Does God have the power to protect us or even care for us when our enemies surround us?
Now you and I might answer that question in a resoundingly positive manner, but when the Israelites ask it, when their God seems to have been surrounded by the Babylonian pantheon of gods (and they appear to have won against our God), a probing question such as this is hard to answer.
Does God have the power to protect us or even care for us when we are still recovering from the work we did as a church, Bethesda, yesterday—glorious work as it was?
For a testimony about the coming together as the Body of Christ is wonderful, but. . . but what we did together was hard. And I can stand here and boldly tell you how God is with us, how God watched over us, how God gave us the strength and energy. . . but.
Does God have the power? Does God take us by the hand and lead us when we need the Lord the most?
Just like last week Isaiah will provide the theology and teaching and Matthew will illustrate what the Lord is doing for us.
Move 1- the Divine Name
The book of Isaiah is divided into three subsections—traditionally called first, second, and third Isaiah. The part that where our text is located is labelled as II Isaiah: chapters 40-55. Outside of Genesis 1 where we read the story of Creation, there is more about God as the Creator in this section of Isaiah than in any other place in the entire cannon of the Bible here.
Of particular note is verse 8 of our text today where we have a profoundly simple statement or verse from the prophet. “I am the Lord, that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to idols.”[1]
The first thing to note in this verse is the I AM designation. Every Hebrew hearing this message would have picked up on it and it would touch their hearts. This is the covenantal introduction that you and I are the most familiar with in scripture. It is now God reveals Himself to his people. It is not polytheistic. It is not vague. I AM. This is God’s self-revelation.
This is followed up in the very next word by the divinely revealed name of God, the name God chooses to disclose to us—Yahweh. Both are sacred terms and both are worthy of reverence and worship. Yahweh. The word with no vowels. That which cannot be spoken either in the home or in worship. Rather Hebrews often opt to say Adoni—the Lord.
Yet in our text today, Isaiah has God disclose it to His people—the very people that God just took by the hand. Such a profound coming together. In verse 6 God takes us by the hand, He reminds us of his covenant and then holds His people close as he states his name.
Move 2- Matthew 3
The power of this moment, God holding our hand, disclosing His name, become even more potent, as God leads us to the River which is the place of transformation.
Traditionally this is the moment where we start wondering about repentance and forgiveness in verse 11. This is where some will wonder why Jesus needs to come to the River for was he not sinless?
The weight of what is taking place here begins in verse 11 as John is preaching and teaching the crowds who have come to hear him. At this moment John tells the assembled people that, “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming is mightier…” It is the word ‘repentance’ that always hangs us up here.
The Oxford dictionary defines repentance as: “sincere regret or remorse.” That is exactly how I imagine you and I would think of repenting if we were not thinking about it in a Chirstian or church context. We sincerely regret doing something bad when we think back upon the action that we are repenting.
But for a Hebrew, reading Matthew’s gospel, and considering the weight of what John was saying, there is far more happening here.
For Hebrews repentance implies remorse. It does include sincere regret. But it also requires a full turning away from the action that caused us to sin in the first place. As an example, biblical repentance, as John was speaking about it means that if I were to say, push you over. I feel sorry for it. I tell you I am sorry for I feel great remorse for it. And I do everything in my power to make sure that I will never again push you down.
I turn away fully from the sin, and the choice, that lead me in the wrong direction.
Biblical repentance is an act of transformation. Of turning away. And that choice is impossible on our own. I may not want to ever sin again. I may want to always make a better choice, but by sinful-self will always draw me back to sin.
It is in that moment where I need someone to take me by the hand. I need someone who has revealed himself to me as fully divine, someone who has chosen union with me when He did not have to do that at all. I need someone to give me the strength when I do not have any strength on my own to do things that my nature in itself cries out that I cannot do.
Jesus at the Jordan, in his baptism, comes to us and as the heavens are opened and God’s Spirit descends, he comes upon us and with us, and He gives us His very self as a preparation for what is to come—both in life and in the ministry that we, to go back to last week, being prepared to do.
The Triune God choosing union with us, choosing to lead us, choosing to dwell with us, choosing to disclose himself to us, because left alone we cannot repent and make things right on our own. All of this is happening at the River, and it all happens as we come to repent.
Move 3- community.
But Jesus does not stay at the Jordan River, and neither can we. For as we talked about last week, we have been gathered by the Lord just as the Magi were. Today, we have been led by the revelation of God’s name, and we are taken by the hand by the Lord in an act that we are not worthy of—expect for the truth that God loves us.
This was all done to prepare us to be sent out to share the gospel message with others. For they too are gathered and led by God.
Stanley Hauerwas writes that Christians are called to be a community capable of forming people with virtue sufficient to witness God’s truth in the world. And so on the Sunday were we consider the Baptism of our Lord, I wonder, how might our church be—or become—a community capable of forming people who witnessed to God’s truth?[2]
Where are the places, and who are the people who God is bringing into your midst that you can share this message with?
Conclusion
For this week, the message of the Lord invites us to consider the places and moments where our union with Jesus becomes different, deeper and different.
For God does have the power and the presence to protect and care for us as our enemies surround and encircle us.
DM
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