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Home , Book of Isaiah, Isaiah 43

ALL THINGS NEW: New Year, New Hope January 13 – February 3, 2019 Richard Leslie Parrott, Ph.D.

JANUARY 13 NEW THINGS EMERGE FROM FORMER THINGS! Page 2 43:11, 13, 15-21

JANUARY 20 NEW CREATION RISES FROM CRISIS TIMES! Page 13 :1-5, 8-10, 16-25

JANUARY 27 NEW PEOPLE FORMED FROM TRANSFORMING GRACE! Page 23 Colossians 3:1-17

FEBRUARY 3 NEW REALITY CREATED WITH ALL THINGS NEW! Page 32 Matthew 19:23-30; 21:1-7

JANUARY 13 NEW THINGS EMERGE FROM FORMER THINGS! :11, 13, 15-21

Pastor Ulmet: Isaiah 43:11, 13, 15-21 Key Passage 1. LET GOD BE GOD – He Creates! It is a key aspect of the ongoing Creative nature of the Almighty: He creates new from old. He begins where things and people are, and makes it new! The foundation of this is GOD HIMSELF – Verses 11, 13, 15! 2. REMEMBER GOD IS GOD – He Delivers! Verses 16-17 3. TRUST GOD WILL BE GOD – He will create new! Verses 18-21 The classic Isaiah commentary by F. C. Jennings writes: Another intervention is promised her () that, in its glory, will eclipse that of the past. His mercies are never exhausted. His powers are not enfeebled by centuries; nor does He ever thus repeat Himself, as if the past evidenced the limit of either His power or grace. He always adds some ‘better thing.’ The same mighty Worker will always do a new thing; and even now if His people will look closely at the present conditions they may discern that new thing beginning to sprout, even as a gardener discerns the ripe and perfected fruit in the bud…F. C. Jennings, Studies in Isaiah* *http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/series/6100

INTRODUCTION:

In Isaiah 43, as forcefully as anywhere in the , God articulates his uncompromising love for Israel. To understand the context of God’s prodigal expression of love, we must understand that God and the Nation have a Master/Servant relationship. This is clearly defined in in the previous chapter, :1, 6-7.

“Here is my servant*, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will bring justice to the nations. ++++++++++++ I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the , 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. *The passage refers to Israel at one level; at a greater level, the passage describes the life and mission of Jesus.

2 QUESTION: when released from their , God’s people failed at carrying out their calling to be a light to the Gentiles. Jesus fulfilled the calling and has passed the mission to us, his church. Explain why Israel failed and why God expects us to succeed in carrying out the mission?

The call of the Servant is transformational. However, the Servant, Israel, has failed. Rather than opening the blind eyes of the Nations, rather than freeing captive people, Israel’s sin and failure has resulted in Israel’s captivity. God calls them out for their failure; Israel, the one who was called to hear and speak God’s words, is deaf; Israel, the one who was commissioned to guide the Nations to God, is blind (Isaiah 42:18-20, Note: this image is repeated in 43:8-10).

“Hear, you deaf; look, you blind, and see! 19 Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the LORD? 20 You have seen many things, but you pay no attention; your ears are open, but you do not listen.”

What happens next? We know the answer because we know what happens in our world. If employees fail in their assignments, they get the boot, a pink slip, and are shown the door. The competent employer (Boss) says, “I have made a business decision. It involves you, and it is irrevocable. We can no longer be in business together.” Or, the boss may use a simpler form of the message, “You’re fired.”

There is something unexpected when we examine the relationship between the Lord Almighty and Israel. God is not a competent boss; he is a compassionate Father. If Israel fails on her side of the relationship, God will not fail in His part. In our text for today, Isaiah 43:1-21, it is as if God is saying, “I have made a salvation decision. It involves you, and it is irrevocable. I must save you so that you can join me in saving the world.”

GOD’S RESPONSE IS SOMETHING NEW! This is newness coming to birth out of tough times, changing dynamics, and broken dreams. It is ALL on God to do it. Here is the starling and wondrous word from God in our text for today passage (Isaiah 43:19): “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”

Part 1: A NEW THING BEGINS IN THE PAST: God Loved Israel From the Beginning (Isaiah 43:1-7)

God’s love is expressed by redeeming, calling, and sacrificing for the people he loves. It is God’s consistent love for Israel across the centuries that opens the way for “a new thing.”

3 SOMETHING NEW Requires Putting Away Fear. This beautiful song of love strikes a familiar cord, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you” (vs. 1). When God says, “fear not” (over 100 times in the Bible), he gives us a word from Heaven to replace our fearful thought. In this case, he tells Israel not to fear, “. . . for I have redeemed you.” the word, “redeem,” was a family term in which a stronger member of the family intervenes to rescue a weaker member of the family. For example, “Your big brother is looking out for you,” or “Mom will fix this,” or “Dad will take care of it.”

[Here are 33 verses that challenge or fear by providing an alternative thought. https://www.crosswalk.com/blogs/debbie-mcdaniel/33-verses-to- remind-us--we-do-not-have-to-fear.html]

QUESTION: How does the Bible help you replace fearful thoughts with calming thoughts? Are their particular verses or stories that help you?

4 SOMETHING NEW Means Returning to Your Calling. Redemption is one antidote for fear, and God has another, “I have called you” (vs. 1). Israel’s calling is not the new thing. God has called Israel from long ago. God reminds his people that the call remains intact. This intimate and nonnegotiable relationship is Israel’s source of confidence and calm in the face of imminent dangers of flood and fire. There is no “if” here. There is God’s presence:

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze (Isaiah 43:2).

QUESTION: These verses are well known and have provided comfort for many people across the centuries. Has this short passage of Scripture been of special help to you? When and how?

These words (Isaiah 43:2) retrieve the memory Israel’s Exodus; “all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:21-22). Water is the symbol of chaos going back to the moment the “Spirit of God hovered over the surface of the waters” (Genesis 1:2). God defeats chaos and create a new thing, a NEW EXODUS.

The recent memory of chaos sweeping over Israel was the defeat of the Nation, the burning of , and destruction of the Temple. There were people reading these words of the who had a living memory of the catastrophe. Fire was an image of judgment; God “poured out his wrath like fire” (Lamentations 2:4). Now, God would save his people from fire; “you will not burned; the flames will not set you ablaze” (Isaiah 43:2). Perhaps the presence of chaos is a prerequisite for something new.

QUESTION: How do you respond to the thought, “the presence of chaos is a prerequisite for something new”? Have you seen this dynamic in your life?

SOMETHING NEW Requires God’s Ransom. The following verses (43:3-4) present something new we do not find anywhere in the Scriptures but here.

3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give for your ransom, Cush and Seba in your stead. 4 Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you,

5 nations in exchange for your life.

QUESTION: Does authentic love require sacrifice? How does this apply in our relationships?

Here is a strange picture for us, God negotiating a prisoner exchange on behalf of his people. The Lord is prepared to trade citizens of other nations for the liberty and restoration of Israel. It sounds crass in our modern ears, but Israel understood the image. They had accused God of settling for a price that was too cheap (Psalm 44:12).

You have sold you’re people for a trifle, demanding no high price for them

God answers the prayers of the exiles by explaining the price he has paid. This is the language of “ransom” associated with the death of Jesus. God has given away the nations of the world in order to ransom Israel so that she might be his partner in the greater plan of salvation. The plan is fulfilled in Jesus, who gave his life “as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Westermann’s commentary explains the verse.

A tiny, miserable, and insignificant band of uprooted men and women are assured that they– precisely they–are the people to whom God has turned in love; they, just as they are, our dear and precious in his site. And think who says this –the Lord of all power and authorities, of the whole of history, and all creation (Claus Westermann, – 66, Page 118).

Part 2 A NEW THING LOOKS TO TOMORROW God Calls Israel to Begin Again (Isaiah 43:5-13)

SOMETHING NEW requires a long-term vision (Isaiah 43:5-7). God returns to the beginning of His love poem, “Do not be afraid,” and provides another heaven-sent thought to combat fear; “I am with you.” To the people whose ears heard Ezekiel (chapter 10) declare that the Lord’s presence has abandoned the Temple, the promise of God’s return is breathtaking. This gracious gift of God’s presence is followed by the radical promise of the “new thing,” gathering ALL God’s people from ALL the nations of the earth. It is at this point that the ‘Love Song’ turns from the past to the future.

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. 6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth— 7 everyone who is called by my name,

6 whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

As with many prophesies, there is an immediate, greater, and complete fulfillment of the promise.

