The Lord the Saviour Promised in Isaiah

a sermon by Rev. Michael Gladish

Dawson Creek, BC, December 9^th, 2007

For thoughtful Christians, including New Church members, Christmas typically raises questions about the nature of the Lord. This sermon is intended to help answer some of these questions and so feed our desire for understanding and confidence in our relationship with Him.

Let's begin with some of the things Isaiah said about the Lord in prophecy, and some explanation of key concepts. First of all, as we noted last week, looking into the future some 700 years, Isaiah spoke of a Child being born and a Son being given on whose shoulder the government would rest, and whose name would be called "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). There is no way these words do not describe the one God of heaven and earth who Himself would be born into the world in a human form.

Yet when we turn to Isaiah 11 we find what seems to be a separation and division between this one God and Christ. There we read about "a rod coming forth from the stem of Jesse, and a branch growing out of his roots," and that "the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD" (Isa. 11:1-2). Here, as in many other places (e.g., Isa. 61:1-4) it is as if the promised Messiah is not the Lord but looks to the Lord for inspiration. So right away we need to get one thing straight: -- any reference to "the LORD" in the Old Testament (spelled in capital letters) is really a reference to Jehovah, which was a name considered so holy by the Jews that they declined even to pronounce it, and out of consideration for that reverence, scholars translating the Hebrew text adopted the term, LORD, instead. As confusing as it is at first, this is NOT the same word as is spelled in lower case letters (only with a capital "L"), which is a direct translation of a different name or title. This becomes particularly important in the New Testament where some of the prophecies are referred to, and where Jesus is given the name, Lord, spelled with just a capital "L."

The point in Isaiah's prophecies is that the Spirit of Jehovah would be with the Lord Jesus, meaning that His soul and spirit would be Divine even though His body was natural and finite.

So in Isaiah 40 where it says "Prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God," "the LORD" is Jehovah, He is "God," and it is HE whose birth and life in the world is predicted. -- Not a son of Jehovah but Jehovah Himself clothed in human flesh.

It is the same in Isaiah 60 where we read, "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you." This "LORD" is Jehovah, the one God of heaven and earth.

So we have our text for the day, which makes the same point most emphatically: "I, even I am the LORD, and besides Me there is no saviour." We might as well say "beside Me there is no saviour," for God cannot be separated into two "persons" acting side by side. But His Spirit can be present in His own body, and this is what Isaiah is telling us.

Thus when Matthew tells the story of Jesus' birth he quotes Isaiah (7:14) about a virgin bearing a Son and calling His name Immanuel, which, he says, "is translated 'God with us'" (Matt. 1:23), that is, God Himself, Jehovah, in a human form. Likewise when Zacharias prophesied about Jesus at the naming of his son, John, he said, "Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for HE has visited and redeemed His people." He Himself "bowed the heavens and came down" (Ps. 18:9) to set things right where they had gone wrong.

One last prophecy may be important to note in the context, this one not from Isaiah but from Malachi, who wrote about 300 years later, maybe 400 years before the birth of Christ. There we read, "'Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts" (Mal. 3:1).

Here we have an example of both forms of the word, Lord, as well as two different uses of the word, messenger. The first "messenger" obviously is John, who was born to prepare the way for the Lord. But the second Messenger (spelled with a capital "M") is the Lord Himself, and this term, "Lord," refers to Him in His human form, embodied in the person of Christ. But the last one refers to Him as Jehovah, the Divine within that body, for it is HE who is present in this body, as He said (John 10:30 & 14:9), and who is the Messenger of His own infinite love.

By the way, if all this sounds familiar from your study of other religions or mythology, it is no co-incidence. The prophecy that God would come into the world in a human body is as old as history itself, in fact it pre-dates written history. The idea has simply been corrupted and embellished, taking different forms in different cultures where the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ has not been known. So we have all sorts of strange variations, like the Caesars of ancient Rome, India's Krishna, or the Dalai Lama, all of whom have been considered divinely human beings, not to mention all the interesting demi-gods in Greek, Roman or American mythology.

But understandably, even in the New Testament we do sometimes get into difficulty. In Luke's version of the Advent story, for example, we have the baby, Jesus, being brought to the temple in Jerusalem "to present Him to the Lord -- as it is written in the law of the Lord, 'Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the LORD'..." (Luke 2:22-23). Here all three references to "the Lord" are to God Himself as He was known to the Jews, so there is nothing descriptive or definitive about Jesus in these verses, they are simply a record of Joseph's commitment to the laws of Moses. Nor did Mary or Joseph fully understand the true character of this amazing Child. But Simeon, who came upon the Child in the temple, did, and so when he took Him up in his arms and blessed Him, he said, "Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation," etc. (Luke 2:29).

