Isaiah 66: The Emperor is Free of the Palace

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, Port Alberni, BC, by Captain Michael Ramsay on 23 February 2020

Edouard Kitoko Nsiku writes that “While it would be going too far to say that the last chapter of Isaiah is a summary of the book, it does touch on most of the major themes: denunciation of hypocritical worship of the Lord, the restoration of Jerusalem, God’s intervention as both judge and Saviour, and Salvation for Israel and the nations.”[1] Isaiah 66 is an important chapter with which to conclude the book.

  

I remember reading about the Emperor of Japan once during the Samurai era. The people believed that the Emperor was divine so the military powers wouldn’t dare harm him. What they would do instead was that the various warlord Shoguns would fight to control the area around the Emperor’s palace. That way, as they could not rid themselves of the Emperor, they could at least contain him and control who had access to him.

It seems that the same thing was happening at various times in the history of Judah. The ruling classes were seemingly trying to contain YHWH in the Temple on Mount Zion in the capital city of Jerusalem.  Temple worship had become the central focus of the religious practices of the ancient Israelites. It seems that over time some people had come to believe that God himself lived in the Temple of Jerusalem. They should have known better. 1 Kings 8:27 records, at the time of the dedication of the first Temple in Jerusalem, Solomon’s temple; Solomon says: “But will God really dwell on earth? The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built!” 

But nonetheless some had come to believe that God had been sealed in that Temple well-guarded by the shogunate of their time and place: leaders, the religious authorities and practices of their day. Isaiah opens up this chapter reminding them that this is not true. Isaiah 66 opens with, vv. 1-2a:

This is what the Lord says:

“Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.

Where is the house you will build for me? 

Where will my resting place be?

Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being? declares the Lord.

God, through Isaiah, reminds us that He made the earth to contain us; we did not make the Temple to contain him. We are contained. He is free. He is the one who is generously supporting us, not the other way around (TSA doctrine 2).[2] 

Verses 3 and 4 speak of some of the rituals that the people had been performing originally, one would presume, to glorify and honour God but here God through Isaiah reminds us that the rituals in and of themselves don’t honour God if we aren’t actually honouring God with the rest of our lives. This would be like if someone broke into your house on your birthday and stole all of your favourite stuff – like your TV or your dog or something – but they left you a birthday cake or a recording of them singing Happy Birthday to you! The rituals, like sacrifices in the Temple or singing Happy Birthday to someone, only matter if we are actually decent the rest of the time.

The Good Guys, Verse 2b, the ones whose sacrifices the Lord does favour are those who are humble and contrite. The Lord favours those who tremble at His Word. The Bad Guys are the ones who not only aren’t humble and contrite and don’t show respect for the Lord – even more – they, Verse 5, exclude those who do fear the Lord.  

It is like a workplace. In the Army, I have a healthy fear of my boss. Tiffany is a nice person but I am not going to do anything to intentionally or carelessly make her mad. Equally as much, I am not going to intentionally disobey or disrespect Jamie. These people have control of my life. They could fire me or transfer me to Newfoundland! God bless The Salvation Army! 

That being said, I have been in workplaces before I was an officer and maybe even heard of a few since where people did not listen to their boss. I have been in workplaces where people intentionally disobeyed their boss. I have been in workplaces where people talked back to their boss. I have even seen people ostracized by fellow employees for actually doing what their boss told them to do! I have seen people decide for themselves how they are going to do their job and refuse to do anything else - even what the boss tells them to! And they don’t care. They don’t fear their boss in the least little bit. I don’t know if you have ever been in a work environment like this where people do not actually do what the boss wants them to do but this is the environment that God through Isaiah is describing here. The Bad Guys don’t respect the boss; they don’t fear God. God says He doesn’t care that they are showing up for work every day if the work they are doing is contrary to the work He wants them to do! This is what God is saying life at the Temple is like.[3] But God says He is not confined to the Temple and He will take action!

