Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Blessing the Nations



May 14, 2015, marked sixty-seven years since the nation of Israel declared independence on a tiny sliver of land in Palestine. However as history and ongoing news media reports can attest, this was not the beginning or the end of what has been a century’s long struggle to establish ownership and property rights for the people groups which call the land of Israel/Palestine home. Depending upon how one perceives the events of Israeli independence, May 14 is either a day of significant celebration or a day of profound sorrow. Over the past sixty-seven years, violence and bloodshed perpetrated by all sides in this protracted conflict have led to further grief, anger and angst, political posturing, and even raging debates in evangelical churches. Numerous attempts at mediation have been made, peace accords have been brokered, all failing to achieve their hoped for conclusions. 

Over the past months our current government has made statements that revealed a near unquestioned support of Israel’s policies of subjugating Palestinians living within their disputed borders. Some have responded favourably, suggesting that this support shows that we are somehow still a Christian nation because we support Israel. Alternatively, both Mennonite Church Canada and Mennonite Church USA have, within the past year, considered resolutions aimed at boycotting products produced in Israel as a form of protest. Finally, in other places (most notably Facebook) I have noticed a pitching “battle” between friends posting comments in support of Palestinian independence, while others share, like, and/or reference posts which seem to align more closely with the Zionism of our government in its unwavering support of Israel.

I have no intensions of adding yet another voice into the barrage of words from all sides in this conflict. Rather, I hope to explore the significance of “land” and its relationship to the missiological intention of God to extend salvation and blessing to all nations and peoples. I believe that the oracle of redemption in Isaiah 2 reveals the radically inclusive nature of the welcome of God – a welcome which will reach its ultimate fulfillment in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21 – to which God has called and continues to call Israel and by extension all followers of Jesus Christ. Note that what follows is an exegesis of Isaiah 2:2-5, exploring a possible relationship to Revelation 21:22-27 and paying attention to the implications of seeing the land as both gift and missiological task. 

Of course we need to acknowledge that to specify or focus on a particular text is limiting. So why choose Isaiah 2:2-5 to make an argument for the missiological significance of land for the blessing of the nations? Excellent arguments have been made for a theological centre of the Old Testament with far reaching implications for how we read and engage the Old (and even the New) Testament today.[1] Isaiah 2:2-5, while perhaps not a candidate for the theological centre of the biblical narrative, is nevertheless a significant refocussing or re-visioning of the missiological task of God’s chosen people.
In the Abrahamic covenant of Genesis 12:1-3 in which God promises the blessings of an enduring relationship with God, abundant blessings of descendants and a land for Abraham’s offspring to populate, there is also a noteworthy universal dimension to the blessing. Genesis 12:3b states, “in you all of the families of the earth shall be blessed” (NRSV). This text implies that while Israel will be a nation particularly blessed and chosen by God, their calling comes with the purpose of extending the blessing of God to the ends of the earth. The blessings of prosperity, relationship and land come with a missiological task. 

Pointing to the concluding sermon of Joshua 24, Walter Brueggemann builds upon this theme of Israel’s missiological task as a result of receiving the land as gift. Brueggemann points out that as a Torah people, Israel is mandated to care for the alien, sojourner, poor and less fortunate in their midst.[2] Further in Deuteronomy 26, the giving of the firstfruits and tithes points to the character of the people in caring for, “the Levites, the aliens, the orphans, and the widows,” (26:12) so that the blessing of God continues as a result of the peoples obedience to Torah. Unfortunately, in Isaiah 1 it is Israel’s failure to “seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, [and] plead for the widow,” (1:17) that brings about the judgement of God in the destruction and dispersion of the nation of Israel. It is following these words of destruction that Isaiah 2 breaks in with the promise of a future redemption, while at the same time inviting Israel to a renewed understanding of its calling in the activity of God.

Isaiah 2:2 begins, “In days to come…” which looks forward to a time yet to come which lies beyond the forecasted destruction and dispersion of Israel. How far this vision looks into the future is a matter of debate. Some argue that there is the strong indication that this is an event reserved for the eschaton – for the end of time.[3]  In other words, it is only when God will finally and decisively break into human history that the full extent of the vision cast in Isaiah 2 will be realized. However, if we look at verses 2-5 as a unit, coupling this textual unit with the significance of the exile event for Judaism and its implications for Christianity in the future (especially the advent of the synagogue system which Paul used to great effect in his missionary journeys), I would suggest that there is also an element of invitation in this text. The oracle of Isaiah 2:2-5 is an invitation to participate in the mission God, calling the nations to Zion and obedience to Torah. 

