Isaiah's T's

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Isaiah’s T’s because I will address Isaiah’s Trilogy, Israel’s Travailing Travels, and finally, a Trial. Sound like categories for Jeopardy? Of course, my focus is Isaiah (40:21-31). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Isaiah’s Trilogy. A trilogy is a series of three dramas, literary works, musical compositions or movies that are closely related and develop a single theme. It is a Greek word that literally means three words. Some fan favorite trilogies include The Godfather, Back to the Future, Toy Story, and my wife made sure I included this one, Star Wars. The best-known literary trilogy is J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Incidentally, did you know that Tolkien was a philologist, a linguist, and a contributor to The Jerusalem Bible for his translation of the Book of Jonah?

Although it is compiled as one book, Isaiah is an anthology of poems composed chiefly by him and his disciples.[1] While some have divided Isaiah into two books: The Book of Judgment (chapters 1-39) and The Book of Consolation (chapters 40-66), others see three separate works. Chapters 1-39, record the events in Israel between 740-700 BC. Chapters 40-55, between 700-515 BC. The third section, chapters 56-66, relay the events between 515-480 BC.[2]

As you read Isaiah, you will notice a marked difference in style. That’s not conclusive proof that the three were written by different authors. One author could write in different styles. If you read my sermons and then my graduate research papers, you will see that they are written differently.

Something else you will notice is that the historical setting is different. The oracles or visions of Isaiah in the first 39 chapters are threatening and allude to events under Kings Ahaz and Hezekiah. The oracles of chapters 40-55, are consoling. Finally, chapters 56-66 read like the exiles were home again.[3]

Keeping with the historical setting, you will notice that The Book of Consolation, sometimes known as Deutero-Isaiah (think Deuteronomy), recalls those events immediately before the fall of Babylon to Cyrus, King of Persia. These chapters emphasize the significance of historical events in God’s plan, a plan which extends from creation to redemption and beyond.[4]

One last division exercise before we move to my second point. Chapters 40-48 emphasize the Lord’s Glory in Israel’s Liberation. Chapters 49-55 address the Expiation of Sin and the Spiritual Liberation of Israel. Chapters 56 through the end of Isaiah are about the Return of the Captives.[5] Now, there is a reason for all this talk of separating chapters in Isaiah, and that has to deal with my next point, Israel’s Travailing Travels, aka, the Babylonian Exile.

Travailing is a laborious or painful work, and I call this Israel’s Travailing Travels because not only was Israel forced to march from its homeland to Babylon, but Israel also marched back to their homeland. Because Israel was defiant to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, he burned Jerusalem’s gates and walls and destroyed the original temple.

As you can see from this map, the red shaded area is the most likely path that the Babylonians took to transport the Israelites to Babylon. In total there were three waves of Israelites: the first in 605 BC, which included the prophet, Daniel; the second in 597 BC; and the last in 586 BC when the city fell. This third deportation of people and destruction of the temple marked the end of the first temple period and the reign of kings in Judah.

During the 70-year exile, the prophets brought God’s word to his people. Isaiah’s oracles and prophecies brought hope and dignity to God’s people. He made it clear that the people would first suffer in order to be free. Eventually, this message of hope was fulfilled in 539 BC when the Persians rose to power, overthrew the Babylonians, and Cyrus ascended to the throne. With the fall of Babylon, the Persian King Cyrus decreed that the Israelites be freed to return to their homeland and rebuild the Temple, and that he would pay for all the expenses.

But, as Rome was not built in a day, neither was the nation nor the Temple. In chapter 40, as Isaiah brought messages of comfort to the people of Israel, many Jews were hesitant to return to their former home. After all, life for some exiled Jews was not all bad. Many married and raised families. Others made money or rose to positions of prominence in Babylon. They lived there long enough to feel accepted. In the end, many felt comfortable and chose to stay for a very long time.

To get the Jews to trek back to Israel, Isaiah delivered hope for what the future back home would hold. It was a message that was slowly received. Many Jews were in denial of exile, and as I said, many chose to stay, but as the situation in Judah continued to improve, they eventually began to flow back into the homeland.

So, as you see, the return was not without problems. Those who did return found themselves in conflict with those who remained in the country and now owned the land. These two groups – the Jews and the Samaritans – were in conflict over what sort of government should be established. And, if you were here for our Thanksgiving service, you may recall that the remaining Samaritans in occupied-Israel during the Babylonian Exile were also able to convince the power-wielding Persians to force the Jews to refrain from rebuilding the Temple temporarily. Yet, more Jews realized that the message of hope from Isaiah and the other prophets meant that rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem would stand as a symbol of that hope. By 515 BC, they started to rebuild Jerusalem’s Temple.

As an historical side note, the Jewish community of Babylon, also known as Babylonia, or today, Iraq, rose to prominence as the center of Jewish scholarship. It became home to many important Talmudic yeshivas (schools) through the second half of the 19^th century. And when Jews did flee Iraq to avoid persecution, many went to India. It was only in the 1950s under Operation Ezra and Nehemiah that the majority of Jews, 125,000, living in Baghdad left Iraq to return to Israel.

There were also after-effects of living in Babylonia for decades. As aliens who lived in a land whose people worshipped other gods and possessed other values, Israelites knew that the fall of Jerusalem years prior meant many of them forgot or no longer knew their homeland, their religion and their values. Imagine if you were forced out of your homeland, and all of the most admired and beloved buildings were destroyed, and then being told that you would never return home, and that it would be better for you to adopt a new way of life. How would that eventually impact you and successive generations?

