Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Lips (no this is not a teen romance blog post)

Recently I have looked back over the call narratives of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.  I have found some interesting elements in these narratives.  Isaiah and Ezekiel have overwhelming visions in which they see the glory of the Lord.  Ezekiel falls on his face when he sees the vision, but he is told to stop being dramatic and stand up.  Isaiah has a similar experience, he sees the glory of the Lord and Seraphs flying around and smoke filling the throneroom.  Jeremiah has a slightly more commonplace experience, he just hears God’s voice directly tell him that before he was even formed in the womb he was appointed to be a prophet to the nations, no big deal.

All three of these guys have overwhelming experience where they are called to be prophets.  But I want to look at one particular element that these call narratives hold in common; namely, that all three of these prophets have their lips or mouth touched and consecrated by God.  In Isaiah 6, Isaiah’s mouth is touched by a piece of coal from that altar, after which his guilt departs from him, despite his declaration that he is “a man of unclean lips.”  Ezekiel is told to eat the contents of a scroll that is handed to him, he obeys and quickly realizes that the scroll tastes as sweet as honey.  In Jeremiah’s story, the Lord reaches out and touches Jeremiah’s lips, thus putting His words into the mouth of the prophet.

I think one of the major themes we can draw from these stories that once God calls an individual, his or her words become very important.   Upon calling each of these prophets, God enacts a strong symbolic action regarding the mouth and words of His chosen prophet.  It seems to me that the words of anyone who feels a call from God are important in the same manner as the mouths of Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.  Let us remember that when we act upon a call to ministry, our words and actions become a mouthpiece for God Himself.  I pray that we who intend to do ministry take seriously the consecration of our mouths.  Whether in public or in private, our words ought to reflect the mission and action of God in the world.  If we feel the “fire in our bones” of God wanting to work through us, let us be careful not to misrepresent him with our mouths.

Daniel 9: An Admission of Guilt and Expectation

7 Righteousness is on your side, O Lord, but open shame, as at this day, falls on us, the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. 8 Open shame, O Lord, falls on us, our kings, our officials, and our ancestors, because we have sinned against you. 9 To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, 10 and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by following his laws, which he set before us by his servants and prophets.

The book of Daniel is rich with prophetic material to explore, and there are a ton of ways to engage the text in a manner that speaks to the church.  In my most recent reading of Daniel 9, one major thing stood out to me.  It is a theme that has been fresh on my mind because of exposure to N.T. Write’s Pauline works as well as spending a significant amount of time in Isaiah this semester.  The thing that I am continually seeing in the prophetic literature recalls back to God’s covenant to Abraham.  The covenant entailed that Yahweh would make Abraham the father of many peoples, who in turn would be a blessing to all the nations. 

But the thing that the prophets continually point out to us is that Israel has failed in its charge to be a blessing to the nations.  They continually mistreat the poor and the oppressed, their rulers are corrupt, their officials are corrupt, their ancestors were corrupt, their priests are corrupt.  Over and over, the prophets say this.  In this light, Isaiah, Daniel, and several other prophets begin to hint at the need for a messianic figure to complete Israel’s covenant commitment to be a light to the nations.  Isaiah views Israel’s failure as the reason for their impending destruction and exile, Daniel looks back to the exile as the product of Israel’s unfaithfulness, and they both look forward to the manner in which God will restore all things to Himself in His faithfulness (Isaiah 56-66, Dan 9: 24-26). 

The reason that this all is important comes in the fact that this is the context in which we must understand Jesus’ ministry.  Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic expectations of the prophets.  Jesus’ ministry is the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant faithfulness with Abraham, and indeed with mankind in general.  Jesus’ ministry is the fulfillment of the ‘light to the nations’ that Israel was meant to be.  Jesus’ ministry was the blessing through which the unfaithfulness of Israel and the sins and rebellion of the Gentiles could be overcome through the faithfulness of Christ.  Jesus is indeed the messiah and Lord of Israel, and that means good news for both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Amos 7 and the Local Weatherman

I recently listened to a sermon from a friend of mine named Tommy.  He preached on the first five verses of Amos chapter 7.  In the beginning of the sermon he told a story about a conversation with a friend of his who happens to be a farmer.  The farmer was complaining to Tommy about how wet the ground was in his fields, and how it has been difficult to get his machinery to the necessary spots to tend his crops.  He also expressed his fears that his seed might be drowned out by the amount of water in the fields.

