Offspring of the Blessed

Isaiah 65: 17-25, 66: 1, 2

 

          Sometimes when I read Isaiah, it’s like watching the movie Back to the Future. Or maybe it’s Forward to the Past. Isaiah is thought to have lived and prophesied in the eighth century BC. This would date him around the time that the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel. But Isaiah also seems to write about the Babylonians, who came over 130 years later. He also talked in Messianic terms, enough that we often quote him as predicting the coming of Jesus, which was over seven hundred years in the distance. So Isaiah covers a lot of ground. He is one, two or even three writers, depending on which commentator you are reading. It’s Back to the Future on turbo. Today’s passage is a prime example. It seems to talk about the present, the future and even the distant future.

          Isaiah is a big book, sixty six chapters, the same number, coincidentally, as the number of books in the Bible. It might help to get an overview of it before we discuss the passage for today.  Isaiah starts out talking about God’s judgment to a people who refuse to get their act together. In the sixth chapter, God seems to be saying that while hope can’t protect us from judgment, neither is judgment the final word. At least that appears to be the case for the elect, those who hear and respond to the call of God. That gives us hope. The next section of Isaiah (7-39) calls for God’s people to put their trust in their Creator rather than in the nations and the powers of the world. Beginning with chapter 40, God’s people are re-introduced to the concept of God’s unearnable grace, and chapter 49 ushers in the Suffering Servant passages which prophesy the sin offering that will come from God. We see those chapters as the foreshadowing of the coming of the Messiah. Chapter 56 begins a section in which God is seen as the powerful God who brings about change and produces righteousness in that remnant of his people who believe. That remnant speaks for God in a mighty witness to the nations who are on the outside looking in.

          So in this book, we have the promised judgment of God, tempered by the hope for those who are called, an admonishment to trust God and not the world, a re-introduction to God’s grace, a prediction of the Messianic Age, and God as the change agent to produce righteousness. It is in this last section that today’s passage appears.  It is a passage that begins and ends with hope. Even in the midst of judgment, we see the grace of God and the promise of salvation as an overarching theme.

          In this passage, God is once again Creator. He creates new heavens and a new earth. He creates a state of mind that rejoices. He creates Jerusalem as a joy and her people as a gladness. Here we see our Creator God doing so again; that is, creating again. The God of Genesis, of all that is and ever was, is re-creating, making better that which has become tarnished, making beautiful that which has become dull. It is as though he has taken out the family silver service and polished it all new. It shines and is ready for service once more.

          We are re-introduced here to a premise that prevails throughout the Bible—that we can’t get there from here. That is, we can’t get to heaven on our own devices. We need divine enabling. John Oswalt puts in this way: “How will humans ever be able to live the righteousness of God, to be the evidence to the nations that he alone is God? Only in one way: if God himself intervenes and exercises his creative power to remake us and our world.” We hear this over and over. For instance, in Romans, Paul reminds us that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (3:23). Wecan’t do it on our own.

          I think about the upheaval in the American political process that we have just witnessed. The American people spoke rather clearly recently. What I heard us saying most loudly was that we are fed up with a government that argues rather than functions. We are fed up with their pontificating and blaming. We want leadership that considers us, that honors all instead of the privileged few. We are looking for if not a new creation, then at least a re-engineered creation. Doesn’t that remind you of what God is saying here in Isaiah. He creates new heavens and a new earth.

          But look at what else God says. He doesn’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. He takes what is good and re-tools it. He takes a righteous remnant and re-crafts it to be splendid and beautiful again. He promises fullness of life.  No more shall babies be taken prematurely by a world full of broken people where sin prevails, where men and women lead lives of quiet desperation. God means for his people to lead long lives, humble and contrite in spirit.No more laboring in vain or bringing children into a world which functions poorly. For those who are called, that is, those who believe, who trust, they will be answered before they can even call. They and their descendants will be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord (v.23).

          There are several ways to read this passage. A new heaven and earth are promised elsewhere in Scripture. The book of Revelation speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. It speaks of a New Jerusalem at the close of the age, where God reigns and sin is no more. This is the New Jerusalem of the end times. 2 Peter talks about a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Whenever we read about the Day of the Lord, we cannot ignore judgment. Destruction of the wicked, of sin, is part of that final judgment. But to see that and nothing more is to miss the blessing that is the ultimate glory of God, for he has promised us something new and bright and beautiful and perfect.

          So when I read this passage, I can’t help but see Isaiah reminding us of God’s promises—promises of something new and wonderful, and not just in the end times. Isaiah talks about things of the future, but there is enough in his references to make it clear that he is thinking on more than one level. And one of those levels is the here and now, the immediate future. We are not relegated only to wait for a distant day. We are also called to transform our present.

          We Americans are struggling right now to redefine who we are. We are an inclusive people, but we have fears of what that may bring. American means something more than geography It means a way of life, a path to freedom, a recognition of individual rights and an acknowledgment of fundamental fairness. Today, we are here to worship God and to celebrate a truly American tradition of Thanksgiving. The whole idea of the holiday stems from people determined to start anew and to make something beautiful in a new land.

          So this Thanksgiving, we are on the horns looking at how we elect our leaders, even how we govern ourselves. We may be at the threshold of something new. In the days of Isaiah, the prophet predicted a time when the geography of our world was to be a joy, a New Jerusalem. He prophesied a time when the people of our world would be a gladness.  We take hope, as did the prophet, in God’s promise that he is still creating, still calling. Why not take this wonderful creation he gave us—and transform it into something new? That’s what God intends for us. He has given us his word to guide us. May we continue to tremble at it as we build our lives around it. We have already been commissioned. It’s time to get back to work—for God.