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The Holy one of Israel speaks to his people

Over the past year or so, you have been very patient with me as we have studied in some detail the book of the prophet Isaiah. We have reached chapter 16 and we are faced with the question of trust. Who will you trust with your life?

Before we go further into this long book of 66 chapters, it is worth pausing for a moment to reflect on what we have learned so far

Hebrews 1:1 “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,”

That is absolutely true, but the question for us is this. What relevance does God’s message to the prophets of long ago have for us today? Surely their words were aimed at the society and community in which they lived. The prophets then had no concept of our society today, so how could they, how can they be applied to us in the 21st century?

The Hebrew writer goes on to say:

Hebrews 1:2 “but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.”

What was the writer of the letter to the Hebrews inviting hs readers to do? He was inviting them to remember the words of the prophets, to examine them and to see two things: First, their relevance to the society today, and second, how they pointed to God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

Instead of rushing on to the next chapters of Isaiah, I’d like to look back and listen to the Holy one of Israel as he spoke in those various ways through Isaiah.

Put aside for a moment that God’s words are directed towards Jerusalem and Judah. Remember that God chose them to be his people, not so that they could be his alone and all other peoples excluded from God’s love and God’s blessing, but so that they could be the shining example to the world what living in the blessing of God could be.

Imagine that God is speaking directly to us, to our society.

Here is what we find

Isaiah 1:2 “Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.”

Every child is a gift from God

Psalm 127:3 “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him.”

Psalm 139:13 “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

That’s the reality here. We owe our very existence to God, who created us and while those of us who are Christians acknowledge and accept that, the vast majority do not.

And the result is:

Isaiah 1:4 “Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.”

A sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, as another version puts it. Is that how we would describe our world today? Sinful, yes. But loaded with guilt? Perhaps! Maybe deep down people who do wrong know that they are doing wrong, but do it anyway.

How has it come to this state of affairs, that the world seems to be full of violence and corruption and destruction and enmity, the very opposite of God’s intended purpose for world and the people he created to live in it?

Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”

God gave man an idyllic place to live.

Genesis 2:9 “The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

And he gave man a purpose.

Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”

God also purposed that man should be an independant creature so he gave him the power to choose.

Gen 2:16,Genesis 2:17 “but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.””

When it went wrong, man lost his place in God’s garden and there was no way back except by the grace of God and the faith to accept that grace, freely offered. While God banished Adam from the Garden, he did not abandon him because he still loved him. God had already in place a plan, a plan of salvation for Adam, and not just for him but for all people on earth.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The astonishing thing about God’s plan of salvation is that involves man himself. God’s son was to be the saviour of the world, but since it was human man who had sinned, it was man who was to be punished. That’s why God’s son had to be born as a fully human being.

Another astonishing thing is that while his plan was unfolding, God revealed it bit by bit to his people. Remember that verse from Hebrews.

Hebrews 1:1 “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,”

The revelation began in chapter 3 of Genesis, but it really began to take shape when we get to the story of Abraham.

Genesis 12:2–3 ““I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.””

We can follow God’s plan from Abraham, how he chose the children of Israel to be his people who would carry his message