The People Of God

A couple of years ago I arranged with a friend called Richard to go and see Henry V at the Theatre Royal. We agreed to meet in the entrance at 2pm. 2pm came and went, as did 5 past and 10 past. I finally left his ticket with the doorman and went up to take my seat. I was ushered in. Sadly, my usher misread my ticket, and told me it was 'that seat on the end, there.' The play had just begun and the auditorium was in total darkness, so neither the usher nor I saw the lady I was about to sit on. I sat on her and she squealed. Having been redirected to the proper seat, I sat down and started thinking where Richard was. We've all been there. Someone's promised to meet us. They don't keep their promise. Why not? Well, the obvious guess was that he'd been held up in traffic on the way. He has a normal car, and they have to wait in queues unlike tanks. In other words, strength was the issue. And that in fact was the explanation. A few minutes later, the gallery door opened and the same usher showed Richard to the same seat and he tried to sit on the same woman who let out the same squeal, and finally Richard sat down next to me. But I could have thought up other possible scenarios. Maybe he'd changed his mind. In other words, the issue was faithfulness to a commitment. Or maybe he'd died since I last saw him. In other words, the issue was his existence. Those scenarios seem less likely; but you'll se the point as we go on. Well tonight we carry on with our series in Isaiah 41. Just a quick reminder. Isaiah's preaching ministry to God's Old Testament [OT] people went from about 740BC to about 700BC. The basic message was: 'Because you're living in settled disobedience to God, God is going to judge you by letting the Babylonians over-run your country and take many of you into exile' (see Isaiah 39.5-8). And chapters 1-39 seem to be a collection of Isaiah's sermon transcripts, predicting the exile to his own generation. But God also gave him a message for the future generation which would find itself in exile. And that's what chapters 40-55 seem to be. So, to benefit from this part of the Bible, we need to think our way back into the shoes of the generation that found themselves in exile, in Babylon. We need to ask first: 'What did God say through Isaiah, to them, then?' And then we need to ask, 'How does that message translate to our situation as New Testament [NT] believers, today?' So, let's try to think our way back into the shoes of the exiles. Imagine you'd been born in exile, in Babylon. You're taught at Sunday school that the LORD, your God had promised to give his people their own land, with the temple in Jerusalem symbolising God's presence with them and commitment to them. But you're in Babylon, Israel's just a memory, and Jerusalem's a wreck. You're also taught at Sunday school that the LORD, your God, had promised that there would always be a king on the throne of the house of David. But there isn't even a throne any more, let alone a king to sit on it. So aren't you asking the same question that I was asking up in the gallery of the Theatre Royal? 'Why hasn't he kept his promise? Why has God (apparently) not kept his promise?' 'Is it a question of strength?' you might have asked yourself. 'Maybe the LORD means well, but he just hasn't got the strength to see things through.' That's the question behind Isaiah 40.21:

Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?

Isaiah needed to say that because the exiles would begin to think that God had grown tired and weary. 'Or is it a question of faithfulness?' the exiles might have wondered. 'Maybe the LORD really is the ultimate strength in the universe. But he just hasn't kept his word. He's changed his mind about us. That's the question behind Isaiah 40.27:

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God"?

And that's the question behind Isaiah 40.8:

The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah needed to say that because the exiles would begin to think that God was, in fact, not keeping his word - that his promises had fallen to the ground. 'Or is it a question of whether the LORD our God is really there at all?' the exiles might have asked, in their gloomiest moments. 'Maybe the Babylonians' god is the real one. After all, the Babylonians are having more success in life than we are.' And that's the question behind 40.18 and 25:

To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare him to? "To whom will you compare me? Or who is my equal?" says the Holy One. "

