A text – Isaiah 51:1-6
51:1 Listen to me, you that pursue righteousness, you that seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.
51:2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you; for he was but one when I called him, but I blessed him and made him many.
51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the voice of song.
51:4 Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.
51:5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly, my salvation has gone out and my arms will rule the peoples; the coastlands wait for me, and for my arm they hope.
51:6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be forever, and my deliverance will never be ended.
A reflection:
In this part of Isaiah, the Lord is speaking through the prophet about both the past and the future of Israel, at this time captive in Babylon. The prophet Isaiah is trying to comfort the Israelites and wake them up from their disorientation, reminding them who they are and who their ancestors were and painting some dramatic pictures about who they will be once the Lord delivers them.
Listen to the big images –
“Look to the rock from which you were hewn.”
“Abraham was one when I called him…But I made him many.”
“I will make her wilderness like the garden of Eden.”
“The heavens will vanish like smoke and the earth will wear out like a garment.”
For us 21st century folks, God seems far away and no longer present, active, creating. But this God in the book of Isaiah is the one who not only made everything but also loved human beings enough to care about them and what they do. This God is the one who let Babylon capture the Israelites and march them off into exile, but this God will also bring them home. “Deliverance will never be ended!”
For those Christians who like their religion compartmentalized and boxed up to fit on a shelf from Monday through Saturday, God needs to be far away, looking small and inactive. But the God whom Isaiah is prophesying for, this God of Israel, this God is big and paints with bold strokes and does huge things. And the message is that God, and nothing else, is big enough to make a deliverance that will last forever. Deliverance from Babylon, yes. But for us, deliverance from death into eternal life.
A prayer:
Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you being a God of bigness and power. Never let us forget that you are the Creator of the Universe, the bringer of big deliverance, the maker of an ancient nation and the bringer of salvation to all human beings. Help us remember always that you are this big, and yet you love each of us. Amen.
Short Dwellings in the Word by Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison 