2 - Our Just Peace
Notes
Transcript
Comfort
Comfort
1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Last Week
Last Sunday I spoke about “Shocking Hope.”
A reminder that Christian Hope is not just a sense of hopefulness that good things will happen eventually - but rather that God’s Kingdom will come.
And that could be a bit of a shock.
Jesus’ words were quite unexpected:
Mark 13:24–25 (NRSV)
24 “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
When the world falls apart - we find that God is busy doing something good. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
We don’t just look forward.
We look to the past.
We remember what God has done.
We look to the future - anticipating the promises of what God will do.
And we look to the moment - working out what it means for us right now.
We follow - at advent - the themes of:
Hope, Peace, Joy & Love
Hope, Peace, Joy & Love
And this advent:
Our Spirits Wait - With Shocking Hope; For a Just Peace, Fierce Joy & Transforming Love
In one sense - we are waiting. We know that God is doing - and will do something.
In another sense - we are preparing. Maybe writing Christmas cards - buying presents - making plans - could all remind us of the great gift we are preparing for.
Actively working to open our hearts.
To open our spirit to what God will do in our lives.
Hezekiah
Hezekiah
In any case - in listening to Isaiah 40 - I thought it might be helpful to think a bit about Hezekiah. Who features in Isaiah 39.
I was super confused as I read verse 8 - and tried to figure out how we went from 39:8 to Isaiah 40 -
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
So we jump from those words - to ‘Comfort, O Comfort my people…’
How can he be happy because there is peace and security in his days - and next thing God is saying ‘Comfort, comfort my people’.
Like the prophet is waking up from a concussion - having missed what just happened.
How can Hezekiah be happy with the bad news?
Well Isaiah’s words to Hezekiah were not that comforting:
Isaiah 39:5–6 (NRSV)
5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the Lord of hosts: 6 Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
Isaiah goes on to say in verse 7:
7 Some of your own sons who are born to you shall be taken away; they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
He has just received this news - his sons will be slaves to Babylon - the days are coming when Judah will fall to Babylon - all the treasures of his ancestors will be taken away.
Hezekiah’s response - is to think: “there will be peace and security in my days”
8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”
Hezekiah
Hezekiah
Hezekiah wasn’t actually a bad King - he was one of those whom the Bible said:
3 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord just as his ancestor David had done.
We read further -
5 He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah after him, or among those who were before him.
He was a great guy - but toward the end of his reign - after much anguish - after times of insecurity:
King Sennacherib’s Invasion
In chapter 18 of 2 Kings we read of the Assyrian King Sennacherib’s invasion of Judah.
Hezekiah manages to move him on with the payment of all the treasure of the temple. But Sennacherib continues to encamp around Jerusalem.
Hezekiah turns to God for deliverance - and in the night God answers his prayer -
35 That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies.
185,000 of Sennacherib’s army are struck dead in the night by The Angel of the Lord.
Peace?!
Peace?!
OK - I know the theme is ‘Just Peace’ and now I’ve gone and told you a whole lot of horrific stuff - not peaceful at all.
1 - Isaiah prophesies to Hezekiah that his sons will be taken as slaves.
2 - Hezekiah is happy because there will be peace in his life time.
3 - A look at Hezekiah’s life:
3 - 1 Sennacherib of Assyria - defeated by faith.
3 - 2 The reason for Isaiah’s negative prophecy…
Envoys from Babylon
Envoys from Babylon
Kings need to be great strategists when it comes to international relations. Especially if you are the King of Judah - a small state in a world of super powers.
Generally - Judah is out of the way of the major forces, the Egyptians and the Assyrians. Jerusalem isn’t a major feature on the trade routes.
Babylon / Assyria in the North - and Egypt in the South can do their back and forth without worrying Judah.
But as Babylon expands - they will want to know who owns what.
And the way that you controlled places in those days wasn’t so much by conquering them.
It would be by establishing a bit of a protection racket.
Nice temple - shame if anything were to happen to it…
That sort of thing.