Isaiah needed to say that because the exiles would begin comparing gods, and wondering whose god, if any, was really there. Is God strong? Is God faithful? Is God real? Those were the questions in the minds of the exiles as they lived life in Babylon, with their enemies apparently having the upper hand. Is God strong? Is God faithful? Is God real? Live long enough and we all encounter circumstances that force those questions on us. Because we too live lives deeply affected by the enemies of God's purposes. For example, there's the enemy of individual sin. I've been a Christian now for 17 years. And I still sin. I still sin the same sins. Yet the Bible tells me the Spirit of God himself is at work in me. Is God strong? Or, there's the enemy of corporate sin in the professing church. God says he's purifying a people that are his very own, eager to do good (Titus 2.14). Well, is that a description of any of the major denominations in this country today? So, is God strong? Or there's the enemy of unbelief. Our children grow up and for some of us, at least right now, they appear to be away from Christ. Or our friends are unresponsive, right now, to the gospel. And we thought it said God wanted all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2.3-4). So, is God faithful? Or there are the enemies of suffering and mortality. I think of Sir Norman Anderson and his wife Pat, whom I visited at the last church I worked for. They survived all three of their children, two taken by cancer. In old age, Pat had Alzheimer's and would sometimes point to her husband and ask who he was. Is God real? What does Isaiah have to say to people whose circumstances provoke them to ask those three questions - IS GOD STRONG? IS GOD FAITHFUL? and IS GOD REAL? First question: IS GOD STRONG? (vv 1 - 7)

Be silent before me, you islands! Let the nations renew their strength! Let them come forward and speak; let us meet together at the place of judgment (41.1).

The scene is a court room. God issues the summons for his own people and the nations to join him. He is the Judge. But ironically, he's also the accused. He has to defend himself on three charges, levelled against him in the minds of his own people: that he isn't strong; that he isn't faithful; and that he may not even exist.

"Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his service ? He hands nations over to him and subdues kings before him. He turns them to dust with his sword, to windblown chaff with his bow. {3} He pursues them and moves on unscathed, by a path his feet have not traveled before. {4} Who has done this and carried it through, calling forth the generations from the beginning? I, the LORD--with the first of them and with the last--I am he" (vv 2-4)

'One from the east' (verse 2) is a reference to the Persian Emperor Cyrus. Don't take my word for that. Just turn over to chapter 44.28:

who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt," and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid."' "This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue nations before him (44.28-45.1).

This man Cyrus was God's 'tool' for getting his people back from exile in Babylon into their own land. Very simply, Cyrus invaded and overpowered the Babylonians, then issued a decree (in 539BC) allowing the Jews to return to their country and rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. So, back to the courtroom of chapter 41. God predicts (through Isaiah, way in advance of the exile, let alone the end of the exile) that he will employ Cyrus' strength to get his people back where he promised they would be. To the exiles, the enemies of God may look temporarily stronger than God. But the key word is temporarily. When God delays using his strength for his own wise reasons (eg: disciplining his own people by taking them into exile and leaving them there quite some time), never draw the conclusion that God is not strong. And when the delay is over, and he does exercise his strength, his enemies are overpowered. Verse 5:

The islands have seen it and fear; the ends of the earth tremble. They approach and come forward; {6} each helps the other and says to his brother, "Be strong!" {7} The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and he who smooths with the hammer spurs on him who strikes the anvil. He says of the welding, "It is good." He nails down the idol so it will not topple (vv 5-7).

The enemies of God - and the idols they trust - may look temporarily strong. But that's the point: only temporarily. So what's the first lesson? We doubt God's strength when the enemies of his cause seem to have the upper hand right now. But that's a temporary situation. The story isn't ended, yet. God delays for all sorts of wise reasons, some of which the Bible explains (eg: the exile; or the equivalent disciplining through circumstances of which Hebrews 12.1-13 speaks - see the first sermon in this series, 4 January 1998), some of which remain mysteries to us this side of heaven. But he will exercise his strength, ultimately. For the exiles, it was the promise of Cyrus coming to let them go home. For NT believers, it's the promise of Jesus' second coming, to take us home to a new heaven and a new earth. Take my example of the enemy of individual sin. Sin is an indwelling enemy. Dethroned but not eradicated. And there are times when you doubt anything has happened at all. When the promise of the Spirit producing the fruit of character-change (Galatians 5.22-23) seems not to be kept. Well, is God not strong? Couldn't he eradicate sin in me right now? Yes. He could precipitate a heart-attack in me right now, and while you were trying to get the body out of the pulpit in a decent, Anglican sort of way, with Chris playing the organ quietly, from my point of view, the next thing to happen is that the Spirit of God would resurrect me into a new body with no proneness to sin and in the environment of heaven where there is no temptation or pressure to sin. Yes, God's strong enough to deal with that particular enemy. But he has reasons for delaying. He has things for us to do down here. And he uses that dethroned enemy of sin, and my fight with it, to strengthen and refine my faith. So that even while the enemy is not (temporarily) overthrown, its presence actually serves God's purposes. In God's wisdom, the enemies of God retain some power in this world. But only temporarily. God is strong. Second question: IS GOD FAITHFUL? (vv 8-20) (We're only going to look at a bit of verses 8-20) In verse 1 the LORD has summoned everyone to court. In verses 2-7 he's talked about Israel's enemies. And in verses 8-20 he reassures Israel that he's committed to them. Their enemies will be overpowered,