Marlin Jeschke, in an excellent chapter titled “Judaism: Deportation and Dispersion,” identifies how the Hebrew people in exile heeded the call of the prophets (particularly Jeremiah) in working for the salvation “of the new land in which they found themselves.”[4] While this understanding does not reject the eschatological significance of Isaiah 2:2-5, it pushes the reader beyond a singular, distant realization of this vision, inviting us to explore the possibility that land can be defined in broader terms than specific geographic boundaries.  Could it be that these last days of which Isaiah speaks began with the exile? We should not dismiss this possibility precisely because of the significant effect the exile had upon the spread of Judaism and later paving the way for the rapid explosion of Christianity. 

A vision of restoration begins to take shape in Isaiah 2:2 with the establishment of Zion as the highest mountain to which all nations will stream. The insistence upon the mountain of Yahweh being raised above all other hills speaks to an understanding of the prominence or dominance of Yahweh over all other deities. In some fashion, not articulated in the text, Jerusalem – as the city of God – will become the most important city for not only Israel, but all nations. This is not an indication of some sort of blatant nationalism or a preference for Israel over or against other nations. Rather, the symbolism of the text has a greater concern for Torah obedience than it does for national sovereignty or physical dominance. As Brueggemann indicates this is an “anticipatory text” which indicates that the nations will come to Zion, not in a sort of reverse exile to be dominated by a Davidic deity, but rather to learn the ways of Yahweh.[5] The nations will come willingly, expecting to be changed as they are brought into obedience to Torah. In verse three it is the nations who indicate that Zion is the seat of God’s instruction and it is in Zion that Yahweh will be most fully present to them. The nouns “teach” and “instruction” in the NRSV indicate the central significance of Torah in this text.[6] The dominance of God over all other deities is most certainly asserted in these verses, however it is a dominance realized in the gathering of the nations for instruction in the ways of God and prosperity in the gift of God’s blessing.

In verse four, the nations will come to Zion not only to submit themselves to the instruction and teaching of Yahweh, but they will submit to the judgement of God as well. The prophet indicates that it is through instruction in Torah, as the nations submit to the will of God, that they learn the way of peace. This education in the way of peace will bring an end to divisive ideologies and the nations will put into practice what they have learned. Weapons of warfare will be transformed into farming implements and the armies of the nations will be no more.

Certainly in a world ravaged by seemingly never ending conflict, with the Middle East being chief among the conflicted regions of the globe, this vision seems too good to be true and one may lean in the direction of an eschatological fulfillment. However, there is a significant clue given in verse five that would suggest the possibility of an ongoing, present day realization of this vision.

Most scholars agree with the text breakup found in many of the modern translations of this text which places verse five as the opening appeal of the text unit which encompasses Isaiah 2:5-22. However, if this verse is read as an appeal to Israel at the end of the oracle of redemption in verses 2-4, several significant implications are brought forward. The first of these implications is that Israel is called to obedience just as the other nations are called to submit to the Torah of Yahweh. As the judgement prophecy of Isaiah 1 indicates, Israel had become like all the other nations in their disobedience and hence were deserving of the wrath of God. To understand verse five as a call for Israel to return to obedience together with the nations, seems to indicate that the scope of God’s salvation activity includes, but also moves beyond the chosen people. These verses then cannot be read as a restoration of the people of Israel in the sense of sovereign nation-state status, but rather a call to submit to the sovereign will of God – or in other words, obedience to Torah.

A second implication of including verse five in the redemption oracle indicates that the nations such as Assyria (Isaiah 10:5ff) who will participate in the prophesied destruction of Israel, will “in the days to come” journey together with God’s chosen people to the mountain of the Lord. It is here that we have perhaps the most direct correlation with John’s vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. In John’s vision, much as in Isaiah 2, the “nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into [the city]” (Revelation 21:24). Are these the same nations that had been condemned because of their relations with the whore and their deception by Satan (Revelation 18)? If so, some sort of repentance must have taken place, as the nations now appear to be servants of God.[7]  Some would suggest that this would indicate universal salvation – that the grace of God is such that in the end no one will need to endure eternal punishment. However, Revelation 21:27 also makes it clear that nothing unclean will ever enter the city. Could this mean that some will be refused entry to the city? Perhaps the best explanation of the presence of the nations streaming to Zion and entering the gates of the New Jerusalem is as Pierre Gilbert has argued, “Regardless of the extent of one’s depravity...we do know that while there is life, [a] person retains the ability to turn to God.”[8]

This understanding brings us to a third implication of the call for Israel to return to faithful obedience in Isaiah 2:5. The redeeming message of Isaiah reveals that the salvation activity of God extends beyond Israel to include the nations. As Israel would come to learn in exile, God is already active in the nations beyond the physical borders of Israel/Palestine. Understanding this broad scope of God’s salvation activity, ultimately gives Israel (and now the church?) a global vision of its mandate to be a blessing to the nations that it likely did not fully understand prior to the exile.