Hezekiah becomes ill. Envoys from Babylon come to visit and we read the strange words:
13 Hezekiah welcomed them; he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses; there was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them.
By opening the treasure houses, the armoury - everything to the envoys from Babylon he was essentially becoming their ally.
As Isaiah prophesied:
17 Days are coming when all that is in your house, and that which your ancestors have stored up until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, says the Lord.
This act of allegiance to a foreign power - with foreign values and foreign Gods would be a marker on the road to Israel’s downfall in the 6th century BC.
Hezekiah is not the last King of Israel - but he is the last Independent King of Israel. With his alliance he paid for peace in his time - but Isiah’s prophecy would become true - the kings after him would not really be kings.
Hezekiah 715-686
Manasseh 686-642
Amon 642-640
Josiah 640-609
Joahaz 609
Jehoiakim 609-598
Each of these Kings would pay allegiance to Assyria - would be in some way controlled by Egypt and eventually Johoiakim would fall to Babylon.
Isaiah 39:8 describes something that happens in 686 BC during the reign of Hezekiah. Isaiah 40 - describes something that happens in around 538BC… the exiles begin their return from Babylon.
148 years later.
Isaiah 40:1
Isaiah 40:1
1 Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.
I’m not sure why Isaiah 39 ends 150 years before Isaiah 40. There are different theories about the nature of prophetic writing - the origins of the scroll.
In one scenario you can imagine Isaiah really foreseeing the future… receiving a vision of what will happen.
And maybe in this vision it is a bit like John’s insight into the heavenly realm.
Hearing voices speaking - overhearing voices.
Isaiah doesn’t have to be a sage of some sort to see that Israel will fall to Babylon.
He has made his prediction - he knows the ways of these people.
But Isaiah doesn’t just speak of what is happening in his time.
He hears - in the heavens - what will happen in the future:
Voices in Heaven
Voices in Heaven
So I imagine Isaiah - transported from the doom of gloom of prophesying disaster to Hezekiah. To seeing the good news of God unfolding in heaven:
“Comfort, O comfort my people says your God.”
Is this God in heaven - in some divine council giving messages to be carried out to his people in the world?
Is Isaiah receiving his mandate? To write down for future generations to recite?
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Is Isaiah in his prayers hearing god’s heart for his people - people like Jerusalem. People like the people of Gaza. People like the people of Ukraine.
People all over the world.
Displaced, dispossessed, sold out by political players like Hezekiah who say to themselves: well at least I’m safe.
I didn’t realise until I was reading Isaiah 40:2 that some people read ‘That she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins’.
When there is another way of reading it - that she has received from the Lord’s hand - the penalty that she owed + the same again to lift her out of her despair…
As in Isaiah 61:7
7 Because their shame was double, and dishonor was proclaimed as their lot, therefore they shall possess a double portion; everlasting joy shall be theirs.
Against the backdrop of a world of turmoil…
Good news.
A Good God - cries out Comfort, O comfort…
This horror is not a punishment for your sins - I bear the cost of your sins…
Isaiah the prophet - is hearing the words of heaven in a way that we seldom do.
The words of heaven that are words of healing and peace - in a world of conflict and violence.
Comfort my people.
Your sins are forgiven.
9 Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
10 See, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep.
God himself is coming to bring the peace.
That Hezekiah tried to buy with a treaty.
Just Peace
Just Peace
Do you have peace?
You know it is a fruit of the Holy Spirit -
Galatians 5:22 (NRSV)
22 By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
Maybe I’m being fanciful - scholars will tell us that Isaiah 39 and 40 are quite different as pieces of writing. Probably tied together much later in putting together the writings of Isaiah.
But in my mind - I imagine Isaiah having a complete and utter freak out hearing about Hezekiah’s blunder.
Maybe to the point that he even passes out.
And in his passing out - maybe - he gets his vision….
Comfort o Comfort….
When everythning is falling apart - Comfort - God is on teh way.
And those words of Comfort - would speak much more loudly in 537 BCE…
As the people return.