                The final crux of the farmer’s complaints came with regard to the local weatherman.  He said, “every time we get rain, the weatherman keeps saying, ‘thank goodness for the rain, we sure do need it!’”  This upset the farmer, because the claim is not true; the farmers do not need any more rain.  In fact, the farmer called in to the television station to tell the weatherman to stop saying that they need rain.  My friend Tommy asked why this was such a big deal, and the farmer responded, “because if the weatherman keeps saying that we need rain, people will keep praying for rain, and then God will keep sending rain.”

                I found this to be a very indicting claim.  The farmer believes in the power of prayer enough to call in angrily to his local weatherman and complain to him.  It is easy to believe that things such as the weather will simply take their course, but this farmer believes that prayer actually makes a difference.  Amos believed this too, and when God shows him two visions, one of locusts, and another of great fire that burns up Israel’s water supply, Amos prays and pleads with God, “Sovereign Lord, please stop! How can Jacob survive? He is too small!”

                Both times that Amos prays this simple prayer, God relents and changes his mind.  Our motivation for praying should certainly not always be to affect the future, but I think one concept stands out: we should at least be praying.

Is Isaiah 25 A Universalist Text

6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will prepare a rich feast for all peoples,

A banquet of choice wines, fat meat full of marrow, and of rich wines well strained.

7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is draped over the faces of the peoples,

The covering spread over all the nations.

8 He will swallow up death forever.  The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces;

He will end the reproach of his people in all the earth,

For it is the Lord who has spoken.

In the middle of woe oracles against Edom, Moab, Egypt, and every other surrounding nation to Israel, the book of Isaiah provides us with some universalist prooftexts!  Take heart, universalists, you too have scriptural passages that you can throw at Christians who love to talk about hell as eternal, conscious torment.  But take note, you will still be wrong. 

The thing that this passage does provide is a glimpse of the future hope that Yahweh will bring the nations into his final resolution of all things.  He will wipe away the tears from all faces, and His feast will be for all peoples.  This is a notion particularly in Isaiah (but in the other prophets as well) that becomes extremely important for the interpretation of early Christians.  God’s message is a message for all peoples.

Unfortunately, some will refuse to participate in the grand story that Yahweh offers for all people.  In verse 10, the prophet explains that “Moab will be trampled upon in His place, as a straw is trampled in a manure pit” because they continually rebel against Yahweh.  According to Brevard Childs, chapter 25 singles out Moab as a vessel of destruction “not for personal spite, but as the symbol of arrogance and pride that rejects the inclusion of all nations under the rule of Yahweh, Lord of hosts.”  God’s salvation is for all people, but not all will take part in what He has done.

God's work in dry places: Isaiah 35

1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus 2 it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.  The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.  They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.  4 Say to those who are fearful of heart, “Be strong, do not fear!  Here is your God.  He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense.  He will come and save you.

I think many of us can relate with the analogy of desert.  At some point, all of us have felt our lives in a place of barrenness, with nothing growing or showing signs of life.  Sometimes this is of our own doing, but sometimes it happens because of the misdeeds of others.  Isaiah 35 comes in the wake of all kinds of brutal prophesies of violence and destruction for Israel and its surrounding neighbors.  In fact, the previous chapter constitutes a death notice for Edom.  But in the midst of such ominous prophesies, a message of hope comes to those in barren places.  To those with weak knees and fearful hearts, God says “be strong, and don’t fear! Your God is here, and He is coming to save you.” 

One gigantic concept we can gleen from this passage is that the God of Israel is not simply a bloodthirsty or vindictive God.  When he expresses wrath, he does so for the sake of justice.  God’s wrath is not simply destruction, but it is the righting of wrongs, and the weak and oppressed are on the receiving end of His blessings.

5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then the lame shall leap up like a deer, and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.  For waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

This passage presents another example of the kind of expectation being built up in the people of Israel through the prophets  about the nature of God’s action among men.  The Israelites were forming an imagination and an expectation of a God who gives sight to the blind, strong legs to the lame, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the speechless.  As I have said before, I do not think that Isaiah was scrying into the future or seeing Jesus and then writing cryptic poetry about it.  Instead, I understand Jesus as the complete fulfillment of the good, divinely-inspired messianic expectations of the Israelites.  Because Jesus certainly fits the bill of what is discussed in verses 5 and 6.

