Musings: Notes From My Daybook

I'm reading alot in Isaiah these days. A sermon series is developing for the spring and I am trying to hear the voice of this prophet.

I'm sure that some would suggest that better reading could be found elsewhere--even within Scripture. However, the more I read the more I feel the passion of these texts that precede Jesus by up to eight centuries. With a singular passion this ancient witness to faith in God, challenges social and political conventions. At times Isaiah slashes deep within the human psyche; other times he offers comfort and hope. Yet though it all Isaiah bears witness to the God who will not relinguish a commitment to humankind.

In some aspects the message of Isaiah is like the gospel itself--convicting as it discloses human frailty and yet affirming as it offers the word of God's grace. God thinks much of us humans and Isaish is determined that we grow still long enough to receive that message.

We may well grow weary (40.28ff), we may well experience tragedy or hardship (35.3ff), or we may simply have our ears closed to hear God's teaching (1.3), but God will not relent in his pursuit. Whether the human response is repentance, trust, or praise, the words of Isaiah consistently seek a turn in human hearts.

I fear that some who venture to read Isaiah might well think that Isaiah is written to make one feel guilty or motivate some spiritual activity through fear. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. The language of Isaiah from beginning to end is calculated to touch the listeners conscience and communicate God's deep love.

George Adam Smith, a minister and Hebrew professor who was teaching and writing on Isaiah 100 years ago in Great Britain spoke eloquently on this point:

"To men with their obscure sense of shame, and restlessness, and servitude to sin the Bible plainly says, 'You are able to sin becuase you have turned your back to the love of God; you are unhappy because you do not take that love to your heart; the bitterness of your remorese is that it is love against which you are ungrateful.' Conscience is not the Lord's persecution, but His jealous pleading, and not the fierceness of His anger, but the reproach of His love. This is the Bible's doctrine throughout" (I.12).

Indeed, the DNA strands of the gospel which we come to know more fully in the narrative of Jesus are evident throughout the pages of Isaiah