DAY 296

SERIOUS LOVE

Isaiah 65 & 66 and 1 Timothy 2

We come to the end of Isaiah. It is one of the most challenging books of the Bible as it
“bobs and weaves” between Isaiah’s own present day and God’s Word for all time. The last two chapters contain many of the same themes that we have read. You might think all this is a bit redundant, and before I ask you to consider another point of view let’s look at the themes.

We see in both 65 and 66 how God finds false religion an abomination. Abomination is a strong word. God says elsewhere in the Scripture that he “spits out” people who are offensive to him. What is this false religion? We read about it in the first parts of both chapters. It is people who are going through all the “religious rituals” while at the same time practicing evil—we have this in our own day and age. When we call ourselves Christian, when we “practice our own rituals” be they going to church, reading our Bible, or claiming the high moral ground…and then we go out and not just sin (for we all sin) but go out and sin and say what we are doing is OK, that is when God gets really upset.

In some ways God is responding to the people who cry out to him. In chapter 64, verse 9 we read people saying to God, “Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever. Behold, please, look, we are all your people.” I think in Isaiah 65 and 66 God makes a point that not everyone is really interested in being “His people.” He goes to say that “His people” will include those who are not Jewish, the Gentiles, which is a term for everybody else. God’s people are those who truly seek Him, and not just when they are in a pinch.

So here is one of the themes: God desire for people who truly seek Him. He does not reject sinners; he rejects sinners who claim that they are not sinning! He welcomes those who are humble and contrite.

The other themes we read in these chapters are themes of hope: God will make a new heaven and a new earth—a new “Jerusalem”—there will be peace, even among the animals. How does all this happen? Through His faithful Suffering Servant Messiah.

You might be sitting there thinking, “Yeah, yeah, I got it—in fact I have heard this all before.” Maybe your attitude is not quite like this, but I come back to my observation that this is a bit redundant, and wanting to offer you another point of view.

My point of view has a “preface.” First, we need to appreciate that Isaiah was prophesying about a long period of history. It is not just once that people were unfaithful and cried out to God, and then God delivered. It was over and over in Isaiah’s lifetime and after it. So we get a bit of redundancy from that simple fact. But, of course, the Bible’s point, God’s point, is bigger, much bigger, than the repeat offense of the people during Isaiah’s life. His point is twofold: His Love and His Seriousness.

God’s love, His steadfast love that I have written about before, is immeasurable. Do we, do I, get it? Is it planted in my heart, my mind and my entire being so fully that when life gets me crazy, I can take a deep breath and trust the love of God? Or will I turn to idols or to human inventions? Our idols are different than those of Isaiah’s day, but they are real, and we, and I, turn to them in lieu of turning to God. I have not fully planted the love of God deep enough in me. I need to hear the message of Isaiah again and again and realize I go down that path. I need this message in order that my heart is moved to be humble and contrite. I say all this not to “beat myself up” but rather to stay on the right path of following Jesus and to keep the Love of God in Christ in the foremost part of my spirit and consciousness.

Next is God’s Seriousness. Quite simply in Isaiah we read that God is coming to get himself killed to set us free from our iniquities. Can it get more serious than that? Again, I do not mean to be harsh, but picture for a moment you doing some amazing sacrificial act, like dying for someone, and then meeting them. You expect they might throw their arms around you—not that you need their recognition, but you sort of expect them to receive the love you have given. When you meet them they say, “No thanks, I didn’t really need it, and I don’t really need you.” Besides the hurt (and yes we hurt God) I imagine myself (on a good day) saying, “OK, then you go your way and I will go mine.” Isn’t that what God says to those who reject Him? He says, “Go your way, to a world without God.” We have images of mini-worlds without God and they are not nice…they are worlds where human beings live only for themselves as they seek to exploit and rule others…they are worlds without justice and without peace…God is serious about trying to get us to understand what lies ahead if we reject Him.

All of this is simply to put a “punctuation mark” a “period” on Isaiah. Isaiah is about God’s love, and His love of us is serious business…we ought not be casual about it.