A Just Peace

 

Text: Isaiah 40:1-11

Focus: Peace

Function: Advent 2

40:¹Comfort, O comfort my people,
    says your God.
²Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
that she has served her term,
    that her penalty is paid,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
    double for all her sins.

³A voice cries out:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
⁴Every 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.
5Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

⁶A voice says, “Cry out!”
    And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass;
    their constancy is like the flower of the field.
⁷The grass withers; the flower fades,
    [[when the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
    surely the people are grass.
⁸The grass withers; the flower fades,]]
    but the word of our God will stand forever.
⁹Get you up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
    lift it up, do not fear;
say to the cities of Judah,
    “Here is your God!”
¹⁰See, the Lord God comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
his reward is with him
    and his recompense before him.
¹¹He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms
and carry them in his bosom
    and gently lead the mother sheep.

In the Messiah, by Handel, there is a song from verse 11 about how God will feed his sheep like a shepherd. And to me, the style of the music in that one song is unique to the concert because it is sung as a lullaby.

This passage is about the comfort that peace brings. A just peace, not necessarily the absence of conflict, but God’s new kingdom bringing love and kindness to all.

The passage starts out with the Rhema word of God speaking with God’s creative omnipotent power commanding the heavens, and all the physical and spiritual forces to bring comfort to God’s people.

The Spirit of God seems to be speaking here and she is saying that God is done with the accusations and the whole scenario of retribution and punishment for error. God will instead, reckon the weakness of the sheep and come among them and be their shepherd. God will help them. God will comfort and help us.

Let me explain what I mean by the Rhema word of God.

In the Greek, there are two words translated as the “Word of God.” Rhema and Logos. *

Logos is a direct reference to Jesus, in John 1:1, The Word of God. The Logos is literally “the words of” and it refers to the fact that although God is infinite, God gave us a sort of finite being, Jesus, to understand what God was all about in relationship to humanity. The coming of this “Word,” the Logos, is what we celebrate and hope for during the Christmas season.

When the passage says “The Word of the Lord stands forever, it is speaking of Jesus the Logos. That means we don’t worship the scriptures, but the Christ shown to us in those scriptures.

But In a few places the Greek word Rhema is used and is translated as “the Word of the Lord.” It is different from the Logos. It might be more closely understood as the creative voice of God.

Hebrews 11:3 indicates that God spoke and the worlds came into existence. Creation came into being through the command of God’s voice. It is powerful and creative.

Ezekiel speaks of it at the valley of bones when the prophet, speaking the Rhema word of God prophecies to the bones and says “Live” and they start creaking and moving and joining together and flesh grows on them and they become a mighty army. The words created life.

Again, it is symbolic of what happens when God breathes life into something. God’s word, in this case, God’s spoken word, uniquely referred to in the Greek as the Rhema, brings comfort supernaturally to God’s people.

And it is this Rhema voice of God with all the power of creation behind it which speaks to us, just as Ezekiel spoke to the valley of bones and they lived, life from death, God speaks this comfort to us.

We are comforted by the power of God. And that brings us peace.

The biggest change I notice in my aging is that I rise very early. And lately, I have added Christian contemplation and mysticism to my morning routine. It is an effort to reconcile my mystical and supernatural relationship with God through the gifts of the Holy Spirit and my understanding that God loves everyone, not just we who call ourselves believers.

God now reminds me that They love the person with whom I am upset or I disagree with. More importantly, God loves the person on the other side of the aisle from me on whatever topic I am passionate about.

When I take the time to practice this meditation I try to enjoy the beauty of the earth around me, to allow wonder and childlike faith to grow inside of me. I begin to see how this creative power of God which speaks comfort right into our souls and our spirits transforms us and begins to give us peace.

I love the idea of peace, and fostering it during advent. It is a great theme. And Isaiah is speaking of a corporate peace given by God as part of God’s desire to take care of Their children.

Essentially, God promises by the power of the Spirit to clear the path for them so that they can survive and maybe even prosper.

When God promises to level the field for them, God is showing them that God wants a peace that is just and fair for everyone.

We think of peace oftentimes as the absence of conflict. But no. God wants a just peace. One that cares for the least of these as well as those who are privileged by their wealth and power.

He speaks of the valleys being raised up and the mountains brought down. He speaks of a level playing field. A peace that works for everyone.

In contrast, I remember during the civil rights marches hearing phrases about Black people like “If they only knew their place…”

The people who said that were seeking a peace that was merely an absence of conflict, but not justice for the oppressed people.

It took courage for me as a teenager to speak against that kind of speech. It just wasn’t consistent with us singing Jesus loves them all, black, brown, red, yellow and white.

You can’t have second class citizens in an egalitarian society. But most importantly. We are members first of God’s kingdom and in that kingdom there is no race, class or gender, all are one in Christ.

Sometimes peace takes bold preaching to change the culture. But Jesus said, blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the sons and daughters of God.

So, let us claim the promise of that peace and spread it.

*I know the OT was written in Hebrew and Aramaic, but it was translated into Greek in the Septuagint and that was sort of their standard for scriptures in that day, so a Greek study is appropriate.