Isaiah then goes on to tell us what God is going to do to those bad employees. God is not happy with the people who do not tremble at His Word! He is not happy with those who don't do what they are supposed to do and He is not happy with those who exclude those who do! Using the employer analogy some more: He is going to fire them. Using contemporary Church language He is going to fire them as well only this firing is more significant (TSA doctrine 11). Claus Westermann states about our text here that "This is the earliest idea of hell as a state of perdition".[4]  Don’t worry I am not going to spend a lot of time on the idea of hell here but I do want to point out that God and Isaiah are not happy with those – even the chosen people, even the chosen people in the Temple, even the people chosen as priest and other leaders in God’s Temple – God is not happy with those who don’t actually fear Him, in the way that I described fear earlier. They are not going to be able to disrespect God forever! John Calvin says of Isaiah 40 which can be applied here, “This is a remarkable passage, which teaches us that God is not confined to any people, so as not to choose whomsoever he pleases, by casting off unbelievers whom he formerly called to himself.[5] God is not confined by the Temple or the people of Jerusalem!

Now the whole mid-section of this text speaks about Jerusalem. It is a little confusing at times, I must admit. I did have to read and reread this chapter quite a bit to get the grasp of the flow of it. Verses 7-14 are speaking about a new Jerusalem. They seem to be speaking about the same New Jerusalem that is referred to very, very many years later; in Revelation 22.[6] Revelation has this as the place where heaven and earth come together for eternity as the city descends from the clouds. God, in Isaiah here, speaks of the overflowing shalom, peace, abundance which will overflow in the city. He speaks of this shalom that He will extend to her like a river and the wealth of the nations that will be pouring into this new Jerusalem (v.12). God speaks about how much He loves this new Jerusalem and how the people He loves will be its citizens but to His foes He will show His fury (v.14), anger (v.15) and rebuke with flames of fire. “For with fire and with His sword the LORD will execute judgement on all people and many will be slain by the LORD” (v.16). 

And then God says something very interesting. God says that because the Bad Guys did these bad things in Jerusalem and on the Temple Mount, His Holy Hill, Mt. Zion; beyond punishing the Bad Guys something else will happen. Through Isaiah He says, Verse 18, “And I, because of what THEY have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come see my Glory.” Because of what the Bad Guys have done, God will fulfill His promise made to Abraham (Genesis 12:3) that all the nations will be blessed. God can use even the bad we do to accomplish His good. I always find it very interesting that God often has more than one reason and more than one way to do what He says He will do, like tying so many loose ends together into a bow. 

In our Bible Study on Luke the other week we were speaking about how the guests in Jesus’ parable who were invited to the eternal wedding feast declined the invitation and so forfeited their seat at the banquet but in so doing many others came to the eternal feast of Salvation (Luke 14:15-23). God through Isaiah here is saying that even in the disobedience of some of His chosen people He will extend His grace further - to the corners of the earth, inviting people of all the nations to come.[7] 

Now this passage certainly does have some tensions in it. It does introduce some of the language of hell and of ongoing torment but it also speaks of Salvation for all of the nations and that every knee will bow and every tongue confess. Walter Bruggemann asserts that these thoughts aren’t necessarily meant to be reconciled.[8] 

What is important is this: God is not confined to the Temple or anywhere else and He rules His Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we will have deference and respect for the Lord. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we won’t rebel against God’s laws of love and life. In God’s Kingdom, all who are present, we will seek to do His will rather than our own. In God’s proleptic Kingdom, all who are present, we will be humble and contrite.

So then the invitation of our text today is this: we don’t need to spend another moment outside His Kingdom. Today we can humbly and contritely come to Lord and when we do, like a friend of ours, Major David Ivany always says, ‘In the end everything will be alright; so if it isn’t all right then it isn’t the end. With that then I would like to encourage us that even if we are being excluded by people or society as Verse 5 says, even if we are being persecuted, even if we are suffering in all kinds of ways here and now, the Lord will prevail and as we persevere then everything will be alright for He is able, more than able to handle anything that comes our way.