The immediate fulfillment was the decree of King Cyrus of Persia who set the captives free to return to Jerusalem and rebuilt the Temple. This action, in itself, did not bring the entire host of captives home. More was needed.

The greater fulfillment is in Jesus who sends his disciples to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:18). Here we see two images of the gathering of God’s people. First, baptism, which the disciples practiced everywhere they evangelized. Second, the Lord’s Supper (the Eucharist), which was taught by the disciples to all believers.

The complete fulfillment is the moment of ’s return and the unveiling of the New Creation when “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands” (Revelation 7:9).

QUESTION: Apply this understanding of prophecy to our lives in Christ. What is the immediate fulfillment, the greater fulfillment, and the complete fulfillment of life in Christ?

This is the aim, the goal, and the purpose of God. Israel must receive the lessons and maturity of exile and, now, begin again to fulfill her calling to be the “a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth” (:6).

SOMETHING NEW Calls for Israel to Be God’s Witness (vs. 8-10). This was God’s original task for Israel, assigned as the people came out of slavery, freed by , and given God’s covenant; “you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

In the image of a courtroom, God calls the people to be his witnesses. These are the same people God accused of being blind and deaf servants (Isaiah 42:18-20).

8 Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf. 9 All the nations gather together and the peoples assemble. Which of their gods foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? Let them bring in their witnesses to prove they were right, so that others may hear and say, “It is true.” 10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD,

7 “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me (Isaiah 43:8-10).

This nation, blind and deaf as they have been, are called out of exile to be the God’s witness to the world. Exile was designed to open their eyes and unstop their ears. The suffering of exile was to be Israel’s means of transformation (see , the Suffering Servant).

QUESTION: Nothing declares the glory of God like a transformed life. What might have happened if Israel had truly been transformed through the ordeal of the Exile? How does our transformation as individuals and a community serve as a witness for God?

Do you see it? God’s intention through the Exile was to restore the spiritual sight and hearing of his people. The transformation from disobedient Israel to restored Israel is, in essence, their witness to the world. They were transformed in order to fulfill God’s deisign for a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6).

SOMETHING NEW Needs a Bigger Understanding of God (Isaiah 43:11-13). J. B. Phillips, early translator of the into Modern English, wrote a book entitled, “Your God is Too Small.” He states the problem we face today (and the problem Israel faced) in clear terms in his first paragraph of the book.

The trouble with many people today is that they have not found a God big enough for modern needs. While their experience of life has grown in a score of directions, and their mental horizons have been expanded to the point of bewilderment by world events and by scientific discoveries, their ideas of God have remained largely static.

Our culture has reduced God to a “Resident Policemen,” “A Hangover Parent,” or “The Grand Old Man” (From Your God is Too Small).

QUESTION: Have you had an experience that expanded your understanding of God? What happened?

In a similar way, Israel had reduced the Lord to a National God for Israel, a God confined to the Temple, or a God who is restricted in the Promised Land. Yes, pushed the boundaries of Israel’s thinking, but what was needed was a grand push outside the limits of Israel’s small image of God. This was also the purpose of the Exile. Outside the Land, without a Temple, on the playing field of Nations, God would set Israel free and remind them that God is greater than ALL the idols of all the Nations.

I, even I, am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.

8 12 I have revealed and saved and proclaimed— I, and not some foreign god among you. You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “that I am God. 13 Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it” (Isaiah 43:11-13)

In these verses (vs. 11-13) the Lord addresses the Nations and the false gods, but it is His people who are listening to the court case. God’s people hear God’s expectations, that they have a part to play in bringing salvation to the Nations. It is at this point, God makes his announcement, “I am about to do a new thing” (Isaiah 43:16).

Part 3: A NEW THING BEGINS TODAY God Creates Something New (Isaiah 43:14-21)

In the final portion of God’s announcement about the “new thing,” he twice says, “This is what the Lord says.” (vs. 14, 16). These phrases serve as an outline for verses 14-21.

SOMETHING NEW Overcomes Evil (43:14-15). These verses describe an historic event that happened to the people who first heard this prophecy.

14 This is what the LORD says— your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “For your sake I will send to and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians, in the ships in which they took pride. 15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, Israel’s Creator, your King” (Isaiah 43:14-15).

God says he will “send” to Babylon. The person he sent was Cyrus, King of Persia, who defeated the Babylonians and expanded the Persian Empire (Cyrus is mentioned in 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Isaiah, and Daniel). This was the first step in restoring Israel.

Israel mistook this first step as the only step. They returned to the Promised Land and built a Temple. But they never returned to a heart that loved God to the point of full obedience.

QUESTION: When and why do we mistake the first step as the only step in a process of transformation?

A lesson we need from this event is that God works through history. He is in the background, and he is moving the world toward his desired end. God will defeat evil.

The next step in God’s plan to eradicate evil from the planet was the death of Jesus. In the death of the /King, he defeated the powers, the empty idols that clung to the soul of

9 humanity. The final defeat of evil is accomplished when Jesus returns. Babylon, the symbol of the empire of evil that dominates the world (Revelation 17-20), is destroyed.

The personal message in God’s scheme is that before “something new” could be realized by Israel, they needed more than release from captivity. They were called (and failed) to total obedience and consecration with God’s plan.

QUESTION: Does God need our total obedience and consecration to carry forth his plan? Why or why not?

SOMETHING NEW Means Leaving Former Things for a New Thing (Isaiah 43:16-21). Here we have one of the most daring and spectacular assertions in the . Israel is grounded in “former things,” a reference to the Exodus. God builds on the past to push his people into a new future. First, he reminds them of the Exodus (vs. 16-17).

16 This is what the LORD says— he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, 17 who drew out the and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

Now, God implements his SHOCK TREATMENT for Israel:

18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

Having just mentioned the Exodus, God is saying to them: Don’t dwell on the Exodus of the past. We might say in our modern verbiage, “Don’t live in the past.” Here is the way I express the failure to leave the past:

We worship our wall of trophies, we pour over our scrapbooks of triumphs, we limit our stories to the glory days of the past, and we clothe ourselves in the comfort of bygone achievements. In this way, we release ourselves from responsibility for God’s future endeavors.

QUESTION: What are the symptoms that we are “dwelling [living] in the past” rather that pressing forward with God’s mission?

The positive expression of God’s message is clear: I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU. Therefore, YOU ARE NOT DONE SERVING ME. Build on the past, but don’t live there. Honor the past, but don’t get mired in it. I AM DOING SOMETHING NEW.

10 Again, let me quote Claus Westermann:

“Israel requires to be shaken out of a faith that has nothing to learn about God’s activity, and therefore nothing to learn about what is possible with him, a faith that is hidebound in dogmatism, a faith that has ceased to be able to expect anything really new from God.”

QUESTION: How would you explain to someone how to honor the past, learn from the past, but not live in the past?

SOMETHING NEW Builds on the Past to Enlarge Our Faith for God’s Future (Isaiah 43:19-21). The past is not gone; it is still with us. However, the past is there to prompt our spiritual imagination and holy passion so that our faith is ready for God’s New Thing God.

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. 20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, 21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise (Isaiah 43:19-21).

The way out of Egypt (Exodus) becomes an image and hope for the transformation of the whole world. The fallen world entered into exile when Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden. As a result, the world is a wilderness and wasteland. As the Exodus brought Israel out of the slavery of Egypt, the New Creation will bring the world out of the slavery to sin and Satan. These verses (vs. 19-21) picture the New Creation coming into being.

• I receive the honor of the non-human world. • I provide life-giving water for all my creation. • I form the people who proclaim my praise in all the earth.

Israel is called to move forward into God’s ultimate plan for worldwide salvation.

It remains for the deaf, blind witnesses to see and know, in order that they rightly understand their true, God-filled situation. Israel cannot slough off what is old; but Israel cannot stay there either, for God is moving on to a fresh present tense that is indeed different from what was in the past (Walter Bruggemann, Isaiah 40-66, page 60).

QUESTION: How would you apply the Bruggemann quote (above) to your life? To our church?

11 JANUARY 20 NEW CREATION RISES FROM CRISIS TIMES! Isaiah 65:1-5, 8-10, 16-25

Pastor Ulmet: Isaiah 65 1. Disobedience and denunciation – Verses 1-5 2. Hope and opportunity – Verses 8-10, 16 3. Peace and New Creation – Verses 17-25 F. C. Jennings: The tender grace of God to poor man is like a mighty river. Let human pride, let lukewarm indifference, let self-complacent religion, bar its course, it sweeps away in another direction. Let Judea make Him weary, shall give Him nourishment. Let the Pharisee exclude, the Publican shall welcome. Let New York and London turn from Him, then China and Africa shall turn to Him: if barred in one course it sweeps on in another.

