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Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).[1]
You’ve seen the old American movies about the ‘old west’ where the so-called heroes get into trouble and it looks like all is lost and then the cavalry shows up. In Canadian history – this weekend we are celebrating Louis Riel Day. Louis Riel is an interesting character depending on when and where you live in Canadian history he has been cast as everything as an expectant messiah to the devil himself. Certainly for some in his lifetime he seems to have embodied attributes of both.[2]
Similar to the US Cavalry for the settlers whom the North West Rebellion affected was (of course) our RCMP, the Mounties. And – well – Canada being mush more efficient that our Southern neighbours, instead of sending the RCMP all the way west on horseback to save the day, they took the train. There was a certain irony to this as well as one of the reasons for the rebellion was that its supporters did not want the railroad to come through the Canadian prairies and of course the rebellion was put down with the help of the newly-built CPR.[3] For Louis Riel’s rebels the CPR spelt destruction but for the settlers in the area the Mounties on the train had become their salvation.[4]
Now we know of course that this is only a temporal salvation and we know as well that not everyone was saved. While the Canadian Anglophones celebrated the end of this rebellion as a victory for Canadians, the Francophones protested fiercely the hanging of Louie Riel and the First Nations suffered the loss of much of their leadership. Did you know that Louie Riel’s Northwest Rebellion resulted in the largest mass hanging in Canadian history? Most of the victims were not Métis. Most of the victims were First Nations.
The salvation brought by the Mounties on the CPR did deliver the settlers of what would be Saskatchewan and Alberta but – of course – it did not and could not possibly benefit all. There is only one who has brought that kind of salvation and that one is God. That one is Jesus Christ. Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
I think we in Canada forget this sometimes in our lives: that God is our salvation. I think we in the churches forget this sometimes. I think that often here even in the churches instead of looking to God for our salvation we look to our contemporary equivalent of the Mounties riding in on the train.
These comics illustrate some of the ways that I think we look for salvation from our problems instead of turning to the Lord…[5]
Just relying on others…
or money… 
or legal loopholes… 
or cheating…
or –worst of all, sometimes- just relying on our own judgement…
These are all ways that sometimes we try to solve a problem or look for salvation in the face of a crisis other than relying on God and as the cartoonist (Bill Watterson) points out, the results of this can be quite amusing.[6]
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
Sadly, even in the churches instead of looking to God for our salvation we look to our contemporary equivalent of the Mounties riding in on the train. Some of the false Mounties, false messiahs that we look to are self, pride, money…
I have heard prosperity gospel proponents speak as if they think that capitalism; the service of money is the salvation of the world. When of course we know that neither a person nor a country can serve both God and money (cf. James 3:6-10; Hebrews 13:5; 1 Peter 5:2). The Bible says that if we try to do this we will wind up hating one master and serving another (Matthew 6:24; Luke 6:13). Nonetheless some who call themselves Christian tend to put their faith in their money. How many people in this country put their faith in their investments or retirement plans (cf. Luke 12:13-21)? If we have learned nothing from our 20th century history and the Great depression, surely the current global economic downtown should wake at least us Christians up to the fact that money is not where our salvation comes from.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
As far as other things that people in the Canadian churches look to for their salvation, I have read published comments by professing Christians declaring that it justifiable to invade a foreign country and kill however many women and children and other collateral damage as may happen in order to ‘save’ these people by bringing democracy to them. As if any political system can save anyone, let alone one that is based on no more than a glorified popularity contest every couple of years (cf. Genesis 3; Numbers 11:5, 14:1-4; Judges 21:25).
This really frustrates me actually. I don’t know how many conversations I have listened to where people talk about the Conservatives, NDP or (not so much here) the Liberals as if they are our salvation, as if when one of them wins a majority in our seemingly annual Parliament Hill Idol completions that that will actually change the world for the better. It won’t. Whoever we elect in the next election, won’t give sight to the blind, won’t walk on water, and won’t stamp out poverty. This is not where our salvation comes from. Don’t look to politics or politicians to help us, they won’t. They can’t.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
How about in our own hard work? How many of us believe that we will be okay so long as we work really hard. I have heard people say that the only reason that people go to a food bank is because they are lazy. People who say these things seem to believe that our salvation comes from our works alone. Scriptures tell us of course that this is not the case: the race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong (Ecclesiastes 9:11). Scriptures tell us that even the best, most altruistic, works on the face of this planet without faith in our God, yields nothing but death. Don’t listen to the secular humanists, the atheists: no matter what we tell ourselves, we can’t save ourselves.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
In the time of the prophet Isaiah we remember that he rebuked King Ahaz of Israel because King Ahaz refused to seek confirmation from the Lord that his salvation was secured by the Lord (Isaiah 7:1-2).
In the time of Isaiah of course, we remember that there was a rebellion in the works as well. We remember that Egypt was trying to whip of the Palestinian states into a disastrous state of rebellion, just like some of the Métis (Alexandre Dumas & co.) were trying to whip up the First Nations and headed south looking to Louis Riel as a false saviour (indeed he himself thought he was either a prophet or the messiah). And just like the Northwest Rebellion resulted in the largest mass hanging in Canadian history and the destruction of so many lives so too the rebellion in Palestine at the time of Isaiah resulted in the destruction of Syria and of Israel (See Isaiah 7:1-2, 37:1-7, 37-38; see 2 Kings 15:38 - 16:20; 19:1-7, 36-37).