Clearly Simeon knew the prophecies of Isaiah, and so addressed both God and Jesus at the same time using still another, different word that is here translated, Lord, but that means in general "Sovereign," "Ruler," or "Master." And this, we understand, is exactly what the otherwise invisible Jehovah God becomes when He makes Himself visible in His Divine Humanity, pure love and wisdom actually, naturally present for the first time in the flesh.

And this, if you will pardon the expression, is where the rubber meets the road.

So far we have been reviewing specific Scripture texts, mainly trying to clarify what they say and mean with respect to "the Lord." Now it is important to see why all this matters, and what, after all, it means to say that God Himself came into the world as Jesus Christ "to save us from our sins." What exactly is this "salvation" anyway? What does it feel like and how can we experience it in our daily lives?

Going back again to Isaiah - just briefly - one of the prophecies was, "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you." So a New Testament example of the promised salvation is the healing of the blind, as in John 9 or Matthew 9. It is confusing and dangerous to be blind. We hardly know what to expect and we are limited in our ability to be useful or to do the things we want to do. The blind in ancient times were almost always beggars, destitute and for the most part despised by others who believed that their blindness was a punishment for some sin.

How wonderfully freeing it must have been for the blind to receive sight! How absolutely fabulous it must have been for them to be able to enter into the normal commerce of life, having the satisfaction and self-esteem that comes from being useful, contributing in a healthy and rewarding way to the greater good.

Now look deeper. Isn't it the same when we pass from the darkness of falsity and confusion, especially in spiritual things, into the pure light of understanding what our spiritual lives are all about? This light of understanding is precisely what the Lord came to provide, and all we have to do to receive it is to read with care the things He taught during His life on earth.

Or consider the many other examples of the Lord healing leprosy, paralysis and even death in His public ministry. Can you imagine the freedom, the confidence, the gratitude and the joy that those who suffered these things must have felt when their health was restored? It is exactly the same when our own spiritual health is restored after we have suffered the spiritual losses corresponding to these natural illnesses. Paralysis in particular is easy to understand: we're stuck! -- can't move or make any progress in our spiritual life. Doubt, anxiety, negativity, a feeling of complete powerlessness to do any good; all these states contribute to a general sense of despair and loneliness. But when the Lord frees us from these conditions by communicating His love and power to us we feel free, happy, positive, inspired and fulfilled. And how does He do this? -- by taking on the human condition and making His presence felt in concrete human terms, terms that we can understand, terms that address those particular conditions that we face.

But how can we trust and relate to Him? And how do we understand what He says? The answer lies in all that business about who He really is. For if we can believe that He was born of the Holy Spirit, having the Spirit of infinite love and wisdom within Him from conception, unless we are afraid of Him or too stubborn or complacent to accept His help, we will be drawn powerfully to Him as the ONE who can truly address all our concerns -- in fact the ONE who alone is our Saviour, as Isaiah said. Further, if we are unclear about what He has said, or don't know what to make of it, we will at least know that the problem is NOT with His Word but with ourselves, so that if we persevere with humility and patience we can have success.

This of course sounds naive, but it is actually quite critical! For IF the Lord is God and His Word - the story of His life - is Divine then we really are foolish not to trust it. In fact, this is what our doctrines teach about the Word, saying,

But let's face it; the story of the Lord's life can be quite challenging, not only because it's meaning isn't always obvious but more particularly because it tells us things we don't especially want to hear. Honestly, there are times when we feel it is important to hold on to our pain, grievances, resentments and worldly loves, and so we find the Lord's message hard to take. It's only when we get to the point where we can acknowledge that this isn't really helping us (or anyone else), that we tend to think of the Lord, and then we still have the challenge of knowing what He means and accepting what He says. -- Which is precisely why the teachings of the New Church have been given to us. Again, all we have to do is read a little with an earnest desire to learn, and it will all be explained!

So what does it mean in our lives that God has come to "save His people from their sins?" It means His love and wisdom are accessible to us as never before. It means the hells of evil spirits can no longer control us as they controlled people before He came into the world. It means that when we are spiritually hungry or thirsty or homeless, naked, sick or in prison, lame, blind, deaf, mute or in any way oppressed we can turn to Him and count on Him to relieve us of all these concerns! No, He won't miraculously cure our cancer, fix our broken arm or help us win the lottery to get out of debt, but He WILL save us from our own stupid selfishness and pride, our spiritual confusion, our need to blame and resent others for what happens to us, and a whole lot more if we let Him. And note, any of these spiritual states can be much worse than the physical sicknesses to which they correspond since if left unchecked they can take us to hell -- forever!

It takes concentration, as Peter showed when he lost it and began to sink in the Sea of Galilee, but if we can stay focused and really hear and see and live by what the Lord has revealed our salvation - our spiritual health and well being - will be assured. And we will know it and we will feel it and we will be liberated and invigorated by it.

Amen.

Lessons: Luke 2:8-20, w/children’s talk on the angels and shepherds of the Advent

Isaiah 43:1-3, 10-11 & 61:1-3

True Christian Religion #786-787: selections