For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, "Read this, please," they will answer, "I can't; it is sealed." – Isaiah 29:11

Today's Scripture Reading (April 7, 2023): Isaiah 29

The earth's core has stopped spinning; well, kind of. In fact, according to scientists, the earth's core has reversed in direction, but again we have to add the words, kind of. You see, as long as our world travels around the sun, the core can never wholly stop spinning. But it can change the speed with which the earth rotates. So, in the past, the earth's core has been spinning in the same direction as the earth's outer crust, the place where we live, only it is spinning just a little faster than we are. So, it appears to be turning in a specific direction. What has happened recently is that the core has slowed a little so that it either spins at the same rate as the outer crust, which means it appears to have stopped from our point of view, or slows a little more so that it seems that it has reversed direction from our point of view living on the outer crust. But that is not entirely true.

What does it mean? Well, that depends on to whom you are listening. According to most scientists, it doesn't mean much. Our twenty-four-hour day might get a little longer, or maybe a little shorter, but not enough that any of us will notice. Having said that, I know some Christians who seem to believe that this is the end of time. I had one friend who recently texted me as he read one of the news reports on the slowing of the core with the exclamation, "It's over!" Is it? Maybe. I don't really know. But it also isn't the first time this has happened. It happened in the 1960s and 70s, and nothing happened then. Yet, anything is possible.

Isaiah looks at his prophecy and states, "I know you will not understand this. It is like you are illiterate and trying to make sense of the various strokes, lines, and dots you see on the page. It is like I handed you a book that someone has sealed. And when I ask you to read it, you look at me and tell me that the book is shut and cannot be opened." And if you do get to read it, the words don't make any sense to you because your eyes are closed. But that doesn't mean that there isn't truth in the words.

I think prophecy is still locked, but the purpose is different. Maybe, God has sealed the prophecy because of our sin, but there might be another reason. I don't think God wants us to know the specifics of what will happen, even though we seem to expend a lot of energy on that task. We don't need to know when God has said that this will end, just that it will. And so, we are to live daily as if Jesus's return is only moments away. But our focus is not on the return, but on what God wants from us with the time we have left before he arrives on this planet he created, regardless of whether that return is only moments or decades away.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 30

That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot. – Isaiah 28:3

Today's Scripture Reading (April 6, 2023): Isaiah 28

Growing up in a city with a tall tower at the center of its downtown, one of the tasks when returning home from a trip was a contest between the kids, and sometimes our parents, to see who could see the tower first. We would watch over the rolling hills trying to see the top of the tower and the realization that we were nearing the end of our travel. Today, the task of trying to see the tower is almost impossible. The Calgary Tower, or the Husky Tower back when we were trying to see it, is still an imposing structure standing 190.8 meters (626 feet) above the ground. But where once the Calgary Tower stood alone as the tallest building on the city's skyline, today, several higher office complexes surround the tower, making the tower look smaller and just a little harder to see as you approach the city.

Isaiah begins this section by discussing Ephraim, another name for the northern Kingdom of Israel. Isaiah will focus on Judah, but he starts by talking about Judah's northern neighbors. And in the north, the capital city of Ephraim was Samaria. Samaria sat on a hill, an important defensive feature of many cities. But, as well as being built on a hill, Samaria featured a city wall, another standard part of many cities. However, the visual effect of looking at Samaria as you approached the city from a distance was like the hill on which Samaria was built was wearing a winner's wreath or a crown. It was a feature of Samaria of which the residents were proud, considering their city as a member of the royalty in the world.

But Isaiah reminds the city's residents that the walls are only as strong as the men who guard them. Isaiah calls these men drunkards. And just as the drunks of Israel have a problem trying to stand straight, so would the walls of which the drunks are proud; the walls of Samaria were destined to come tumbling down. And as the city's walls fell, so will the nation. And Judah will have a front-row seat to see the destruction of their northern neighbors.

However, Isaiah doesn't want Judah just to watch the demise of Israel. He wants them to understand that what happens to Ephraim could very well happen to the descendants of David if they don't change their ways. If they are going to follow the behavior of Ephraim, then they shouldn't expect that their destiny would be anything different.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 29

Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me." – Isaiah 27:5

Today's Scripture Reading (April 5, 2023): Isaiah 27

In the late 1800s, there was a Scramble for Africa as European powers sought to divide the land for its own prosperity. The Scramble set up the African nations for a struggle to survive for the next century and beyond, and Africa still suffers from the effects of the Scramble today. In 1870, ten percent of Africa was controlled by Europeans. By 1914 and the onset of the First World War, that percentage had increased to ninety. By the beginning of World War I, only Liberia and Ethiopia remained independent of European dominance. The beginning of the Scramble for Africa is often dated to the Berlin Conference in 1884, but by then, the Scramble had really already begun as Europe looked for the African nations that they wanted to take under their exploitive wings.

