Isaiah
2:1-5
All
the Nations Shall Stream to It
How many of you went shopping on
Friday? I had told myself I wasn’t, then
ended up at CVS. So I guess I need to raise my hand as well. Did you find what you were looking for? I found something that seemed like what I wanted,
but when I pulled it out of the box on Saturday morning, I was terribly
disappointed. Anyone have a similar
experience? That feeling of wanting
something, but not quite able to grasp it?
I wonder how many of those who
stayed at home and away from the Friday shopping did so precisely because they
already knew there was nothing in the stores or the malls which would be the
thing most wanted. That which we seek
just isn’t to be found in the shops or the malls or even the lighting displays. The hope we have for this season will be realized
by the arrival of something far beyond the glitter and glitz, by the dawning of
something which cannot be wrapped and placed under a tree.
So whether you went out looking on
Friday or remained in your home, it is now Sunday and we are here. And in this place we will turn our eyes and
our hearts to the advertisements and promotions which promise eternal satisfaction.
I want to spend most of the time
this morning looking at the Isaiah passage.
There is something right at the beginning of this passage which addresses
how long we will need to wait for the promotions and promises of God. It is my hope that by looking closing at just
a very few words, we can more closely approximate the day when we live fully
and comfortably in this new place and time.
A bit of background. We have talked in the past about Isaiah
having three parts: 20 chapters of
warnings, 20 chapters spoken to Israel during the time of occupation, and 20
chapters speaking of the rebuilding and hope.
Part I (from which Isaiah 2 is taken) are those proclamations spoken by
Isaiah during the anxious years. In the
eyes of many – let’s call them the establishment - Jerusalem and Judah were
flourishing. But others were disgruntle
and angry. They were looking at the
system and voicing their opinion that the system had forgotten them, or ignored
them, or at least overlooked them. Israel was doing well for the insiders and
elite, but doing poorly for the masses. Isaiah
speaks of God’s displeasure at the system and its designs.
If you have your bible with you,
open it to Isaiah. Look at some of the
lines with which this book opens.
Vs 7 – Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire
Vs 3 – The ox knows its owner, and
the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not
understand
Vs 2b – I reared children and
brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
Many were content with the system
the way it was – but others were shouting out in frustration and anger. Isaiah collects their emotions, pours them
into his oracles, and then speaks the word of God in the midst of all
this.
We are about to go from the general
to the very specific. I want you to look
at the first phrase of the second verse of chapter 2. On our bulletins, it reads, “In days to
come.” This is the New Revised Standard
Version translation. Other translations
interpret the phrase a bit differently. Does
anyone happen to have a New International Version translation? The NIV translates the same phrase as “In the
last days.”
“In the days to come.” “In the last days.” Same phrase, two different translations. And while I don’t want to make mountains out
of mole hills, these differing translations can also align themselves with
differing belief systems with regard to how we are to read what follows and the
role we are to play in the unfolding of these promises.
The NIV interpretation tends to be
preferred in congregations where the focus of our assembly is in the
far-future. Reading Isaiah’s words as
“In the last days,” put the action on that final day, the day of Christ’s
return, the day of God’s in breaking. The
NIV interpretation may suggest to us that we see Isaiah’s words as something
which will come to pass at the final consummation of all things. It isn’t something we are to expect now - it
is something that will happen at the so called return of Christ. It isn’t something that will happen in our life-time
– and therefore it isn’t something we affect or influence or bring closer by
our participation.
I
want to acknowledge that the NIV a translation has solid backing. Those who translate the phrase “In the last
days,” have done research. In fact, this
translation is more in keeping with the historic translations favored by the
Church from the 16th century till the 20th. “In the last days” is the mood in the Latin
Translations and thus also in the King James Translation. You
can find further support such an interpretation when you cross reference the
Hebrew phrase as it is used in Daniel 2:8 and 10:14.
However,
I want to attempt to persuade you that this is not how Isaiah meant these words
to be understood. Verse 2 of Chapter 2
is a foreshadowing of the promises outlined in greater detail in Chapters
40-60. For Isaiah, “the days to come”
may be indefinite, but it is not vague. It
refers neither to the end of time nor to some point beyond time. It is a reference to God’s activity within
time.
To
take it back to my opening set of questions:
the promises of God will not forever evade us. We will find it possible to set aside our
longings and our desires and to experience the arrival of that which truly satisfies. While systems of evil and power and domination
may attempt to maintain their stranglehold, God’s people can and will break
free. And all this isn’t some distant
last day, it is in the days which will come.
Perhaps those days will come even before Isaiah finishes his book.
To
be sure, the prophet Isaiah expects a radical transformation of history, as the
remainder of his prophecy demonstrates. But
Isaiah does not speak of some future integration of the things of heaven with
the things of the earth. He is talking
about what he sees God doing in the history which we call human history.
It
is very important, how we understand those four little words. If
we accept the interpretation of the NIV then we are justified in accepting
the continued presence of hatred and war and violence and loathing of others. Such an interpretation would allow us to
believe that it is beyond us to live in a world where swords are bent into
plowshares and spears into pruning hooks.
But, if we accept
Isaiah’s words as God’s promise which comes within time - then we find
ourselves looking for ways that our history might be transformed into a history
of peace and good will. If we join
Isaiah in describing the days to come, we are also presented with the chance to
participate in the making those very same promises a reality.How we understand
those four little words will determine whether we see ourselves and our world
as a place where there will always be hatred and war and so we might as well
accept it and get on with it. Or, will
we find the conviction to believe that the angels’ song was not a reference to
the sweet-by-and-by but an announcement of the arrival of the One who has set us free from such cycles
of self-destruction.
Some
will sit and wait for the “last days.”
They will resign themselves to the war and hatred and violent talk. They will forever perceive our world and
shared existence as one devoid of words and instructions of the angels. They will shop till they drop on the Friday
after Thanksgiving only to return to their private fortress and discover how
disappointed they are with the things they have grabbed up and accumulated.
Others,
will listen for the announcement of the angels.
They will insist on seeing today as the “day to come;” the day on which
the “mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established.”
Those
horrible images I shared from Isaiah 1 are offset by the invitation of Isaiah 2
to not only dream of the days to come, but to make them come. The Lord will do his part. Then we are to do ours. Read verse 5 with me: O house
of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!
Will
we sit back and remain indifferent to “The last days”? Or will we allow our hearts to come alive at
the angels’ song? Will we see “Peace on
earth, and goodwill among men” as a future and far-off possibility? Or will we join the prophet Isaiah in streaming
to the highest of the mountains where God “may teach us his ways… that we may
walk in his paths”?
Even
those who teach preaching at the seminary admit sermons lose out every week to
hymnody. You are seven times more likely
to go home repeating a line from a hymn than a thought from the sermon. So let’s try to combine both.
I
have asked Judi to be ready to help us sing Hymn 538. We sang this just two weeks ago. It isn’t really and Advent hymn, and is actually
grouped among the Sending Hymns in the ELW.
But I am going to ask you to sing it with me, now. And remember that the first two lines repeat,
as will the last four.
The
Lord now sends us forth with hands to serve and give,
To
make of all the earth a better place to live. (Repeat)
The
angels are not sent into our world of pain
to
do what we were meant to do in Jesus’ name;
That
falls to you and me and all who are made free.
Help
us, O Lord, we pray, to do your will today. (Repeat)
Amen.
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