So what about Zion? What is the significance of the land in Isaiah 2:2-5? Is the prophecy of Isaiah looking towards a literal fulfillment of the restoration of the people to the land of Israel? Or is this text symbolic in its representation of the missiological task of God’s chosen people? You could probably answer yes to both. Throughout the exile experience the prophets all point to a longing among the people to return to the Promised Land. However, as Marlin Jeschke has noted there is a significant shift in mindset of Diaspora Judaism. A new motif emerges in the prophesies of land restoration which has as its primary focus the salvation of Israel’s neighbours.[9] Israel was growing in the realization of its task as a people whose life in obedience to Torah would be so attractive as to draw all peoples and nations to the mountain of God.[10] From the peaceable kingdom vision of Isaiah 11 to the Apostle Paul’s use of Old Testament texts to indicate the motif of salvation to the Gentiles, a shift in missiological intention and focus begins to take shape.[11]

While the dream of a literal return and restoration of the land and people of Israel is ingrained in Isaiah 2:2-5, the symbolic significance of Zion plays a greater role. As Elmer Martens writes the land is “more than acreage and territory.”[12] Particularly from an exilic or Diaspora purview the “land” began to take on significant elements of symbolism. In Isaiah 2 the gift of land is bound up in a particular lifestyle which connotes obedience to the will of God. It is noteworthy that in Isaiah 2:5, Israel is not called to come and reclaim the land as though it is rightfully theirs. Rather the “house of Jacob” is challenged to join with the nations and “walk in the light of the LORD!” There are no claims to land ownership or property rights in this text.  All of life – including residence in the land – is presented as a gift which is borne out of obedience.

I have attempted to argue that the salvation oracle of Isaiah 2 indicates a radically inclusive vision of the welcome of God which Israel is called to begin from its position of blessing and which God will ultimately bring to fulfillment in the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. Coming to terms with the missiological significance of this vision implies noteworthy implications for the church today – and particularly for the church in the west.

Today we enjoy a land of peace, prosperity and significant excess. We are a blessed people, living in a blessed land. With this blessing has come an unfortunate note of entitlement and superiority within our society, such that our economic forces demand that the world bend to our needs and continue to feed the insatiable appetite of our “North American dream.” Further, the result of our affluence and excess has shaped a growing population which has “forsaken the LORD...despised the Holy One of Israel, [becoming] utterly estranged!” (Isaiah 1:4). 

What might it look like if we, the church in the west, place ourselves in the position of Israel in the opening chapters of Isaiah? What is the obedience that is being demanded of us? Will God call us to account for the gift we have neglected, abused, and hoarded for ourselves at the expense of the nations? These are difficult and far reaching questions, with equally difficult implications for our understanding of the role of the church in face of growing secularism. Isaiah’s vision of the nations streaming to the mountain of the LORD is still before us. The radical vision of Revelation 21, with the nations bringing their glory into the New Jerusalem, remains our missiological challenge. I believe we are called – as individuals, as the local church, and the church universal (together with Israel) – to live lives of such attraction that we draw the nations to Zion through our obedience. This is our missiological task/challenge/invitation in a nation fleeing from God. It implies that we return to a thorough and ongoing study of the Word and that we define ourselves by its radical call to obedience. In obedience to the will of God, blessed in the abundance of God’s mercy and grace, the gift we are invited to share is nothing short of God’s gracious invitation to salvation extended to the world.

“O [church of Canada], come, let us walk in the light of the LORD!”


[1] Most notably: 1) A former professor of mine Pierre Gilbert, Demons, Lies and Shadows: A Plea for a Return to Text and Reason (Winnipeg: Kindred, 2007), who argues for Genesis 1-3 as the theological centre; 2) Elmer A. Martens, God’s Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology (N. Richland, Texas: Bibal, 1998), which argues for Exodus 5:22-6:8 as the theological centre.
[2] Walter Brueggemann, The Land: Place as Gift, Promise, and Challenge in Biblical Faith 2d ed., Overtures to Biblical Theology (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 61.
[3] Bruce K. Waltke with Charles Yu, An Old Testament Theology: An Exegetical, Canonical, and Thematic Approach (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007).
[4] Marlin Jeschke, Rethinking Holy Land: A Study in Salvation Geography, with a forward by David Augsburger (Waterloo: Herald Press, 2005), 70.
[5] Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), 501.
[6] Ibid.
[7] John R. Yeatts,Revelation, Believers Church Bible Commentary, Elmer A. Martens and Willard M. Swartley, ed. (Waterloo: Herald Press, 2003), 411.
[8] Pierre Gilbert, Demons, Lies, & Shadows: A Plea for a Return to Text and Reason (Winnipeg: Kindred, 2007), 120.
[9] Jeschke, 75.
[10] Elmer A. Martens, God’s Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology 3d ed. (N. Richland Hills, Texas: Bibal Press, 1998), 292.
[11] Jeschke, 76.
[12] Martens, 136.

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