Isaiah's vision here must have seemed a bit strange to the
Israelites. He wrote and prophesied at a
time when there was great unease in the Land.
The northern kingdom of Israel still existed and there was animosity
between the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah.
At one point Israel allied with Syria against Judah. What Isaiah sees here is something that most
of the people who heard his prophecy must not have appreciated at some
level. What he sees is an altar to
Yahweh in Egypt, the land from which the nation was redeemed by the Lord in the
time of Moses. They are, at least
partially, seen to be seeking after the God of Israel. Not only would the Lord make Himself known to
the Egyptians, they would offer sacrifice to Him and also make vows and perform
them. They would, in other words, be
faithful to Yahweh. He would listen to
and heal them, just as He did with Israel.
If this weren't enough, the same would be true in Assyria, another of
the enemies of the nation of Israel, one who would be a thorn in the flesh for
some time to come. Israel would make up
a third of this triumvirate worshipping the Lord and receiving His
blessing. What in the world was Isaiah
thinking? It must surely have been
confusing even to the prophet, but He saw the distant future not necessarily
the near future.
As Jesus and the disciples continue to make their way to
Jerusalem He attempts to give them some idea once again about what will happen
next. The parable speaks of His going to
the Father to receive the kingdom from Him but also tells the disciples what
must be their work in the interim. He
continues to be ruler, in absentia, during the interregnum, and entrusts
portions of what He has to the servants.
Their stewardship is very real and important to the master. The people of the land reject him as king and
wish no part of his headship over them and make that clear, there is no rumor
and gossip, they have spoken for attribution.
When the master returns he demands an accounting of what his servants
have done with what He has given them and those who have produced a return are
commended and given further trust while the one who, like the elder brother in
the parable of the Prodigal Son, had no idea the real character of the master
and therefore feared him, has what he was given taken away. We have been given great trust by God with
the Gospel, as individuals and as the church.
What are we making of that trust?
Are we investing or are we fearful and hoarding it?
Paul makes an appeal to the church in Rome to love one
another in Christ Jesus, to be one in Him who is one with the Father and the
Holy Spirit. There tended to be
divisions in the early church between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians,
the Jews always being a bit wary of the Gentile converts who had no knowledge of
the law, who were not circumcised, and who had more freedoms with respect to
some of the law. In truth the Jewish
believers had all the same freedoms but it took time for them to accept that
freedom. They had to change at a deep
level to accommodate this freedom which had been constrained their entire lives
and which was a point of pride in separating them from the Gentiles. Paul was seeing the fruition of Isaiah's
prophecy, just as we see today the joining hands of Christians all around the
globe worshipping the God of Israel through the Son, Jesus. We live partially in the fulfillment of the
prophecy as we await the fullness.
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