We get a sense of what influenced the exiled Israelites from this text. They were defeated by foreign rulers and governed by their great princes (v 23). And like the Babylonians, they searched the stars for answers (v 26). This was not the first time that God’s people sought other gods whether in the form of humans or stars. We read in 2^nd Kings, “They abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.” (17:16) Later, we read that Manasseh “rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, ‘In Jerusalem will I put my name.’ And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.” (21:3-5) Yet, even if all of Israel would abandon their God, Isaiah would remain His steadfast prophet. This was Isaiah’s trial, Israel’s Trial, our trial and God’s trial.

Now that we’re into Superbowl week, let me reach back to 1969, and Chuck Noll’s initial press conference after being named Coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Asked if his goal was to make the Steelers respectable, Noll said, “Respectability? Who wants to be respectable? That's spoken like a true loser.” If you have ever coached or worked with people, you know that it takes great effort to get them to buy into your vision, especially if your first year’s record is 1-13. In short, Noll’s trial seemed insurmountable, but eventually, his players bought into it.

What about Isaiah? Did Israel buy into his message? What about Israel? Did it buy into God’s plan? What about us? Do we buy into God’s promises? What about God? Does He hear our prayers? Let us then turn to my third point, Trial.

Whose trial is this? It could be Isaiah’s trial. After all, he’s the one making the case for Israel to heed God’s promise and return home. Yet, Isaiah utters no complaint nor lament. So, is it Israel’s trial? For years, many of them compared their God to the gods of Babylonia. They looked to other religions or the stars for guidance. Many believed that God did not hear their prayers. Others just gave up because they grew weary.

That said, could this be our trial? Do we (Christians) compare other gods to our Triune God? Definitely. Far fewer people raised as Christians still identify with that denomination. Many consider themselves “Nones.” Others embrace non-Christian religions.[6] Still others look to science, technology, financial advisors, Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson, life coaches or astrologers for guidance rather than the teachings of Jesus Christ. It could be that we are like the exiled, 2500 years later. We look elsewhere for answers to our prayers because we believe that God does not hear and answer us.

But the longer I thought about this passage, the more I was drawn to ask if we put God on trial. If we put God on trial, we are certainly not the first. Elie Wiesel wrote a play that was later adapted for TV entitled God on Trial. It was based on what Wiesel witnessed first-hand while in Auschwitz as a teenager. He said, “Three rabbis—all erudite and pious men—decided one winter evening to indict God for allowing his children to be massacred.” The trial lasted several nights. Witnesses were heard, evidence was gathered, conclusions were drawn. The verdict was unanimous: the Lord God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth, was found guilty of crimes against creation and humankind. And then, after what Wiesel describes as an ‘infinity of silence’, one of the scholarly rabbis looked at the sky and said “It's time for evening prayers”, and the members of the tribunal recited the evening service. Wiesel added, “I witnessed a strange trial. I remember: I was there, and I felt like crying. But nobody cried.”

None of us are going to experience what Jews in concentration camps did, but every one of us has experienced tragedy at some point. We may not put God on trial as erudite rabbis did, but we may have questioned his power, his authority, his mercy, his love. We may wonder if God hears and answers our prayers, and a quote from Martin Luther probably will not suffice. So, as one of my fellow pastors is fond of saying, “Let Scripture do the heavy lifting.”

After a series of questions – Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? – we get to this: “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” (v. 31) The key word? Wait.

Wait is an overlooked but essential concept in Isaiah.[7] To wait is not simply to mark time, but to live in confident expectation of God’s action on our behalf.[8] He is transcendent and imminent. God sits outside of His creation and is involved in it. God is not conditioned or limited by time or space. He is aware of our distress and captivity. The Almighty is great enough to help us and near enough to want to help. And all of this is summed up in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is God and man at the same time.

The Jews of the Babylonia captivity did not initially believe that God could transform them. How can God renew our strength? Give us wings like eagles? How can an old man like me run and not be weary? How will the aged walk and not faint? Israel sharply questioned God’s ability to change their circumstances, but those who wait on the Lord, and are in a relationship with God understand that it is something outside of us that renews our strength that we feel as if we have wings.

Those who wait for the Lord are called believers. Believers have the unwearying, unfainting strength of God that does not allow them to fail before life’s demands.[9] As Christians, we find ourselves bound to the realities of a deeply tragic world that is ravaged by human sin while we cling to promises that God will one day make this world right, joyful, and just. And that is the deep and fundamental tension at the heart of Christianity: the claim that God is faithful and good as we face a daily onslaught of contradictory evidence.

My friends, you know someone who has God on trial right now. But you are believers and you know that God gave you wings of love and hope that empower you to fly to that person prosecuting God, and simply say, “Wait.” Wait because God seems hidden right now, but eventually, the merciful, loving-kindness of our Triune God is revealed to you and all. When that happens may the peace of our God that surpasses all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] The New American Bible. New York: Catholic Book Publishing Co. (1979), p. 824.

[2] The Lutheran Study Bible: English Standard Version. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2009), p. 1084f.

[3] The Jerusalem Bible. Doubleday and Co (1966), p. 1124f.

[4] The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha Expanded Edition: Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press (1977), p. 822.

[5] New American Bible, p. 824.

[6] https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2015/05/12/chapter-2-religious-switching-and-intermarriage/

[7] See Isaiah 8:17; 25:9; 33:2; 49:23; 64:4.

[8] John N. Oswalt, Isaiah: The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan (2003), p. 448.

[9] J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press (1993), p. 308.