Scott Freeman

He Will Come…And Bring Peace

December 3rd, 2007 | by Scott |

Isaiah 2:1—5
December 2, 2007

Life sucks sometimes.

My summer—it had to end. Didn’t know where I was going or what I was going to do.

And so, I longed for the day when I would find the place that God was calling me to minister. For where I belonged. I lived with a sense of anticipation.

It’s the same for most of us. Life can suck. And yet within us is a longing, a hope for something better. We live our lives in anticipation in the midst of such violence. Such terror. In a world gone drastically wrong.

And we hate to wait. We don’t want to be caught in this already and not yet place that the Christian live calls us to. We want it now. We want resurrection without the cross. Incarnation without the pregnancy.

This world is such that waiting wearies us.

And we know that this is a world of our making. That for all that is bad and messed up and bleak here that we are complicit. That we are guilty and shame-ridden.

The cover of the latest edition of Time asks the question “What Makes Us Moral?”

Jeffery Kluger writes in a salient piece:

We’re a species that is capable of almost dumbfounding kindness. We nurse one another, romance one another, weep for one another. Ever since science taught us how, we willingly tear the very organs from our bodies and give them to one another. And at the same time, we slaughter one another. The past 15 years of human history are the temporal equivalent of those subatomic particles that are created in accelerators and vanish in a trillionth of a second, but in that fleeting instant, we’ve visited untold horrors on ourselves—in Mogadishu, Rwanda, Chechnya, Darfur, Beslan, Baghdad, Pakistan, London, Madrid, Lebanon, Israel, New York City, Abu Ghraib, Oklahoma City, an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania—all of the crimes committed by the highest, wisest, most principled species the planet has produced. That we’re also the lowest, cruelest, most blood-drenched species is our shame—and our paradox.

But don’t we long for a world where that is not the case. Where peace reigns? Where the fighting and bloodshed cease and we live together in love and harmony?

This gulf between men has existed for millennia. Generations have longed for peace and found it elusive. The Hebrew prophet Isaiah gives a bitter picture of life in the 8th century. The first chapter is a bleak picture of the consequences of Judah’s wickedness.

1:21—23
Assyria is closing in from the north. The prospect of an alliance with Egypt seems the best way out, although to do so means to distrust God.
It is uncertain times for the people of Israel.

But even in the midst of such evil time there is still hope of redemption. Of anticipation. Of peace.

1:26-27

The cause of Israel’s moral failure—idolatry and injustice. They didn’t trust God to be sufficient for their leadership and they didn’t adequately care for one another. For the orphan and the widow.

But even in the midst of their recalcitrance and pride God will bring forth His Justice mixed with mercy.

Hence our passage this morning. God’s infinite love and compassion present a scene of hope in 2:1—5. God makes a promise in verse 2 that is beautiful in its power and imagery.
The temple mount will be raised as the highest of all the mountains. A day would come with all would look to Zion as the place to be. God would restore His people. His way would out.

The temple mount was 100 shorter than the Mount of Olives but God would raise it to such a place of prominence that it would dwarf all mountains around it. And all people would stream to it.
This is fascinating imagery because we know that water does not flow uphill of its own accord but so great is the power, mystery and promise of God’s great action that people move opposite of their own intent and bearing. Here we see God’s universal love working in the hearts and lives of people.

Like me choosing to go to a High School musical concert. It goes against my very nature. There has to be some reason to attract me to it. What? Love.

They had the promise that God’s power would be so great that people would flow to know and to understand. There the ways of God would be taught and people would be receptive to follow after Him.

The result of this would result in peace and harmony. Nations would lay down the sword against nations and seek to live lives in the absence of war. Instead they would seek the mutual benefit and economy of one another through using the plowshare, an implement of agriculture, rather than the sword an implement of bloodshed.

Where once death was would now be growth. Where once was hatred and animosity, now would be love and fellowship.

And so the anticipation was great among the Hebrew people.

But obviously Isaiah was a false prophet. Because this has never come true. Not even close. Why should we even continue to wait for something such as this when it didn’t even come from the nation of Israel?
Here is a good tip if you want to be a prophet. Be right.

Is this just a pipe-dream of a radical ancient prophet? Is it intended solely for some over yonder life? Or is there reality in the here and now for us?

Ultimately, the answer for that is up to us. The message in verse 5 is telling.

Isaiah laid down the gauntlet. His response? Let’s live this life. Let’s make the way of Yahweh so appealing and inspiring that people flock to us. Let us teach them in mercy and justice the ways of God. And let us live in peace with all men.

But how do we do that? How do we live such a life that is attractive, instructive, and peaceful? If only we had an example of someone who by their very nature drew people to them, taught those people with love and kindness, and lived a peaceful life even to the point of death.

Oh, we could follow someone like that, couldn’t we? He would be worth waiting for, wouldn’t He?

He was. And He is.

He lived in such a way that people couldn’t resist him. Children adored Him. The lost and forgotten were found and remembered in His presence.

He taught in such a way that people followed after Him. He turned the world upside down with His unconventional teachings. When people said not to murder He said don’t be angry.

He died in such a way that He showed us peace. Jesus shows us the radical example of turning the other cheek, of laying down His life peacefully without a hit of revenge or malice.

So, today we find ourselves, just like our Jewish counterparts 3000 years ago in anticipation of His return. Caught between what we once were and what He is calling us to be.
This season marks that period of expectancy and longing. But many live unaware of the hope that He offers.

And that is because we have often failed to be the mountain raised above every other. We must be the city set on the hill just as the temple mount was to dwarf all others.

And so now, this season as we find ourselves eagerly expectant we must be that city. We must be the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God in a lost and dying world. We must live our lives in such a way that people come to us longing to know the hope that we have.

We must teach them the love, care and compassion of Jesus. We must show them the longings of their heart to be accepted, to find a way to relinquish the guilt and shame of a depraved world.

And we must be peaceful people.

For from Jerusalem there went out into the world, men, twelve in number, and these illiterate, of no ability in speaking: but by the power of God they proclaimed to every race of men that they were sent by Christ to teach to all the word of God; and we who formerly used to murder one another do not only now refrain from making war upon our enemies, but also, that we may not lie nor deceive our examiners, willingly die confessing Christ.

The world eagerly anticipates hope, redemption and peace. That message, that appeal was found in Jesus. Now we must reflect that in this season and beyond.

The only peace this world will ever know is when the children of God lay down the guns and arrows and pick up the sacrificing spirit of Jesus Christ, the spirit that embraces the orphans and the widows that beats swords into plowshares and says “we aren’t fighting with you anymore. Instead we will love you.”
That is what this world is waiting for.

Are we attractive?
Are we teaching?
Are we bringing peace?

—————-
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