Isaiah -- The Prophet Of Gloom And Glory
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
Of all the writing prophets of Israel, Isaiah stands out above them all. He uses the language like a poet to present to us incredible pictures that lift up God and how God will bring salvation to God's people. In fact, the name Isaiah means, "Yahweh is salvation." But just as the book of Isaiah stands out for its beautiful presentation and powerful message, it also stands out for the controversy surrounding who wrote what within its 66 chapters. One of the reasons for the question of authorship is the life span of this book. Depending on which scholar one reads, the book has a life span of up to 300 years! The traditional view claims that the prophet Isaiah, who ministered during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, was the book's sole author. But many believe that Isaiah had nothing to do with the last part of the book, specifically chapters 40 to 66.
What we know without much question is that Isaiah lived at a time when Israel was quite prosperous; both the northern and southern kingdoms knew great wealth and prosperity. And although there were the occasional skirmishes with folks from other countries, for the most part, Israel was at peace.
Having said that, a proper understanding of the structure of this book is essential for interpreting its contents, and it assists in dealing with some of the differences between the two major sections (chapters 1 to 39 and 40 to 66). Rather than spending time in this sermon trying to dissect the entire book, I will be working under the idea that Isaiah chapters 1 to 39 reflect the covenant curses resulting from Israel's disobedience to God's Law, while Isaiah 40 to 66 reflects the covenant blessings promised for the obedient remnant of Israel.
This wonderful book is the first of the writings of the prophets in the Bible, and Isaiah is generally considered to be the greatest prophet. He was probably reared in an aristocratic home and was married to a prophetess. In the beginning of his ministry, he was well liked. But like most prophets, he soon became unpopular because his messages were so difficult to hear. He called the people to turn from their lives of sin and warned them of God's judgment and punishment. No one wants to hear that sort of message. Many believe that Isaiah had an active ministry for sixty years before he was executed during Manesseh's reign (according to tradition).
Like Micah, Isaiah saw the nation, Israel, as a sinful people who, in spite of their material wealth, were really quite poor spiritually. And like Micah, Isaiah sees Israel's spiritual poverty evidenced in their lack of concern for the least of these within their midst. In a very real way, their own self-absorbed concern for themselves reveals the weakness within. The sad reality is that they love neither God, nor themselves.
The chapters in Isaiah that we are looking at this morning are chapters that bring to a conclusion what is sometimes called Isaiah's words of comfort to the people. This message of hope looks forward to the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah speaks more about the Messiah than does any other prophet from Hebrew Scripture. He describes the Messiah as both a suffering servant and a sovereign Lord. The fact that the Messiah was to be both a suffering servant and a sovereign Lord could not be understood completely until the New Testament was put into written form. Based on what Jesus Christ had done, God freely offers forgiveness to all who turn to God in faith. This is God's message of comfort to us because those who heed it find eternal peace and fellowship with God.
The message of the last chapters of Isaiah is the glorious good news that God is at work, restoring what has become broken in our lives and in the world. The passage says quite literally, "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). The idea here is that God is already at work and that this process will come about shortly.
What is both glorious and troubling about these final chapters is that we discover that God is not going to undo our circumstances immediately. We are faced with the fact that we must live in the world we have created before restoration will take place. God promises help as we do that, but again, total restoration will not come easily.
To better understand why we must live in our own mess, we should take a look at Isaiah's call to be a prophet in the first place. Trees and prophets share at least one important characteristic: both are planted for the future. Isaiah is one of the best examples of this. The people of his time could have been rescued by his words. Instead, they refused to believe him. We must remember that when God called Isaiah to this ministry, God did not encourage him with predictions of great success. God told Isaiah that the people would not listen, but he was to speak and write his messages anyway because eventually some would listen. Notice that only some would listen, not all. Early on, God compared the people to a tree that would have to be cut down so that a new tree could grow from the old stump (Isaiah 6:13).
Today, we who are the recipients of this great prophet's work can see that many of the promises God gave to Isaiah have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But what have we done with them?
God does not work with the "what ifs" in life. God is a God of the now, and God's plan is to work with what you have today. God's not interested in your past, except to forgive it. God wants you to move forward with what you have, so that you can now be the person God wants you to be in your current situation.
The same can be said for organizations, including the church. God is not living in the past of this church or any other church for that matter. Isaiah's message across time is that God has plans for what this church should be today, with the people who are here now. History has an important place in the life of the church, but it is history, and the history of the church can inform us and give us some direction, however, it cannot do today what we must be doing.
