ISAIAH CHAPTER 2: A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE- A DREARY PRESENT

A BEAUTIFUL FUTURE TO LONG FOR:

The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

 It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and shall be lifted up above the hills;

and all the nations shall flow to it,

 and many peoples shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

“The pathway to peace and prosperity is not putting your confidence in man but in the rule of God”

For out of Zion shall go the law,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.                             TRUTH

 He shall judge between the nations,

and shall decide disputes for many peoples;                           JUSTICE

and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;                                       PROGRESS

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore.                                      PEACE

O house of Jacob,

come, let us walk

in the light of the Lord.

THE PRESENT CONDITION IS IN DISARRAY- UNDER THE JUDGMENT OF SIN AND REBELLION

For you have rejected your people,

the house of Jacob,

because they are full of things from the east..... WHAT AM I FULL OF?

SUPERSTITIONS AND PAGAN MYSTICISM

and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,

and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

CONSUMERISM AND MATERIALISM

 Their land is filled with silver and gold,

and there is no end to their treasures;

TRUST IN MILITARY MIGHT

their land is filled with horses,

and there is no end to their chariots.

RAMPANT IDOLATRY

 Their land is filled with idols;

they bow down to the work of their hands,

to what their own fingers have made.

So man is humbled,

and each one is brought low—   

  (EJ Young “When we exalt God, we too are lifted up- when we exalt ourselves we inevitably humiliate ourselves leaving God alone exalted”)

These things are timeless and relevant in every generation. Don't we try to live by luck, live by prosperity, and trust in our military supremacy?

Some of these are neutral but when we propose our ultimate confidence in them we are practicing evil and forsaking God.

do not forgive them!

 Enter into the rock

and hide in the dust

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty.

 The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,

and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

 For the Lord of hosts has a day

against all that is proud and lofty,

against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;

 against all the cedars of Lebanon,

lofty and lifted up;

and against all the oaks of Bashan;

 against all the lofty mountains,

and against all the uplifted hills;

 against every high tower,

and against every fortified wall;

 against all the ships of Tarshish,

and against all  the beautiful craft.

 And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,

and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,

and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

 And the idols shall utterly pass away.

 And people shall enter the caves of the rocks

and the holes of the ground,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

 In that day mankind will cast away

their idols of silver and their idols of gold,

which they made for themselves to worship,

to the moles and to the bats,

 to enter the caverns of the rocks

and the clefts of the cliffs,

from before the terror of the Lord,

and from the splendor of his majesty,

when he rises to terrify the earth.

 Stop regarding man

in whose nostrils is breath,

for of what account is he?

Jay Gatsby and George Strait- Is it Insane to Hope?

Sometimes I get 'haunted' by songs or ideas that get churned around on the 'inward eye'. I find these things revisiting my thoughts during quiet times and before I know it, I have spent a half hour or so lost in conversations with myself and confirming my introverted disposition.

Lately, it has been Jay Gatsby and George Strait- confirming the unlikely subjects which capture my attention.

My wife and I finally got to see the latest Gatsby at the dollar movie. And all I could say is 'WOW".

"If it wasn't for the mist we could see your home across the bay... You always have a green light that burns all night at the end of your dock."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 5

You have to understand that I taught the Great Gatsby four times a day in a two week period for almost a decade (roughly 1993-2002). But the last time I read it was over 10 years ago.

Then I see the movie and was blown away- it was the first work of literature I have seen on film that actually captures the literary elements of narrative, characterization, setting, symbols, and theme. BRAVO!

And the image that 'haunted me' again and again was Leonardo DiCaprio reaching out to that tiny green light, barely visible in the mist, representing that burning, but fleeting hope that he and Daisy could actually be together in love, peace, and security.

IS IT FOOLISH TO HOPE?

F. Scott Fitzgerald experienced the disillusionment that human existence often finds itself. He captures the debauchery of Jazz Age hedonism and what brokenness is left in the wake. Excessive and unchained human freedom doesn't make us better. Instead greed and virtueless passion lead to oppression, destruction, and heartless selfishness.

