I am with you, . . .
I will strengthen you, I will help you. (41:10)
And affirmation as God's servant and witness
I have given you as a covenant to the people,
a light to the nations,
to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness. (42:6-7)
And the promise of unlimited blessing and protection
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine. . . .
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you. (43:1-2)
After all that, he makes it clear that Israel is called to faithfulness and God is a jealous, demanding God. He gives a scathing denunciation against idolatry.
All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit;
. . . they will be put to shame. (44:9)
Isaiah keeps the picture clear. God is jealous and demanding. He calls for faithfulness. But he is a "next time" God.
Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.
I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? (43:18).
Let Isaiah speak to us personally about if only and next time.
FREEDOM FROM REGRET AND SELF-PITY
If only is a life dominated by regret, and regret is a paralyzing emotion. Many of us are its victims. Our lives are dominated by this energy-draining emotion: "If only I hadn't done this" or "If only I had done that" . . . These are useless words. They keep us preoccupied with the past and drain us of the energy needed for present living. If only regrets also blind us to the offer of life and relationship, the opportunities for service and joy that are coming all the time. That's the reason God says to us, "Do not remember the former things. . . . / I am about to do a new thing" (43:18-19).
If only is not only a life dominated by regret; it is always an expression of selfpity, and there is nothing creative or positive about self-pity. Rather, self-pity is debilitating. When we bury ourselves in self-pity, we cut off the creativity and the power that could open doors to new life.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
What regrets hold you back? What can you do today to trust your "next time" God?
9
THE CROSS: THE POWER AND WISDOM OF GOD
JOHN 18:1-11; 1 CORINTHIANS 1:1-25; 1 CORINTHIANS 2:1-5
John Milton was one of the great English poets. In 1629, he wrote his lovely poem On the Morning of Christ's Nativity. A year later, he attempted to write a companion poem entitled The Passion. After some eight toilsome verses, he gave up. Sometime later, he wrote these words about the unfinished poem, "The subject that author finding to be above the years he had when he wrote it, and nothing satisfied with what was begun, left it unfinished." Though we are powerless to adequately put into words the full meaning of the Cross, we cannot leave the matter "unfinished" as Milton did. There is something haunting about it that will not let us put it aside.
BEYOND OUR KNOWING
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. (1 Cor. 1:18)
If ever there was a person of one subject, it was Paul. His mind and heart are set like flint: "I decided [Some translations have 'determined.'] to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). He was confident that the "wisdom" of God was most clearly expressed in the Cross. The depth of this wisdom is beyond what we can fathom; we depend on the Spirit for revelation and the demonstration of the power of the Cross.
A popular monk in the Middle Ages announced that in the cathedral that evening he would preach a sermon on the love of God. The people gathered and stood in silence waiting for the service while the sunlight streamed through the beautiful windows. When the last glint of color had faded from the windows, the old monk took a candle from the altar. Walking to the life-size figure of Christ on the cross, he held the light beneath the wounds of the feet, then His hands, then His side. Still without a word, he let the light shine on the thorn-crowned brow.
That was his sermon. The people stood in silence and wept. They knew they were at the center of mystery beyond their knowing, that they were looking at the love of God, the image of the invisible God giving himself for us—a love so deep, so inclusive, so expansive, so powerful, so complete that the mind could not comprehend nor measure it, nor words express it.
Paul knew that too. He comes back to it again and again: the purpose and power of the Cross. We could explore it from many directions, but let's focus on Christ and the Cross as the power and wisdom of God.
Look for a moment at Jesus just prior to the Cross. He is in the Garden of Gethsemane. He knows that the Cross is imminent, and he is wrestling with it, praying that "the cup" might pass from him. His enemies come with their torches looking for him. They didn't need torches. He was not hiding, but was there in the moonlit openness for all to see.
What courage! And what authority! They came in numbers and power. He asked them, "Whom are you looking for?" They responded, "Jesus of Nazareth." With boldness, Jesus said, "I am he." What happened then? Scripture says, "They stepped back and fell to the ground" (John 18:4-6). There was authority in his very being.
The scene shows us that Jesus chose to die. He could have escaped death. He chose to die. He even helped his enemies arrest him. He was utterly obedient. "Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (18:11). This was God's will, and that was enough for Jesus.
Earlier in the evening, before his arrest in the garden, Jesus was in the Upper Room with his disciples celebrating Passover together. He confronted Judas with the fact that he was going to betray him. He even gave Judas the command, "Do quickly what you are going to do," (13:27) and the Scripture says that after Judas had received the bread, he went out into the night.
Jesus knew where he was going, what he was going to do, and what it was going to result in—his own crucifixion—the Cross. When this happened with Judas, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him" (13:31).
GOD'S WISDOM AND POWER
So John presents the Cross as the highest point of Jesus' Glory. With this in mind, let's look at the Cross as the wisdom and power of God.
The Cross is the revelation of God's heart. Here we see that there is more love in God than we can even imagine. That means there is more love in him than there is sin in