The key for God's people then and now is to learn what God's plan is for us today. What does God want for me and my family and my church? That question should encompass all areas of our lives. What is God's will for who I am now? What is God's will for our church today? And we must remember that the question is directed at who we are today. Past decisions are just that, past. We all make some good ones and some terrible ones.
The message from Isaiah to us today is to get in touch with God. Get in touch with what God would have us do today. It does not matter what mistakes we have made in the past. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are filled to overflowing with monumental mistakes on the part of the Hebrew people. To dwell on those errors will do nothing to move you forward today. We will just have to live with the consequences of the bad choices we have made in the past.
It would be fair to ask at this juncture, "But is that all there is?" Is God's final answer that God will help us to cope with our mistakes? The prophet would have us understand today that God wants us to know the joy of living in a right relationship with God, today and every day.
Isaiah chapter 65 gives us a pictorial description of the new heavens and the new earth. They are eternal, and in them safety, peace, and plenty will be available to all of God's children. The message in these last chapters is the glorious good news that God is not sleeping, God is awake and on the job. God is fixing the broken places and making a new path for all of us to follow. "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth...."
The second part of the verse just quoted says the following, "The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind" (65:17b). The idea is pretty clear that once we get to heaven, once we live within the divine embrace of eternity it will be so good that the former things that seemed so important at the time will not matter any longer.
These verses bring to mind the words of our Lord when he said from the cross, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Today, not next week, not next month, not next year, but today!
The Hebrew people had traveled a long and difficult road. The chapters in Isaiah leading up to chapter 65 have been filled with all that is good and bad in each person and each nation. But this chapter celebrates life and the great good news that God has accomplished God's plan in the lives of these people, and we can look forward to the day when we will be included in that plan.
The prophet Isaiah was charged with bringing the news, good and bad, to God's children. He did this as no other before or since. He had to tell them about their limitations and how those limitations plagued them all their lives. He also had the great joy of telling them that the things that had held them back and caused such trouble for them would be removed and, once removed, their future was assured by a loving God.
The question that we who are part of the church today must continue to ask of ourselves is, "Do we run the risk of becoming what Isaiah has so thoroughly explained to us that we are not to become?" In Jesus Christ we have been given the example that Isaiah spent his life proclaiming. In him we have a new direction that is filled with good news. In fact, it is "the good news" and that news is that we who are the people of God can look forward to a life filled with the gracious grace of God. We need not make the mistakes of those who came before us. But, we must always be alert that we do not shift into reverse and become that group of people who, because life is good, begin to believe that it is good because of something that we have accomplished.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Amen.
What we know without much question is that Isaiah lived at a time when Israel was quite prosperous; both the northern and southern kingdoms knew great wealth and prosperity. And although there were the occasional skirmishes with folks from other countries, for the most part, Israel was at peace.
Having said that, a proper understanding of the structure of this book is essential for interpreting its contents, and it assists in dealing with some of the differences between the two major sections (chapters 1 to 39 and 40 to 66). Rather than spending time in this sermon trying to dissect the entire book, I will be working under the idea that Isaiah chapters 1 to 39 reflect the covenant curses resulting from Israel's disobedience to God's Law, while Isaiah 40 to 66 reflects the covenant blessings promised for the obedient remnant of Israel.
This wonderful book is the first of the writings of the prophets in the Bible, and Isaiah is generally considered to be the greatest prophet. He was probably reared in an aristocratic home and was married to a prophetess. In the beginning of his ministry, he was well liked. But like most prophets, he soon became unpopular because his messages were so difficult to hear. He called the people to turn from their lives of sin and warned them of God's judgment and punishment. No one wants to hear that sort of message. Many believe that Isaiah had an active ministry for sixty years before he was executed during Manesseh's reign (according to tradition).
Like Micah, Isaiah saw the nation, Israel, as a sinful people who, in spite of their material wealth, were really quite poor spiritually. And like Micah, Isaiah sees Israel's spiritual poverty evidenced in their lack of concern for the least of these within their midst. In a very real way, their own self-absorbed concern for themselves reveals the weakness within. The sad reality is that they love neither God, nor themselves.
The chapters in Isaiah that we are looking at this morning are chapters that bring to a conclusion what is sometimes called Isaiah's words of comfort to the people. This message of hope looks forward to the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah speaks more about the Messiah than does any other prophet from Hebrew Scripture. He describes the Messiah as both a suffering servant and a sovereign Lord. The fact that the Messiah was to be both a suffering servant and a sovereign Lord could not be understood completely until the New Testament was put into written form. Based on what Jesus Christ had done, God freely offers forgiveness to all who turn to God in faith. This is God's message of comfort to us because those who heed it find eternal peace and fellowship with God.
