Making Everything New (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Creator: CharlieAJA | Copyright: CharlieAJA

“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
    and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
    And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
    Her people will be a source of joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
    and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
    will be heard in it no more.

“No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
    No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
    Only the cursed will die that young!
In those days people will live in the houses they build
    and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
    and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
    and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
They will not work in vain,
    and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
    and their children, too, will be blessed.
I will answer them before they even call to me.
    While they are still talking about their needs,
    I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
    The lion will eat hay like a cow.
    But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
    I, the Lord, have spoken!” (New Living Translation)

I long for better days. Perhaps you do, as well. Day after day I see the physical and emotional suffering of others. I hear of the many needs of people in my community and around the world. And I face my own personal experiences of loss, grief, disease, death, limitations, etc. We all do. We inhabit a planet full of people in want, families in crisis, communities in pain, institutions in decline, and nations in conflict.

Yet, thank God, it won’t be like this forever. There are days coming which many people could never even dream or conceive of – days of unimaginable blessing, peace, and rest. This is anticipatory joy.

The coming newness will be as large and capacious as God is. Although the old heavens have had controversy and rebellion, and the old earth is burned over with violence, the new realm of God shall be free of sin, death, and evil. It will be governed with unending peace, justice, righteousness, and faithfulness.

Stability and order will oversee long life. No more will there be waking up to mass shootings, overnight murders, theft, brutality, coups, wars, and unrest. Life itself shall thrive, and will not be continually at risk. Quality of life will be the rule, not the exception.

Economic security will be ensconced with no fear of losing jobs or being taken advantage of – no phishing emails, no scam artists, no religious manipulators – a person shall reap the full harvest of their labor. The land and its people will experience continual blessing, and no longer live under a curse. The threat of disaster won’t hang over everyone’s head.

Children will be protected and free from harm. Whereas they are vulnerable to a host of the world’s evils, in God’s new heaven and earth, every year is the year of the child. They will neither be exploited nor expected to be adults before their time.

In short, the coming newness will be a true egalitarian society in which everyone possesses what they need and contributes fully to the community and common good of all. It’s more than individual blessing; its public practices and policies of blessing for the entire community.

Civil peace and protection, economic viability and development, and social stability and security need more than human ingenuity and attention – they need God’s providential care and pure holiness to be realized on a real and practical level.

Accessibility to God is a must. Otherwise, we’re just building structures that will fall and programs which shall fizzle and be forgotten. According to the New Testament, such access has been granted.

For he [Christ] is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us, abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:14-18, NRSV)

And so,

Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. (Hebrews 4:16, NRSV)

Present circumstances may be difficult; current situations might be hard; a sense of being overwhelmed could be our experience, right now – yet our present difficulties and current realities cannot overwhelm God’s new and upcoming heaven and earth. Our daring faith sees beyond the now to what will be.

For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure.
2 Corinthians 4:17, NRSV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them and be their God;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.”

And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21:1-5, NRSV)

Amen.

Encouragement to Be Faithful (2 Timothy 1:3-7)

Timothy, I thank God for you—the God I serve with a clear conscience, just as my ancestors did. Night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.

I remember your genuine faith, for you share the faith that first filled your grandmother Lois and your mother, Eunice. And I know that same faith continues strong in you. This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline. (New Living Translation)

Every individual person I meet is interesting. Everyone has a story. Each person has values which are important to them.

The Apostle Paul had quite the story of conversion to Christianity. And so, he understandably had a high value of passing on the faith to reliable and competent persons who would then do the same. Timothy was one of those persons, a protégé of his mentor Paul.

Paul reminded Timothy of his identity, rooted in a faithful family, and encouraged him to tap into that robust spirit which resides within him. The Apostle encouraged him to fully express that spirit without fear or timidity.

For example, I care about kids. Children are a high value to both me and my wife. When meeting and engaging a family for the first time, we will inevitably talk to the child before addressing the parents. We care about any issue in the world which has to do with children – and we have a strong sense of morality concerning children because we love kids.

Be faithful to your calling, and to the values and ethics which undergird it. Whatever is important to us is where our sense of morality and ministry lie.

“Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
Jesus (Matthew 6:21, NLT)

Everyone is moralistic because everyone cares about something. And we will live and die by our code of ethics, grounded in the values we most cherish.

In Holy Scripture, although there are hundreds of laws in the Bible, the highest standard of ethics and morality is contained in just a few chapters: The Ten Words (Commandments) found in the Old Testament chapter of Exodus 20; and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount found in the New Testament chapters of Matthew 5-7.

