19 May 2010
Psalm 101, 109; Isa. 4:2-6; Eph. 4:1-16; Matt. 8:28-34

Isaiah has a vision of the future glory of Zion. He sees not the restoration of what was once but a greater glory than has ever been. What he describes is similar to the vision John has in the Revelation he was given on Patmos. They both see a new Jerusalem where nothing sinful or evil remains, all that is unholy has been burned away in judgment and swept from the face of the earth. The new Jerusalem is the permanent abode of the Lord and all who dwell there receive His protection and bask in His glory. This is the answer to the petition in the Lord’s prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Jesus brings the kingdom to the country of the Gerasenes and the people are afraid. His power is great to overthrow this demonic force and they aren’t sure it is safe to have one with this kind of power around. Everything about this scene begs the question, why did Jesus come here. He doesn’t say why they have crossed over here and He only does this one thing. It seems that He has come for these men (only one man is described by the other synoptic). He has come to a Gentile country, gone among the tombs, dealt with demons and come near to pigs. There are not many more images of unclean we could get in one brief scene and it would be difficult to imagine a rabbi or priest going there but Jesus had a mission and purpose. The kingdom of God has come near and they have rejected it.

Paul has a vision of the church as the harbinger of the new creation. He sees a people united in love and peace. His vision is the same as Jesus’ from the prayer in John 17, that we would be one as He and the Father are one and that this bond of unity would be the Holy Spirit working in us. What Paul also describes is that one body, the church, working in the power of the Holy Spirit, putting into use the gifts for ministry in order that together we can reveal Jesus to the world, that the world would see Him in us, working in and through the lives of ordinary people to accomplish great things. The picture Isaiah gave was the cloud from the Exodus over the new Jerusalem as the symbol of the presence of God, Paul’s sign is the Holy Spirit in us, God dwelling in us, and the extraordinary work that is possible when we submit our lives and our gifts to His use.

With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
I will praise him in the midst of the throng.
For he stands at the right hand of the needy one,
to save him from those who condemn his soul to death.