The message of the last chapters of Isaiah is the glorious good news that God is at work, restoring what has become broken in our lives and in the world. The passage says quite literally, "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth" (65:17). The idea here is that God is already at work and that this process will come about shortly.
What is both glorious and troubling about these final chapters is that we discover that God is not going to undo our circumstances immediately. We are faced with the fact that we must live in the world we have created before restoration will take place. God promises help as we do that, but again, total restoration will not come easily.
To better understand why we must live in our own mess, we should take a look at Isaiah's call to be a prophet in the first place. Trees and prophets share at least one important characteristic: both are planted for the future. Isaiah is one of the best examples of this. The people of his time could have been rescued by his words. Instead, they refused to believe him. We must remember that when God called Isaiah to this ministry, God did not encourage him with predictions of great success. God told Isaiah that the people would not listen, but he was to speak and write his messages anyway because eventually some would listen. Notice that only some would listen, not all. Early on, God compared the people to a tree that would have to be cut down so that a new tree could grow from the old stump (Isaiah 6:13).
Today, we who are the recipients of this great prophet's work can see that many of the promises God gave to Isaiah have been fulfilled in Jesus Christ. But what have we done with them?
God does not work with the "what ifs" in life. God is a God of the now, and God's plan is to work with what you have today. God's not interested in your past, except to forgive it. God wants you to move forward with what you have, so that you can now be the person God wants you to be in your current situation.
The same can be said for organizations, including the church. God is not living in the past of this church or any other church for that matter. Isaiah's message across time is that God has plans for what this church should be today, with the people who are here now. History has an important place in the life of the church, but it is history, and the history of the church can inform us and give us some direction, however, it cannot do today what we must be doing.
The key for God's people then and now is to learn what God's plan is for us today. What does God want for me and my family and my church? That question should encompass all areas of our lives. What is God's will for who I am now? What is God's will for our church today? And we must remember that the question is directed at who we are today. Past decisions are just that, past. We all make some good ones and some terrible ones.
The message from Isaiah to us today is to get in touch with God. Get in touch with what God would have us do today. It does not matter what mistakes we have made in the past. The first 39 chapters of Isaiah are filled to overflowing with monumental mistakes on the part of the Hebrew people. To dwell on those errors will do nothing to move you forward today. We will just have to live with the consequences of the bad choices we have made in the past.
It would be fair to ask at this juncture, "But is that all there is?" Is God's final answer that God will help us to cope with our mistakes? The prophet would have us understand today that God wants us to know the joy of living in a right relationship with God, today and every day.
Isaiah chapter 65 gives us a pictorial description of the new heavens and the new earth. They are eternal, and in them safety, peace, and plenty will be available to all of God's children. The message in these last chapters is the glorious good news that God is not sleeping, God is awake and on the job. God is fixing the broken places and making a new path for all of us to follow. "For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth...."
The second part of the verse just quoted says the following, "The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind" (65:17b). The idea is pretty clear that once we get to heaven, once we live within the divine embrace of eternity it will be so good that the former things that seemed so important at the time will not matter any longer.
These verses bring to mind the words of our Lord when he said from the cross, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). Today, not next week, not next month, not next year, but today!
The Hebrew people had traveled a long and difficult road. The chapters in Isaiah leading up to chapter 65 have been filled with all that is good and bad in each person and each nation. But this chapter celebrates life and the great good news that God has accomplished God's plan in the lives of these people, and we can look forward to the day when we will be included in that plan.
The prophet Isaiah was charged with bringing the news, good and bad, to God's children. He did this as no other before or since. He had to tell them about their limitations and how those limitations plagued them all their lives. He also had the great joy of telling them that the things that had held them back and caused such trouble for them would be removed and, once removed, their future was assured by a loving God.
The question that we who are part of the church today must continue to ask of ourselves is, "Do we run the risk of becoming what Isaiah has so thoroughly explained to us that we are not to become?" In Jesus Christ we have been given the example that Isaiah spent his life proclaiming. In him we have a new direction that is filled with good news. In fact, it is "the good news" and that news is that we who are the people of God can look forward to a life filled with the gracious grace of God. We need not make the mistakes of those who came before us. But, we must always be alert that we do not shift into reverse and become that group of people who, because life is good, begin to believe that it is good because of something that we have accomplished.
Praise God from whom all blessings flow.
Amen.
