Coming up this morning we’ve got climate change, forestry, gardening, the Warner Brothers Film ‘Legend of the Guardians’, reservoirs, Christmas, Narnia, Take the High Road, and the choirs of Jerusalem – all in the space of about 20 minutes, and all because they have been shouting out at me during my preparation this week.
The Book, or more accurately the Prophecy of Isaiah was written during Isaiah’s Ministry in the Promised Land between 739 and 686 BC. Liberal commentators have for the last 150 years suggested that the book was written by either 3 or 7 different authors, for two main reasons. 1: They claim that Isaiah could not have predicted with such accuracy the events that would happen after his death and 2: They point to the fact that the Book contains three distinct literary styles. Argument one is weak because prophecy by its very nature deals with future events including the birth of Jesus the Messiah!
Argument 2 is weak because, for example, the Lord of the Rings contains three distinct styles – narrative, dialogue and poetic but that doesn’t mean it’s got three different authors. Likewise I don’t write songs, letters and sermons in the same way, they’re different but that doesn’t mean I haven’t written them!
The Prophecy of Isaiah contains so much. In Chapters 1 to 5 Isaiah writes about the disobedience of God’s people (1:2-4) having spurned the Lord, the Holy One of Israel; he writes about sin needing to be judged (1:5-6) but also affirms that God still has a future for his people (4:2-6).
In Chapters 6 to 12 Isaiah speaks of a future perfect King who will come; and today as 2010 draws to a close we know that the promised King was and is Jesus. He came as a babe, lived, ministered, revealed God’s love, was tortured and died on a Roman cross, and rose again for us; but He will come again in glory one day and that is the theme of today’s Bible Reading Isaiah Chapter 35.
In Chapters 13-27 Isaiah reveals that the coming King will not just rule over the Promised Land, He will also rule and reign over the entire cosmos. His care will be for the whole of heaven and earth but at the centre of this will always be his care for his people Israel, the Jewish Nation, into which, we as believers in Jesus have been grafted! Chapters 13 to 27 speak of two cities. One is the world’s city, representing Humanity’s failed attempts to organise the world without God (24:10) – sounds familiar (!); and the other is the City of Salvation, God’s City that will stand firm (26:1).
Chapters 28 to 37 concern a history during which Israel was squeezed between the then world-superpower Assyria and the would-be superpower Egypt. The tiny kingdom of Judah became entangled with Egypt and Assyria and Jerusalem looked doomed; but God delivered tiny Jerusalem from the hands of invading armies; and God’s judgement upon wicked nations was clear and plain to see; and it is in the midst of this section that we come to Chapter 35.
The preceding chapter 34 is full of terrible judgement for wicked nations; and that same judgement awaits wickedness at the end of time when Jesus as Lord of His Church and Judge of the Earth returns. Do I really think this will be an actual future event in history? Yes, categorically 100% I believe it because Jesus Himself said it would happen, and other Bible writers tell us that one day we will see Jesus coming on the clouds; and since Jesus said it, I believe it!
Does that make me simple minded? I believe not! The Bible not only talks of the future, coming perfect King, but Isaiah chapter 35 is a wonderful poem about the world, about life, and about his people after judgement has taken place; and it is wonderful! I kid you not! It is going to be fantastic, magnificent, marvellous, perfect, and so much more; because for all of God’s people (35:10) “gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away!” Is anyone else looking forward to that day? No more sorrow, no more sighing, only gladness and joy!
Chapter 35 verses 1 to 2 speak of the future Day, after God has judged the nations, when ‘the desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus it will burst into bloom …The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendour of Carmel and Sharon; they will see the glory of the Lord’. This prophecy has yet to happen but oh how the Promised Land; or the land of Promise needs this prophecy right now. How timely is this Bible reading this week! Forrest fires in Israel, quite possibly arson, have destroyed an estimated 5 million trees and 12 to 15,000 acres of lush landscape in Carmel forest, and Lake Galilee is dangerously low as the winter rains have come so late again this year; but on the future day of the Lord ‘climate change’ will be reversed, forests will be repopulated, and even wilderness will bloom. God’s coming rule and reign will restore the Land perfectly. Our world’s climate will be put back to work as it should. Climate change, forestry and gardening are all on God’s agenda.