Messianic Expectations in Isaiah 11

1A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall grow out of his roots.

2The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,

The spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The spirit of counsel and might,

 the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord…

4But with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

And with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

One of the facets that I have really enjoyed in reading Isaiah comes in attempting to grasp the messianic expectations of the Jews going into the first century AD.  In the first chunk of Isaiah, we see the prophet anticipating a great deal of trouble for the Israelites as a result of war and subjugation by other nations.  It appears as though the prophet points to the haughtiness and wickedness of the Israelites as the primary reason for their impending destruction and toil.  We can look back in 3:8 where the prophet proclaims “Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord.”  Again in verse 14 of chapter 3 he says “It is you who have devoured the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.  What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?”

Clearly Isaiah does not look kindly upon the actions of the Israelites, and he recognizes that Israel has not fulfilled its charge as a light to the nations.  However, the prophet still understands that God will fulfill his promises through the Israelites, and since the Israelites have failed, he anticipates the coming of a messiah through whom God’s justice will be displayed throughout the nations.  This is the context in which the messianic poem of chapter 11 springs up.  The prophet speaks about a messiah who is full of wisdom and understanding, deals justly with the poor and the wicked.

I know that this is an Old Testament class, but I have found it quite helpful to understand that Jesus’ ministry functions as the fulfillment of these good, divinely inspired Jewish expectations for the messiah.  Instead of looking at these prophetic passages as magical moments where the prophet projects or looks into the future, seeing Jesus and then writing to describe what he sees, it is helpful to understand that God began forming these expectations of a messiah to fulfill His promises to Israel and the nations, expectations that found their completion in the person of Jesus Christ.

Obedience, Not Burnt Offerings: Jeremiah 7:21-28

Jeremiah 7: 21-28 is a frightening text.  This passage, similarly to most of the book of Jeremiah, consists of God being quite angry with Israel.  The first portion of the passage speaks thusly:

22For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. 23 But this command I gave them, “Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you.” 24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but, in the stubbornness of their evil will, they walked in their own counsels, and looked backward rather than forward.

As a Baptist, this is an easy passage to yell “Amen!” to.  For our entire history, Baptists have railed against placing ritual and tradition as more important than obedience to the voice of God.  In this respect, I am very thankful for the Baptist heritage and tradition.  However, I wonder if we ever are guilty of this very same sin, do we ever put our traditions and practices over obedience to God’s voice?  I think we do.  In fact, I think it probable that we bow down to many practices and doctrines that are far more rooted in culture or tradition than in Scripture. 

It is a fact that in the past our spiritual forefathers were guilty of allowing and encouraging the presence of slavery among their members because it was not expressly forbidden by Scripture.  Even a hundred years after the Civil War, a massive percentage of Baptists were still guilty of allowing and encouraging segregation and blatant racism for many of the same reasons and motivations.  But in the process of these evil actions and hatred toward their brothers within their hearts, Baptists (along with many others) still continued to faithfully attend church and participate in all of the rituals and acts of worship within their tradition. 

Perhaps this is a good example of what God is dealing with in this passage: God’s commands for us do not involve hymnals, fiery Baptist sermons, prohibitions of alcohol or card-playing, contemporary worship bands trying their hardest to sound like U2, church growth, our willingness to drink beer to fit in with hipsters, church committees on committees, Sunday potlucks, or the fact that we don’t curse or associate with the filthiest members of society.  No, God’s commands involve our obedience, but I fear that we often do not even detect our disobedience, even when confronted with the gospel.  The end of this passage deals with this issue:

27 So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.  You shall call to them, but they will not answer you. 28 You shall say to them: This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.

As ministers of the church, much of our responsibility lies in finding the areas where we as a church are not obeying God’s voice, and speaking truth into the body.  This is a difficult task, because the ministers are often the worst culprits in injustices, legalism, and raising human traditions over God’s commands.  I cannot imagine many more trying or difficult tasks then receiving a call from God to speak truth to people who will not listen to you, and I hope that none of us will have this same task.  But the principle in place is undeniable, we must seek and proclaim the truth whether it will be well-received or not.  I pray that I might develop the discipline and bravery to find and shed light on the points where we as a church are lacking.  With enough humble, servant-oriented leadership, the church can continue to become a more united and obedient vessel for God to use in the world.