INTRODUCTION: God is Sovereign, What Does That Mean?

Our determined Sovereign Creator intends to restore his creation as a New Heaven and Earth. The centerpiece of His renewal project will be the New Jerusalem. Yet, as our text clearly avows, many ignore or obstruct his plan. However, as stated in Isaiah 65, God will have his way.

I will create new heavens and a new earth. +++++++++++++++ for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy (Isaiah 65:17-18)

Today’s text examines both obstinate and obedient people that God uses to achieve his purpose. Here is a picture of God achieving his will despite hostility and disobedience.

Think of the ice on a mountaintop that is buried deep in a glacier. The ice begins to melt and trickle down the mountain, growing to the size of a stream, and then expanding to become a river. The water is intent on reaching the sea. On its way, there will be frustrating obstacles as well as supportive opportunities. The opportunities support and advance the water’s movement toward the sea. These supportive places, over time, become the bed of the river, shaped and used by the water to achieve its purpose. Obstacles are hard places that are unwilling to give in to the water’s will. The obstacles are determined to hold back the water, change its course, and frustrate its progress toward the sea. In summary, the water comes upon open places that enhance and determined obstacles that impede its advancement. Yet, here is the wonder of the water. When it is frustrated, the water gathers its strength until it goes around, flows over the top, or crashes through, continuing on its way to the sea.

12 Here we find an image of God's great sovereignty and your free decision. There is God's will and your will, God's choices and your choices. Your choices can be, like supportive places—open, receptive, and moving in the direction of the water. Or, your choices can be an obstacle—a resistance or frustration that attempts to hold the water back. Here is the wisdom of God: like water flowing to sea, God uses both receptive and resistant choices to achieve His will. God will move the water to the sea; God will create the New Heaven and Earth with the New Jerusalem as the centerpiece. (Adapted from The Reluctant Journey, Parrott, October, 2014).

QUESTION: How do you understand the dynamic interaction between God’s will and human free will?

Here is the essence of Isaiah 65 – • Many are hostile and resistant to God’s advance. God complains and explains, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people (65:2). • A few cling to what God has done and is doing, “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do on behalf of my servants” (65:8). • The prophet announces that God will move past the crisis and trouble to bring about his new creation, “For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes. 17 ‘See, I will create new heavens and a new earth’” (65:16-17).

Read pastor’s quote from F. C. Jennings*: The tender grace of God to poor man is like a mighty river. Let human pride, let lukewarm indifference, let self-complacent religion, bar its course, it sweeps away in another direction. Let Judea make Him weary, Samaria shall give Him nourishment. Let the Pharisee exclude, the Publican shall welcome. Let New York and London turn from Him, then China and Africa shall turn to Him: if barred in one course it sweeps on in another. *http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/series/6100

Part 1 THE CRISIS: Exile Produced Obstinate People (65:1-7)

Exile drives some people toward disobedience.

The chapter opens with one side of a conversation (65:1).

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’

13 It is difficult to listen to only one side of a telephone conversation. Shirley’s grandmother wanted to hear both halves of the exchange. We you finished a phone call, grandma wanted a full report on what the other party said. At one point, grandmother said to Shirley, “you said, ‘hmmmm.’ What did they say that made you say, ‘hmmm’?”

To understand God’s words, we must back up a couple of chapters. The captives in exile have been complaining about God’s inactivity (:1-4).

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you! 3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you. 4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

Captive , in the land of Babylon, accuses the Lord of not hearing and responding to their prayers (Isaiah 64:9-12).

Oh, look on us, we pray, for we are all your people. 10 Your sacred cities have become a wasteland; even is a wasteland, Jerusalem a desolation. 11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured in ruins. 12 After all this, LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

QUESTION: Have you experienced a time when it seemed that God “wasn’t there”? What happened?

God answers this complaint in Isaiah 65:1-2a (my bold).

“I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ 2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people,

14 God is available, ready to be sought, extending his hand of welcome, affection, and protection. The Lord echoes the announcement he made in Isaiah 40:9, the chapter that proclaims the end of exile, “Here is your God.” The Lord twice repeats the promise of his presence, “Here I am, here I am” (65:1).

Notice the prophet’s use of the words “seek” and “find”, “I was found by those who did not seek me” (vs. 1). This pair of words calls upon Israel’s mandate to worship the Lord. spoke to the people as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, a thousand years before they find themselves in Babylon (the setting of Isaiah 65). The words of Moses make sense in the light of many years of disobedience and exile (Deuteronomy 4:29-30, my bold).

But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.

The words of Moses were not dusty old saying, lost in the past. Jeremiah, the prophet who witnessed the fall of Jerusalem, repeated the same admonition in a letter to the Babylonian captives. With the same assurance imparted by Moses, Jeremiah prophesies that exile with end when the people see God wholeheartedly (:12-14, my bold).

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the LORD, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

QUESTION: Explain what it means to “seek” with “all your heart.” What does one do, think, feel, etc. when seeking with “all your heart”?

The problem is not the availability of the Lord but the lack of a wholehearted people, “All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people (65:2). Obstinate (Hebrew: sō·w·rêr) is translated as stubborn, rebellious, and revolting, as well as obstinate. God complains that Israel refuses to walk in God’s way. Israel obeys the rituals and religion of Babylon. The indictment is expanded in Isaiah 65:2b-5.

. . . an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;

15 who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; 5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

The charges are as follows:

• They provoke God by offering rites and offerings to other gods (vs. 3) We might assume the Babylonian gods of their captives. There were Babylonian rituals that were made on brick.

• They seek out messages from the dead in direct defiance of the living God (vs. 4a). The verse indicates this was a secret ritual preformed inside a large grace site as part of a funeral cult.

• They ignore the law regarding acceptable food, thus they are unclean and cannot “seek and find” (vs. 4b). Eating pork and other “impure meat,” paints a picture of people in religious deterioration.

• They brag about their new religious dedication with an arrogant heart that separates them from the Lord (vs. 5). People, who betray the old religion for something new, often brag about their religious superiority.

QUESTION: Why would these Israelites (God’s people) turn to the ways of Babylon? Why did the crisis of exile move some people away from God?

Israel’s obstinate reprobates will receive the payment they deserve (Isaiah 65:6-7)

“See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the LORD. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.”

Part 2 THE CONTINGENCY: Exile Preserved Faithful People (vs. 8-10)

Exile draws some into greater faith and faithfulness.

16 Conversations and announcement from God, especially in the , are a mixture of judgment and assurance. The combination, when brought together, comes out like this: God says, “I love you as you are, but we can do better than this.” However, we tend to hear one part or the other. In the next three verses (Isaiah 65:8-10), the harsh and judgmental tone shifts to tender and kind assurance.

8 This is what the LORD says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all (Isaiah 65:8-10).

Wine was the international export of ancient Israel. Isaiah employed the image to declare judgment. God “looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit” (:2). We might explain the image in 65:8 as a wine cellar wit old bottles that have broken seals. The wine is spoiled and worthless. However, in a dark and cool corner of the cellar we find a collection of sealed bottles. The sign over these bottles reads, “DO NOT DESTROY.”

QUESTION: Place yourself in the historic situation of being in Exile in Babylon. Some people are obstinate about taking on the ways of Babylon. Why? Others hold fast to the ways of the Lord. Why? What would it have been like to live in this community that was so divided?

The promise moves quickly from the image of wine to the promise of the land.

9 I will bring forth descendants from , and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me (Isaiah 65:9-10).

The Promised Land and National Legacy, formed God’s covenant with and his descendants (for Abraham, Genesis 12:1-2; 13:15-17; 17:1-16; for Isaac, 26:3-5; for Jacob, 27:13-14; 32:9, 12; 35:9-15; and to Jacobs sons, 50:24-25). God rekindles the first promise, the Promised Land, a promise the Lord intends to keep. Some people had concluded that the exile nullified the old promise of land and nation. Surprise! The old promise is in force.

The reminder of the promise (verse 9) is made specific in verse 10 by naming two valleys, Sharon and Achor. They indicate the expanse of the Promised Land (Sharon, along Mediterranean Sea and Achor on the east near Jericho). However, there is another way to understand these two valleys.

17 • The Valley of Sharon recalled a place of prosperity and abundance (:2, Song of Solomon 2:1).

