Even When We Can’t See it, God is Always Working
What do you do when the king or queen dies?
On 8 September 2022, Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of England, died.
She died of old age at Balmoral Castle in Scotland at the age of 96. She was the longest-reigning British monarch.
I’m not a historian and I’ve never watched The Crown, but I do know that she reigned for 70 years. For over 7 decades she was the Queen of England.
She became queen when she was 25 years old. She was queen when Winston Churchill was prime minister.
14 American Presidents served during the time that she was queen of England including Harry Truman, Dwight D Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barak Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
She was queen when man first walked on the moon. She was queen before there was something called the Internet. She was queen when the Berlin Wall fell. She was queen during the Covid-19 pandemic. So much happened not just in her lifetime, but during her reign as Queen.
And when she died, everyone wondered…
What happens now?
Living in the United States, we haven’t experienced something like that… where someone reigns over our nation for that length of time. But we all know what it’s like to wonder, What happens now?
What happens when stability ends? When it feels like the world is falling apart? When we’re living in the middle of uncertainty?
What do we do when the job falls through, the marriage falls apart, or the dream dies? What do we do when things don’t work out like we thought they would, when the future is unclear, and it appears that things will get worse before they get better, if they get better?
We all know on one level or another what it’s like to ask the question, “What happens now?” and NOT know the answer.
When we get to the days of the prophet Isaiah, these same kinds of questions are surrounding the people of Israel.
Their king, a man by the name Uzziah, has died. King Uzziah was on the throne in Israel for 52 years. Not quite as long as Queen Elizabeth, but still more than five decades! Overall King Uzziah was remembered as a good king, who “…did what was right in the LORD’s eyes.” – 2 Kings 15.3. His name means, “YWHW is my strength.”
During his reign as king Israel was able to defeat the Philistines and other Arabian enemies. He promoted the agricultural development of Israel. And he fortified the walls of Jerusalem. He wasn’t perfect… no king in Israel ever was except for YWHW!, but overall he was remembered as a good king who gave Israel security and prosperity.
A King Dies, & A Prophet is Called
But what happens when the king dies?
When, after 52 years, the throne in vacant?
When the Asyrian army is rising up against Israel. King Uzziah would have known what to do but he’s dead. What do we do now?
The people of Israel are feeling the weight of the uncertainty and are worried about what happens when their country is invaded by the Assyrian armies.
Not only that, they’ve turned away from God, from Yahweh. King Uzziah, “Yahweh is my strength,” has died and with him Israel’s faith in Yahweh as their strength and hope has died, too.
Because of their unbelief, because they have turned away from the worship of God to the worship of idols, the judgement of God is on the way and it seems like this might be the end of the story.
It’s at this time that God, who is always working even when we can’t see he’s working, calls a man by the name of Isaiah to be his prophet.
Here’s what happens in Isaiah 6. This is the moment where God calls Isaiah to be his prophet, the one who will speak for God to the people of Israel.
Isaiah 6.1-3
It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the LORD. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
Forgiven, Then Commissioned
Can you imagine this scene? Isaiah is having a vision of the throne room of heaven. As the angels sing in worship the Temple of Heaven shakes. If you don’t like it when the music is too loud I’ve got bad news for you. When you get to Heaven the worship of Yahweh is so loud the foundations of the throne room shake!
Isaiah sees the whole room fill with smoke. And in this moment, Isaiah becomes wholly aware of how unholy He is the presence of a Holy God.
An angel flies over to Isaiah with a burning coal taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. We never think about how painful this must have been… but the angel touches Isaiah’s lips with the burning coal! And when the angel does, the angel says… “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.” – Isaiah 6.7
Now, Isaiah is ready to be called and commissioned by God. Isaiah hears the voice of God asking the question,
“Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
And Isaiah reponds…
“Here I am. Send me.”
Then God tells Isaiah to go and speak to the people of Israel on His behalf, but God warns him by telling him the people of Israel will not listen, will not respond, and will continue to live in rebellion.
In other words, the mission I’m sending you on will NOT succeed.
I can only imagine if God had called me to go and preach to a church where no one ever listened to the gospel, no one ever responded to the gospel, where lives were never changed, no one was ever baptized, the church never grew, and no one ever turned back to God! What a miserable calling! But this is exactly what God tells Isaiah to do.
You will have ZERO success in your minsitry, but this is what you MUST do.
How Long?
So Isaiah asks the question any of us would ask. HOW LONG? “Lord, how long will this go on?”
And God responds:
“Until their towns are empty,
their houses are deserted,
and the whole country is a wasteland;
until the Lord has sent everyone away,
and the entire land of Israel lies deserted.
If even a tenth—a remnant—survive,
it will be invaded again and burned.
But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down,
so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”
– Isaiah 6.11-13
I don’t know if you’ve ever cut down a tree. I don’t cut down trees anymore. The last time I cut down a tree I fell off a twelve foot ladder with a chain saw when a limb crushed my jaw. It took me about a year to get over my injuries and so I don’t cut down trees anymore. ?
But… even if you don’t cut down trees you know how this works. You can take an axe or a chainsaw and you can bring a giant tree to the ground. And when you do, all that will be left is a stump.
God tells Isaiah, Israel is about to be cut down and all that will be left is a stump.
Why will they be cut down?
Because, they are living in sin, in disobedience, in rebellion to God.
