The Shape of Things to Come – Isaiah 35:1-10

Before the pandemic, I had the privilege to attend a retreat in Ottawa led by Steve Bell. Steve is primarily a musician who has become well known for his thought-provoking songs of faith that speak to the human condition.  As with most song writers, he has written from his own experience of life and his own growing and changing relationship with God.

In recent years Steve has also started leading retreats and writing devotional material.  He has no formal background in theological education and yet he brings a depth of insight and wisdom that makes for compelling reading.  Among his works is a series of small books entitled Pilgrim Year.  Through this series, Steve explores the different seasons and times of the church year as he works his way through the themes that are most significant to each time.  He has a folksy way of writing which is refreshing as it is devoid of any language that people might find confusing.

In chapter 5 of his pilgrim journey through Advent, Steve explores what he calls the Advent Oracles of Isaiah.  Isaiah is the prophet most often quoted by Jesus and others when exploring the theme of the Messiah.   But Isaiah – more than any other prophet – speaks not only of the personality and traits of the one who will be the Messiah, he also speaks of what the kingdom of God will look like.  Claude Mariottini – in his book What are we waiting for? – says this about the prophet: “Isaiah’s message directs our faith to a future in which justice will prevail, in which creation will be restored, and universal peace will be established. Advent heightens this hope and impels us to journey together with Immanuel on this Holy Way.” (Pilgrim Way: Advent, p. 39)

Steve focuses on some of the more familiar oracles – prophetic visions - of Isaiah:

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths. He shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. (Isaiah 2:2-4)

With righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth…. The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall life down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. (Isaiah 11:4,6)

The Lord himself with give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

The oracles point to a day when nations in search of wisdom will stream to the mountain of the Lord; warriors will beat their weapons into gardening tools; the wolf with lie down in peace with the lamb; and a virgin will give birth to a child who will lead us.  Steve reflects on how these prophecies can be quite comforting yet at the same time they are really suggesting a radical and challenging reversal of wisdom as we often perceive it.

NATIONS WILL STREAM TO THE MOUNTAIN OF THE LORD

Ever consider that things don’t stream uphill? Yet nations will stream to the mountain of the Lord.  Steve sees in this imagery of Isaiah a radical reversal of nature, an image intended to describe not only a change physically but also as it relates to our inner logic.  Often the inclination of people is to move away from God and seek for solutions to problems through their own logic and use force to achieve their goals, but the prophet sees that the only true hope for real wisdom and peace for the nations lies in their coming to God – ascending to the height of God and rising above that which has not brought them peace or hope.

THEY WILL BEAT THEIR WEAPONS INTO PLOUGHSHARES

The second oracle contains the unlikely prediction that people will turn weapons into pruning shears.  This aspiration is all well and good, except that throughout history, the world’s largest economies are almost always based on the need for war and the opportunities for wealth created through war.  It is hard to imagine the radical shift in worldview that would be necessary before the abandonment of arms could ever gain traction in this world.

THE WOLF WILL LIE DOWN WITH THE LAMB

The wolf and the lamb have always been used as metaphors for human beings. Some actively seek to incite violence while others seek to live in peace. Of course, depending on your perspective, you may see yourself as a lamb while others may view you as a wolf.  Steve himself reflects on the passage this way: “I am a reasonably nice Christian man committed to the betterment of my fellows through the exercise of the gifts God has bestowed on me for the sake of the gospel. Surely, if there is a continuum, I lean towards the lamb side.  And yet, I am aware that I am a white middle-class, privileged consumer. I participate in and benefit from systemic injustice every day – feeding like a wolf on the labours of others. I can try to justify this behaviour, I suppose, but I don’t think my defences would stand long before the steely gaze of the ‘Lamb who is on the throne.’” (Pilgrim Way: Advent, p. 43-44)

A VIRGIN WILL BEAR A SON; A CHILD WILL LEAD THEM

Consider how God chose to enter the human story. God would come into the world in a way that bears a resemblance to the way we all enter this world and yet in a way that no other person has ever come to be. Isaiah’s prophecy will come to fruition in Mary.   And the child born will be called Emmanuel – God with us.   The Child will lead them in so many ways and even when the Child matures to adulthood, he will never forget or neglect those in society who are weak and powerless.  Through this Child, whom society would have deemed illegitimate, God will reveal his ultimate love, ultimate mercy, ultimate forgiveness, and ultimate justice. Through this Child, God will challenge the institutions and social norms that the people of the world had constructed for themselves and reveal the path that will lead people to real peace and freedom.

Jesus said:” The kingdom of God is within you and among you” (Luke 21:17). One of the invitations of Advent is to attend to the heart of things… to come to know that what we need the most, though veiled, is already given as a deposit against what is to come. The joy of the Christian is to give witness, in faith and deed, to what is, and what most certainly will be.

AMEN