The New Israel

Reflection: Today, in Psalm 79, the psalmist cries out for God to help the people of Israel for the glory of His name. He then starts to reason with God, “Why should the nations say, Where is there God?”  Then, in the Isaiah passage, we see Isaiah reflecting on how even after the Babylonians had invaded and plundered the Southern Kingdom (Judah), that one day God would gather back all the exiles.  God would rise up another super power, the Persians, led by King Cyrus, to re-establish the people of God and overthrow the Babylonians.   At this point this was a prophetic utterance of Isaiah that would come true later. 

And then bringing it full circle Paul finishes his letter to the Galatians by calling them the “Israel of God”.  Some dispensationalist theologians want to make a strict separation between “Israel” and the “Church”, yet it is hard to argue that case when just verses earlier Paul says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, but all are in one in Christ Jesus.”  In Christ all the earthly separating distinctions are gone and we become one in Christ Jesus as he states “We are a new creation, the old has gone the new has come!” 

As we reflect on the Psalm and Isaiah passages, we see that God is no respecter of ethnicity as He carries His purposes out.  The Assyrians and Babylonians are used to discipline Israel from falling away from the Covenant, but then God has ways of always dealing with them too. Through it all, we remember God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15 that through his belief in the promise he will be a blessing to all nations. 

What does this mean for us today?  We need to remember that Christianity is not about preserving our “tribe” or “denomination”.  Without disregarding the heritage of our faith tradition that we came from, and especially as that tradition is a credible witness the Gospel, we need be reminded that we have been set apart to give God glory and to draw all peoples to Him through His Son!  This can often mean being drawn out of our cultural comfort zone to understand other people so proclaim the Gospel in relevant ways.

This has long been the task of the missionary, who goes to a foreign land to spend some time in the culture, so he can understand the appropriate contextualization for the Good News in a foreign land. Yet increasingly, our larger cities are looking more diversified and there is a good likelihood if you live in a large city or suburb, that there will be cultures different than your own.  Rather than developing a “ghetto mentality”, as believers, we need to engage the culture we live in and be ready to give answer for the faith we have been given!

For each of us that will mean different things, but one day there will be a day that every knee and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of His Holy Name, Amen. 

Psalm 79:9-13

⁹ Help us, God our Savior,
    for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins
    for your name’s sake.
¹⁰ Why should the nations say,
    “Where is their God?”

Before our eyes, make known among the nations
    that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants.
¹¹ May the groans of the prisoners come before you;
    with your strong arm preserve those condemned to die.
¹² Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times
    the contempt they have hurled at you, Lord.
¹³ Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture,
    will praise you forever;
from generation to generation
    we will proclaim your praise.

Isaiah 11:10-13:22

¹⁰ In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. ¹¹ In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the Mediterranean.

¹² He will raise a banner for the nations
    and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
    from the four quarters of the earth.
¹³ Ephraim’s jealousy will vanish,
    and Judah’s enemies will be destroyed;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
    nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.
¹⁴ They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
    together they will plunder the people to the east.
They will subdue Edom and Moab,
    and the Ammonites will be subject to them.
¹⁵ The Lord will dry up
    the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
    over the Euphrates River.
He will break it up into seven streams
    so that anyone can cross over in sandals.
¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
    that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
    when they came up from Egypt.

Songs of Praise

12 In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, Lord.
    Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
    and you have comforted me.
² Surely God is my salvation;
    I will trust and not be afraid.
The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my defense;
    he has become my salvation.”
³ With joy you will draw water
    from the wells of salvation.

⁴ In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;
    make known among the nations what he has done,
    and proclaim that his name is exalted.
⁵ Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;
    let this be known to all the world.
⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
    for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

A Prophecy Against Babylon

13 A prophecy against Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:

² Raise a banner on a bare hilltop,
    shout to them;
beckon to them
    to enter the gates of the nobles.
³ I have commanded those I prepared for battle;
    I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath—
    those who rejoice in my triumph.

⁴ Listen, a noise on the mountains,
    like that of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
    like nations massing together!
The Lord Almighty is mustering
    an army for war.
⁵ They come from faraway lands,
    from the ends of the heavens—
the Lord and the weapons of his wrath—
    to destroy the whole country.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
    it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
⁷ Because of this, all hands will go limp,
    every heart will melt with fear.
⁸ Terror will seize them,
    pain and anguish will grip them;
    they will writhe like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at each other,
    their faces aflame.

⁹ See, the day of the Lord is coming
    —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger—
to make the land desolate
    and destroy the sinners within it.
¹⁰ The stars of heaven and their constellations
    will not show their light.
The rising sun will be darkened
    and the moon will not give its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
    the wicked for their sins.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty
    and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
¹² I will make people scarcer than pure gold,
    more rare than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble;
    and the earth will shake from its place
at the wrath of the Lord Almighty,
    in the day of his burning anger.

¹⁴ Like a hunted gazelle,
    like sheep without a shepherd,
they will all return to their own people,
    they will flee to their native land.
¹⁵ Whoever is captured will be thrust through;
    all who are caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;
    their houses will be looted and their wives violated.

¹⁷ See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
    who do not care for silver
    and have no delight in gold.
¹⁸ Their bows will strike down the young men;
    they will have no mercy on infants,
    nor will they look with compassion on children.
¹⁹ Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms,
    the pride and glory of the Babylonians,
will be overthrown by God
    like Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰ She will never be inhabited
    or lived in through all generations;
there no nomads will pitch their tents,
    there no shepherds will rest their flocks.
²¹ But desert creatures will lie there,
    jackals will fill her houses;
there the owls will dwell,
    and there the wild goats will leap about.
²² Hyenas will inhabit her strongholds,
    jackals her luxurious palaces.
Her time is at hand,
    and her days will not be prolonged.

Galatians 6:6-18

⁶ Nevertheless, the one who receives instruction in the word should share all good things with their instructor. ⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

Not Circumcision but the New Creation

¹¹ See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand!

¹² Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. ¹³ Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. ¹⁴ May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. ¹⁵ Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. ¹⁶ Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule—to the Israel of God.¹⁷ From now on, let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.

¹⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who watch over my way. Psalm 142:3 (NIV)

Jesus said, “So make up your minds not to prepare your defense in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict.” Luke 21:14-15

Steadfast God, we count on you to give us words and actions that nurture, heal, and serve. Watch over us and grant us strength and goodness. Ame