12/04/21 "A Great Light"

A Great Light

Finding Light in the Darkness

Key text:

Psalm 46 & Isaiah 9:1-7

About the story

The story of Korra, Ephraim, and Zera is fiction but the experience is true. Through the story, I try to convey the real experience that many Jewish exiles had. There are some Bible passages that just cannot be preached without understanding the feelings of the people who lived through it. The power of Psalm 46 does not lie in a grammatical breakdown of the psalm, but rather, the power lies within the context in which it was told. And the same goes for the messianic oracle in Isaiah.

Akkadian

In the story, the children responded in Akkadian. Akkadian was the language of Babylon. As Jews were conquered by different nations, their worry was always about preserving their faith and language. When Assyria conquered Israel they exiled the Israelites to the far reaches of their kingdom in order to separate them from their culture in order to assimilate them. For a first-generation Jew to hear their grandchild speak Akkadian and not know Hebrew would have been deeply painful.

Korah

Psalm 46 is prefaced as a psalm written by the sons of Korah. I took the liberty to make the dying old man Korah himself.

Main Point

But peace with God is the light in the darkness. Until you have peace with God you will never escape the darkness.

We cannot have peace on earth until all humanity has peace with God.

Action

Last week, we were challenged to wait courageously. Courageous waiting involves facing the truth about our sin, losses and pain. It is not until we mourn that we are ready to experience our hope.

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This week we are challenged to make peace with God. All the things that you are angry about, make peace with them.

Bullet

Main Point

We cannot celebrate the hope we find in Christ without first preparing through waiting, by mourning, and sitting in the ache of longing. We are not ready to celebrate until we acknowledge that this world is not yet how God would have it be.