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis/

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[1] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010),878.

[2] Cf. Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press: Louisville, 1998), 251

[3] Cf. Karl Barth, Fragments, Grave and Gay ed., M. Rumscheldt (London: Collins, 1971), 46-47

[4] Claus Westermann, Isaiah 40-66: A Commentary (Translated by David MG Stalker) The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, 1969, p. 428.

[5] John Calvin, Isaiah IV, 431-432. Available on-line: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/cal/isaiah.html

[6] Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press:Louisville, 1998), 256.

[7] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 878

[8] Walter Brueggeman, WBC: Isaiah 40-66 (John Knox Press:Louisville, 1998) 256.

Isaiah 31:1-5: Do We Know Better But Do Worse? God Can Help.

Presented to Alberni Valley Ministries, Port Alberni, BC by Captain Michael Ramsay, 02 02 2020

  

Isaiah 31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who rely on horses,

who trust in the multitude of their chariots

and in the great strength of their horsemen,

but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,

or seek help from the Lord.

Woe to those who rely on America.[1] Egypt was the regional superpower south of Isaiah's country in Isaiah's day; America is the global superpower south of us today. This passage could easily read:

Woe to those who go down to the States (or anyone else) for help,

who rely on armies,

who trust in the multitude of their tanks, airplanes, WMD

and in the great strength of their military,

but do not look to the Holy One,

or seek help from the Lord.

Verse 2: Yet He [GOD] too is wise and can bring disaster;

He does not take back His words.

He will rise up against that wicked nation

against those who help evildoers.

Verse 3: But the Egyptians [Americans] are mere mortals and not God;

their horses are flesh and [their armour is steel and depleted uranium] not spirit.

When the Lord stretches out his hand,

those who help will stumble,

those who are helped will fall;

all will perish together.

I think this is applicable today and still important on a global scale. I remember when Canada defied international law in order to help the US invade Yugoslavia - I was working at Defence Research at CFB Esquimalt at the time. I remember when Canada pretended that we weren't helping the US during the second Iraq War but our navy was firing on Iraq from the gulf. Canadians can sometimes get a little smug claiming to be better than the Americans but since the 1990s regardless of who has been in power here and regardless of who has been in power there we have been faithful contributors to their war efforts. We are a loyal colony. Like Israel supported and relied on Egypt their regional superpower so too Canada supports and relies on the States today. 

This passage is speaking about international affairs and the futility of relying on the international powers[2] but I am not going to spend much more of our time here speaking about global politics. I think what this passage has to say also contains a warning or two to us as individuals. 

1. Woe to those who rely on others for help rather than the Lord (Verse 1)

2. Woe to those who support the powerful in doing evil (Verse 2)

The need to rely on the Lord is integral to this pericope;[3] it is a constant refrain in both the New Testament and the Old Testament; the Pentateuch and the Gospels. What are some of the ways that we may find ourselves failing to do this? What are some of the ways we can be tempted to rely on someone or something instead of God?

Do we ever get bullied or pressured by a family member or a friend? Do we ever know what God wants us to do but someone close to us cajoles or castigates us so much that we give into them? Do we ever know what is the right thing to do, but get led astray to do something other than that? (Interestingly enough after I had drafted my talk and when I was reflecting on my topic for today I received a note in a cookie that said just about that...) Do we ever know what is the right thing to do, but get led astray to do something other than that? I think of Adam and Eve (Genesis 3). Eve was led astray by the serpent and then Adam (who was told directly by God and did know better) gave into the suggestion or implied pressure from the snake and/or his wife – she just handed him the fruit and he ate it! He knew what was better but he chose what was worse. I think of Jezebel who helped Ahab stray (1 Kings 16-21; 2 Kings 9) and Solomon’s wives who walked with him down the aisle of Sin (1 Kings 11). These men are without excuse because they did know better but they chose worse.

