Isaiah of Babylon

Isaiah of Babylon

The Sixth in the Series of Old Testament Heroes

By Ed Winkler

June 29, 2008

Text: Isaiah 40:1-11

[1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

[3] A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. [4] Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. [5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

[6] A voice says, "Cry!"

And I said, "What shall I cry?"

All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. [7] The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the LORD blows upon it; surely the people is grass. [8] The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand for ever. [9] Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, "Behold your God!"

[10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. [11] He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Revised Standard Version)

Last week we talked about Isaiah of Jerusalem, the first of the three Isaiah’s in the book of Isaiah. This week, we’re going to talk about Isaiah of Babylon, the second Isaiah. Isaiah of Babylon’s message is found in chapters 40 through 55 of the Book of Isaiah. While there are similarities between their messages, Isaiah of Babylon has a much more hopeful message than the first Isaiah.

The first Isaiah lived in the 8^th century B.C. That was a time of prosperity and relative peace in Palestine. But hiding behind that prosperity was a spiritual sickness. The people were only concerned with themselves—not with God or others. Move forward a generation, and things changed. The Babylonians had conquered the country of Judah, where the first Isaiah lived. The way that the Babylonians subdued the countries that they conquered was to exile the leaders and the most prosperous people. The theory was that if you remove the leaders, the country will be easier to govern. So that’s what the Babylonians did. They exiled the leaders and most important people to Babylon. From Babylon, the second Isaiah preached a message with a different emphasis from the first Isaiah.

The Babylonian exile was a difficult time. For more than a generation, the Babylonians forced the people to live in a foreign land. There, the exiles suffered the daily humiliation of living in captivity. The exiles’ disgrace and hopelessness are described in Psalm 137:

By the waters of Babylon,

there we sat down and wept,

when we remembered Zion.

On the willows there

we hung up our lyres.

How shall we sing the LORD's song

in a foreign land?

How shall we sing the LORD's song in a foreign land? Those are words full of emotion and sorrow. Those are words of despair. The people were at the end of their rope. There was simply no hope for them. They believed that God had sent them into exile because of their sins as a nation. They believed that God had abandoned them. They didn’t see any way out of their predicament.

In that helpless situation, God spoke to Isaiah. God didn’t speak words of judgment or condemnation. God spoke words of hope to Isaiah: “Comfort, comfort my people. Tell them that their warfare is ended. Their sins are pardoned. All people will behold the Lord.” What an amazing message. When the people felt most helpless, God promised help. When the people felt most hopeless, God promised hope. God kept his promises. God gave the exiles help and hope. The exile didn’t last forever. After 50 years, the exiles were freed, went home, and rebuilt their land.

As difficult as the exile was, it was one of the most important times in the history of the Jewish people. In exile, the people learned that even in the worst situation, God is there. No matter how bad the place is, God is present. No matter how bad the situation is, God can fix it. No matter how bad the people are, God can redeem them. Those aren’t lessons that we learn in good times. Those are lessons that we learn in bad times.

The exiles also learned that even in the worst situation, people still have God-given gifts. The people were still able to function, to worship, and to remember what God had done for them.

Exile was a difficult time for the people. It was a time of grief, despair, and humiliation. It was also, in some ways, a gift. One might say that Judaism came into being during the exile because it was during the exile that they compiled the Scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament. They wrote down the stories that make up the Old Testament, put them together into books, and edited them for future generations. The people learned that God was present in Babylon, just as God had been present in Jerusalem. Most importantly, the exiles learned hope in the direst situation. No matter how bad things may seem, there is always hope with God. That was the most important lesson of the exile.

There are people right here in our valley who are, no doubt, feeling like they are in exile. As factories lay off people and the economy worsens, it can certainly feel like exile to people. Some of the things that we had taken for granted, some of the security that we thought would last forever, and some of the prosperity of recent years has been lost. It’s easy to feel abandoned in such times. Even those of us who are not directly affected feel anxiety because we see our family members and friends lose their jobs or income. There are people in our valley who literally are exiles. They have fled economic disasters or political repression in other countries to come here.

