Is
there any hope for the world? (Is. 11:1-12:6)
I don’t know what
you thought about the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics, I know that there
was lots of criticism for a scene that looked like it might be mocking the Last
Supper, but the image that struck me the most was
the singer on a float singing ‘Imagine’ by John Lennon.
You see I find
that song to be one of the most hopelessly naïve expressions in modern
history. ‘Imagine there’s no heaven … No
hell below us … Imagine there is no countries … Nothing to kill or die
for. And no religion, too. Imagine all the people living in peace.’
Do you really
think that if we got rid of national boarders and religious beliefs people
would live at harmony with one another?
Do you really think that if we embraced the Olympic spirit all would be
well in the world?
Then there is the
life of the song-writer of Imagine. One
of my earliest memories is from just after 9pm on 8th December
1980. I walked into my parents’ bedroom,
where they were in bed (they went to bed very early) and they were watching the
news. ‘John Lennon has been shot’, they
told me. My response was, ‘who is John
Lennon?’ Which is ironic because John
Lennon was very aware of how famous he and his band, the Beetles, were.
In a 1966
interview Lennon suggested that the Beatles were ‘more popular than
Jesus’. He claimed that Christianity was
on the decline and that it might be outlived by rock music. Yet more and more
young people no longer know who John Lennon is, as the church experiences
explosive growth in places like China and South America.
Lennon himself
could not live out the ideals of Imagine.
He couldn’t live at peace. He
famously fought with his fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney. He cheated on his first wife, Cynthia, and
left her for Yoko Ono. He also cheated
on Yoko. He was not someone who loved
well, because peace doesn’t just come from ridding the world of religious
fanatism and nationalistic pride, peace has to come from a change in the heart. Only God can truly change our hearts!
The verses that we
have read sing a better song than Imagine.
It speaks of a time when all of creation will live at peace. ‘The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the
leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the
fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young
shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play over the hole of
the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy
mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the
waters cover the sea’ (11:6-9).
Imagine! That is the hope for our
world!
The promise of a person (11:1-5)
At this stage in
the history of the Old Testament God’s people are divided into two nations—Israel
in the north and Judah in the south. The
capital of Judah is Jerusalem and their king, Ahaz, is from the promised line
of David.
But Ahaz is a
failure of a king. He will not trust God
and he is arrogant. What we need is a
better king. Although Ahaz’s son,
Hezekiah, will be better than him, he too will fail. Every time you read of a failed king in the
Old Testament, our minds look forward to the true king from the line of Jesse
(David’s father).
This true and
great king will come from the stump of Jesse—that means he will come at a time
when the dynasty of David is reduced to something seemingly insignificant. He will be a branch that bears fruit. The Spirit will rest on Him. This will be a Spirit of wisdom and
understanding. He will do mighty deeds. We know that this promised king is Jesus. Look at how the Spirit was there at His
baptism. Look at how he knew what people
were thinking. Look at the wise answers
He gave to hostile questions. Look at His
miracles.
That same Holy
Spirit is in all His people. He gives us
an understanding of truth (don’t just think of the Holy Spirit as giving
experiences, think of how He shapes our minds and our loves). A woman recently wrote to me about the fact
that God is doing a work in her life, and that work is seen both by me and
others. He gives us the hope of real change
The promise of peace (6-9)
The picture of the
wolf lying with the lamb and the child playing by the cobra’s nest is a picture
of world peace. In verse 13 we see that
the hostility between the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah will come to an
end. At the time of Jesus’ birth, the
angels sang to the shepherds ‘peace to all on whom God’s favour rests.’ In chapter 9 of Isaiah Jesus is called ‘prince
of peace.’
But there is a ‘now’
and a ‘not yet’ in the kingdom of God. I
look at my dog and my cat—Kerry and Smudge—and they are not at peace. These verses point to the time when Jesus
returns.
Do you think about
Jesus’ return? The New Testament mentions
it over three hundred times. Those who
have changed the world most for the kingdom have been those who have focused on
His coming back. Maybe you have thought
of it like an unbeliever, as if it is something to be scared about. If you are trusting Jesus you have nothing to
fear. It will be a great day of joy. The night before the crucifixion Jesus spoke
about coming back to take His people to be with Him. He is coming back because He loves you and He
wants to spend eternity with you. His is
coming back to bring you to the place where division and hatred and sickness
and death will be no more.
The promise of people (11:10-12:6)
The mention of a
banner is pointing to a place where people will be gathered. In verse ten we see that people from all the
nations will come to Jesus. In our
church over the last thirteen years we have had over forty-six nationalities in
our church. It talks of a people
enjoying rest—rest is a big theme in the Bible, Jesus invites people to come to
Him and he will give us rest. Note that
in verses eleven, twelve, fifteen and chapter twelve verse two the emphasis in
of God being our salvation. The people of
God can only come to Him by the work of God.
Look ahead in this book and you will read a very clear description of
how our Messiah suffers death in order to take our guilt so that we may be
forgiven.
Now these gathered
people praise. The New Heaven and the
New Earth will be a praise of rejoicing in the king. Even know He gives joy to our hearts. Back in verse 9 we ‘read that the earth will
be filled with the glory of the Lord.’
That is even happening now as people are brought to Jesus.
Conclusion
John Lennon wrote
a song one Christmas that included the line, ‘War is over.’ War is not over. It won’t be over until the Prince of Peace
returns. Pop culture doesn’t really offer
us true hope.
Hippies referred
to 1967 as the ‘Summer of Love’. They
converged on the Haight-Ashbury suburb of San Francisco to experiment with
eastern religion, drug taking and casual sex.
But there was a very dark underbelly to all this as atheist Christopher
Hitchens points out in a New York Times article. He recalled how a pretty sixteen-year-old
girl had arrived down to San Francisco only to meet a seventeen-year-old drug
dealer who spent his day shooting her up with speed before raffling her numb
body off to be used by a gang. Hitchens
said that there were many people who took similar trips never to be the same
again. The reason the ‘Summer of Love’,
John Lennon’s imagination and the Olympic spirit aren’t the hope of the world
is that they don’t deal with the problem of the heart. Left to ourselves we are like those that
Isaiah spoke to with their empty religion and their social cruelty.
The hope of the
world lies with a king of justice and peace.
A king who calls us to humble ourselves and lean on him. A king who stands up for the oppressed but is
willing to forgive and transform the oppressor.
A king whose people should be salt and light, who seek to live at peace
with all people. Then as His people lift
Him up, speaking of His death, resurrection and coming return people are
gathered together in pockets of peace and the kingdom starts to be done on
earth as it is in heaven.
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