These few chapters can be distilled into a few short ethical phrases:

“Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.” And “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)

This means that every teaching found in the Bible comes down to love. (Mark 12:30-31)

Throughout the history of the church, the highest ethical values have always had to do with knowing and loving the Creator, Sovereign, and triune God – Father, Son, and Spirit – and the majesty of people who are created in the divine image and likeness.

The movement and trajectory of Holy Scripture is that a good and benevolent God makes and keeps promises to people. Even when they fall and try to create small petty worlds of their own, a gracious God is active, wooing lost people to return to the spirit which resides within them.

Therefore, the Bible is an unfolding drama of redemption in which a loving God goes out of the way to bring back straying, hurting, helpless people. (Luke 15)

Which is why, for me, attending to the inner soul, teaching people the words and ways of Jesus, and providing spiritual care to others is a very high value. I love God, and I love people. It’s easy to understand, then, why I treasure the following:

Practicing solitude, silence, and other spiritual disciplines.
Connecting with God daily in contemplative prayer and meditative Bible reading.
Paying attention to hurting people and bringing them grace, mercy, faith, hope, love, and gentleness.
Seeking to act with civility and respect toward others I disagree with, or just don’t like very well.
Engaging others who don’t share my values of faith in God.
Praying and hoping for people to be healed and whole.
Pursuing the common good of all people, no matter who they are.

My deep conviction is that the care of the soul is just as important as the care of the body; that attention to exercising the mind with Holy Scripture is just as important to overall health and well-being as cardio workouts and sensible eating; and that the hope of the world resides with knowing Jesus Christ (and not with a lesser hope that wishes things will work out in the end if I’m sincere to my personal ethical beliefs).

Paul wanted Christians to engage in the care of souls, to fan into flame the spiritual gifts which already lie within us, even if they may seem dormant or non-existent.

So, be faithful to who you are, to what you have been called to, and especially to the good news:

For there is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time. (1 Timothy 2:5-6, NLT)

Great God and Father of all, remember the multitudes who have been created in your image but have not known the redeeming work of our Savior Jesus Christ; and grant that, by the prayers and labors of your Church, they may be brought to know and worship you as you have been revealed in your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Messages of Hope (Zechariah 8:1-17)

On December 14, 2022November 16, 2022 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

A 14th century tapestry of the Apostle John’s vision of the New Jerusalem

The word of the Lord Almighty came to me.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I am very jealous for Zion; I am burning with jealousy for her.”

This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City, and the mountain of the Lord Almighty will be called the Holy Mountain.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Once again men and women of ripe old age will sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each of them with cane in hand because of their age. The city streets will be filled with boys and girls playing there.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “It may seem marvelous to the remnant of this people at that time, but will it seem marvelous to me?” declares the Lord Almighty.

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I will save my people from the countries of the east and the west. I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem; they will be my people, and I will be faithful and righteous to them as their God.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Now hear these words, ‘Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built.’ This is also what the prophets said who were present when the foundation was laid for the house of the Lord Almighty. Before that time there were no wages for people or hire for animals. No one could go about their business safely because of their enemies since I had turned everyone against their neighbor. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as I did in the past,” declares the Lord Almighty.

“The seed will grow well, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will produce its crops, and the heavens will drop their dew. I will give all these things as an inheritance to the remnant of this people. Just as you, Judah and Israel, have been a curse among the nations, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid, but let your hands be strong.”

This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Just as I had determined to bring disaster on you and showed no pity when your ancestors angered me,” says the Lord Almighty, “so now I have determined to do good again to Jerusalem and Judah. Do not be afraid. These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to each other and render true and sound judgment in your courts; do not plot evil against each other, and do not love to swear falsely. I hate all this,” declares the Lord. (New International Version)

The name “Zechariah” means “Yahweh remembers.” The Lord indeed remembers the divine covenant which was established. And God will fulfill all promises made.

The Lord is determined to do good – not really because people so much deserve it but because it is God’s character to be good, and thus, do good, even when there is little goodness on the earth to be found.

