I’ve recently been learning about something that counselors
call “compassion fatigue.” Compassion fatigue is something that “first
responders” often experience – people like firefighters, police officers, and
EMTs who are the first people on the scene at a natural disaster, a shooting,
or terrorist attack. When you look at someone with compassion fatigue, they
often have a glazed-over look in their eyes and they’re kind of staring off
into the distance as if they’re in utter disbelief and shock about what they’ve
just seen. Often, it leads to feeling like their job is pointless, that things
are never going to change, and there’s nothing that they can do to help in such
a dire situation.
Though most of us probably wouldn’t diagnose
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ourselves with
compassion fatigue, I at least, can easily identify with those feelings. You
only need to turn on a TV, look at a newspaper or go online and you’re
instantly overwhelmed with tragedy after tragedy. Whether it’s natural
disasters like the fires in Colorado recently or the tornadoes in Oklahoma – or
the evil that humans inflict on other humans, like the tragic murder of school
children at Sandy Hook, the Boston bombing, or the shooting at Arapahoe High School – or maybe even the circumstances
in our own lives that lead to feelings of hopelessness, depression, or
loneliness, like being alone in a new city for the first time or the loss of a
relationship, it’s enough to leave us feeling glazed over, numb, and hopeless
in the midst of the chaos going on around us.
Though it’s impossible to know for sure why a good God would
allow such suffering, the alternative that most people turn to is to deny the
existence of God. But doing so means that there is no such thing as good and evil
since there is no longer any moral standard in the universe, and there is no
possible redemptive reason for what we perceive as suffering – it’s just life,
it just is. Everything is utterly meaningless. I for one can’t even fathom
trying to deal with times of tragedy and crisis with that kind of belief system
– or lack there of.
One of the unique things about the Christian worldview
is that the Bible describes some instances of suffering as leading to our
growth as individuals, and it even says that God is able to bring good out of
any situation for those that love Him. But ultimately, Christianity tell us
that we have a reason for hope even in the midst of pain and suffering because
death and destruction will not have the final word – and it’s that hope that I wish
to remind us of.
So where are we to find hope when it sometimes feels like
the world around us is spinning out of control? One place that many people look
for hope is in politics. Especially when Obama was first running for president,
it seemed like many people were, whether a good thing or not, inspired by the
prospect of change. One of his campaign slogans, which can still be seen on car
bumpers everywhere, was the question, “Got Hope?” Others find hope in sports
teams and the diversions of entertainment or in their careers or relationships. Still others have placed their hope in human progress – the idea that given
enough time, humans will continue to evolve and progress to the point that evil
no longer manifests itself.
But come on, read the comment sections of YouTube
videos and online articles or listen to Justin Bieber’s music and tell me you really think the human race is moving
toward perfection! Seriously though, the theory of human progress is a myth
that few people give much credibility to anymore. So if all of these things
offer little real, enduring hope, what’s left?
The book of Isaiah beautifully depicts the prospect of hope
and a better future in the midst of some of the greatest pain and suffering
imaginable. If you’re unfamiliar with the Old Testament, these books of the
Bible take us through the story of Israel, from the calling of Abraham, to
exile and slavery in Egypt, to the exodus out of Egypt into the promised land, and
the split of Israel into two kingdoms – the North, simply called Israel, and the
South, called Judah. It’s here that we pick up the events being described in
Isaiah. Most scholars conclude that the first 39 chapters of Isaiah describe
the situation during the prophet Isaiah’s own lifetime, around 742-701 BC.
After several years of relative peace, Assyria was growing in power. Therefore,
the northern kingdom, Israel, made a pact with Syria to protect themselves from
the Assyrians, and through their alliance, they sought to pressure Judah into
also aligning with them. Isaiah, a prophet, assured the king of Judah of God’s
ability to protect the southern kingdom without needing to make an alliance,
but instead, the king decided to make a pact with Assyria.
