“Fear not” says the author of today’s reading [Isaiah 43:1-7]. But why?
- Why shouldn’t we fear when fires surround us as they did a year ago?
- … when illness and accidents threaten us?
- … when addiction to drugs or alcohol or gambling control us?
- … when our family is falling apart?
- … when there is no job security and insufficient money?
- … when God seems so distant?
But God says, “Do not be afraid — I will save you … you are mine … you are precious to me… I am with you … I love you.”
That’s probably why the author of the first epistle of John could write “there is no fear in love, for perfect love drives out fear.” In Isaiah God assures us that surrounded by his love, we need not fear. Peter, one of Jesus closest friends, echoed the same thought, saying “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.”
But I want to pose a broader question today than why we need not fear, because this passage in Isaiah also makes a point about why God acts as he does. I don’t know about you, but that has been a question that has interested me for a long time.
- Why does God relate to us in the way that he does? Why relate to us at all?
- Why come as a man and suffer on the cross?
- Why continue to guide us by the Holy Spirit
- Why heal?
- Why reveal himself through angels and prophets?
- Why create us in the first place?
- Why does God do anything?
Today’s reading from Isaiah comes within a lengthy section between chapter 42 and 48 that describes God’s actions towards Israel and also indicates the motives behind those actions.
At the time when Isaiah wrote, Israel was in their second period of captivity. The first, in Egypt, had ended more than 700 years before when God empowered Moses to lead his chosen people towards the Promised Land. He lead them by fire and by cloud to fulfill his promises to Abraham — that Abraham’s offspring would be as many as the stars (Gen 15:5), that Abraham’s descendants would occupy Canaan (Gen 15:18–21), and that God would forever be their God (Gen 17:7). By these promises, God bound himself to Israel, not simply for their own good, but so that all people on earth would be blessed through them (Gen 12:3, 18:18, 26:4, 28:14).
But Israel, and I think the majority of us too, were quick to forget God’s favour towards them and his purpose for them. They soon started questioning God’s wisdom, lost faith and became unfaithful. They actively rebelled against God’s laws, preferring to follow the gods of other nations and idols of merely human creation. This rejection of God’s authority lead inevitably to social, moral, economic and spiritual decline, but in the ensuing crisis God acted to retreive the situation from disaster. Sometimes he would provide a leader who could renew their faith (e.g. Samuel, Elijah, Elisha). Sometimes he would provide a military leader. Sometimes he would directly intervene to punish the people (e.g. Ex 32:35, Num 16) or to rescue them from disaster (e.g. 2 Kings 7:5–7). Sometimes he would allow the disaster to run its course so that his people would understand the consequences of their rebellion and eventually return to him in true repentence (e.g. Judges 10:6–15).
This repeating cycle of rebellion and redemption continued until finally, in about 720 B.C., God handed Israel over to Assyria as loot to plunderers (Is 42:24). 2 Kings 17 describes the history of this “handing over” and interprets it as a deliberate punishment in response to Israel’s disobedience. The punishment was intended to teach Israel a lesson in the hope that they would once again return to their God. Yet even the anger of God and the violence of war failed to turn Israel around (Is 42:25).
Now the question is, why did God act in this way? Why did he deliver them from Egypt? Why did he give them the Law? Why did he sometimes rescue them and other times punish them? Was God obligated to do these things because of the covenant he made with Abraham, and if so, why did he choose to bind himself to Israel in that way?
In the midst of Israel’s captivity under Assyria, Isaiah reflects on the meaning of God’s dealings with Israel and seeks to present an answer to these questions. The answer Isaiah reports from God’s own mouth is summarised in the last verse read to us this morning by John — [Read 43:7]. God formed Israel for his own glory, and his actions towards them are designed so that they would proclaim his praise! The message is even stronger in Is 48:11 [READ].
Why does God act as he does? He acts for his own sake; for the glory of his own reputation.
In all our modernness, I think we can lose site of this and regard God as something less than the sovereign and all powerful creator on whom our whole being depends. To modern ears, with all the importance we give to individual achievement and freedom of choice, it is quite a radical suggestion that there is one far greater than us all who demands our obedience.
That is not the end of the story however. On its own, that can be interpreted as an arrogant, self-centred and egotistical motivation for God. I don’t want to get into a long philosphical discussion about that, but move on to point out that this motivation is coupled with another, equally significant and equally radical …
It is the suggestion that God acts for our sake just as much as he acts for his own sake. This is clear from the Isaiah reading:
- “I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me and because I love you and give you honour” (Is 43:4)
and it is echoed in other places in both the Old and New Testaments, like the well known verse in John’s Gospel:
- “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son” (John 3:16)
This is another truth that should shock and amaze us, but perhaps our familiarity with the Good News of Christ innoculates us to its power. How could it be that the creator of the whole universe loves these poor creatures on a small planet in a minor solar system in one of millions of galaxys?
And yet this is what distinguishes the Judeo-Christan God from most other religions and world views. That God knows us personally and wants to be known by us. That God’s love for us motivated him to became one of us, to share our common existance. It’s astonishing!
A lot more could be said about these two motives of God, but let me finish off with the oft-asked question: in the light of this, how should we then live?
- On the one hand, the fact that God loves us and acts for our sake, for our well-being, enables us to relax with a sense of security. There is no safer place than in the arms of God.
- On the other hand, the recognition of who this God is who loves us lays quite a challenge before us. For we are called to be holy as he is holy, and to be a light to the world, ambassadors in his name.
So fear not. You are personally loved by the soverign Lord — a God who is both willing and able to protect you. And in the assurance of that security, let us live out our faith, behaving as worthy ambassadors to such a glorious God, so that all may come to recognise that glory.
Delivered to Berowra Uniting Church in Jan 2004