Do we ever have classmates who cajole or bully us to skip class, not study for a test, procrastinate working on an assignment and come out and play with them instead?

How about workmates? The same question: Do we know that we shouldn’t go out partying the night before work but succumb to cajoling or pressure and so choose worse even when we know better. I know in my own life there have been times when I know that God has given me the time to get work done but I gave in to others and failed in my responsibilities.

Also at work do we know that we shouldn’t leave early but ‘everyone else does’ or we know that we shouldn’t take longer or more than the allowed break ‘but everyone else does’ or we want to work faster but everyone else works slower? I remember being an independent contractor at different government jobs once upon a time and being castigated because we did too much work! We finished our task too quickly! We needed to take more breaks! Work or (non-work!) at the same pace as everyone else! Do we ever give into the temptation to not do what the Lord would say is best but instead let ourselves be led astray by the power and influence of others in our lives? Edouard Nsiku reminds us that we often assume that joining the majority or large numbers are a sign of success but God is not impressed by numbers. In this case it is just more people led astray![4]

Do we sometimes doubt what we know to be true and get led astray that way? Do we sometimes think that, ‘well… that person must know more than I do they are so confident’ and it turns out that they were completely incorrect!? Do we know better, convince ourselves otherwise, and then do worse?

Do we sometimes know what is right and still do what is wrong? Do we sometimes act, feel, and make ourselves powerless to do what is right, relying instead on the power, influence, enticement or nagging of our spouse or friends? Do we bow to those we ascribe power in our lives - or do we remember that the Lord is more powerful and serve Him alone? When we know better, do we choose worse?

Do we make our decisions based on our cheque books? Do we know that we should tithe, give to a good cause, or help someone out but decide instead that we need the money for ourselves? Do we know better and choose worse? Are we controlled by our money?

Do we ever need to keep up with the Jones’? This can relate to letting money make our decisions for us but it can also just speak again to peer pressure. The power of our peers - are we overpowered by it?

Do we make our decisions based on fear or insecurity? God is more powerful than whatever we are afraid of. Are we afraid of being broke or out on the street? Are we afraid of breaking the law, social conventions, or offending someone if it is right to do otherwise? Are we insecure in our opinions, beliefs and actions? If we are, do we turn to others for security or do we turn to the Lord?

This is some of what God is saying through Isaiah here. Judah is insecure in her military might; so instead of turning to the Lord for help she turns to Egypt.

Canada as recently as 1967 publicly recognized the role of God in our society with the establishment of the Order of Canada, citing Hebrews 11; in 1982 we further affirmed the role of God in Canadian society in our constitution. But just two years later in 1984 we joined Egypt/America in the first of our successive and ever-growing Free Trade Agreements that have been drawing us closer and closer to US society at the same time as we are seemingly drifting further and further from the Lord in our society. That might be a coincident. It might not.

Even if the US is a great country and even if they do follow God, if we rely on them instead of on God, we are making a fatal mistake.

Judah in our text is both:

1. Relying on the powerful for help rather than the Lord (verse 1)
2. Supporting the powerful in doing evil (verse 2)

As a nation we do need to seek the Lord first and thus not support even powerful nations if they are doing bad things even if those powerful nations occupy our own country militarily and even if those powerful nations are our closest friends and family.

As a church and a congregation we do need to seek the Lord first and not support even powerful churches or movements if they are doing bad things or supporting bad things even if those powerful religious movements occupy our own media feeds and even if members of those powerful religious movements are our closest friends and family.

As individuals we do need to seek the Lord first and not support even influential people in our own lives if they are doing bad things even if those people occupy an important part of our heart and even if they are our closest friends and family. We need to rely on the Lord and not get swept up into self-reliance or relying on anything or anyone else in place of the Lord. No one else can save us.

