In the final part of the "Passion for Justice" series, Isaiah wraps up
Chapter 26 with a wonderful vision of redemption:
13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone do we honor. 14 They are now dead, they live no more;
those departed spirits do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;
you wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O LORD;
you have enlarged the nation.
You have gained glory for yourself;
you have extended all the borders of the land.
I can't help but liken Isaiah's "dead lords" to our own sin. We were once ruled by it, slaves to our flesh as Paul would say, but we are now dead to sin. God has conquered that, wiped it out and in turn blessed us as adopted sons and daughters. As we go into the final days of the Christian Holy week (and start Passover tonight), I can't help but think of the crucifixion and resurrection as God bringing sin to ruin and "extending the borders of our land."
13 O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone do we honor.
14 They are now dead, they live no more;
those departed spirits do not rise.
You punished them and brought them to ruin;
you wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O LORD;
you have enlarged the nation.
You have gained glory for yourself;
you have extended all the borders of the land.
If that weren't amazing enough, the following section drives it home:
16 LORD, they came to you in their distress;
when you disciplined them,
they could barely whisper a prayer. [b]
17 As a woman with child and about to give birth
writhes and cries out in her pain,
so were we in your presence, O LORD.
18 We were with child, we writhed in pain,
but we gave birth to wind.
We have not brought salvation to the earth;
we have not given birth to people of the world.
19 But your dead will live;
their bodies will rise.
You who dwell in the dust,
wake up and shout for joy.
Your dew is like the dew of the morning;
the earth will give birth to her dead.
20 Go, my people, enter your rooms
and shut the doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until his wrath has passed by.
21 See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling
to punish the people of the earth for their sins.
The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her;
she will conceal her slain no longer.
Though we could barely utter a prayer, though we tried in vain to save ourselves and others, we couldn't do it. It was only through God's grace, mercy and justice that we find ourselves "hidden for a little while until wrath has passed by" (Sound like Passover?)
Verse 21 is Isaiah's justice verse and you can feel his passion as he sees the violent and murderous come to reckon for the destruction they have sowed. Like Abel, the blood of the innocent and victimized cries out and they will live. Friday is a dark day of death and mourning, but Sunday is coming and "the dead will live." Wake up and shout for joy!
E.J Dionne has a nice op-ed about the Gospel of Judas which has garnered so much buzz of late. It's hard to add much - especially since I haven't actually read the document or the National Geographic articles, which is certainly something I would like to do. I have a feeling that my opinion wouldn't change much except to be more detailed, though. Give Dionne's piece a read, I think it's a nice tight piece that is worthy of attention.