New Jerusalem by Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980)

God’s judgment is but for a moment; but the Lord’s promise, salvation, and peace shall endure forever. God’s wrath is quite real and certain, yet it is a brief extension of the Lord’s steadfast love. Rebellion and judgment are never the last words; forgiveness and grace are:

Many times he [Yahweh] delivered them [the Israelites],
    but they were rebellious in their purposes
    and were brought low through their iniquity.
Nevertheless, he regarded their distress
    when he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant
    and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
He caused them to be pitied
    by all who held them captive. (Psalm 106:43-46, NRSV)

All of the Old Testament prophets end their message of impending judgment with the final note of hope. That is, it won’t always be this way. There are better days ahead. The Lord’s coming is not all wrath; it’s mercy and hope. Notice the five brief messages of hope which Zechariah gives the people:

1. Yahweh burns with jealousy for Zion

Throughout the Bible, God likens the relationship to the Israelites much like a lover – as if the Lord were married to them. God’s covenant relationship with people is at the heart of understanding the whole of Scripture. Whenever they stray from divine promises, Yahweh is offended and hurt.

God is an emotional Being, which is why we have emotions as people created in his image. Early humanity strayed so far from God that it hurt:

The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil. The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken. (Genesis 6:5-6, CEB)

Yet, God was gracious, sparing Noah and his family. The Lord took a group of Noah’s descendants, Abraham’s family, and set godly covenant affection on them. Through the Israelites, God hoped to lead the entire world to right relations. Yet, they, too, came to fail the gracious covenant made and set their affections on others.

Like a jilted lover, God longed for Israel to remain faithful, and, at the same time, was hurt and angry. Just as the prophet Hosea did not give up on his wife, even though she was brazenly unfaithful, so God looked at Israel as a spouse and could not bear to give her up.

2. Yahweh returns to Zion

Jerusalem will be known as a faithful city and a holy mountain. The presence of God is what makes that happen. Because even though people can be fickle, inconsistent, complacent, and unfaithful, Yahweh remains true to the divine character of steadfast and immovable love for people.

You will never again be called ‘The People God Left.’
    Your land will never again be called ‘The Land God Destroyed.’
You will be called ‘The People God Loves.’
    Your land will be called ‘God’s Bride,’
because the Lord loves you,
    and your land will be his. (Isaiah 62:4, ERV)

3. The streets of Jerusalem will be full of children playing

The elderly will be sitting there watching the kids play, full of delight at the scene. Much too often we Westerners measure both the significance and success of our cities by its industry, businesses, buildings, wealth, and culture.

Methinks we may be misguided with such measurements. Instead, I suggest, along with the prophet, that we gage our cities by their effect on both the old and the young – because long life and children are signs of blessing from God.

4. Nothing is impossible with Yahweh

Is anything too hard for God? That, my friends, is a rhetorical question. If the Lord can cause old women to bear children (Genesis 18:10-14) and large armies to evaporate (Judges 7:1-25) then there is nothing more preposterous than to always view everything from our puny human perspective. Mary gained such a vantage and believed. We, too, have such an Advent hope within us.

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:31-38, NIV)

5. Yahweh renews and restores

Separation, diaspora, and disconnection will become a thing of the past. The Lord sets all things right again, brings people together, and heals, so that everything exists as it is meant to exist.

Deliverance from sin, death, and hell is the means of bringing renewal to the earth and its people. Salvation belongs to God. Righteousness and justice will characterize the future.

For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in faithfulness.
He loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. (Psalm 33:4-5, NRSV)

Hope is fully realized when people put their trust in God and do their part by having strong hands and faithful hearts. We must be truthful and gracious whenever we speak. The Lord expects us to do the right thing by one another, both personally and publicly. We are to never cook up plans to take unfair advantage of others. Instead, we need to keep our lives simple and honest.

The promise of blessing is assured by God. However, the timing of that blessing is conditioned by our response. And there is no better time than the Christian season of Advent to recall what the Lord will do, as well as what God wants us to do.

May we be people of hope and let hope live in our hearts now and always, to the glory of God. Amen.

How You Are Matters (Ruth 4:13-17)

On December 9, 2022November 10, 2022 By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

The Meeting of Ruth and Boaz by Marc Chagall, 1960

So Boaz took Ruth home as his wife. The Lord blessed her, and she became pregnant and had a son. The women said to Naomi, “Praise the Lord! He has given you a grandson today to take care of you. May the boy become famous in Israel! Your daughter-in-law loves you and has done more for you than seven sons. And now she has given you a grandson, who will bring new life to you and give you security in your old age.” Naomi took the child, held him close, and took care of him.

The women of the neighborhood named the boy Obed. They told everyone, “A son has been born to Naomi!”