• The Valley of Achor conjures memories of disobedience and self-destruction (Joshua 7-8).

The redemption of Achor is a prophecy found in Hosea, “There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope” (Hosea 2:14). Taken together, the two valleys combine the hope of restoration and prosperity for exiles. No doubt, there were people among the exiles who had homes and farms in these two valleys.

QUESTION: The Valley of Achor is a symbol of failure, failure that God promises to restore. How does God bring restoration out of failure?

The phrase on which Chapter 65 turns in the final words in verse 10, “for my people who seek me.”

• 65:1- 2; God has promised those who seek him will find him. • 65: 3-7; God has pronounced judgment on those who do not seek. • 65: 8-10; God has promised restoration for those who seek him.

MAKE A DECISION, Isaiah 65:11-16 It is a shock to move from the promise of verses 8-10 to the harsh judgment of verses 11- 16. We may read from the conflicting words of judgment and assurance in this chapter that the exiles in Babylon were people in conflict. There were those who choose to side with the old ways of faithfulness, following the instructions of Jeremiah and holding to the hope Ezekiel gave them [Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the prophets of exile]. Imagine the community meetings among the Jews in Babylon when they considered issues germane to their community in exile. Think of the gossip, the blame, the accusations, and the conflict they faced. The greatest crisis was not the Babylonians, but the divide among the people of God. The point of this chapter, and verses 11-16 make it plain, is MAKE A CHOICE! Isaiah is clear about the imminent Return from Exile (vs. 16). If you are to experience restoration, you must be wholeheartedly for the Lord. God is the source of blessing. Troubles will be .

Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the one true God; whoever takes an oath in the land will swear by the one true God. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.

18 Part 3 THE CREATION: The New Jerusalem (65:17-25)

God’s Presence in Jerusalem will fill the earth

For those who turn with a whole heart to the Lord God, blessings will be poured out beyond their wildest imaginings (65:17-19).

17 “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

The old heavens are caught up in a battle with rebel powers and principalities that operate contrary to God’s intentions (Ephesians 6:12). The old earth is devastated by evil and burned out with violence. The results of the fall have devastated God’s creation. Nevertheless, the Lord Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth, will take back his world and restore his creation. This theme has been Isaiah’s message (2:1-4; 4:2-6; 9:2-7; 11:1-9).

QUESTION: This is a different understanding that many people have of “being saved.” Isaiah’s message is NOT that we are saved and taken to some far away heaven when we die. Isaiah’s vision is that God will restore the earth to his original intention. How does this challenge what you have learned? How does it change the way you think about the earth?

In particular, God’s focus is on a New Jerusalem. Why? Jerusalem is the meeting place of the “hopes and fears of all the years.” • It is in Jerusalem where God’s powers are rooted. • It is in Jerusalem where the Law is taught. • It is in Jerusalem where God’s presence is assured.

It is also Jerusalem that became disobedient to the point that the city had to be destroyed. Within its walls, wayward kings and disobedient priests spurned the Glory that might have been; the city became disappointing and ignoble.

19 Now, God promises newness in everyway. The vision creates joy and delight. Jerusalem will once again embody the meaning of her name – God’s City of Peace.

From the Baker Evangelical Distionary’s entry on Jerusalem: “The Bible begins with a bucolic setting in the Garden of Eden; it closes on an urban scene, and that city is the New Jerusalem. For Christians, the identification of earthly Jerusalem as the dwelling place of God, which figures so frequently in the Old Testament, has been transformed into a heavenly Jerusalem, the true sanctuary of the Lord (cf. Gal 4:26 ; Heb. 12:22-29). (https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionaries/bakers-evangelical- dictionary/jerusalem.html)

QUESTION: The Bible ends with a contrast between the destruction of Babylon (Revelation 19) and the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21). What do each of these cities represent? What does this mean for us, personally?

First, the New Jerusalem is a place of long life (vs. 20). 20 “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years; the one who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere child; the one who fails to reach a hundred will be considered accursed.

Second, it will be a place of economic stability (21-22) 21 They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. For as the days of a tree, so will be the days of my people; my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.

Third, this will be a place of a blessed life (23) 23 They will not labor in vain, nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.

The promise of the New Creation is the place of the Messiah/King (24-25) 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox,

20 and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Here are the words we have read in :1-9. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon the Promised. He will judge with righteousness and justice. The close of Isaiah 65 repeats the promises of Isaiah 11:8-9. There will be no harm; violence will cease. And, the promise and presence of the Lord will fill the earth.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters* cover the sea.

*The waters of chaos (Genesis 1:2) will be replaced with the knowledge of the Lord. John picks up this image in his picture of the New Heaven and Earth, “there will be no sea” (Revelation 21:1).

21 CLOSING YOUR CLASS: Read the hymn, “The Holy City”

The Holy City is a religious Victorian ballad dating from 1892, and is one of the most commercially successfully songs in the UK and United States. around the beginning of the 20th century, and also "perhaps the most pirated musical piece prior to the Internet", according to copyright scholar Adrian Johns.

The song is recorded in the African Methodist Episcopal Church Review in 1911 as having been sung by an opera singer awaiting trial for fraud. The singer was in his jail cell when a group of men arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct went before the judge. The men were said to have dropped to their knees as the song began 'Last night I lay a-sleeping, There came a dream so fair…', the lyrics contrasting with their previous night's drunkenness. The song's conclusion resulted in the judge dismissing the men without punishment, each having learned a lesson from the song (Wickapedia)

The Holy City

Last night I lay a-sleeping Upon a lonely hill. There came a dream so fair, I stood in old Jerusalem Jerusalem! Jerusalem! Beside the temple there. Hark! How the angels sing, Hosanna in the highest! I heard the children singing, Hosanna to your King! And ever as they sang, Me thought the voice of angels And once again the scene was changed; From heaven in answer rang New earth there seemed to be; Me thought the voice of angels I saw the Holy City From heaven in answer rang. Beside the tideless sea.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The light of God was on it's streets, Lift up your gates and sing, The gates were open wide, Hosanna in the highest! And all who would might enter, Hosanna to your King! And no one was denied.

And then me thought my dream was No need of moon or stars by night, changed, Or sun to shine by day; The streets no longer rang, It was the new Jerusalem Hushed were the glad Hosannas That would not pass away. The little children sang. Jerusalem! Jerusalem! The sun grew dark with mystery, Sing for the night is o'er! The morn was cold and chill, Hosanna in the highest! As the shadow of a cross arose Hosanna for evermore!

22 JANUARY 27 NEW PEOPLE FORMED FROM TRANSFORMING GRACE! Colossians 3:1-17

Pastor Ulmet: Colossians 3 1. Old order – Verses 5-9 2. New Creation – Verses 1-4, 10-14 3. Creator of the new – Verses 15-17 Peter T. O’Brien – On the other hand, the expression ‘the new man,’ has a corporate reference designating the new humanity in Christ. Just as the ‘old man’ is what they once were ‘in Adam,’ the embodiment of unregenerate humanity, so the ‘new man’ is what they are now ‘in Christ,’ the embodiment of the new humanity…The renewal refers not simply to an individual change of character but also to a corporate recreation of humanity in the Creator’s image. Christ is the ‘new man’ whom the Colossians have put on. He is the second Adam, the head of a new creation…Word Biblical Commentary: Colossians, Philemon

REVIEW AND INTRODUCTION:

“Do You Not Perceive It?” (Isaiah 43:19)

The end of Exile promises “a new thing! Now it springs up” (Isaiah 43:19). Consider the promises of Isaiah 43:5-21: God promises his presence, (vs. 5); God promises to gather his scattered people (vs. 5-7); God promises that his people will witness to the world (vs. 8- 10); God promises to bring an irrevocable rescue for his people (vs. 11-13); God promises to defeat Babylon (vs. 14-15); and God promises a new Exodus for his people (16-21).

The end of Exile promises “a New Heaven and a new Earth.” Consider the promises of Isaiah 65: God promises that those who seek him will find him (65:1-2); God promises the land from the Valley of Sharon to Achor (65:9-10); God promises that the troubles of the past will be left behind (65:16); God promises a new creation with a New Jerusalem in the center (65:17-25) which includes no more weeping or crying (vs. 19), long life (vs. 20), economic stability (vs. 21-22), a blessed life (vs. 23), and end to evil and violence (vs. 24- 25).