We remember from Bible study on Tuesdays the trouble that Israel got into under Joshua because they acted on their own and made a covenant without first consulting God (Joshua 9; Judges 2:1-5; Cf. also 2 Samuel 21 and Deuteronomy 7:1-4).
We also remember from Bible study what happened when Moses struck the rock, disobeying God, instead of talking to the rock. What happened? What happened when Moses didn’t give God the honour for God’s miracles? With others possibly tempted to look to Moses instead of God for their Salvation, he died. Because of this he dies outside of the Promised Land (Numbers 20:6-10; Deuteronomy 34).
We also remember from our study of the book of Numbers that the Israelites when they refused to follow the Lord into the Promised Land but tried to invade it on their own initiation, what happened? What happened when they relied on themselves for their salvation? They died outside of the promise.
What about Abraham? What about David? What about the Kings? What about ancient Israel? What about us in 21st Century Swift Current, Saskatchewan? What will happen to us if we look to our salvation from people, politicians, systems or our own ability? What will happen? Death.
We know that Jesus died because of our sins and we know that Jesus rose from the dead again defeating sin and death in the process and we know that Jesus is coming back.
Chapters 5-11 of Isaiah talk about the disobedience of Judah and its resultant destruction. Even in light of the consequences of humanity’s sin, God still loves us and is offering us salvation if we will just take Him up on it.[7]
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
God is a God of miracles. He is real and He is really active in this world. I have met people that God has healed of Cancer. I have met people that God has healed of AIDS. I have met people that God has cured of diabetes. I have met people that God has delivered from demonic attack. God is real. God has already defeated sin and death so when we are faced with life’s problems let us grab onto this good news.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
If the economy is bad, if we are out of work, if we have lots of money or if we have no money in the bank, more money, freer capitalism, or even conversely secular communism is not going to save us.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
And as the government of the day here in Canada wipes out more and more of our social programmes and raises the cost of living across this country by reckless tax cuts or even if it conversely reduces our potential access to frivolity through tax increases - when the government of the day continues to curtail our religious freedoms in this country let us not be tricked into believing that a particular political party or person will be our saviour. They won’t. This is a lot of Obama’s problem in the States. He is not any better or any worse than all those who have gone before him in his job but people set him up as if he is the messiah. They are figuring out now that he isn’t and his popularity is taking a nosedive. No politician or political party can save us.[8]
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
Likewise we in The Salvation Army here are administering food banks, now hosting pro bono law clinics, we counsel people in need and provide Christian social services in this city. These are all wonderful ways to worship and serve our Lord by helping our brothers and sisters but we can’t put our faith in our ministries and ourselves. The Salvation Army on its own never saved anyone.
Isaiah 12:2 “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (see Exod. 15:2).
We need to realise this. We need to stop turning to people and parties and institutions and hard work and good deeds and everything else for our salvation. Today is Valentine’s Day. Today we just need to accept God’s love present to us “for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him need not perish but has eternal life” (John 3:16). For, “Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation” (Isaiah 12:2; see Exod. 15:2).
Let us pray.
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[1] Cf. Christopher R. Seitz, Isaiah 1-39 (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1993), 112-113 for an interesting discussion about the term used for Salvation here and the prophet’s own name. It is significant in light of Isaiah 8:18 where Isaiah tells us “I and the children whom the LORD has given me are signs.”
[2] There are many good sources on this topic from many different perspectives. A good starting point for easy access to researched information is from The Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. ‘Louis Riel and The North-West Rebellion’ (Mount Allison University: 1999). Available on-line at http://www.mta.ca/about_canada/multimedia/riel/index.html
[3] W. Stewart Wallace, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada , Vol. V, Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 401p., pp. 19-22. Available on-line at http://faculty.marianopolis.edu/c.belanger/quebechistory/encyclopedia/North-WestRebellion-CanadianHistory.htm
[4] Geoffrey W. Grogan, Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Isaiah/Exposition of Isaiah/I. Oracles Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1-12:6)/S. A Song of Joyous Praise (12:1-6), Book Version: 4.0.2 : “In view of the contiguity of v.1-2, it would be attractive to interpret the salvation declared in v.2 in spiritual terms, so that it would become a virtual synonym of the forgiveness seen in v.1. This would bring it into line with the normal use of the word "salvation" in the NT instead of with the physical connotation it usually possesses in the Old. The physical and spiritual could be combined here, but there can be little doubt that the prophet had chiefly in mind the deliverance of the people from all their enemies that was to be a consequence of God's forgiving grace.”
[5] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘2 Kings 1:6: Is it because there is no God in this place?’ Presented to Nipawin Corps 31 May 2009. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2009/05/2-kings-16-is-it-because-there-is-no.html
[6] Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes cited from: http://www.marcellosendos.ch/comics/ch/ Disclaimer: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml . If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
[7] Cf. Geoffrey W. Grogan, Expositor's Bible Commentary, The, Pradis CD-ROM:Isaiah/Exposition of Isaiah/I. Oracles Concerning Judah and Jerusalem (1:1-12:6)/S. A Song of Joyous Praise (12:1-6), Book Version: 4.0.2
[8] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, ‘Vote for Jesus’, Journal of Aggressive Christianity, Issue 57, October 2008 – November 2008, pp. 27-30. Available on-line: http://www.armybarmy.com/pdf/JAC_Issue_052.pdf
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