Community Bible Study -- Isaiah Community Bible Study -- Isaiah
Text of Presentation, Lesson 20, Isa 62:1-12
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The Lord has Glorified You (Part II)
“The Exhilaration of God’s Love”
Chapter 62 opens (62:1) with a declaration that God's intent
for Zion is “righteousness” and “salvation,"
continuing the theme introduced in the last session (61:4-11).
Paralleling “righteousness” and “salvation"
like this is probably meant to stresses that:
We emphasized last week that the ultimate goal of Jesus' life,
death, and resurrection is to break the power of continued
sinning! Faith in Jesus is for the purpose of changing us into
Christ's likeness . . . and thus God's likeness. Our sins are
forgiven so we may live out the righteousness of God by faith . .
. turning our lives over to Jesus, believing He can make our
character like his.
Chapter 62’s opening focus on “righteousness” and
“salvation" continues this theme, as the statement of
God’s intent is followed by eight verses addressing Israel
(62:2-9) as if they are “righteous” and
“saved." God's people will display God’s handiwork
before “the nations (who) will see" the
"glory" that is their "righteousness" (62:2).
Zion will be a beautiful "crown" in God's
“hand" (62:3). Recalling the promises of chapters
49-52, God reaffirms he has not cast Zion off (62:4), but
"rejoices" (62:5) over her as a groom does a bride
(continuing the imagery of 61:10). Jerusalem will become
"the praise of the earth" (62:7), turning the tables on
Israel’s oppressors, who called them “Deserted”
and their land “Desolate” (62:4); Isaiah refers to this
as “recompense" (62:11). For instance, in 62:8-9, God
“has sworn” that the produce of the fields – once
taken by "enemies" (cf Deut 28:33, 39) – will now
be eaten by those who planted it and will "praise" God
in the "sanctuary."
In the concluding segment (62:10-12), Isaiah draws together
strands from throughout his book as he calls the people to action
to receive God’s promises. He calls to "build up the
highway" and "raise a banner for the nations,"
paralleling his earlier highway motif in chapter 40 (and
elsewhere) and his discussions of the messianic kingdom in
chapter 11.
But whereas in chapter 40 the "Sovereign" was coming
(cf 40:10), now it’s the "Savior" (62:11). Through
the work of the Servant/Messiah, the Jews can become God’s
righteous, "Holy People" (62:12), who will draw all
nations to Him! The "ends of the earth" will hear the
Lord's "proclamation" that a Savior has come to Zion.
They can come to the city now "called Sought After" and
share its salvation, or they can continue to fight against it . .
. and lose.
If Ron Oswalt had lead singing tonight, I have no doubt we would
have sung Beulah Land, an old southern revival hymn inspired by
Isa 62:4:
I've reached the land of corn and wine,
And all it's riches freely mine;
Here shines undimmed one blissful day,
For all my night has passed away.
O Beulah Land, sweet Beulah Land,
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea,
Where mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory-shore,
My heav'n, my home for evermore!
This a song sung by someone who has suffered . . . but now has
come to a land of plenty. If any of us has ever been in a
situation where we felt completely abandoned and rejected, but
then suddenly found ourselves welcomed and taken in . . . we
understand what chapter 62 is about.
Albert Einstein is the best example I can think of. He was a
Swiss patent assessment clerk, 3rd class, passed over for
promotion . . . rejected as a University lecturer . . . even
rejected as a high school science teacher. With his history of
failure, physicists greeted Einstein’s analysis of the
Photoelectric Effect, special relativity, and Brownian Motion
with a combination of skepticism and rejection . . . but, as we
say, the rest is history.
It’s March Madness time . . . which reminds me of the time
my high school basketball coach kicked our best players off the
team mid-season. The student body was up incensed; we had no
confidence in the bench-warmers who were now our basketball team.
But a remarkable thing happened: after a rocky start, five
previously rejected substitutes jelled together and won the
Tennessee state basketball championship!
Up until now, Isaiah has devoted many pages to detailing how
badly mankind fails to live to up God’s expectations . . .
but in chapter 62, God calls to man like my high school
basketball coach called to five rejected bench-warmers . . . or
as physicists called to a rejected Einstein: God says to mankind
he sees worth and value in us. He wants to be with us, he likes
us, we are important to him. God sees possibilities where
everyone else sees failure. He sees things in us that lie buried
beneath layers of sin and shame. But more than that, he can
uncover those hidden abilities and let those possibilities loose,
because he has taken the failure, the sin, and the shame onto
himself. He is not only able to show us our potential . . . but
to unleash it.
We live in a time of strange paradoxes. Modern psychologists
emphasize building self-esteem, an attitude which especially
permeates our educational system; we recognize that people who
think well of themselves are happier and achieve more that those
with low self-esteem. Yet at the same time modern society has a
statistically high suicide rate. What’s wrong with this
picture? Some suggest that, even though people with a good
self-image definitely do better, it must be based on reality, not
wishfulness; attempts to induce artificial self-esteem don’t
work. If people graduate from high school feeling really good
about themselves – but can’t get a good job because
they have a bad attitude or work ethic or can’t read or
write or add – the positive self-image doesn’t last!
So what brings genuine feelings of self-worth? Isaiah has been
telling us to cultivate a close relationship with God; and
I’m fond of John Calvin’s proclamation: “One man
with God is always a majority!” Some of us are
“islands,” but psychologists claim the sense of
personhood for most of us is bound up with our human community .
. . our sense of self is in some ways a by-product of a web of
relationships. That was the theme of Hillary Clinton’s book,
It Takes a Village. It’s interesting that God gives His
promises to his people collectively, even though we accept them
individually.
This makes it a problem that modern western society is so
fragmented. We don’t live in villages; we’re so mobile
we scarcely know our neighbors; worst of all, the family unit is
being torn apart. During my childhood in the South, the backbone
of Afro-American culture was a strong family – but this has
been virtually destroyed over the last 40 years. “Johnny has
two Mommies” today, and even “traditional” family
units are often complicated by multiple households and part time
siblings. My daughter has a weekend stepchild because of a joint
custody arrangement, and the atmosphere and rules at my
daughter’s house are totally different from the atmosphere
and rules the child experiences the rest of the week. Children
are pulled to and fro. The breakup of both the family and
“the village,” makes it increasingly difficult to say
we belong anywhere today.
Moreover, we learn that self-esteem outside of a positive complex
of relationships can be a bad thing. Serial killers – like
the recently captured BTK killer – often feel good about
themselves and have contempt for their victims and/or the police.
Hence to focus merely on building self-esteem may be the wrong
thing. Perhaps instead we should help people find stable
relationships in which they play a vital and necessary part. In
such a setting they know their worth . . . and they also can gain
a sense of a higher, greater good.
This brings us back to Isaiah . . . because that’s what the
church, though broken and fallible, is supposed to be about. As a
part God’s people, we discover how valuable and important we
are. Exodus 35-36 describes that the Israelites worked together
and freely shared their various talents when God’s
tabernacle was built in the desert. Today we use the term
“spiritual gifts” when we discuss this concept, but
although the term is modern, its framework is spelled out in New
Testament letters, such as:
It was (Christ) who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Eph 4:11-13).
There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. . . . All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body . . . Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. . . . If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? . . . But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body . . . just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. . . . Those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. . . . God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (1Co 12:4-7, 11-14, 17-20, 22-27).
Three of the four gospels record Jesus’ emphasis on an
upside-down hierarchy:
You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:25-28).
In the church as it is supposed to be, the senior pastor is no
more important than those who watch the nursery . . . or pay the
bills . . . or fix meals for the hungry . . . or sing in the
choir . . . or counsel . . . or share Jesus with unbelievers . .
. or chaperone a youth retreat . . . or clean toilets . . . or do
lots of other things. Everyone plays an essential role; everyone
has “worth”; the church won’t function unless
everyone does his job.
That brings us back to Isaiah 62: the church works like this
because God solves our self-esteem problem – if we let him.
If we think we are worthless . . . God doesn’t. God sees
worth and value in everyone! God sees possibilities in us where
others see failure . . . and He is able to identify and utilize
our “spiritual gifts” to let loose those possibilities
. . . because he has taken our failure, sin, and shame onto
himself. He’s able to set us free.
We feel God’s love in a variety of ways . . . including the
affirmation of fellow Christians – the church – who are
willing to overlook our shortcomings and appreciate our
contributions to the body of Christ. The church is the
“village” we need . . . the extended family so many of
us lack . . . the relationships that can help us deal with broken
families.
Or at least, that’s what the church is supposed to be. We
know that – as far back as the letter of James – lots
of church people didn’t understand this. James writes:
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? (Jas 2:15-16).
This remains a problem in churches. The Methodist Church was born out of John Wesley’s desire to take Jesus to the fields and factories . . . to lower class people rejected by the Church of England. And when my wife Marcia was dying of cancer, I remember so many people wanted to share at length how hard they were praying, but they never offered to help! Yet despite frequent shortcomings, when the church is the church, each of us plays our part in the complex dance. We find ourselves. We do not have to be told we have worth. We know it. When we experience such relationships, those on the outside look in with wonder and longing – just like the way God says the nations will look upon his redeemed people. Unbelievers crave such relationships . . . but can’t understand the Christian philosophy: that each of us finds our "self" by giving it away to others.