Now, we return to the last phrase, a question, of Isaiah 43:19, “Do you not perceive it?” The answer was “No!” The promises of homecoming were not realized. A geographic end to exile came about when King Cyrus allowed the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem (536 BC). Imagine the expectations of the people leaving Babylon for Jerusalem! They anticipated fertile and well-watered fields, economic prosperity, an end to violence and harm, and a shining city – the New Jerusalem.

Instead, they found a land occupied by outsiders who opposed their return. It took decades to build a wall for Jerusalem and complete a small, unimpressive Temple. The hearts of the

23 people had not changed. The presence of God did not return to the Temple. Jerusalem was not the shining city that attracted the nations of the world. It is amazing that the faith of Israel continued. Yet, it did continue for another 400 years. The faith changed, hardened, and lost any thought of being the light for the Nations. Nonetheless, when Jesus was born, the faith of Ancient Israel and the memory of God’s promise reminded in the minds of the people.

Did God ever keep his promises? As followers of Jesus, God’s Messiah, we believe, “no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Paul believed and taught that God has kept and will complete all his promises through Jesus. The book of Colossians explains Paul’s reasoning.

PART 1: You Have Been Raised With Christ

Here is Paul’s thinking. The death and resurrection of Jesus fulfilled all of God’s promises. In Christ, exile has ended, the New Exodus is open to all who believe, the New Covenant is available through the blood of Christ, and the New Creation has been inaugurated. In essence, Jesus is God’s Messiah, the King of Israel and the King of the World.

Jesus is King of the World:

The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:15-20).

QUESTION: Ask the class to name (or underline) the phrases that indicate the Jesus is the King of the World. Of these phrases, which one has the most meaning for you today?

We are Reconciled to God:

21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Colossians 1:21-22).

24 QUESTION: Compare these two types of relationships with God. “You were alienated from God. . .enemies in your minds. . . evil behavior” (vs. 21). “Present you holy in his sight, without blemish, and free of accusation” (vs. 22).

How does this transformation come about? Paul’s answer for personal transformation is the same as transformation of all creation – “he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death” (vs. 22).

QUESTION: What does reconciled mean your relationship with God?

TEACHERS: “Reconcile” is a word we hear often, but we seldom explore the meaning of the word. The common use of the term in our day is “reconciling accounts.” This is a stark and impersonal use of the term. There are more personal and intimate uses of the word. In Greek, the word means to “change from one state to another.” --To restore friendly relations; “she longed to reconcile with her father" --To settle one’s differenced; “kiss and make up” or “bury the hatchet.” --To live in harmony; “the family supported each other through everything.”

We are Buried and Raised in Christ.

For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self, ruled by the flesh, was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.

QUESTION: In these verses, Paul claims that we are the benefactors. What do we receive because we were “buried with him . . . also raised with him” (vs. 12)? (TEACHERS (hint); ask the class to point out the word “you” in the passage.)

PART 2: We are the New Humanity

Paul’s second piece of theology is that those who are “in Christ” are the New Humanity. We are restored to God’s original intention for humankind. Our resurrection to New Life in the New Creation is because we are buried and we rise “in Christ.” This is the way of holiness.

How to Fake a Holy Life

Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world*, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: 21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? 22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human

25 commands and teachings. 23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence (Colossians 2:20-23). *At the end of this lesson is a supplement that explains Paul’s understanding of the “spiritual forces of this world.”

In the ancient world, one of the great appeals of was its high moral code. In a world where people were sick and tired of the murky and immoral World of Rome and Greece, they were glad to embrace a way of life that offers clear, clean lines. In the city of Colossae, people begun to realize that pagan gods were not helping them live good lives. The Jewish regulations of the and the explanations of the first century teachers, pointed them toward a way of life that could be called “Holy.”

The way of holiness espoused in first century Judaism was severe self-discipline, ”Don’t handle this, don’t taste that, and don’t touch this other thing.” To follow this path makes a person feel like they must be advancing in their moral and spiritual lives. After all, they have put so much effort into it.

QUESTION: What is the appeal of the path of self-discipline alone?

Paul said that it is an illusion, this feeling of progress in the spiritual life. It is, indeed, a dead end because it functions at a worldly level. You give up worldly self-indulgence of a sensual kind for a worldly self-indulgence of a spiritual kind. If you want to do business with God, you have got to get beyond that.

QUESTION: Have you experienced or scene “a worldly self-indulgence of a spiritual kind?”

Genuine Holy Living

To move beyond “a worldly self-indulgence of a spiritual kind,” you must die and be raised. You need to come out from the worldly sphere rule by the ”elements of the world”, the shadowy powers that operate within the present creation. Instead, you need to belong to God’s New World, the New Creation that is replacing the old. The new life you seek is not found by straightening up the old life you now live. You need to be made new, to become part of the New Creation.

Here is the good news: if you belong to the Messiah, you are already part of the new world. What is already true for the Messiah is true for you if you are ”in Christ” whether you feel it or not. Jesus died and he was raised. When you are in Christ, you have die to the old self and the whole world. You are raised as a new person and belong to the New World that was inaugurated on Easter morning when Jesus stepped out of the tomb.

“In Christ,” we are part of the new humanity, what Paul refers to as ”the new Adam.” The image of God is restored, the authority to rule in love is renewed, and the old sinful nature

26 is replaced by a new nature inhabited by the Holy Spirit. But the new humanity is more than a personal character change; it is the recreation of the human race in Christ. Pastor provided an excellent quote for us to consider.

Peter T. O’Brien – On the other hand, the expression ‘the new man,’ has a corporate reference designating the new humanity in Christ. Just as the ‘old man’ is what they once were ‘in Adam,’ the embodiment of unregenerate humanity, so the ‘new man’ is what they are now ‘in Christ,’ the embodiment of the new humanity…The renewal refers not simply to an individual change of character but also to a corporate recreation of humanity in the Creator’s image. Christ is the ‘new man’ whom the Colossians have put on. He is the second Adam, the head of a new creation…Word Biblical Commentary: Colossians, Philemon

PART 3: We are Holy People

Genuine holiness is born in the death and resurrection of Jesus. We are born again when we are buried and raised in Christ. The worldly path of self-indulgent holiness gives way to the Spirit-filled path of the “New Adam (Christ).” Paul makes it plan, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here” (2 Cor. 5:17)! Now, we are ready for a clear word that sets our hearts on the path of holiness “in Christ.”

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory (Col. 3:1-4).

QUESTION: The text calls us to a life of heart and mind that is anchored in the New Creation as a member of the New Humanity. How would you explain to someone how to “set your heart” and “set your mind” on things above? (TEACHERS; verses 3 and 4 provide two thoughts that give us a new perspective and commitment for heart and mind.)

Holiness: Getting Down to Cases

Often, in the early church, when new believers were baptized, they took off the old clothes they were wearing. After coming up from immersion, they were given a new set of clothes to wear. Paul uses this illustration to describe the practical applications of holy living.

A) Put to Death

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. 7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life

27 you once lived. 8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. 9 Do not to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. 11 Here there is no or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.

Paul takes on two issues that are central to living together as a community in Christ: sexuality and communication. There is no gentle, halfhearted approach to such things. If you misuse either one, it is like poison in the food or water supply. It ends in death.

1-Sexuality. Paul is thinking about illicit sexual behavior, a term which includes sexual intercourse outside of marriage. All the terms used in his list over lap, “sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed” (vs. 5). Each indicates sexual gratification outside of the God given context of marriage.

Noticed that Paul includes “greed” – Sexual greed – as a form of idolatry. If a person’s mind is so obsessed with sexual behavior that he or she thinks, “If I ever have the opportunity, I will,” is worshipping a false god. It is treating erotic love as a divinity. It is giving allegiance to something in the transient world rather then to the living God. These false idols will receive the wrath of God in the days to come. Therefore, turn away from them now.

QUESTION: Return again to verses 3-4 of the chapter. How might fixing the heart and mind on being “hidden with Christ in God” and “appearing with Him in glory” help us to rise above sexual obsession?

2-Communication. The way we speak to one another is indicative of holy living. We might ask if the church has these two (sexuality and communication) out of balance. We abhor sexual misconduct, yet wink at angry and destructive communication; “anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips” (vs. 8). The words on the list also overlap in meaning. Verse 9 indicates the specific problem in Colossae – lies.

QUESTION: Look at verse 10, “put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” What is the knowledge (think relational knowledge) that will help us change our pattern of communication?

Paul is concerned with each individual. He is also concerned for the community as a whole. Sexual misconduct and negative communication rip people apart, increase divides between groups, and works like poison in the church. This cannot be for those who are “in Christ.” “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (vs. 11).

