✠ One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you ✠
Isaiah 65,17-19[20-22]23-25
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Katharina, Virgin, Martyr 306.
Isaac Watts, Father of English Hymnody. † 1748
25. November 2012
1. Stir up, we beseech You, O Lord, the wills of Your faithful people, so that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works; may by You, be plenteously rewarded (Book of Common Prayer). Amen.
2.„For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; no more will be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man will die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old will be accursed. They will build houses and inhabit them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They will not build and another inhabit; they will not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree will the days of My people be, and My chosen will long enjoy the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they will be the offspring of the blessed of Yahweh, and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together; the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain,“ says Yahweh.
3. The Prophet Isaiah describes, quite simply, an utopia. He says God will create eternal joy and gladness, the wolf and lamb will eat together and pain and destruction will be absent in heaven. Sir Thomas More coined the Greek word utopia for his 1516 novel Utopia which describes a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. In Book I, More lays out the problems of 16. century Europe and in Book II More describes how the inhabitants of Utopia have solved those problems. In a way this is the outline of the Bible. We begin in Genesis 1 and 2 with men and women living in blissful Paradise. Genesis 3 describes how Paradise was lost and from Genesis 3 to Revelation, the Holy Scriptures describe how this Paradise will be restored.
4. The flip side to utopia is dystopia, which is a community characterized by dehumanization, totalitarian governments, environmental disaster or other characteristics associated with a cataclysmic decline in society. Popular dystopias are found in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Since the fall into sin by Adam, we have lived in a dystopian world that is corrupted.
5. Our sinful nature corrupts everything in God’s creation. We do not fear, love and trust God as we should. We do not love our neighbors. Such sinfulness manifests itself in many diverse ways. In the 21. century technology has created the fear of losing individual identity in our fast-paced culture. Add censorship and surveillance to this and you have three of the more pressing concerns of our times. We have wars and rumors of war, terrorist attacks, fears that the world will end in less than a month, fiscal and economic uncertainty plus a host of other concerns and fears that occupy our thoughts.
6. God’s people are not immune from these fears and concerns. Sometimes our fellow Christian brothers and sisters perpetuate such fears or are more directly responsible for them. We are all sinners in a sinful world.
7. Although we live in this dystopic world, yet we live as ones who have hope in God’s promise to restore His fallen creation. Yahweh promises: »For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things will not be remembered or come into mind«. Notice that Yahweh does not say: I will destroy the world, wash My hands of it and go about some other business. Rather, Yahweh says: I will destroy this present world and create a new world! Yahweh is not a God who delights in destruction, but He is a God who restores what is corrupted and makes new what is destroyed. Our future is not one of death and destruction, but rather a future of everlasting life with a new heaven and earth.
8. This new heaven and earth will truly be a utopia. Isaiah describes it in terms familiar to human beings. Children will not suffer hunger, pain or other calamities. The hunter will mingle with its prey. Wolves and sheep will eat together peacefully. Lions will eat plants like the oxen. Isaiah describes a complete upheaval of this present world, an upheaval that will result in a re-created world that truly is the Paradise of Genesis 1 and 2.
9. This new earth is not some far-off dream in the future. God the Father has given us a down payment on this future bliss right now. Yahweh had chosen Israel from all the nations to be His chosen people. Yahweh blessed them, established a covenant with them, provided them a land of milk and honey and made His very Divine Presence reside in Jerusalem via the temple. All of this was Yahweh’s unfolding Heilsgeschichte (salvation history) to redeem first Israel, and then through Israel He redeems all the nations of this dystopic world. The Israel of Isaiah’s day was not a paragon of faith and piety. Far from it, as Isaiah spends many of his 66 chapters warning Israel of impending Divine judgment upon them for their idolatry and sinful behavior toward their neighbors. Nevertheless, Yahweh would not, and did not, forsake His people. He promised to rescue them from their sinfulness and restore them after His judgment of exile. All this unfolded to fulfill the promise of the messiah’s advent.
10. The arrival of Jesus brings the last day promise of a new heaven and earth into this old, dystopic earth at this present time. Yahweh created Jerusalem to be a joy, and it was the city where sin was forgiven at the temple. Jesus completed His Father’s joy in Jerusalem by bearing the cross and leaving the tomb empty. When the Father rejoices in Jerusalem, He is rejoicing in Jesus’ sacrifice. Jesus went up to Jerusalem where He suffered His Passion which culminated with His suffering and death on the cross. Jesus’ crucifixion ushered in the eschatological last day with it’s Divine justice.
11. Temporally, the last day is some time in the future, but Jesus’ advent warps and folds that day and it’s implications into His own time. The last day is ruled over by the judgment seat of Christ where the wicked are punished and the righteous are rewarded, where the unbelievers are condemned to eternal torment in hell and the believers are welcomed into the eternal life of Paradise. On the cross, our Heavenly Father’s wrath and judgment has been poured out. The wicked sinner has been punished by the demanding and unrelenting precepts of the law. The last day was manifested on the cross where Jesus bore upon Himself the guilt and sin of all people. Sin was condemned, the sinner was punished and death resulted upon the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus’ act of sacrifice ransomed us back to God because sin and death have been accounted for. The last day’s reward for the righteous is now credited to us.
12. This eschatology finds its fulfillment in Christ Jesus and His death and resurrection. Heilseschatologie (salvation eschatology) is the future age of bliss when Paradise is restored, and this future age has been ushered in by Jesus. On the cross, Jesus told the insurrectionist crucified at His side: »Today you will be Me in Paradise« (Luke 23,43). The wise bridesmaids in today’s Gospel Reading had this promise of Paradise by faith and each one of us also has that same promise of Paradise by faith solo Christo (through Christ alone). Amen.
13. Our Lord Jesus Christ promised at His ascension that His apostles and their successors would make disciples of all nations by baptizing them in the Triune Name and teaching them to obey everything He had commanded them. By Holy Baptism, Jesus has brought you forgiveness and salvation; He has given you the Holy Name of God, and He has brought you into the Divine family. You are heirs of God, and Paradise is your inheritance. Each day your Baptism is with you; it is a seal and sign of your status as a son or daughter in God’s holy family. We do not know the exact time when Jesus will make His second advent known. It may be today, tomorrow or centuries from now. Such a delay does not disturb us, for we have the the blessings of Holy Baptism with us daily, and the blessings of Holy Baptism keep us secure in the faith and patiently waiting for Christ’s return. Amen.
14. Let us pray. O Yahweh, You make known the path of life, send us Your Spirit so that we may be in Your presence with the fullness of joy and receive from Your right hand both earthly and heavenly pleasures. Amen.
To God alone be the Glory
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All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, and the Novum Testamentum Graece, Nestle-Aland 27th Edition © 1993 by Deutsch Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart.
The Book of Common Prayer. Copyright © 1662 Cambridge University Press.
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