The subject for today is the Consolation of Israel. The church calendar places this topic here to remember the Feast of the Innocents, the killing of all boys in Jerusalem and around it who were less than 2 years old. The people of Jerusalem did not support the birth of Christ. No only Herod was alarmed by Jesus birth, but all Jerusalem with him according to the Biblical account. Like our day, the people merely wanted to live in peace. They were tired of the tyranny of Rome. And they were fearful of the maniacal rages of Herod. So the birth of a king who could threaten Rome or Herod was something they wanted to know nothing more about. Little did they know that their lack of support would lead to sobbing in every home. Herod was left unchecked, the Holy Family escaped to Egypt and the people of Jerusalem had to give up their children to be killed.
Like the people of Jerusalem, all people need the revelation of God to tell what is holy and what is wicked. The Bible says in John 16:8 - "And when he is come, he will reprove the world of evil, and of justice, and of judgment." At first, that seems like a foolish verse. Of course we know what is right and wrong. The truth is that even in the greatest issues of life, Christians and Christian leaders through the ages have often gotten sin, justice, and judgment confused.
Every Bible school and seminary in big and small schools, Methodist or Catholic or Baptist, liberal or conservative, uses a few basic tools for theological study. One of the most standard is Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. While the name may be new to you, referring to Kittel might happen once a week if you were in school. The Dictionary is about 15 volumes. It is massive and brilliant. And yet Gerhard Kittel was a completely confused man about evil and justice. He worked his whole life on the Bible as did his father before him and somehow missed the inner word of the Holy Spirit that would help him understand right and wrong on the most basic issues of life. Gerhard Kittel was an ardent Nazi
You will hear a prophetic reading this morning to usher in the New Year. We are looking for a time when the Holy Spirit will show the nations the true character of God. The Prophetic reading opens with the exultant cry of a royal figure who speaks on behalf of true Israel. God in God's own person has dressed this speaker in "garments of salvation" and a "robe of righteousness." This attire is appropriate to the joy and delight of a royal wedding when the groom wears the most glittering headdress and the bride the most luxurious jewels. This glory in the social and political world is like the outbreak of new growth in fields that are fertile and blessed, and like the luxuriant plantings of well-watered and carefully tended gardens.
We all need the Holy Spirit in us to apply the Scriptures. Jesus opened the understanding of the disciples, explained to them the hidden mysteries of the kingdom of God, and even helped them prepare for the idea that the Pharisees in his absence should put them out of their synagogues, and excommunicate them; yea, that the time should come, that whosoever killed them, would think they did God service. May God help each of us that our zeal for God will recognize and uphold the glory of God in this new year.
In v. 10 the servant-prophet praises Yahweh for clothing him with victory garments (garments of salvation) and a robe of righteousness. The king compares himself to a bride or groom getting dressed up for their wedding ceremony.
We are in a new year and God tells us that hope is ok. We think about the many times that the world gets it wrong, but there are times when the world gets it right. This is the wonderful passage where the King comes to give sight to the blind, set free from chains those who are oppressed and give hope to the disconsolate. Once the writer understands that God still intends to make this happen, he vows to pray and pray and pray that this will be the year of justice breaking out like a party.
I was profoundly shocked by the video you have seen. I went to a seminary that used Kittel. Today, the complete Kittel costs $700. My professors recommended that we each have our own set. Of course, I am shocked by his behavior. I really could not believe this material except that it was published with a grant from the United Methodist Church. I even got two volumes of Kittel for a wedding gift.
And to think that my professors did not say a word. Some of them were in Europe at the time of the war. And of course, you say that his work was not affected by his beliefs. Are you certain of that? He never changed his mind.
There are many Christian leaders in our own day who handle the Bible casually. They have supported war and ignore torture and instead issue fund raising appeals to protect the family, the 10 commandments on public property, and prayer in schools. I do not believe that they are leading under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to convict the world of evil, justice, and judgment.
Isaiah says that the vision of righteousness is new to people even though we marvel that it would be. We have heard all these reports of torture and you would expect every American to leap to their feet to repudiate it. But to Vice President Cheney, a United Methodist member, it is normal and needed procedure for the good of the nation. He just doesn’t get it.
The Hebrew word (not from Kittel) is a tzemach. The justice that springs up, then, is never a mere branch, much less a twig, of a tree, but is rather a fresh sprout springing newly from ground or root, so as to form a new plant of some kind. Here this connotation emphasizes the divine newness of the "righteousness" which the Messiah was to produce by His vicarious humiliation and then impute to "all nations" in the justification of the world. This justification would then redound to His "praise in the presence of all nations" in the grateful response of all those sinners who would appropriate the righteousness of the Messiah through faith in Him.
Isaiah imagines a day when According to v. 4 Jerusalem will no longer be called Forsaken and Desolate, but "My Delight is in Her" (Hephzibah) and "Married and Completed" (Beulah).We need to enter this new year with prayers for the world and for our nation and a renewed excitement for when God’s will shall come to pass. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail with peace on earth, good will to men.
