Isaiah Week 7 - Chapters 28-33. HOPE for a Righteous King

I always love it when the Lectio reading connects with what the pastor preaches about on Sunday.  We don't coordinate this intentionally, but they've connected many times before.  This week it happened in a big way!  We read Isaiah 25:6  "On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear."  And then on Sunday Hallack preached from Jesus’ parable of the great banquet in Luke 14.  Remember what Bo Lim said about the connections between Isaiah and Jesus...well, this is one for the list!

Here's the "must read" section of this week's reading:

Isaiah 30:1-26

"O rebellious children, says the Lord, who carry out a plan, but not mine."

One of the big themes of Isaiah is God's judgment on his people and on their enemies.  With all the words of judgment, it's hard to keep track of who is being punished!  Sometimes God punishes his people, sometimes God punishes their enemies, and (to make things even more confusing) sometimes he uses the bullying of their enemies to teach his people a lesson.  How do we make sense of all this?

One way is to follow the lead of Isaiah 30 and think of God as a parent and God's people as his children.  Think of God as a parent who is really concerned that the kids in the neighborhood play fair with each other and are kind to one another.  You're the child of this parent.  If someone from the neighborhood bullies you, the parent will bring judgment upon the bully.  But heaven help you if it's you who's doing the bullying! The parent is going to be swift to punish you because the matter is so important to them.  That's a way of thinking about how God can judge Israel's enemies and judge Israel - both for disobedience.

But what about when we read that God is using the bullies as instruments of punishing his children?  No simple answer to this one, but one way to look at it is to think of God as the parent who is willing to allow his children to experience the consequences of their poor choices and sinful actions.  In a way, God is allowing the destruction brought by foreign military powers to be the natural consequence of Israel's faithlessness.  When parents allow consequences to hit us with full force, it's natural for children to wonder "Does my parent love me?"  Do you think God's people in Isaiah's day wondered if God still loved them?  What assurances does God give his people through the prophet Isaiah?

 

 

Extra Notes:

Party's Over.  Isaiah 28 describes drunkenness in a way that reminds me of the dark side of the "party scene."  What starts out as pretty picture of people "just having fun" eventually gives way to an ugly scene.  What is often left over after a wild party is what is described in verse 8 "all tables are covered with filthy vomit; no place is clean." (It's been known to happen)  One thing God does through prophets like Isaiah is to help us see the real story behind the pretty picture.  It's hard to stay in denial when someone like Isaiah is exposing the truth.

Political Elections and the Kingdom of God.  Hope for a Righteous King is an interesting topic for the week in which we elected a President and a Governor, don't you think?  A good reminder that the highest level of authority is God, and we look to His kingdom as our ultimate authority.  This provides some wisdom for political winners and losers, regardless of party platform.  When we win, recognizing God as the higher power leads us to humility, to look to God to guide us in the right use of human power, to remember that political office is a sacred trust.  When we lose, recognizing God as a higher power opens us to encouragement.  All is not lost - the Lord is still on the throne.  God doesn't stop caring about the world he loves just because of a particular election outcome.