But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, {9} I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you. {10} So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. {11} All who rage against you will surely be ashamed and disgraced; those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish. {12} Though you search for your enemies, you will not find them. Those who wage war against you will be as nothing at all. {13} For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you (vv 8-13).

When our present experience as believers is painful or perplexing, as it was for these exiles, it's easy to lose sight of both the future and the past. The present, with its problems and pains, become all we can think of. It fills our horizon. So verses 1-7 were meant to take the exiles' minds off the present onto the future. The message was: God is strong, and under his control, your enemies have the upper hand only temporarily. And verses 8-20 were meant to take the exiles' minds off the present and into the past. And the message was: God is faithful, and if you take the time to think back over his faithfulness in the past, it will stabilise your faith in the present.

But you, O Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend, {9} I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you (vv 8-9)

Isaiah takes them all the way back to Abraham. That's where God made the promise that everything subsequently recorded in the Bible hangs on. It's the promise back in Genesis 12.1-3, that Abraham would have a son and through him become a people; that the people would have a place to live; and that God would be their God and would bless all nations through them. And little did Abraham know it, but that promise was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus. Born by virgin birth into that human line started with Abraham. Born to die for the sins of the world on a cross to deliver the blessing we all need but don't deserve, namely: the forgiveness of our sins and a fresh start with God. A blessing open to all without exception. (See Luke 1.54-55, 67-79; Galatians 3.8, 16) And Isaiah was making a very simple point to those exiles. God had proved himself faithful to that promise ever since he made it. Abraham was a sinner like them, and like us. You can read Genesis 12 onwards for the full story of his lapses and failures. God didn't commit himself to Abraham because he deserved it, because he was better than other people. There was no merit in Abraham that moved God to commit himself to Abraham. He committed himself to Abraham because he wanted to. That's what God's like. He loves because he wants to, not because we've merited it. And God stuck with Abraham, who walked with God imperfectly all his life. And Abraham's sin didn't forfeit God's faithfulness. And then a bit later, God stuck with Jacob (verse 8), who walked with God imperfectly all his life. But Jacob's sin didn't forfeit God's faithfulness. And so on down to Isaiah's time. Every OT believer walked with God imperfectly, yet their sin never forfeited God's faithfulness. And Isaiah simply reminds them: that's what God's like. He's been faithful to countless undeserving sinners before you. Can't you trust that he'll treat you that way? I guess the faithful few in exile felt very conscious of the sins that had landed them there in the first place. They were quick to believe that the LORD must have rejected them (hence the reassurance of verse 9). They projected onto God their own feelings of self-accusation and self-condemnation. And through Isaiah God says: I took you from the ends of the earth, from its farthest corners I called you. I said, 'You are my servant'; I have chosen you and have not rejected you (v 9). So what's the second lesson? When the present is difficult, we're quick to interpret it as a sign that God is against us. And then we're quick to make the connection with our own sins and to think they're the reason why God is against us. OT believers were pointed back into the past, to God's faithfulness to sinners from Abraham on. The NT sends NT believers back into the past, too, when the present seems to call into question God's faithfulness. Romans 5.8:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

And Romans 8.31:

What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

It's so tempting to read from tough circumstances the message that God doesn't care any more. Romans says: he sent his Son to die for us on the cross, and that's the place to read how God feels about us, and what his commitment to us is. And it doesn't make sense to believe that having done that, that he who did not spare his own Son, would then somehow turn against us. Don't let the present, however difficult it is right now, obscure the message of the cross from the Lord to you. Third question: IS GOD REAL? (vv21-29) You may be asking that, right now. You'd like to believe what Christians believe. You'd like to believe that your life is in the hands of a God who is strong and who is faithful. I was on the train to London the other day, preparing a talk on sharing our faith. It was on that passage which says, 'make the most of every opportunity' (Colossians 4.2-6). At York, the elderly lady opposite me had a coughing fit, so I offered her a Rolo (not my last one). We got talking, me worrying that I wouldn't have time to prepare this talk on 'making the most of every opportunity' because here was an opportunity I had to make the most of! I breathed a quick (semi-reluctant) prayer, and it was clearly answered. We talked about central Christian truths all the way to King's Cross. And towards the end, she said wistfully, 'I'd like to believe it. It would be lovely, wouldn't it, if it was really true? But [looking upwards] he's not really there, is he?' Well, that's what the Babylonians were saying to these exiles. 'Where is your God? Why has he left you in the lurch like this? He's not really there, is he? And people, or doubt, will say the same to us, and we'll be tempted to believe it, too. Maybe our faith is just a mythology like Hinduism, with no anchor-point in fact or reality. Maybe our faith hangs on just believing that a revelation fell from the sky, like Muslims claim for Mohammed, and we just have to believe, no questions asked. Maybe our faith is just a mindset for coping with a cruel world, like Buddhism - a defence mechanism in the face of suffering. But maybe the God we talk about and sing to and pray to isn't actually real. 'Would the real god please stand up?' Or are they all unreal, just man-made religions? Just human guesswork about God? Well, v21:

"Present your case," says the LORD. "Set forth your arguments," says Jacob's King. {22} "Bring in your idols to tell us what is going to happen. Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their final outcome. Or declare to us the things to come, {23} tell us what the future holds, so we may know that you are gods. Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear. {24} But you are less than nothing and your works are utterly worthless; he who chooses you is detestable (vv 21-14).

How can you tell the real God, among the many claims? Verse 23: 'tell us what the future holds, so that we may know you are gods'. Some other religions claim some kind of origin from God, from divine revelation. The Bible claims that the one, real God has revealed himself in a unique way, that you can check out. You don't just get told to pack up your brains and believe. Questions may be asked. In fact, questions must be asked. Because God has provided real evidence of himself in time and space, and real human beings have witnessed it, and the Bible is their testimony. The one, true God - the God of the Bible - predicts the future and then pulls it off. For example: Isaiah was writing this, at the latest about 680BC. He predicted the return from exile, through the activity of Cyrus the Persian. The Persian empire was nothing in Isaiah's day; Cyrus was 100 years plus in the future. But here is the prediction, committed to writing in Isaiah's day. And what he predicted (eg in 41.2-7, 44.26-45.3) happened. Or how about the most remarkable one of all? Isaiah 53, to end with. 700 years before the suffering, betrayal, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, Isaiah wrote:

He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not (53.3) But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed (53.5). He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth (53.7) He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. {10} Yet it was the Lord's will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes his life a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand. {11} After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied ; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities (53.9-11).

Isn't that uncanny? No wonder the Jewish lectionary omits Isaiah 53! It's too clear. The God of the Bible makes predictions and pulls them off. Mohammed never promised that he would be killed and on the third day rise from the dead. Isaiah predicted that Jesus would. Jesus predicted that he would (eg Mark 8.31). And it happened. The real God has 'stood up'. He prophesied the entry and exit of his Son into human history, and he pulled it off. The Bible is the evidence for that, and so the third lesson is this. History - that is, Bible history - matters. Faith rests on facts. And whatever our present circumstances do to our feelings, feelings don't change facts. We may lose health, or sleep, or happiness, or confidence in ourselves or in others. But the fact of Jesus cannot be taken away by the knocks of life. He did live, and did die and did rise from the dead, as Isaiah said he would - (verse 23), so we might know he is God. And the rivals are not. Is God strong? Yes, strong enough to put everything straight when he comes in judgement - which he is kindly delaying to give us time to be ready. Is God faithful? Yes, because having sent his Son to die to pay for the forgiveness of our sins, he will not give up on us along the way. And is he real? Yes, real enough to leave this Bible, this Book of evidence of how he has revealed himself, ultimately by becoming a man among us. Under the pressure, the pain, the perplexity of the present, it is easy to lose touch with the Book. But lose touch with the Book and we lose touch with the LORD; lose touch with the LORD and we lose touch with Reality.