Verse 4: This is what the Lord says to me:

“As a lion growls,

a great lion over its prey—

and though a whole band of shepherds

is called together against it,

it is not frightened by their shouts

or disturbed by their clamor—

so the Lord Almighty will come down

to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.

Whatever the struggles in our lives – and there are real struggles in our lives: loneliness; grief; anxiety; depression; nightmares, flashbacks, sadness; finances; interpersonal strife; worries; physical ailments, pain, and fatigue… - whatever the struggles in our lives; God is able to handle them. Do you believe that? God is more powerful than the lion who can hold off a whole flock of shepherds! God is more powerful than any person or problem in our life! Whatever we are struggling with in this world we can turn to God and He can help us. He is able, more than able to handle what concerns us today.[5]

Verse 5: Like birds hovering overhead,

the Lord Almighty will shield Jerusalem;

He will shield it and deliver it,

He will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”

Like birds hovering overhead, the Lord Almighty will shield us in our times of struggle, He will deliver us through our times of struggle; He will Passover our struggles like the Angel of God passed over the Israelites in Egypt and He will rescue us.

So if there are any of us here who have been trying to deal with some real difficult things all on our own or by relying on something or someone else other than the Lord and if you are struggling, God wants you to know that you can turn to Him, He knows your name, He loves you and He will help you through whatever struggles you have today.

  

Let us pray.

www.sheepspeak.com

https://www.facebook.com/Salvogesis/ 

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[1]Gene M. Tucker, NIB VI: The Book of Isaiah 1-39, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn: 2001), 262

[2] Gene M. Tucker, NIB VI: The Book of Isaiah 1-39, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, Tenn: 2001), 259

[3] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 857

[4] Cf. Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 858

[5] Cf. Walter Brueggemann, WBC: Isaiah 1-39, (Louisville, Kentucky, USA: Westminster John Know Press, 1998), 251.

Isaiah 55: Extravagance (Come, Buy, and Eat!)

Presented to Corps 614 Regent Park Toronto, 28 February 2016 and Alberni Valley Ministries, 09 February 2020 by Captain Michael Ramsay

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” – Isaiah 55:1

‘You who have no money, come buy and eat’ – The first question that comes to my mind when I read this is, how can a person with no money come and buy anything to eat or otherwise? …let alone the fancy and extravagant stuff that is represented by milk and wine in the text? It doesn’t say someone else is buying you food. You, who have no money, Isaiah says, come, buy and eat all of this fancy expensive food. How is that possible?

Earlier this year Sarah-Grace and I went to a Leafs game. (Now it is not my intent here to make fun of the Leafs…). It was a great experience and the Leafs won which was a blessing in and of itself but alongside that something else really stood out to me: How expensive a game is. Not just the tickets to the game (which were pricey enough) but also the concessions. We brought some money for food at the game but not enough, I don’t think. I wasn’t expecting $14 for a hotdog and prices going up from there! Can you imagine if the Leafs owned a fancy black tie restaurant: ‘I’ll have the special please’ ‘That will be $2000 plus a 20% gratuity, would you like something to drink with that?”

Our image in Verse 1 could be of God seeing you at the Maple Leafs game and not buying you food but rather giving you the money to buy a hotdog and a drink or even a side of fries or something more extravagant. And our image is even more than that. Our image in Isaiah is of a country that is very poor, possibly under siege, and about to be (if not already) conquered.[1] When a place is under siege there is almost nothing to eat so everything in the country and the city is REALLY expensive. And God in our text to Israel, He says, ‘come over here. I’ll give you the money to buy and eat.’ God gives you the money so that you – who have nothing, no money, no food, nothing - you can pay for your meal and not just any subsistence meal but God gives you enough money for a fancy meal represented by milk and wine.

