Day 27: This is WHY, Both Epic and Intimate
March 16
by Michael Lovett
Readings:
Reflection:
Read today's scriptures, then listen to this reflection HERE.
The context is that the Israelites are returning from exile. After nearly 100 years in another country, another land, and another reality, they are returning to a once legendary city. Through Isaiah, God speaks in a way that must have sounded as ridiculous as it was hopeful.
There were no walls in Jerusalem, and God says he will make a new heaven and a new earth. God is promising to exceed their dreams and discouragements
There was so much work to do, and God is promising fruitful labor (see the pun there?) They would plant and eat the fruit.
This passage in Isaiah was the foundation of hope. It was the launchpad for the vision of heaven in Revelation 21. I never saw that until I wrote this devotional today. It is striking how many "hyperlinks" to the Old Testament are found in the New Testament of the Bible. The Bible is beautiful. Jesus also picks up the image when he promises a "renewal of all things".
This is the anchor, this is the WHY...Both for Jesus to persevere when he was on earth, and now, for us, as we learn under Jesus' leadership. Lent practices might be the WHAT and the HOW, but this amazing passage in Isaiah is the WHY. God is so good. Every time he confronts us with a choice, or warns us, or disciplines us, or allows natural consequences for our choice, he also holds out hope. That hope is on the page in black and white in Isaiah 65 today. It was incarnate in Jesus 2,000 years ago. That hope is available to live in us in the Holy Spirit. This good, true, and beautiful hope is also a reality we come home to in Heaven. What is the impact on our hearts of a hope so sublime and compelling?
It gets better... as we transition to John 4, we see an intimate, understated example of this coming reality. Two days after Jesus meets the woman at the well (see the Day 19 devotional), he is in the region of his hometown. And Jesus gives a man his dying son back... Without even touching or seeing the son! This is the image in Isaiah... wiping tears, restoration, you get the people and the things back. No more loss, reparations, restoration, a WHOLE NEW reality. This moment in John 4 is a massive mic drop and heroic hint that Jesus is the real deal! Jesus says the word that he would heal, the father walks home for a day, and finds out that the very second Jesus said he would heal the son, the son was healthy. What was that moment like, in the mind and heart of the father? The word for that is AWE.
The new heaven and earth will be joined, not separate. And this grounds us as the world feels so divided and shaken, so mean and transactional. Heaven is coming. Jesus died and rose from the dead to prove it. Lent returns us to hope. Please sit in silence and stillness with that hope. Reread these passages today, and let them be true in your heart.
Song:
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