B) Clothe Yourselves

12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear

28 with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through , hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

QUESTION: Here is the test for Paul’s view of the New Humanity. List the items mentioned in vs. 5-9 and then the items listed in 12-17.

VERSES 5-9 VERSES 12-17 ______etc.

Now, ask: If these two lists described two different towns, where would you want to live and raise your children? There are some people who would select the “verses 5-9” town. Why? What would be there reasoning?

1-Putting on Virtues. The great virtue in this paragraph is love, “And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (vs. 14). Indeed, the virtues mentioned in verse 12, “with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience,” are expressions of love and the result of knowing and living as God’s chosen, holy, and loved people. In simple terms, we love because we are loved. We cannot conjure up these virtues on our own. They come from God’s heart that flows through us by the Holy Spirit.

Notice that the virtues are based in two actions that are required in the church (or family), “Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you” (vs. 13). We are to “bear with” the ones who are unpleasant and “forgive” those with whom we have a grievance. Our model is the Lord, Jesus, himself.

QUESTION: Which of the virtues have you witnessed or received in the last week?

2-Christ Lives and Rules. 1-The peace of Christ rules (vs. 15); TEACHERS, return to “reconciliation.” We are to live as reconciled to God and to one another. This is the way of life for the New Humanity. 2-The message of Christ dwells (vs. 16); TEACHERS, return to the bedrock message of the letter, we have been buried and raised in Christ to be the New Humanity in the New Creation. This message is to fill our worship and embody our gratitude. Give thanks. This is the way of holiness.

29 “Having Disarmed the Powers and Authorities” (Colossians 2:15)

Paul broadens the understanding of exile to include the whole world that is held captive by “the powers” (Col. 2:15). The enemy is not Babylon, Greece, or Rome. Rebel powers and forces under the shadowy presence of the “Prince of this World” are the captors and we are the captives. For Paul, the victory of Christ over the powers becomes a central and vital theme. But what are these ‘powers’? What is the victory of Christ? And how does knowing about it help us in following Jesus today? Ancient pagans believed the world was controlled by forces, what Paul calls “the powers.” We smile at this way of thinking, but look again. We say almost the same thing. Do politicians control the world? Not a chance. They will tell us, “there are forces beyond our control.” We talk about economic forces, social forces, and political forces. We also talk about “the powers,” the power of culture, the power of history, the power of nature, etc. We use the same language as ancient people. We can’t touch and see these powers and forces. Some of them may, for a while, come to be quite closely identified with certain human beings; but take that person away, and the force will still remain. As is often said, it isn’t the managing director who runs Ford Motor Company; it’s Ford Motor Company that runs the managing director. To understand what Paul is teaching us about the victory of Christ on the cross, we must accept the reality of rebel “powers” and “forces” set loose in the world.

Paul’s first point about the powers is that all things were made in Christ, through Christ and for Christ (see Col. 1:15-20). All things—including the ‘powers’! The Creator, through the agency of his eternal Son, made everything, the invisible things as well as the visible. God intended his world to be ordered, not random; to be structured, not chaotic. He intended what came to be called the “powers,” the “forces,” to be part of the way his world worked for his glory and the good of humanity. What went wrong, then? Humans were given God’s image and authority to rule the earth (Genesis 1:27-28). What went wrong was that human beings gave up their responsibility for God’s world, and handed their power over to the powers (Genesis 3:1-6). • When humans refuse to use God’s gift of sexuality responsibly, they are handing over their power to an unseen force that will take control. • When humans refuse to use God’s gift of money responsibly, they are handing over their power to an unseen force that will take control. • When humans refuse to use God’s gift of authority responsibly, they are handing over their power to an unseen force that will take control. When the powers take over, human beings get crushed. There are powers at work that humans are powerless to stop.

The second point that Paul makes is that, since we are in Christ, we don’t need to submit to “the powers” any longer. Jesus took on the principalities and powers. He lived, and taught, a way of being fulfilling God’s plan, a way of being human, which challenged the powers at every point. The powers said you should live for money. Jesus said you cannot serve God and money. The powers said that Israel’s path to liberation would come through the sword.

30 Jesus said that those who take the sword would perish by the sword. The powers said that Caesar was Lord of the world. Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God. His followers proclaim, “Jesus is Lord.” What happens to people who stand up to the powers? The powers use all their force to shut them down. The powers killed Jesus; that’s what they do to people who challenge them. The powers nailed him to a cross. They stripped him naked and publicly humiliated him. They celebrated their triumph over him. Nobody stands up to us like that, they said, and gets away with it. You can’t beat the system. Now, read Colossians 2:13-15.

When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

This is the heart of Paul’s logic concerning the power of the cross. The cross was not the defeat of Christ at the hands of the powers; it was the defeat of the powers at the hands of Christ.

The third point that Paul makes about the powers is that they (the powers themselves) have been reconciled to Christ. Having been defeated, they are not annihilated. God is in Christ making a new world; now, however, brought into new order under the authority of Christ rather than the authority of Satan.

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross” (Col. 1:19-20).

Let’s sum up: 1-The powers were created good, but there power expanded because we humans allowed it by worshipping them. 2-On the cross, Christ defeated these rebel powers and stripped them of their ultimate power. 3-Now Christ seeks to reconcile them, to create a new world, which is given ordered and rule by the power of the love of God.

31 FEBRUARY 3 NEW REALITY CREATED WITH ALL THINGS NEW! Matthew 19:23-30; Revelation 21:1-7

Pastor Ulmet The dusty vision given to Isaiah in chapter 65 is now closer to reality! We are one day closer today than we were yesterday to its final fulfillment and the enactment of the greatest creation of all time: the NEW REALITY created with ALL THINGS truly NEW! Matthew 19:23-30; Revelation 21:1-7 Matthew Passage: Ralph Earle, quoting Bengel: There will be a new creation, over which the second Adam will preside, when the whole microcosm of human nature, by means of the resurrection, and also the macrocosm of the universe, will be born again.” Beacon Bible Commentary: Matthew Revelation Passage: H. Ray Dunning: The result of ‘no more sea’ (KJV) was the absence of all of those consequences of evil in the old creation …this… seems to suggest that evil is an excluded reality…and ultimately, when finitude is swallowed up in immortality, it will be totally overcome. Grace, Faith, and Holiness H. Ray Dunning: The Christ who was the Instrument of creation in the beginning, and who successfully combated the powers of chaos in the middle, will because of that be Christus Victor at the end. ‘They (the powers of chaos) will make war on the Lamb (who was slain on the cross), and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.’ (Revelation 17:14) George Eldon Ladd: The future is not uncertain to those who trust God. The future is secure because God is the eternal one. He again affirms that he is the Alpha and the Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet who encompasses all reality in Himself (underlines mine). He is the beginning and the end. The eternal one, who brought all things into existence, will make all things new in the eternal order. A Commentary on the Revelation of John William Barclay: Again John is hearing the voice that the great prophets had heard…God is the beginning and the end…The word for beginning…does not simply mean first in point of time but first in the sense of the source of all things. The word for end…does not simply mean end in point of time but the goal. John is saying that all life begins in God and ends in God…It would be impossible to say anything more magnificent about God. The Revelation of John My summary: Only the ONE who is the CREATOR of all reality can also RE-CREATE all reality. Only the ONE who IS ultimate reality can make all reality NEW. Only the ONE who is eternally CREATIVE can CREATE all things NEW! Once again. For the final time!

INTRODUCTION:

This series of lessons explored a powerful theme in Scripture, the the New Heaven and New Earth. We have seen three movements that “make all things new.” • The New Exodus – Isaiah 43:18 • The New Jerusalem – Isaiah 65:17 • The New Humanity – Colossians 3:3-4

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Today’s lesson presents “The New Reality.” The New Heaven and Earth, found in Isaiah 65 and Revelation 21 for a recreation of the reality of our existence. How?

I RECOMMEND VIEWING THIS VIDEO An excellent and short video of “Heaven and Earth” is found at The Bible Project: https://youtu.be/Zy2AQlK6C5k

New Exodus; God’s Promise – The world itself has been in exile since the sin or our first parents, Adam and Eve. Exile ends when with a New Exodus that welcomes us home and a New Covenant that reestablishes our relationship with God. Taken together, this is what the New Testament means by “The Forgiveness of Sin.” The first Exodus brought the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt. The “new thing” (Isaiah 43), was the promised Exodus out of Babylon. However, it was in Jesus that the spiritual Exile came to an end. Jesus enacted the Exodus and established the New Covenant with his blood. The final movement of this great transformation will be the New Reality when all creation – heaven and earth – will return to God’s original intentions.