Isaiah 55:1 - “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

This extravagant generosity reminds me of when I was in elementary school. I was a kid in the 70s. One day I had just gone for a haircut with my dad and I wasn’t too happy about it. I was not a big fan of short hair back then. After the haircut, my dad and I were looking around the mall where the barbershop was; there was a brand new toy store in the mall. We happened to run into my Great Great Aunt Emma. She sees us and, after checking with my dad, she tells me that I can pick out anything in the toy store and she will give me the money to buy it. I walk around the whole store, see a little monkey toy that I like and I pick it up. She tells me to look for something bigger, reminding me that I can have whatever I want. So I walk around the store again and tell her I still want that little toy monkey. My aunt speaks to my father and my father speaks to me – ‘Really Michael you can have anything in the store you want, anything.’ She points to the biggest and the most expensive things in the store and my father assures me that really it is okay, I can get whatever I want... I don’t need to pick the cheapest thing in the store just to be nice; I can pick whatever I want. The dilemma for me was that this monkey which was near the cheapest thing in the store was the toy that I actually wanted; so while everyone thought I was being polite to and self-sacrificing, I really just bought what I wanted with the money she gave me and I still have this monkey to this day and I still remember the generosity of God and my aunt to this day every time I see it.

Now, the rest of the toy store story is that a day or two before seeing my aunt in the store I had actually just spent my own saved up allowance to buy something more expensive from the same store and at some point I remember thinking, as we were walking around the store, ‘where were you last week before I spent my own money on the more expensive item?’ The previous week, I learned the value of working and saving for something you desire and this week I learned to appreciate the extravagance of Grace.

  

Isaiah 55:1: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

This is great but then we have Verse 2. A picture here could be of God just having given you all the money you need to go buy this great meal – a fancy meal with all of the trimmings. You come back, you sit down at the table with God and you start to share this meal that God has given you the money to buy because you ‘needed it’ and then God says, ‘that’s a nice watch you have; is that a new coat? I don’t think I’ve seen scarf of yours before. How much did those shoes cost?’ Verse 2: ‘Why [do you] spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy?’ Why do you buy all that stuff with your money when you don’t even have enough for food – a nice watch, a fancy cappuccino, a night out at the movies, fancy shoes... ? ‘Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.’ God says, verses 3-4, ‘Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples.” ‘Enjoy your meal. Remember the promises that I made to the people of the world through King David.’ God says, ‘I have given you, Israel, everything, just as I promised.’

But now we wade into some troubling waters. Imagine you, like Israel, were figuratively or even literally starving and you are at this meal that God has given you the money and encouragement to buy and eat, then God draws your attention to all of the other stuff you have spent your money on.[2] Imagine that you are sitting down at this feast that God has provided for you and for the whole world, for that matter, and He starts asking you, ‘why do you buy things other than food when there are people starving in our world? Why are you spending God’s time and money on things you don’t need when there are people starving for the Word of God in our world? And why are you spending our time indulging in stuff you do not need while the person beside you may be perishing?

Verse 2: God gives us all this stuff, letting us know that He has and will always provide for us and then asks us why we aren’t sharing the Good News of God and His generosity with others (Dt 31:5-8, Heb 13:5). And many interpreters read the next few verses 5-9, as a real warning that if we, like Israel, do not share this good news of God’s generosity with others we will in essence be standing up and removing ourselves from His banqueting table, even as others notice the feast before us and come to enjoy it in our place (cf. Matt 22:1-14).[3] Isaiah says to Israel:

5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,

and nations you do not know will come running to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he has endowed you with splendour.”

(God’s generosity to Israel will bring other nations to God but then He warns His people :)

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;

call on him while he is near.

7 Let the wicked forsake their ways

and the unrighteous their thoughts.

Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,

and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

(Seek the Lord while He is here [cf. Mt 6:33]. The implication is if we do not seek Him, if we do not sit at His table with Him at His eternal feast, then we will not be there.) [4]

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

  

God has prepared this great banquet for us both for now and forever (cf. Matt 22:1-14). God has provided enough food, water, and everything for all of us in the world. God has provided a real Monday through Friday and Saturday and Sunday Salvation to the world. Temporally speaking, did you know that Canada alone has been given enough resources to feed and clothe the whole world? God has invited all of the nations of the earth to buy the food; He has provided but some people and some countries hoard the wealth God has given us and/or spend it on other things while grain, for one example, that could be exported to hungry people around the world rots on our docks.[5]

This is sad and this is true. But what is even more desperate and even more applicable than temporal starvation is eternal starvation: Canada has been given the Good News of Salvation. Canada was founded upon the Word of God. Our nation’s motto, ‘from Sea to Sea’ taken from Psalm 72:8 declares that in this nation God will have His dominion from sea to sea and that declaration was upheld at the establishment of the Order of Canada declaring, with Hebrews 11:16, of its members, “But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city.” And even more than that, The Constitutional Act itself declares that ‘Canada is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law.’

God has invited us collectively to sit at His table and to partake of His eternal covenant. He has paid for our meal, this extravagant feast of salvation, but each day and every generation more of our nation and in every congregation people seem to be standing up from the table and walking away from the feast as we choose to spend God’s money and God’s time on something other than the eternal banquet to which He has invited us (TSA d. 9). It has been 2 millennia since the money for supper was left at the cross; how sad it would be if our country, our community, our church, our family, or ourselves walk away from the eternal meal that God has provided and paid for us. If any of us have pulled away from the table or if we haven’t even arrived yet, I invite us to, like Verse 9 says, turn to God before it is too late - as long as you have breath in your body it is not too late (cf. Eccl 12:1-7)[6] - for as we turn and return to God, Verse 10ff.

10 As the rain and the snow

come down from heaven,

and do not return to it

without watering the earth

and making it bud and flourish,

so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:

It will not return to me empty,

but will accomplish what I desire

and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

12 You will go out in joy

and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and hills

will burst into song before you,

and all the trees of the field

will clap their hands.

(As we turn and return to God)

13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,

and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.

This will be for the Lord’s renown,

for an everlasting sign,

that will endure forever.”

This is the love and the extravagant generosity of the Lord.

Isaiah 55:1: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.”

That is the invitation to each of us today. God is calling all of us who are thirsty to come drink of this water of eternal life that those of us who drink of it will never thirst again (John 4:14). God has made and paid for our meal and He longs to share it with us for now and forever. And this very day God is walking with each and every one of us around the eternal toy store. He has already covered the cost for our salvation all we have to do is accept that gift and enjoy it now and for evermore. So today I invite each and every one of us to come, all you who are thirsty, come to Jesus and live.

  

Let us pray.

 www.sheepspeak.com 

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[1] Cf. Geoffrey W. Grogan, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Isaiah/Introduction to Isaiah/Authorship, Unity, and Date of Isaiah/The history of criticism of Isaiah, Book Version: 4.0.2

[2] Cf. Alastair Roberts,  "The Politics of God’s Plenty—Isaiah 55:1" Political Theology Today, (Manye Publishing) 2014. http://www.politicaltheology.com/blog/the-politics-of-gods-plenty-isaiah-551-5/

[3] Cf. Christopher R. Seitz, ' The Book of Isaiah 40-66 ', NIB VI, (Abingdon Press: Nashville, Tenn., 2001), 481.

[4] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 871.

[5] Cf for an American parallel, Walter Brueggemann, 'A Covenant of Neighbourly Justice: Break the Chains of Quid Pro Quo Isaiah 55:1-9'  (ON Scripture - The Bible, Feb 28, 2016), on-line: http://www.onscripture.com/covenant-neighborly-justice-break-chains-quid-pro-quo#sthash.VNKENobF.dpuf

[6] Edouard Kitoko Nsiku , 'Isaiah', Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 871.