Obed became the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. (Good News Translation)

Your Commitment Matters

Ruth, although not a Jew, committed herself fully to her Jewish mother-in-law and to the Jewish people. Her faithfulness mattered and eventually realized the blessing of family and community.

It wasn’t an easy path for Ruth to enjoy such blessing. She and her mother-in-law, Naomi, came to Bethlehem as two poor widows. Even though Bethlehem today is known around the world, back then there wasn’t much to it – just a small non-descript village in Judah a few miles south of Jerusalem.

Your History Matters

The Bible contains a lot of genealogies. Bible readers often skip over those portions of Holy Scripture to get to the more meaty and interesting stuff. But there’s a lot there.

Genealogies serve to remind us of who we are, where we have come from, and thus, what direction we are headed. Each and every human life has an historical context, a past which informs the present and can help guide for the future.

Naomi had a long history as part of the Jewish community. Ruth was a Moabite. Moab was an ancient kingdom which was located in the present day nation of Jordan. The original ancestor of the Moabites was Moab, a son of Lot. Lot was a nephew of the Jewish patriarch Abraham.

Moabites and Israelites didn’t get along. Moab had their own god, Chemosh, and did not serve Israel’s Yahweh. The person, Moab, was conceived under difficult and dubious circumstances – and it seems this context set the tone for the entire nation of people. (Genesis 19:30-38)

Our genealogical histories can bog us down or they can inspire us. Yet, the unseemly parts of our past family can actually serve to reveal something wonderful.

Your Receiving of Grace Matters

All genealogies are filled with less than stellar characters. But they’re also testaments to grace.

Both Ruth and her husband Boaz were recipients of the Lord’s grace.

Boaz, having a long history of the covenant as a Jew, nonetheless also had a difficult family past. Much like the conception of the ancient character of Moab, one of the ancestors of Boaz, Tamar, and one of the Jewish patriarchs, Judah, had a rather twisted experience. (Genesis 38:1-30)

Both Boaz and Ruth became great grandparents to King David. And they both are listed together in the opening genealogy of Matthew’s Gospel as ancestors to Jesus the Messiah, known as the son of David.

Grace changes history. If Jesus can have a genealogy, much like us, filled with both faithful committed people and dubious characters, then I believe we can give ourselves, and each other, a bit of slack on our shared human condition.

Your Spiritual Family Matters

For the Christian, there is an historical continuity across the millennia with our ancient spiritual forebears. The drama of redemption unveiled throughout the whole of Scripture connects us with Father Abraham, to the deliverance out of Egyptian slavery, to the saving events of Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and beyond into the union of Christ and the Church.

A Moabite widow is redeemed into a new community. She marries a Jewish man and conceives a child in grace, born in the humble village of Bethlehem. Centuries later, another woman, Mary, experiences a conception of grace and gives birth to a child in the very same place – Christ the Lord, our Immanuel, God with us.

Jesus was born of David’s genealogical line, from ordinary people, just like Ruth and Boaz. Because it is only from humility that greatness can arise.

Your Faith Matters

Your faith and my faith grows in the context of an ordinary life. We live and move and have our being within the grace and providential care of God. Our faith is rooted in the soil of grace, anchored and moored in the deep of faithful servants who have gone before us.

Like Ruth, we humbly attach ourselves to a larger community and seek to give ourselves for the life of the world. Like Mary, we willingly confess to the angelic messenger:

“I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” (Luke 1:38)

Our Father in heaven, you hold all that you have made within your gracious and merciful hand. Help us in all things to see your loving providence working out a good plan for the earth. Just as Ruth from Moab became one of your people, so you call us by name and hospitably invite us to your Table.

In Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, you meet us in the ordinary routines of our lives. You have graciously taken our pains, fears, sorrows, bitterness, guilt, shame, and sins upon yourself and given us a new life and a new community.Turn our suffering to glory, and our tears into joy.

Holy Spirit, giver of life, you guide us into grace and truth through generous love. As Boaz went out of his way to provide abundance for a poor widow, let us be generous with both our speech and our actions. Teach us to be alert to the needs of others so that everyone may have their daily bread.

Blessed Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Spirit – the God whom we serve, you are our past, present, and future. We give you praise and commit ourselves to the words and ways of Jesus, in whose name we are bold to pray. Amen.

Rev. Tim Ehrhardt

Tag: faithfulness

Making Everything New (Isaiah 65:17-25)

Encouragement to Be Faithful (2 Timothy 1:3-7)