New Jerusalem; God’s Presence – In Old Testament terms, Jerusalem was the center of the world, the place where heaven and earth touch, the Holy City of God. The Jerusalem Temple, God dwelling place on earth, was designed as a representation of Eden. God’s presence was to inhabit Jerusalem and draw all the nations of the earth to her Holy Mountain. The world would worship God and fill the earth with his glory. Jesus replaced the Jerusalem Temple as the meeting place of God and humanity. We, his bride, are the foretaste of the New Jerusalem, attracting the nations to worship the One God. The New Jerusalem will descend as the Bride of Christ (Revelation 21:2), even as the Church today is Christ’s Bride (John 3:29; Eph. 5:25-33).

New Humanity; God’s People – When God’s New Reality consumes the earth, the New Adam (Jesus) will be seen as the ruler of all the earth, “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:10-11). At that times, the New Humanity that is born in us (2 Cor. 5:17), will come to complete physical transformation.

“The first man Adam became a living being”[Gen. 2:7]; the last Adam*, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man* is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man*, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man* (1 Cor. 15:45-49; *these terms refer to Christ).

QUESTION: How would you explain God’s promise, presence, and people to a new Christian? How does God’s promise, presence, and people affect your discipleship?

33 The New Reality

In Pastor’s notes, he cites Ralph Earle, my New Testament professor when I attended Theological Seminary. Professor Earle employs a thought from Bengel:

There will be a new creation, over which the second Adam will preside, when the whole microcosm of human nature, by means of the resurrection, and also the macrocosm of the universe, will be born again.” Beacon Bible Commentary: Matthew

For Jesus, the opposition is mounting. In Matthew 19 and the following four chapters, hostility and schemes are directed toward Jesus. [Teachers: As you are aware, I approach Scripture “in context.” This short section of the lesson presents the context of the text.]

• In a parable, Jesus explains that the “workers of the vineyard” (Israel) have rejected the Landowner (God) (Matthew 20:1-16), followed up by another prediction of his death through the hands of “the Chief Priests and teachers of the Law” (Matthew 20:18).

• The disciples exploit political schemes to gain favor and authority. They are blind to what Jesus is doing, even as the blind see the truth, “Son of , have mercy on us” (Matthew 20:31).

• Entrance into Jerusalem and challenging the value of the Temple sets up the final conflict (Matthew 21:1-22). Jesus claims that faith in him means “you can say to this mountain [], ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done” (Matthew 21:21).

• Jesus’ authority is questioned (Matthew 21:23-27) and Jesus answers with parables that attach the keepers of the vineyard, that is, the Rulers of Israel (Matthew 21:28- 46).

• Then, in a shocking story, Jesus describes a banquet where the expected guests do not attend and the rejected and outcasts have seats at the table (Matthew 22:1-14). The parable sparks hostel questions from Pharisees and Sadducees, two groups who were ordinarily opposed to one another (Matthew 22:15-45).

HERE IS A SIGNIFICANT LESSON: As the opposition comes closer, Jesus’ vision grows longer. In this same section of Scripture, he continues to speak about the end, the time when the Kingdom will be completed, the final resurrection will take place, and God’s ultimate plan will be finished.

QUESTION: In times of crisis and persecution, what is the value in focusing the mind and heart on the greater vision of God’s plan for the New Heaven and Earth? Why? What does the long-range vision do for us when we are pressed down and maltreated?

34 Within a context of opposition and hostility, Jesus speaks from his heart concerning his role in God’s ultimate purpose in Matthew 19:23-30.

Part 1: THE NEW REALITY IS GOD’S GRACIOUS GIFT

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?” 26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:23-26).

VERSE 24; It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

Lesson: Our Personal Salvation is God’s gracious gift of the New Reality.

Jesus instructed a rich young ruler “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” 22 When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth” (Matthew 19:21-22).

Jesus is not saying that all poor people and none of the wealthy enter the kingdom of heaven. That would exclude Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to say nothing of David, Solomon, and . The point of Jesus' teaching lies elsewhere. The disciples, like most Jews, expected the rich to inherit eternal life, not because their wealth could buy their way in, but because their wealth testified to the blessing of the Lord on their lives. The reasoning goes like this – If God has blessed their lives now, they will certainly be blessed in the New Age. Jesus' view is different and more sobering.

Jesus employed hyperbole (exaggeration) to make his point – you cannot thread a needle with a camel! It simply can’t be done. Against some popular but mistaken notions that the “needle’s eye” was the name of a gate in first-century Jerusalem, a needle’s eye back then meant what it means today — a very tiny opening. Imagine a camel and a needle. In Babylonia, where the largest animal was an elephant, a teacher would speak of what was impossible as “an elephant passing through the eye of a needle.” In Judea and , the largest animal was a camel. This is a picture that makes the point: it is impossible.

The disciples are astonished and ask, “Then who can be saved” (vs. 25)? If rich people, blessed of God, cannot be saved, then who can be saved? Jesus agrees that it is impossible to be saved. And that is the point Jesus is hammering home.

35 QUESTION: It is one thing to renounce our sin. It is something else to renounce our righteousness. John Wesley, in the “Covenant Renewal Service,” makes the point. We must renounce both our sin and righteousness. What does it mean to renounce our righteousness? Complete this sentence, “Concerning my righteousness, I renounce. . . .

After allowing the impossibility to sink in to the minds of his disciples, Jesus is ready to give an answer.

VERSE 26; “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

Lesson: We receive God’s gracious gift by trusting His promise of a New Reality.

Jesus agrees: "With man this [the salvation of anyone] is impossible, but with God all things are possible." The words of Jesus have roots deep in the story of the Hebrew people, particularly, the moment when Sarah received the announcement that she would give birth. Upon overhearing the news, she laughed in disbelief. The Angel of the Lord responded, “Is anything too hard for the Lord” (Genesis 18:14)?

Every human being must answer this question. Your answer determines everything else.

• Answer #1: Some things are just too hard for God. This is the safe answer. This answer keeps the world stable, reliable, and hopeless. This is the answer of common sense, good reasoning, and predictable logic. Sarah understood this answer. She laughed and lied.

QUESTION: Why is Answer #1 tempting for us? What is attractive about having control over our own salvation?

• Answer #2: Nothing is too hard for God. This answer breaks with reason, common sense, and practical wisdom. This answer makes room for God to intervene. This answer takes battles death, sin, and Satan and wins the victory.

QUESTION: We have a part in our salvation. It is not anything we bring to the table. It is the mere fact that we “come to the table.” We join Christ and choose to align our lives with his person and purpose. How do we do this?

Peter is still thinking about what he (and the disciples) have brought to the mission of Christ, “Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us” (vs. 27)? Jesus' words are unfair. Consider what the disciples have given up to follow Jesus. Jesus is pointing his disciples to a bedrock understanding. Salvation is the gracious gift of God.

Therefore, “nothing is impossible” is the way of faith, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Our salvation and the salvation of Creation

36 are utterly and ultimately dependent upon God. Jesus moves easily from the quest for personal salvation, expressed by the Rich Young Ruler, to the final salvation of all Creation, “the renewal of all things” (Matthew 19:28).

QUESTION: We rarely reflect on the connection between our personal salvation and the ultimate salvation of creation; how do these connect for you?

Part 2 THE NEW REALITY INCLUDES HUMAN PARTNERSHIP

27 Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” 28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. 30 But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first (Matthew 19:27-30).

VERSE 28; At the renewal of all things when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne.

Lesson: A human being, Jesus Christ, rules The New Reality.

The term translated “the renewal” was used by Stoic philosophers for the fiery destruction and restoration of the cosmos; in a Jewish setting, it refers to the promised new creation (see Isaiah 65:17, 66:22).

The image of “The Son of Man sits on his glorious throne” takes us back to Daniel 7:13-14 and the title of the Messiah that Jesus took as his own – “Son of Man.”

“In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.

At this point, Jesus has moved from the personal salvation of the Rich Young Ruler to the role of the Messiah/King in establishing and ruling the eternal Kingdom of God. Friends, a human being is in charge of God’s Kingdom on earth and in heaven.

QUESTION: Surprisingly, there are many modern-day followers of Christ who do not grasp or have not been taught that the Kingdom of God has been established on

37 earth and we are citizens of his Kingdom. What would it be like to be a follower of Jesus without understanding the Kingdom is present now?

