his anger.
3) They were sorrowful. I have taken dozens of counseling training courses from many different teachers and a variety of theological and philosophical perspectives. One message is consistent through all—when people lose hope that life can change and improve, depression follows and we quit trying. Judah’s doom has been sealed; only debilitating dread remains.
God solves their every problem.
1) God redeems from the curse and makes his own a holy people.
2) God reconciles enemies, restoring friendship.
3) God rejoices the heart, by promising a future of hope and happiness.
At 16 years old, he was a troubled youth, seeking peace and rest: “I was in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity…. At last, one snowy day—it snowed so much, I could not go to the place I had determined to go to, and I was obliged to stop on the road, and it was a blessed stop to me—I found rather an obscure street, and turned down a court, and there was a little chapel…. I stepped within the house of God, and sat there, afraid to look upward, lest I should be utterly cut off, and lest his fierce wrath should consume me. The minister rose in his pulpit read this text, ‘Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.’ I looked that moment; and the grace of faith was given me in that same instant.”
4. Conclusion
Helen and I watched a film the other day; it had a scene in which a young college girl lashes out at another, screaming and berating and shredding with hateful words. Finally the one being abused and attacked runs to her, wraps her arms around her, holds her tight, and refuses to let her go. The apparent anger quickly turns to sobbing tears as she admits that her hatred is toward her parents, not her roommate. But she lacks the courage to admit that her problem is with mom and dad. The Bible says it is the same with us. When we doubt the love and grace of our Father in heaven, we are angry with the friends who try to care for us.
When he was 16, Charles Spurgeon was a mess. But he saw in that church the peace with the Father which Jesus offered and he accepted the great gift of Christmas. The angels announced it: peace with God and on earth, peace among those with whom he is pleased. Do we have the courage to apply the cross to our animosity with others?
