New Things #1
The Prophet Isaiah expressed the beautiful idea that God was doing a New Thing in Israel's life and history. We find references to this idea of newness in Isaiah 42, 43, 48, 62, 65 and 66. What is particularly striking is the thought that all this newness is offered to a community coming out of seventy years of exile. Their exile had drained and stretched them. Psalm 137 (often called "By the Rivers of Babylon") describes their sense of desolation and desperation.
And yet God plans to do something new:
- A way in the desert
- Streams in the wasteland
- A way in the desert
- Streams in the wasteland
Overnight, the Babylonians were defeated and King Cyrus of the Persians takes centre-stage. His policy was to reverse the "scorched-earth" and "brain-drain" policies of the Babylonians and he allowed the Israelites to return to Palestine and even allows them to rebuild the temple and their city. They had an opportunity to thrive!!!
Sadly, the Israelites squandered their "new day." They failed to embrace the salvation and liberty that God had given them and chose to live selfishly and ungratefully. They neglected the temple, treated their fellow humans cruelly, focused on personal gain. They became obsessed with ethnic purity and didn't honour God or devote themselves to Him. In a nutshell, they let the bitterness and scarcity mentality of the exile stay with them.
The same dangers exist for us...
| "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland. (Isaiah43:18-19) |
