The Nonnegotiable Love of God
A Sermon by Andrew Colman based on Isaiah 43:1-7
Tonight's reading from the Old Testament is from Isaiah 43, and it is one of the portions of scripture that I have turned to many times when life has been hard.
Hear the opening verse again.
“But now this says the Lord, he who created you, o Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.”
These are the Words of God, our creator.
“But now this says the Lord, he who created you, o Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel. Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.”
They may be some of the most comforting words in all of scripture. They came to the people after they returned to Jerusalem after their 70 years in Exile to Perisa. Things are back as they ought to be.
But it starts with a very strange phrase when you hear it out of its context and start to think about it.
But now - thus says the Lord.
There is a but; a turn is being made here.
Something needed a "but, wait, don't go too far with that; something more needs to be said." If we rewind just a little bit to chapter 42 we find out what.
Chapter 42 starts with long list of promises now that they are back,
"I have given you as a covenant to the people, a light to the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon," Israel sings their praise: "Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth!”
And then, after verse after verse of Glory and honour, we hear about Israel's disobedience to God even after he returned them home from Exile. We find the reason for the but.
"They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame—those who trust in carved images, who say to cast images, 'You are our gods.'
Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose Law they would not obey? So he poured upon him the heat of his anger and the fury of war;"
God is speaking to his people who, despite their return home and all of the riches and blessings that God has given and promised them,
they just cannot seem to remain faithful to the Lord. Just constantly turning to other gods and worshipping them, be they literal other Gods like Ba'al or metaphorical other gods like their own sense of self-sufficiency.
The inevitable cost of their turning to these other gods is that they stop following the way of the Law that had been laid out for them. The way of Love for their God and their neighbour, and turn to oppressive and exploitative ways. We don’t have a particular list at this moment, but one need only look to other parts of scripture to see what they were up to.
Without fail, when that happens, people get hurt, and the bonds of love fracture and break apart. When that happens, be it within a family or between whole countries, it feels like the fury of war and fire descends right into the middle of things.
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And that’s where we pick up in tonight’s reading.
“But now. But now says the Lord.”
We got the setup; the context of how things were looking, how they were going to play out. The setup at the end of chatper 42 - Wars and Fires. Things which we all know too much about, and not just the ones happening right now - in Ukraine and Gaza and Las Angeles but wars in Syria, Sudan, ... fires is not just in LA but all over the states, Canada, Australia, all over the world. really
They really do look like the end of the road because, in their wake, they leave nothing.
But God created out of nothing. Less than nothing - God created the beauty of the universe out of Ex Nilhilo. The nothing at all.
This is how God can look at an Israel who has been unfaithful and gone to worship other Gods and created nothing out of something in their wake and say.
But now. But now thus says the Lord. It's like, the Lord sees and feels Israel's disobedience and says - are you finished? Have you had enough?
Actually, no - if it were up to you, you would never stop this; you would never have enough.
I, the Lord your God, have had enough of all of this hurt and pain. I am coming to get you and save you from yourself because I Love you more than you could ever ask or imagine.
But now. But now thus says the Lord. He who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.
In Christ, we have been grafted into the house of Israel. We have been made part of the family of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
When Isaiah says, he who created you, o Jacob and who formed you Israel — those names are now your name.
Do not fear, says every angel in the Bible. Only this time, it is not an angel but God saying to each person who is grafted into the house of Israel, which is each one of us here, do not fear.
I have redeemed you - no matter the infidelity or disobedience you took part in it - I have redeemed you.
Walter Breueggemann quotes John Calvin as saying, "God refuses to be deprived of his rightful possession."
To our modern ears, that just sounds wrong - we like to think that we are no one's possession. In fact, it sounds criminal; it rings of enslavement.
But we are not thinking of an earthly possession but one of the divine. Where we are the beloved possession of God, creator almighty, who can't go more than a few verses without lamenting the distance that we create between God and ourselves
and then doing something about it.
Chapter 43, verse 2, continues.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.
Notice there are no conditions on our part. It doesn't say
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you... if.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you... if you live a life worthy of God's mercy and grace, no!
'They are simply statements of fact. They are there, and every time we call upon the name of the Lord, we find out that God is already there.
When you pass through the waters, and you will pass through some treacherous waters in your lifetime... I will be with you, and you will not be overwhelmed.
When you walk through the fire, and you will walk through some fires in your lifetime, you shall not be burned, and the flames will not consume you.
God created Israel, Jacob, You, and I, and God will not have us apart from Godself. Be it in life or in death, we are loved by God. We are God's full-stop. Nothing we do or anyone else can do can change that, and God desires our relationship.
Again, Walter Brueggemann, "This intimate and nonnegotiable relationship is present help in every danger."
In every danger of whatever kind we find ourselves in, there is the everpresent help of God's presence. When called upon comes the parting of the waters; when called upon comes protection from the fire, deliverance from death.
But just because there was/is no condition on our part for the promises made doesn't mean that there is no condition. In fact, we find it in the very next verse. Why will God part the waters and shield them from the flames?
“Because,” say the Creator, “I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour... Because you are precious in my sight and honoured, and I love you.”
"For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour... Because you are precious in my sight and honoured, and I love you.”
The condition is that of God’s being because God is God. Because God is God, and it is what God has promised us, and it is what God worked out for us in the Life, Death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is almost an unsatisfying answer. It feels so because there’s nothing for us to grab onto and do to make it happen. All there is for us to do is open our hands, and hearts, our minds, and all of our strength to God’s promise of peace and find that it is there.
Amen