The answer for us is the same as for the exiles in Babylon. God is here and at work. God hasn’t left town. God hasn’t gone in search of a better place or better people. God is here to comfort people who feel lost or without hope. God is here to guide us in new directions, if we will ask for guidance and open ourselves to the new possibilities that God can show us.

The exiles learned to see that they still had gifts, even when they were hundreds of miles from home, even when they grieved the loss of their native soil, even when they felt like they were wandering without direction. The people of Strasburg still have gifts even in difficult times. The people of our congregation have many gifts.

We also have the best gift of all: the birth, life, teaching, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Through Christ’s birth and life, we know that God loves us so much that God became a human being and lived among us. Through Christ’s teaching and example, we have seen a way of living that is challenging and sometimes difficult, but is also the best way for us to live with God and each other. Through Christ’s death, God has wiped away our sins and given us a clean slate. Through Christ’s resurrection, we have the promise that there is more to come. Our time on earth matters, but it is not all that there is. We should always have hope because of all that God has given us and the promise that there is more to come.

This Sunday marks the end of my first year as your pastor. It has been a great year for Nina and me, a time of learning and growth, and a time of serving people whom we have come to love very much. As we think about this past year and look forward to the future, I’d like to reflect a bit on our gifts and some of my hopes for Strasburg United Methodist Church.

As a community, Strasburg grew very quickly for a few years. Then the economy slowed last year, and our community’s growth—at least in terms of new housing—came to a screeching halt. This pause in growth won’t last forever. In a year or two, Strasburg will grow again. New people will again move into our community. We will need new ministries to help the new people. The economic slowdown also means that there is a need for a church that can help those in need and preach the good news of hope in Jesus Christ to people in distress.

There are certainly challenges in our part of the valley. But we can meet those challenges. We have many gifts in our congregation that can help us minister to a new generation, to a new influx of people, and to people in need. We have gifted leaders. I have been very pleasantly surprised at the number of people we have who are willing to accept responsibility and be leaders in our congregation. We have people with a vision and openness to the future—both the problems in the future and the possibilities in the future. We are not stuck in the past. We have a can-do attitude. We don’t wallow around in problems; we look for ways to solve them. And we have openness to new people. Sometimes, people in small towns want to circle the wagons and keep out new people. The people of Strasburg United Methodist Church are not like that. We welcome new people, recognize their talents, and put them to work for the kingdom of God. These are amazing gifts for a congregation that is poised to grow in ministry.

Because of our gifts, I have great hope for our congregation. I hope that we can marshal our gifts to minister to young adults in our county. That population is in need of ministry and is neglected in our community. I hope that we can be a place where twenty-something’s can come for ministry that speaks to the needs of connecting with God and also offers opportunities to be in service to others.

I hope that we will all dedicate ourselves to “awaken the inner life,” as John Wesley, the founder of our denomination, called it. I hope that we will all devote ourselves to worship, prayer, Bible study, and service to others. I hope that all of us will worship and attend Sunday school or Bible study classes. I hope that we will have a full house for our Disciple Bible class and for our Thursday evening Bible study. I hope that we will not only continue, but expand our tradition of service to those in need in our community and the world.

I hope that we will look for ways to tell others about our church through community involvement, advertising, and personal witness. I hope that we will make it a priority to invite people to our church and to welcome those who come here.

Most importantly, I hope that we will step back, pray, study, and let the Holy Spirit lead us. We can’t move forward on our own, nor do we even need to try. We need other people and we need God’s guidance.

Nina and I have had a great time in our first year in ministry with you. We eagerly anticipate another great year as we work together to help build the kingdom of God right here in our part of the valley. We also have great hope because of the opportunities in this community, the gifts in this congregation. We have Christian hope for the present because Christ is alive and working with us right now, right here. We have hope for the future because of Christ’s resurrection. We have a mission, we have hope, we have each other, and we have the Lord. What more could we want?