It is against the backdrop of this Scramble for Africa that we need to read the poem that has found a permanent residence at the base of the Statue of Liberty. The poem "The New Colossus" features the lines,

            Give me your tired, your poor,

            Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

            The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

            Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me

            I lift my lamp beside the golden door (Emma Lazarus)!

Emma Lazarus's words took on new significance when Donald Trump was at the helm of the United States. As Trump turned his vision inward and spoke of the "sh**hole" nations that were sending their "poor huddled masses, yearning to be free" to the United States, we began to reinterpret the words that grace the base of the Statue of Liberty. But we need to read the whole poem to really understand what Emma Lazarus was trying to say with her work.

Lazarus wrote the poem in 1883, a year before the 1884 Berlin Conference was called to discuss the future of the African nations. And the poem's opening words sound like a direct shot at the European activities in Africa.

            Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

            With conquering limbs astride from land to land: (an allusion to the Greek Colossus)

            Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

            A mighty woman with a torch whose flame

            Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name

            Mother of Exiles (Emma Lazarus).

The New Colossus would not take its place keeping watch over the conquerors but rather as a figure that welcomed the conquered being gathered to its shores. It is a choice, but America would not be concerned with ruling over Africa, nor would they allow any foreign nation to rule over the countries on this shore.

And then Lazarus declares, "Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp! She cries with silent lips" (Emma Lazarus). This is not who we are on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

Isaiah says something similar to his audience in what amounts to one of the forgotten promises of the Hebrew Bible. In the preceding verse, God announces his willingness to march against the "briars and thorns confronting me" (Isaiah 27:4)! But he also presents a choice. You could come to me, and I will give you refuge. You could make peace with me. But the choice is up to you. We can struggle, or we can surrender and allow the peace of God to fill our lives. God calls us to

Give me your tired, your poor,

            Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

            The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

            Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.

And I [God] will give you rest. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 28

 

He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust. – Isaiah 26:5

Today's Scripture Reading (April 4, 2023): Isaiah 26

In 1901, a Christian pastor ministering in New York wrote a hymn that has become one of our favorites. Rev. Maltie D Babcock penned, "This is My Father's World," basing his composition on Genesis 1:1, that "In the beginning," God created everything. Babcock was a frequent visitor of the Niagara Escarpment. This ridge runs primarily east-west from New York State, through Ontario, and then to Northern Michigan before turning south into Wisconsin. The Niagara Escarpment is most famous for being the ridge over which the Niagara River plunges, forming Niagara Falls. And from that vantage point, it is hard not to consider all of our Father's world's beauty. And so, Babcock writes these words;

This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought (Maltbie D. Babcock).

I remember singing the song at the funeral of a friend who died in a car accident when I was in High School. Funerals of someone so young are always hard, but hers was even more significant. She had been sitting in the middle seat of a pickup truck when the driver lost control of the vehicle. Unbelted, she flew through the truck's windshield before, somehow, she got stuck and was pulled back through the window a second time. There was absolutely nothing beautiful in this circumstance, and the body of this beautiful seventeen-year-old girl was so disfigured that she would have been unrecognizable.

If I am honest, this world I live in often looks more like the world I had to confront as a kid in High School mourning the death of a friend than it does the world that Maltbie Babcock writes about as he walked the Niagara Escarpment. It is an ugly world, often filled with corruption instead of the singing of nature, a place where the lofty take advantage of those who live without power. And sometimes, it is tough to see the wonders created by the hand of God.

Isaiah seems to see the world I live in, not the one about which Maltbie Babcock writes. But he also sees the day in which all of this will turn around. The lofty and the corrupt will be laid low, allowing the beauty of the world that Babcock saw to finally emerge. It is this day that Jesus spoke of when he taught that "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5).

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 27

The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure. – Isaiah 25:10

Today's Scripture Reading (April 3, 2023): Isaiah 25

There are a lot of considerations that go into the idea of what seems right. And often, they are calculations that we make without even consciously thinking about what is right or wrong. Maybe one of the most foundational calculations concerns the result of the action under consideration. Is the action going to leave me in a better place? What about the possible detrimental consequences of the action? And since few things are all good with no bad, what are the predicted possibilities of the outcome?

If we are going to do something illegal, considering the possible outcomes become the most crucial consideration. When I was fresh out of High School, I worked nights in a local department store. Many things about the job were slightly illegal, or maybe a better word might be dishonest. In good weather, especially during the summer, there was very little to do during the night, so we sat around playing cards, watching television, or whatever else we wanted to do. If a supervisor happened by, which rarely happened, someone would walk through the store whistling a tune, the sign that it was time to get back to work. It was a low-risk activity, but it was also a reasonably low reward.

The store would also occasionally plant money in the store, an attempt to see if we would take the money or turn it back into the store. We knew, and so we always turned the money in. Taking the money would have been a much higher-risk activity.

