Fallen Into Knowledge

{I have never heard a sermon series on Isaiah, but I think one could be awesome for the life of a church. So, today’s comments take the form of an imaginary sermon.}

Introduction to a sermon series on Isaiah: an Expanded Outline
Or, How I would start a series on the book of Isaiah, if given the chance.

Tell me a little about the nature of prophesies…

If you grew up, as I did, in a small conservative “bible church,” then you probably have a deep seated expectation that prophesies have to do with the future. Some prophesies in the bible had already happened, like Daniel’s for-telling of the Greek empire, and some - more interesting - prophesies had not happened, like the John seeing helicopters and calling them locust in Revelation. The scariest prophesies had to do with Russia, naturally. These were my expectations, at least.
Imagine, then, my shock, upon first reading the Bible all the way through. I learned that not much of the content of the books in the “prophesy” section of the Bible (Isaiah-Malichi: I hadn’t heard of the Tanach yet) could even remotely be considered prophesy, as I understood it. At the time, I didn’t really respond to this discovery, preferring to hurry along to the “real scripture;” namely, the New Testament.

Since then, I have pondered the question that my first read through of the bible raised: If the books called “The Prophets” didn’t really talk about the future, what did they talk about? And, What is Prophesy?
Lets take these questions in order:
Question: What’s in the Prophets? Answer: Lots of things, really, are in the prophets. Most of the prophesies, however, fit within the overall narrative of Israel laid out as early as Deuteronomy.
You know, God rescues Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians, leads them through the desert, feeding them manna and giving them the law on the way, golden calf, 40 years’ wandering, and Israel finally gets to enter the promised land. Israel Doesn’t do a very good job taking ahold of the land. Israel sins, is oppressed, cries out to God, is delivered: Repeat ad nauseam. David. Bunch of progressively worse kings. God, finally fed up, exiles the people of Israel. God will bring the people back into the land and rule over them. Israel lives happily ever after.
Within this framework, the prophets speak: usually to say, “repent and obey or God will do what he said he would do - he will send you out of the land in captivity.” Or, “look, god promised he would bring you back from captivity, and he will!” The prophets seem to spend most of their time reminding Israel of their story, both the parts that had happened and the parts yet to happen, and of their current place in that story.
All this to say, the prophets spend much of their time, not looking forward, but back to the promises of God and applying those to the present situation in order to understand the direction the people of God were heading. Russia really never comes up.

How do prophesies directed toward Israel inform 21st century America?

Of course, reading about Israel is fascinating and all, but really what should we care about the impending babylonian invasion? Its not as if our problems lie in Mesopotamia. Oh wait. Nevermind. Honestly, the question is: How is this for the church, how do these prophesies function as scripture for the church? (btw, notice that I said “church” and not “America”) Here are a few thoughts:
1. By seeing the specific ways Israel is rebuked by God, we can see the sorts of things that God is concerned about. If Israel is rebuked for neglecting the poor, you can bet God’s not alright with the church neglecting the poor.
2. The future of Israel coincides with the future (and, to some extent, the present) of the church. That’s huge, and we’ll have to unpack it as this series unfolds. But for now, Lets just say that the material at the end of Isaiah is remarkably similar to the end of Revelation: both look forward to a time when God rules righteously over his people. The church is the people, who being called out amongst the world, are currently submitting to that rule, and who model the life of the Kingdom of Heaven in the world. Like I said, we’ll have to unpack this in the coming weeks.
3. By reading the prophets, we are reminded of God’s character. Like, and this shows up in Isaiah, God’s other-ness. We are also reminded of God’s faithfulness: He keeps His promises.

4. The Prophets also remind us that the Text is very often against us. Rarely are the Prophets comforting to us. Rather, they are uncompromising: we are sinners, and god calls us to righteousness.

So, even though the prophesies are not about us, they are Scripture for us: by attending to them we see who God is, what he cares about, and the Hope of God’s future that we are being drawn toward.

What sorts of things should we expect to hear about in the coming weeks?

The first chapter of Isaiah lays out the themes of the book, so turn with me there.

1. The wickedness of Israel:
here’s the rub: we also are guilty of many of Israel’s offenses. Like,

How the faithful city has become a whore! She that was full of Justice, righteousness lodged in her - but now murderers! Your silver has become dross, your wine is mixed with water. Your princes are rebels and companion of theives. Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the orphan, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

hint, hint: We order our lives according to “our business” and “building our houses” and neglect the pursuit of righteousness and justice. More to come in the weeks ahead.

2. The Latter Days:
What we have to look forward to. Oh, and also: what the church is to exemplify.

Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are a scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall devoured by the sword

3. The Sacrifice that God desires:

When you stretch out your hands I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings form before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.

In addition to these themes, Isaiah spends quite a bit of time talking about the One who will rule righteously over God’s people. What’s he going to be like?

I am looking forward to this series, I have never heard a sermon series through Isaiah, but every time I read it, I think that this is something we need to hear. By hearing and attending carefully to what Isaiah says in the coming weeks we will understand better what is required of us to be faithful subjects of our King as we pursue His heavenly kingdom.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 15th, 2007 at 10:39 pm and is filed under Lent, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.