He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. – Isaiah 49:2

Today's Scripture Reading (September 12, 2023): Isaiah 49

One of the more prominent themes in Science Fiction is the possibility of Time Travel and whether moving through time, either backward or forward, is possible or even advisable. But part of the attraction to time travel is to attempt to change history positively by removing certain people from the story the past tells. Usually, at least in the fictional world, the attempt to change history results in some unforeseen circumstances. What would have happened to our world in the middle years of the 20^th Century if Adolf Hitler had been removed from the historical equation during the early years of the century? Would World War II have still happened? And what about Germany? Would it still have the needed building blocks to rebuild the nation, which had been marginalized since World War I? Or, for that matter, what if Winston Churchill was killed during his childhood? Would these events have bent history in any direction, or would someone else rise to take their place? What would have changed in history if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated in Dallas on November 22, 1963? How would the history of civil rights in the United States have changed if Martin Luther King, Jr. had avoided being killed in Memphis on April 4, 1968? Would history have changed for the better or the worse? It is an interesting question that we will likely never be able to answer. But an even bigger question might be what would happen if Babe Ruth never played baseball or Wayne Gretzky had never played hockey? It would have impacted the sports world, at least a little, but would the effect have been more expansive than just to Baseball and Hockey?

Isaiah begins to speak of the Messiah. When he arrives on this Earth, he will be a force for change in this world in which we live. From our point of view in history, we know the reality of the changes to this world that the Christian message has brought, primarily for good. However, we have also had our bad moments when we stopped listening to Jesus's instructions.

The prophet says that the mouth of the Messiah would be like a sharpened sword, indicating that the Messiah would speak with authority. But he also says the Messiah would be hidden in "the shadow of his hand." It is a phrase that seems to indicate that, at least for a while, the Messiah would live an unremarkable life.

Jesus was born in a stable in Bethlehem. It is an unusual story today, although giving birth in the shelter of a cave, which is where the stable was likely located, was probably not as big a deal then as it would be today. We know that Jesus had a great conversation with the experts of the law in the Temple when he was only twelve, but nothing else is known of Jesus between his birth in a cave and the beginning of his ministry three decades later. For those years, he was hidden in the shadows of history and existed as a polished arrow in the quiver of God. The time for his ministry would come, and the Messiah would be revealed. But until that time, no one needed to know he was there.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 50