And since God’s dealings with the Land of Promise and with his chosen people Israel show us how he will deal with the whole world, we can know that humanity’s stupidity, cruelty and misuse of resources will not have the last word. God will restore it all!
Verses 3 to 4 are an encouragement to God’s people, of which we are a part, to encourage and strengthen one another in the face of external hostility. The CEV puts it like this: “Here is a message for all who are weak, trembling, and worried: ‘Cheer up! Don’t be afraid. Your God is coming to punish your enemies. God will take revenge on them and rescue you.’”
Now to our peace-loving ears a God who takes revenge may be hard to hear let alone understand; but this means that God will punish and put right evil of every kind. Evil, be it governments, rulers, corporations or individuals will be punished by God for their sin, and God will rescue his people from all such evil. For the Holy Land today, and for persecuted believers around the world this is so relevant.
But we mustn’t sit back and think that it will all be OK simply because one day God will put it all right. No. Jesus’ life, Jesus’ miracles and His teaching all pointed towards God’s kingdom, and our actions and our words must do the same. We are called as the Church to point to God’s future rule by opposing evil.
I recently watched a fantastic film about warrior Owls called ‘Legend of the Guardians’ in 3D. I imagined these warrior owls as being a bit like angels, and I loved their reason for being. The Guardians exist to ‘protect the weak, mend the broken, and vanquish evil’. That is what God will do, and it is what we are called to do as the Church as a foretaste of heaven. We don’t always get it right. We mess it up and we make mistakes but God’s intention for the Church has always been that the Church should be the Big Society. I applaud David Cameron’s efforts to encourage the Big Society in the UK but I join with the new Bishop of Chelmsford, Stephen Cottrell, when he says that The Big Society is God’s idea!
God thought of it first and it’s what the Church is called to be!
In verses 5 -7 we hear more of God’s promises for His coming kingdom. When Jesus was physically walking the earth these things happened as signposts of his future kingdom, but when he returns these things will be fixtures for all of his people; and we’re not just talking a reversal of illness, we are talking of disabilities being replaced with new abilities. The blind will see, the deaf will hear; and the lame will leap like a deer! Not only will disabilities be gone, they will be replaced with new abilities. ‘The mute tongue [will] shout for joy. Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert’ (35:6). Grass will grow where once it did not. Land that once sucked up moisture will be transformed into land that oozes and gushes with water! A bit like in the Lion, the witch and the wardrobe Christmas will come because God, the King, like Aslan, came to live amongst his people; and I am looking forward to Voyage of the Dawn Treader!
In verses 8 and 9 we read about God’s promise to lift us up to Himself. Although God humbled himself by coming to live amongst us as Jesus, God has never reduced himself to our ways of thinking, or our sinful ways of behaviour. No; God has not come down to our level of behaviour; but God will instead raise us up to his standards, hence the ‘Way of holiness’ or the Highway of the Lord mentioned in verse 8. God’s people will be raised up, and there will be no longer be any more sin on that Day, and wicked fools will be banished forever - only ‘the redeemed will walk there’ (35:9). Who are the redeemed? The redeemed are the people God has purchased for himself. God purchased us at the expense of the death of Jesus.
Whereas our life - our walk – is currently littered with pitfalls, sin, and ferocious emotions or people trying to devour us – when Jesus returns His people will walk on a High Road, a safe Highway prepared by him.
The question for all of us is this: When Jesus returns do you want to be able to ‘Take the High Road’?
I think most if not all of the world’s population will want to be able to walk with God when he comes to live with us; only a few died-in-the-wool militant atheists would shudder at the thought; and we all can. I want to be part of that huge Jerusalem choir that will be singing (verse 10); where ‘everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away’. Yes, please Lord; …‘but only the redeemed will walk there’ (9).
On the cross Jesus redeemed us. However, that redemption is not forced upon anyone. ‘Wicked fools’ (8) will not be there, and anyone who decides to reject Jesus in this life will not be there. Jesus has redeemed us but the choice is ours whether to accept or reject what he has purchased for us. In two weeks some of us will be taking back Christmas presents we never wanted, or presents that don’t fit. Let’s not reject the most important Christmas gift there is – Jesus himself – the future, perfect, coming King. Let’s unwrap the gift and be thankful for it. Amen.