The most important consideration is often the one to which we give the least attention; what does God think of the action? Maybe there is an upside from a human point of view, but is God on our side in the decision? It is something that I know some struggle with, although most of the struggle seems to be in the direction of "how can I get God to say that what I want to do is alright?" What are the types of arguments I have heard? The most common is some variation on "everyone lies on their resume (they don't), so if I am honest, I am putting myself at a disadvantage?" Or "my boss takes advantage of me, so me taking advantage of the company just evens the field?" God will understand, right?

Isaiah makes this observation. God's hand is on his mountain. God's hand gently guides those who serve him. But he tramples Moab and those who stand against him. So, while we are considering our options and what seems right, maybe the question we need to ask is, do we want the tender touch of the guiding hand of God, or would we prefer to be the ones trampled under his feet? The choice is really all ours.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 26

 

Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. – Isaiah 24:6

Today's Scripture Reading (April 2, 2023): Isaiah 24

The closest planet to the sun and the hottest planet in our Solar System are actually two different planets. Mercury is the closest planet to the sun, and we would think that Mercury might be the hottest place within our planetary system, with a maximum temperature at the equator on the sunny side of the planet at 427 °C (800 °F). However, the average temperature on Venus surpasses Mars's extreme temperature by a few degrees; the average temperature on Venus is 464 °C (867 °F). The reason why the hotter planet is the one further from the sun is the presence of an atmosphere. Mars doesn't have an atmosphere; Venus possesses an atmosphere with an out-of-control greenhouse effect. Venus is often considered our sister planet, the one planet in the solar system most like the planet on which we live. So, our sister planet might also provide us with a look at our future. Maybe a hot mess suits us.

Christians haven't paid much attention to climate change or ecological dangers. We often seem to be on the side of those destroying our planet rather than standing with those trying to save it. But the reality is that many tribulations listed for the end of time could be produced by a world whose atmosphere is dying or changing. Cancerous tumors, increasing heat, and the death of the plants and animals we depend on are all in keeping with atmospheric changes. We won't experience a new Venus; the human race will be gone long before the transformation reaches that stage, but we will have destroyed the planet on which we live.

Is climate change something that we should be concerned about? My answer is yes. For me, it is our overlooked sin. The first job God gave to humans was to care for the planet. For the past decade, every year has presented us with a new record high temperature from a global perspective, and it seems to be part of our mismanagement. I know many things that produce climate change are out of our control. Many argue that most of our atmosphere's contaminants naturally occur, as if that fact somehow absolves us of our guilt. But the truth is that it magnifies the importance of doing what we can do to help the planet. We do not want to be the ones who provide the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Maybe climate change is inevitable; Isaiah says that the curse is coming. My problem is, when I stand before God at the end of all things, I don't want God to ask me why I contributed to the planet's curse rather than being on the side of those trying to fix the problem. It might be a lost cause already, but then again, a lost cause has never stopped God before, and I can't see the impossible stopping him now.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 25

 

Look at the land of the Babylonians, this people that is now of no account! The Assyrians have made it a place for desert creatures; they raised up their siege towers, they stripped its fortresses bare and turned it into a ruin. – Isaiah 23:13

 

Today's Scripture Reading (April 1, 2023): Isaiah 23

Chaldea, a small nation located at the southernmost end of Babylonia, existed from the late tenth century until the middle of the sixth century B.C.E. It is thought to be the birthplace of Abraham during the region's prehistory. Thus, it is an area of significance to the people of Israel. The language spoken in Chaldea is part of the Semitic group of languages, a distinct language family that includes Hebrew. The most common of the Semitic languages is Arabic. 

As Isaiah prophecies against Tyre, he directs attention to the land of Babylon. But Babylon is an insertion of the translators; the actual word that Isaiah uses is "Chaldeans." Isaiah's word choice is a reminder of a couple of things. The most obvious is that while prophesying about the demise of Babylon, Isaiah notes that Babylon has yet to rise. The Babylon Empire of Nebuchadnezzar, which would dominate the world stage and destroy Jerusalem and Solomon's temple, is more commonly referred to as the Neo-Babylonian or New Babylonian Empire. But it also goes by another name, the Chaldean Empire. The reason for the last name goes back to the identity of Nabopolassar, the father of Nebuchadnezzar II. Nabopolassar doesn't go into his heritage and calls himself "the son of a nobody." But contemporary documents call him the King of the Sea. The problem with the title is that Babylon has no border with any sea-like body of water except in the extreme south, in Chaldea, where the nation pushes up against the inlet we know today as the Sea of Kuwait, part of the Persian Gulf. If this is true, Nabopolassar and his son, Nebuchadnezzar, were Chaldeans.

Isaiah asks his readers to look to the Chaldeans, a people of no importance until some Assyrian official gathers them together and exiles them to Babylon in the north. At that time, the idea was launched of possibly overthrowing their occupiers and finally returning to their homes by the Sea of Kuwait.

The dream was fulfilled by Nabopolassar, the "King of the Sea" and the "Son of a Nobody." Babylon and the Chaldeans were a people of unimportance, until they weren't, in the hands of some Chaldeans who likely only wanted to return home.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Isaiah 24