Jesus promises his disciples 12 thrones; “you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. The disciples probably took the promise as literal thrones. However, it would not be long before one of the disciples turns traitor, and the leader (Jesus himself) will mount his throne on a Cross where he defeats evil.

This section of Scripture, Matthew 19:3-26:5, shows the opposition to Jesus that eventually results in a complete break with Judaism. Jesus predicts the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Therefore, the 12 thrones are not for the tribes of Ancient Israel, but for the New Israel.

QUESTION: What does it mean that the Church is the New Israel? What does it mean that the mission of Israel that fell on Jesus, and the mission of Jesus falls on us?

VERSE 29: He will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life

Lesson: The way we care for one another anticipates The New Reality.

Jesus promises that “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.”

In the Kingdom, we are all brothers and sisters. To be rejected by family for the sake of the Kingdom is a genuine experience for many people. Yet, in the Kingdom, don’t we find new brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers?

QUESTION: What have you sacrificed for the Kingdom of God that has been replaced in ways you never anticipated?

Imagine the disciples reflecting on these words about thrones, sacrifice, and blessing after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. The promise of thrones and blessings are examples of the up-side-down in God’s Kingdom. “The first are last and many who are last will be first.”

QUESTION: Are there “predictions” of the coming Kingdom that we might take as literal that may be better understood as symbolic of the New Reality?

VERSE 30: The first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

Lesson: The values of the fallen creation will be revered in The New Reality.

This is Jesus’ way of describing the Kingdom of God, now and in the future. It is an upside- down kingdom. God tips his hand at the birth of Jacob and Essau, the legacy of Abraham and Isaac.

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The LORD said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger” (Genesis 25:23).

In the last line of God’s promise, the family trouble and conflict between kingdoms is born: “the older will serve the younger.” God assaults tradition. In the culture of Isaac, the older son received the father’s blessing. The younger served the older. That’s how it works. That’s the way it is. That’s way it should be.

In six words, God breaks convention, counters the values, and drives a stake of conflict into the family as the Lord marks out the boundaries of Heaven’s Kingdom: the-older-will- serve-the-younger. Here is the conflict between kingdoms, the kingdom of this fallen world and the Kingdom of God, ruled by Jesus Christ.

QUESTION: Describe what it means today to reverse the values – the first shall be last. What do you think “the first will be last” will be like in the world to come?

Let’s turn to the New Reality when the Kingdom of God will be consummated in the New Heaven and Earth.

Revelation 21:11-7 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[Isaiah 65:1] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[:8] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

Part 3 THE NEW REALITY CONSUMATES GOD’S ULTAMATE PURPOSE

VERSE 1: No longer any sea

Lesson: Healing and life replace chaos and evil in the New Reality.

39 The vision of Revelation is drawn from the vision of Isaiah 65, “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” The heavens, in our present day fallen creation, are menaced by powers and principalities that overreach their authority. In the New Heaven, the powers and principalities will fall under the authority of Jesus who has been given “all authority in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28:18).

The “Prince of the World” rules the fallen earth (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). In the New Earth, the “Ancient Serpent” (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 20:2) is “thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

The seemingly odd phrase that appears in verse 1 is “no more sea.” I agree with the scholars who see this as a reflection of the first creation where we read, “Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters” (Genesis 1:2).

The Bible often employs the “sea” as an image of chaos – “formless and empty” (see Revelation 20:13; 13:1; and Jesus walked on the sea, Matthew 14:22-33). The fact that the New Reality has no “sea” should not be taken literally, but symbolically. The last vestiges of chaos and evil are destroyed. Further, the “sea” is replaced with the River of Life in the New Eden.

“The river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse” (Revelation 22:1-3, also Ezekiel 47:12).

QUESTION: Imagine the “healing of the nations.” What are the wounds of the nations that require healing? How will this transform the world into the New Reality?

VERSE 2: prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Lesson: The Church is the Bride in the New Reality.

The vision of the New Reality focuses on the New Jerusalem. Interpretation of this image of the New Jerusalem, must take seriously the Old Jerusalem. I don’t believe we need to go so far as to suggest that a new city will be built at the same location as the current Jerusalem. From the verses, we know that the New Jerusalem appears and descends to the New Earth. Jerusalem is the center of God’s Presence on earth and continues to be the focal point, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22).

The most telling phrase concerning the New Jerusalem is that she is “a bride.” I agree with scholars who interpret this phrase as a reference to the Church (see :1; Hosea

40 2:19-20; 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:23). In the rest of this chapter (vs. 9-27), John’s vision of the city includes a specific size and shape as well as detailed building materials and architecture. However, as the chapter opens (our text), John’s vision imagines the church, God’s people, as the New Jerusalem. Certainly this implies God’s intimate relationship with his people.

QUESTION: Let you mind run with the image of the church as the New Jerusalem. The meaning is that humanity will carry the image of God throughout the New Earth. What can we do today to prepare us for that task in the New Reality?

VERSE 3: They will be his people*, and God himself will be with them and be their God

Lesson: The relationship between God and his people is the heart of the New Reality.

That God will dwell with his people is a promise of God’s covenant with Israel (Ex. 29:45– 46; Lev. 26:12; 1Ki 6:13; Zec. 2:10–11), including in the future temple (Eze. 43:7,9). But whereas the restoration of the temple was a standard hope for restored Jerusalem (Eze. 37:26–28; 41:1-48:35), in Revelation the entire city is the temple (Rev. 21:22), shaped like the Most Holy Place. God’s dwelling with his people is a promise given to the Old Jerusalem that was lost because of their sin. The story of the fall of humanity is repeated in the fall of Israel and her lost relationship with God (Ex. 25:8; Eze. 37:26-27). The New Jerusalem becomes our eternal home and the city where God will place his own name forever.

QUESTION: If the relationship between God and his people is the heart of the New Reality, how should we live today as we prepare for God’s future?

[*TEACHERS: A complete list of “The People of God” scriptures is included at the end of this lesson.]

VERSE 4: There will be no more death’[Isaiah 25:7-8]

God's presence will wipe away the brokenness of the fallen creation. John pictures a mother’s love reaching toward her child. She, "will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (see also Rev. 7:17). These tears have come from sin's distortion of God's purposes for humanity. Jesus, our Savior and Champion, will defeat the enemy of humankind and liberated his people and his creation. Isaiah saw this vision many years earlier. The destruction of death is also the removal of disgrace, the disgrace of turning against God. At last, the curse of First Adam is gone and the blessing of the Second Adam reigns.

On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears

41 from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.

QUESTION: Imagine a life without dis-grace. What will it be like?

VERSE 6: To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.

Lesson: The final end of creation’s exile and the full return to God is the New Reality.

At this point, God speaks, “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true’” (Revelation 21:5). This is only the second time that God speaks directly in the book (see Rev. 1:8). The One who created is creating again, “making everything new.” John is reporting that because these are God’s words, “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” (Rev. 21:6), it is important that they be reported to the churches.

To those who thirst for him, God offers the "water of life" without cost (Revelation 7:17; 22:1, 17; John 7:37-39; Romans 3:24). Here, salvation is beautifully depicted by the image of drinking at the spring of life. Twice in chapters 21-22, God invites those who sense their need and are drawn toward him to come.

The closest rendition of this verse is found in the beautiful and evangelistic passage from . This is God’s invitation for the people held captive in Babylon to come home to Jerusalem. So we find, here in Revelation, that Babylon is destroyed (chapter 20) and the New Jerusalem has arrived (the remainder of chapter 21). At long last, the great exile of all creation comes to an end. We all return to the creation of our home, the home we have never known, yet, the home that is born in our hearts through faith in Jesus Christ.

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. (Isaiah 55:1)

QUESTION: When the New Reality arrives, it will be like going home to a place we have never known. But we know the promise, the presence, and the people of the New Reality (review pages . What will you do on your first day in the New Reality?

The People of God

42 Genesis 17:7-8. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. The whole land of , where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God. Exodus 6:7. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. Exodus 20:2. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Deuteronomy 7:6. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. 1 Samuel 12:22. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. :33. "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the Lord. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." Ezekiel 11:19-20. I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. They will be my people, and I will be their God. :7-8. 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. Zechariah 13:9. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, "They are my people," and they will say, "The Lord is our God." Acts 15:13-14. When they finished, James spoke up: "Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself." Romans 9:24-26. Even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles. As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one." 1 Peter 2:9-10. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Revelation 21:3, 7. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God"...He said to me..."He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

This list was compiled by Dr. Dale Stoffer, Professor of Historical Theology at Ashland Theological Seminary.

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