And in this world, the ones foolish enough to hope and trust in the good intentions of humans suffer the greatest hurt. Gatsby was Fitzgerald's symbolic and tragic brokenness.

Nick Carraway: Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter - tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... And one fine morning - So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

In light of this- it isn't surprising that Christian faith is sometimes listed in this same vein.

In the sophisticated world of intellectual elitism and social status weighted opinion, Christians are discounted as those who speak silly, antiquated aphorisms based on no more evidence than unicorns or Greek gods.

But I ask a question: Is Christian hope a foolish and fleeting belief on the same level as those who hope the ground will suddenly sprout lolly pops and rain skittles?

A NECESSARY HOPE

I have found George Strait's latest hit," Believe" staying with me in a similar way "Troubadour" did.
You can listen to it on the link below:

I Believe: George Strait

“I Believe” was written by George Strait, his son Bubba Strait, and Dean Dillon it’s about the 20 children and six teachers that lost their lives at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The nights as clear as a big desert sky, 
But it's hard to see stars with these tears in my eyes, 
It's hard enough to cry, when there's 26 reasons why
There's broken hearts that'll never beat the same, 
Shattered lives still reeling from the pain, 
Our plans and dreams now gone, 
Oh how did you move on

But I believe there's someone looking after me
Someone beside me, night and day to light the way
It's hard to d something you can't see
But I believe 
I believe

There's 26 angels looking down from above 
Resting in His mercy, grace, and love
Time may never heal the sadness that we feel

But I believe there's someone looking after me
Someone beside me, night and day to light the way
It's hard to conceive something you can't see
But I believe 
I believe

Rivers flow now that used to be dry
As people all over the world start to cry but I believe

George, who often doesn't write his own songs, displays a normal response when faced with evil or unfathomable suffering- there has to be more.

THE GROUND OF GOSPEL HOPE

Some believe in NO GOD. Their view of the cosmos is as empty and dark as any. Some have a general hope in A GOD, and it is a brighter existence, but more wishful than tangible.

The Bible presents a COMPLETELY different hope and a definition of 'faith' that may surprise us.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
I Thessalonians 4:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.
I Peter 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Christian hope is NOT wishful thinking. It is a faith that rests in logical evidence. I find it quite reasonable that the universe demands a designer and less likely to be a product of random chance. I see it clearly in spider webs and glowing fish- in the design of the eye and the existence of logic, love, and language. It takes a grander story to produce what we have without a Master Designer.

But more than A GOD- Christian hope is secure in THE GOD of the Bible and in the testimony regarding Jesus of Nazareth. The archeological evidence of places and people of the Bible AND the fact that men gave their very lives testifying to what they had seen is more than plausible to me. The fact that a Cross is everywhere from a little spot in the Middle East 2000 years ago says something- changed lives say something- Mother Theresa giving her life to the orphans in India says something. The reality of human nature and the ability to mull over these things in my soul says something. The fact that I find my wife beautiful and pictures from Hubble breath taking says something.

Christian hope is even deeper than the one George so beautifully cries out for. George is better than Gatsby... but Jesus' resurrection is far better than any.

COUNTER THE ABOVE VERSES WITH THE EMPTY DREAMS OF JAY GATSBY

"And as I sat there, brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby's wonder when he first picked out Daisy's light at the end of his dock. He had come such a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close he could hardly fail to grasp it. But what he did not know was that it was already behind him, somewhere in the vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 9


"He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 3

"what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men."
- F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, Ch. 1

AS I CLOSE, MY PRAYER IS THAT YOU WOULD ASK THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE TO FORGIVE YOU AND THAT YOU WOULD HUMBLY BOW THE THRONE OF YOUR HEART TO HIM. THE DOOR OF MERCY IS OPEN- AND YOUR HOPE IN THE RISEN CHRIST IS SEALED BY HIS HOLY SPIRIT. IT IS NOT YOUR GOODNESS THAT WILL SAVE YOU- IT IS HIS GOODNESS- PROVEN BY HIS SACRIFICE FOR YOU.

WHAT OTHER HOPE DO YOU HAVE?