The Story Within the Story
After Uzziah, a new king comes to power in Judah by the name of Ahaz. “He did not do what was pleasing in the sight of the Lord his God, as his ancestor David had done.” – 2 Kings 16.2
You may wonder, what did King Ahaz do that was so bad?
At this point in the story, Israel is a divided kingdom. Israel to the north has become it’s own kingdom with it’s own king, King Pekah of Israel. Judah in the south is led by King Ahaz.
King Pekah of Israel has joined forces with King Rezin of Syria and together they are threatening to attack Jerusalem which is in Judah where Ahaz is king.
So God sends the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz with this message:
Isaiah 7.4-7:
Tell him to stop worrying. Tell him he doesn’t need to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers, King Rezin of Syria and Pekah son of Remaliah. Yes, the kings of Syria and Israel are plotting against him, saying, ‘We will attack Judah and capture it for ourselves. Then we will install the son of Tabeel as Judah’s king.’ But this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“This invasion will never happen;
it will never take place…
And then… God tells Isaiah to tell Ahaz that He will give him a sign, a reason to believe and to trust in Him. And listen to what this sign will be….
Isaiah 7.14
“…the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
Misplaced Trust
This is the moment for Ahaz to put his trust in Yahweh just like his grandfather, Uzziah had done. Just like his ancestor, King David, had done. Neither of these kings were perfect but they were both remembered as good kings. Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and David was remembered as a man after God’s own heart.
But instead of placing his faith in the true King of Israel, the King of kings, Ahaz turned to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria for help. He takes money from the Temple to send as a gift to this foreign king.
He goes to visit King Tiglath-pileser to pay him tribute taken from the Temple of Yahweh and then he comes home with a model of an altar used to worship pagan gods. He has this altar built and puts it in front of the Temple replacing the altar of God.
Are you getting a sense for just how bad things are in all of Israel right now?
But through it all, God speaks through Isaiah calling the people of God back to himself:
Isaiah 8.13-14:
Make the LORD of Heaven’s Armies holy in your life.
He is the one you should fear.
He is the one who should make you tremble.
He will keep you safe.
But, just like God had told Isaiah in chapter 6, those words and those warnings all fell on deaf ears. But Isaiah kept calling the people of God back to God. He kept promising hope on the horizon if the people would return to God.
A New Dawn
Turn the page to Isaiah 9 and you’ll find these words we read almost every Christmas:
Isaiah 9.1-2, 6-7:
Nevertheless, that time of darkness and despair will not go on forever. The land of Zebulun and Naphtali will be humbled, but there will be a time in the future when Galilee of the Gentiles, which lies along the road that runs between the Jordan and the sea, will be filled with glory.
The people who walk in darkness
will see a great light.
For those who live in a land of deep darkness,
a light will shine.
For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor,[d] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace
will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
There is no doubt about, judgement is coming against Israel because of their disobedience, idol worship, and rebellion against God! But there are some in Israel who, despite what’s happen in most of Israel, still remain faithful to God. Isaiah calls this small group of people the “remnant.”
Isaiah 10.20:
In that day the remnant left in Israel,
the survivors in the house of Jacob,
will no longer depend on allies
who seek to destroy them.
But they will faithfully trust the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel.
Because of this remnant, there is hope.
A new day, a new light, a new dawn is on the way.
The Stump
Even though the mighty tree that was once the nation of Israel has been completely cut down, there is still a stump.
Isaiah 11.1-2:
Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—
yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
What Do You Do When…?
What do you do when you feel like everything is falling down, falling apart, coming apart at the seams?
Isaiah speaks this word from God to a people who would NOT hear it. I wonder if we can hear it today?
There is a green shoot that grew out of that old stump. From the family tree of David who had not had a king on the throne for a very long time, a child was born, a son was given, His name: Immanuel. God with us.
Even though Israel had been cut down to a stump, there was and there is still a promise of new life, a new beginning, a new hope, a new day that will come through a new seed.
At the worst of times, in the middle of the greatest uncertainty, the promise of Immanuel, God with us, is given. That promise was extended to ancient Israel then, and it is extended to you today.
But like Israel in the days of Isaiah, you have to make a choice. Will you put your hope in the kings and kingdoms of Earth?
OR… in the King of kings and the Kingdom of Heaven?
Will you pay tribute to a foreign king and worship at his alter?
OR… will you put your hope in the promise of Immanuel and worship Him and Him alone?
Will you continue to be deaf to the word of God, blind to the workings of God, with a heart hardened to the Spirit of God?
OR… will you say with Isaiah, “Here I am. Send me.”
Use me. Choose me. Let me be your messenger to those around me that there is hope and there is a future found in Immanuel, God with us.
God is Always Working
Right now, your life may look like an old stump. It may seem like everything is lost and that there is no hope on the horizon. But the promise of God is that…
God is with us. And God brings new life from old roots.
He moves us from death to life. He brings beauty from ashes. And all this happens in, through, and because of Jesus.
The Good News for us is that Judgement doesn’t get the last word. Even though Israel was cut down to a stump, there was and there is the promise of new life, a new beginning, a new hope, a new day that will come through a new seed. At the worst of times, in the middle of the greatest uncertainty, the promise of Immanuel, God with us, is given. That promise was extended to ancient Israel then, and it is extended to you today.
Breath Prayer
So here’s the Breath Prayer I want to encourage you to pray this week:
Immanuel, God with us, grant me new life.
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