Psalm 147:12-20
For Sunday, January 4, 2009
Second Sunday after Christmas Day
As Israeli bombs fall on Gaza and financial stocks are down over 50% what comfort to know that the Lord yet offers us peace and prosperity. These are the themes of Psalm 147.
"Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you. He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat" (vv 12-14).
What are the keys to realizing this blessing? "The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground" (v. 6). "The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in a better investment strategy" (v. 11). Oops, amend that: "... who put their hope in his unfailing love."
"But," you might object, "isn't this promise just for Jerusalem?" This is what the text says (v. 12). The underlying question though is who is Jerusalem? In the New Testament it becomes explicit that 'Jerusalem' connotes more than just a geographic city in Israel. The Apostle Paul points this out to the Galatians when he says, ". . . But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother" (Gal. 4:26). The author to the Hebrews concurs: "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God . . . to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven . . . to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant" (Heb. 12:22-24).
Let us therefore humble ourselves on this first day of 2009. Let us commit our way to the Lord and see if the result does not turn out better than the result of 2008. Let us put our hope in his unfailing love and see if our borders are not strengthened and our pantries filled with the finest of wheat.
Happy New Year.
For Sunday, May 25, 2008
Isaiah 49:8-16a
Proper 3
Whenever I read prophecies about Jerusalem I come back to the question of how to understand them. Are they referring to Jerusalem in history, Jerusalem in its present state, or Jerusalem in its heavenly state? One of my seminary professors provided a very helpful metaphor for forming an answer to this question: the prophetic telescope. The idea is that when you look through a telescope distances get compressed. An object much farther away can appear to be next to a much nearer one. In the same way, the prophetic telescope compresses chronology. Often immediate fulfillment appear alongside more ultimate ones.
Such appears to be the case here. Some of this prophecy may indeed have been fulfilled in post-exilic Israel. Some may have found its fulfillment with the restoration of the Jewish state in 1948. Yet the ultimate fulfillment clearly has not yet been realized and so is most likely to come with the establishment of the heavenly Jerusalem. This seems consistent with the Apostle Paul's own understanding in Gal. 4:24-31, where he says, "But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother" (v. 26). Note too that what is above now will be coming down then, because not only is God creating a new heaven, but a new earth.
So ultimately Isaiah 49 is a vision of God's people in God's place, and for those of us who believe, and who are members of the church, we are already experiencing a foretaste of what this blessing will be. It will be a place of fidelity, where desolate land and inheritances are restored. Captives will be set free and those in darkness will discover new light. There will be food and pasture in plenty, without scorching sun, hunger, or thirst.
What should our response be to this? "Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones." May our lives this day and this week reflect the comfort and compassion the Lord has already showered upon us.
One practical way to do this is to enjoy a Sabbath rest this Sunday. Don't worry about all those household projects or all that mail that needs attention. Let your priority today be to receive comfort and compassion from your Heavenly Father who loves you and blesses you so richly. Rest, be refreshed, and rejoice.
Psalm 147:12-20
