It's a Friday, like most Fridays before this one, and I assume like Fridays to come. Friday ... the day before, well, the day before that. On this day, this wonderful morning created and crafted by the creator and crafter of all things, we find a blog with the Prince, the prophet Isaiah, and the singer/songwriter Jeremy Camp in the same musing. What a day, oh, glorious day.
First, however, Scripture tells me this uncomfortable, unreasonable fact:
Isaiah writes "because of all this (fill in the blank here; stuff among the choices), justice is far from us, and righteousness beyond our reach.
"We expect light, and there is darkness.
We expect a gleam of light, but walk about in gloom.
We grope along the wall like the blind.
"We stumble
at noonday
as if it were twilight (and no, no we don't mean that twilight),
and among
the strong as if we were dying.
"All of us growl like bears,
and like doves we moan.
We expect justice, but there is none;
we await salvation, but it is far from us."
We could quibble about what sound a dove might make (moaning, really? Is that what Prince was talking about when doves cry?), but otherwise this seems to be quite the revelatory piece here. What it reveals is inner desire to find light, inner need for justice, inner exploration for justice that finds, well, nothing. No light. No justice. No righteousness. No-thing. It ain't all that pleasant, if you ask me.
There is nothing there for us, Isaiah writes in what we call chapter 59 of his incredible prophecy. In the deceitful society that Isaiah is writing to, moral vision has been blitzed like linebacker unimpeded to quarterback.
Good has been squashed.
Moral has been taken away.
They have actively chosen to take the crooked road and perform destructive deeds. No accidental sinning here, my friends. This is, for the record, their choice.
Isaiah can barely stand, it seems. He can barely breathe, forcing words out as fast as his mid-eastern brain can conjure them and medieval pen and ink can write them. He writes in an almost feverish state, well, "They don't know the way of peace; there's no justice in their paths."
Which is sort of like asking, What do we do next?
WTF (Why, that's funny) happens now?
It's like they're holding on by their fingertips and chaotic Saturday morning pancakes was the only idea they had left.
But Isaiah is struck by an idea. What if truth is revelatory, real, substantial, something we can latch on to like a paycheck or a pair of Nikes? What if the arms that can catch us are as real as big ol' plops of rain on a day the sky goes past dark to plumb evil? What if he, er, He can come to us leading angel armies and full armor will be His dress whites? What if 1,000 years truly tis a day and not finest poetry, and the end is really the beginning and we've all gotten it as wrong as wrong can be from beginning to end?
What if Alpha and Omega is as sparkling as it sounds, and all that stuff we couldn't quite get a handle on in Revelation could become as clear as cellophane in the proverbial blink of an eye? What if we're nearer blessing than cursing than we've ever thought we were?
What if we're just a nano-second from a sliver of light shining -- no, no -- ripping the foundation apart and a new, precious, loving day results. What if the question changes from what if to why not. And it remains eternally why not? Never again will we question. No, in a second, no, no, no, not a moment. Heck, what if it all could change in a nano-moment if there is such a thing? What if old, tired, stagnant bones could become instead trembling, excited bones?
Instead of asking who is beyond our reach, beyond HIS reach, suddenly Isaiah says as chapter 60 of his prophecy opens, "Arise! Shine! Your light has come." A mere 13 verses (I know, I know I counted) and all heaven breaks loose.
Suddenly, he throws the spaghetti against the wall and it sticks, the arms of the broken-hearted are healed, and life becomes something for the living.
Heck, the walking dead are suddenly the dancing living.
How? "The Lord looked and was upset at the absence of justice. Seeing there there was no one, and astonished that no one would intervene, God's arm brought victory."
So, I ask this question: What if right and truth are real, substantial, and God is sitting at the gates of the holy city and with one marvelous, miraculous breath captured by his amazing chest. And what if he lets it go, blowing it all apart so He and we could start again?
What if He is who He said He is, and what if salvation is a gift greater than the sun, larger than the moon, more spectacular than the whole of the universe?What if He really knows truth, really brings justice where justice is needed and, heck, even wanted somewhere deep inside the heartless and the justice-less?
And darn it, what if we never had to say what if again?
Then Jeremy Camp could sing, "But I hold on to this hope and the promise that He brings
That there will be a place with no more suffering
There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face."
And the people would echo: AMEN
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