Gentle Reader,
Do not remember the former things
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.– Isaiah 43:18-19 (NRSV)
Winter decided to come to North Idaho this week. (And if you’re wondering about the improper grammar here, never say “northern Idaho.” No such place exists). I prefer snow in December and so found our gray, rainy Christmas just ridiculous. Today I’m glad for the blanket of white falling across the trees and the grass. January is usually my least favorite month because it’s dark and mushy. The snow brightens up the landscape significantly. I count it a blessing.
Now, the new thing.
Before we begin to discern what God is saying to us here in 2024 through the words of the prophet Isaiah recorded centuries ago, we need to understand the context of the words. I beat this drum incessantly, and I’ll do so forever: Whenever we read anything in Scripture, we need to pause and orient ourselves. It’s so, so easy to pluck out passages and manipulate them into saying things that they don’t say. God inspired the authors of Scripture and protected the poems, stories, and letters across cultures, languages, and centuries. The Bible was most certainly written for us. But it was not written to us. So we must ask questions: What was happening on the historical timeline when these words were written? How do these specific words interact with and relate to the words of the chapter and book as a whole? Would the original audience understand these verses as we understand them? How do these words fit into the narrative of the Bible as a whole?
Hermeneutics, the Spirit-led process and art of interpretation, is not only for pastors and academics. Anyone who wants to love and obey God today more than they did yesterday has to learn how to handle the texts of the Bible. Pastors and academics, part of our unique role in the Church is to learn how to do that and then teach everyone how to do that. Few things are more joyful for me!
Many commentaries on Isaiah have been written. My personal favorites can be found here and here. I won’t try and create my own commentary in this space (although that would be super fun). Below you’ll find important points to keep at the front of your mind as you meditate on Isaiah 43:18-19:
- Isaiah’s ministry occurs during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (kings of Judah). Their reigns span 81 years (767-686 BC). It is probable that Isaiah began his prophetic career during the final year or so of Uzziah’s life (based on 6:1). This shortens the span to 54 years, making it also probable that Isaiah did not live through the entirety of Hezekiah’s reign.
- The first half of Isaiah (Chapters 1-39) focuses on coming judgment. The people of Judah have turned from God. They worship false gods, and that worship results in activities like sexual promiscuity, oppression of the poor, and human sacrifice. (Yeah, not pretty). God’s speaking through the prophet to warn of judgment is not to be understood as God looking forward to gleefully punishing anyone, but instead as God inviting people to repent and come into redemptive relationship with God.
- If the people do not repent and return to God, they will see their homeland destroyed. They will be taken into slavery. This is promised way back in Deuteronomy, when the Israelites are preparing to enter into the Promised Land. Therefore, nobody could claim that they didn’t know what would happen. This leads us to an extremely important point: God loves everyone, but we only have relationship with God on God’s terms.
- The people are warned repeatedly, but they don’t listen. Starting in 597 BC (89ish years after Isaiah), members of the royal, priestly, and merchant/wealthy classes are taken from their homes and transported to Babylon (both a city and a region). The noose tightens around Jerusalem, the capital city and center of worship of God. Jeremiah and Lamentations tell of people in desperate poverty, mourning dead loved ones and crying out to gods who cannot hear them. In 586 BC the Temple in Jerusalem is ripped to shreds by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar (of Veggie Tales fame).
- Pause here. Picture rubble and ruins, fire and ash, families torn apart. This is where worship of anything and anyone other than God inevitably ends. Sit in that discomfort. Don’t rush past it.
Really don’t rush past it. We just celebrated Christmas. We took time to consider again the wonder of Christ, fully God and fully human, come to earth to save us. The ruin and devastation – that is what we needed to be saved from. The chaos and pain that inevitably arises from turning from God or trying to know God on our own terms. That’s our mess. We can’t fix it, just like they couldn’t fix it. They had to cry out to God and seek forgiveness. So do we.
- There’s the good news: God doesn’t abandon God’s people.
- The verses we are considering are located in the second half of Isaiah which “serves as the catalyst for the movement that enabled the return of the exiles from Babylon [after 70 years]…[these chapters are] visions of restoration [and] Christological prophecies… [We have] moved from the judgment of Chapters 1-39 and into the promise of redemption.” (Lozano, NBBC, pgs. 24-25)
- These chapters “contain striking lines of poetry and highly structured logical arguments woven together… [The author] utilizes [imagined] court scenes [to convey the holiness of God and God’s right to hold people accountable].” (ibid., 37)
- God is just, yes. And God is merciful. We can’t emphasize one trait over the other. God is whole. Complete and perfect. God rightly insists upon repentance, upon our accepting that God makes the rules. And “God extends mercy to the exiles and invites them to return home, to the place [where they have always truly belonged].” (ibid., 83)
- Here is we hear “a call to simple and sincere faith…to remember to not take God’s grace for granted.” (ibid., 85)
Are you carrying heavy weights within that pull your heart down toward your toes? Is your mind clouded by regret? Does your skin crawl with traumatic memories? Isaiah gets it. His original readers get it. They suffered in ways we can barely wrap our minds around, whether as a direct result of their own actions or indirectly because of choices others made. Let’s be clear about that: Sometimes you need God to do a new thing because you yourself have done a lot of old things that led you into ruin, and sometimes you need God to do a new thing because of the old things that others did to or around you. I’m not leading you to take responsibility for anything that isn’t yours to take. Either way, we all need a new thing.
Isn’t it beautiful that God is in the new thing business?
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Sushobhan Badhai
I hesitate to share this because I am aware that Hillsong is problematic and people have suffered at the hands of its leaders. I am also sure that there are sincere, loving, and faith-filled people within the group. So know that this is not a recommendation for or endorsement of anything beyond the song.