What follows in the first 39 chapters is Isaiah’s warning
against trusting in worldly power – horses and chariots and armies – rather
than the Lord. But as we’ll see, despite Isaiah’s prophecies about the
impending judgment that will come upon Judah and the nations of the earth due
to their sin and rejection of God, there are beautiful glimpses of hope and
God’s mercy and grace, pointing ahead to the person of Jesus Christ and God’s
ultimate cure to the problem of evil and sin. Let’s pick it up in Isaiah 25.
“On this mountain the
LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of
aged wine – the best of meats and the finest of wines. On this mountain he will
destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The
LORD has spoken. In that day, they will say, ‘Surely this is our God; we
trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us
rejoice and be glad in his salvation.’” –Isaiah 25:6-9
So let’s break this down a bit.
Verse 6 – a feast is described, prepared by the Lord. In the
Ancient Near East, the audience that Isaiah is speaking to, this type of
banquet was customary when a new king was being crowned. Indeed, the King of
Kings is here being crowned once and for all. Some versions say that “rich
food,” or “fat food” is being served – the type of food normally reserved for
sacrifice to God, but here, it’s God who plays host and is serving the choicest
of foods to his people – and as the text says, “all peoples,” from all over the
world. Those who have placed their face in Jesus Christ are gathered together
from the ends of the earth to share in this meal and the crowning of the King.
Verse 7 – describes a veil that is cast over all people, and
in order to celebrate and enjoy the feast, this covering must be destroyed or
swallowed up. As verse 8 describes, that veil is death. Though all people die,
death will one day be destroyed and will no longer have the final word.
(Verse 8) – as we continue on in verse 8, Isaiah paints the
picture of a merciful God “wiping away tears from all faces” – showing us that
God is touched by everything that breaks our hearts, even death, and it is his
purpose to do away with all of it. We will no longer mourn the loss of loved
ones and all that is unjust and evil will be annihilated. As one scholar,
Walter Brugemann describes, “The most
characteristic accent of this poetry is the assertion that the present world
system – which is arrogant and endlessly exploitative and which creates
profound hardship for God’s people – is under assault from God and will be
brutally nullified.”
We’ll come back to the end of this chapter as we wrap things
up, but let’s briefly look ahead one chapter to Isaiah 26:19 and we’ll see even
more explicitly how Isaiah describes God’s ultimate victory over death and
evil.
“Your dead shall live;
their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For
your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.” -Isaiah 26:19
Again, what in the world is Isaiah talking about? Bodies
rising? The earth giving birth to the dead? Quite simply, Isaiah is describing
the ultimate hope of glory, that all of God’s people will one day be raised
from the dead to live eternally with Christ when He returns and restores the
Earth. And in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we see the
foreshadowing of this event.
But why in the midst of all that the Israelites are going
through would Isaiah talk about this? Why now? I would suggest that Isaiah is
pointing ahead to the hope of resurrection and the life of Jesus in order to
give the Israelites, and to give us, a glimpse of God’s plan for redeeming
sinful human beings and dealing with the chaos that we’re constantly surrounded
by. Resurrection – not the mere removal of pain or suffering – is God’s answer
to their suffering and despair, and our suffering and despair. He doesn’t
simply remove it or change circumstances but God himself becomes intimately
involved and proves himself capable of and willing to deal with the problem at
its root, once and for all.
As we head toward the finish line, let's go back and look at Isaiah 25:9.
The description is of a people who have patiently waited for
God’s action and provision in the midst of their suffering and pain, a pain
that Isaiah describes as being forcibly removed from their homes, losing loved
ones, seeing their city destroyed, and being carried away to a foreign country
- yet they’ve come out of it rejoicing and celebrating the installment of the
world’s rightful King, and the destruction of death and evil.
But we’re not quite there yet, are we…for now, we’re the
ones who must patiently wait for Christ’s return which is in a lot of ways, the
most difficult place to be – knowing the end of the story, that God is
victorious and that death will be destroyed – and having to somehow patiently
wait. But “waiting” doesn’t simply mean to do nothing here. It is in some
sense, still very active since we are called to trust God moment by moment in
our waiting. So in the meantime, what does that look like for us as we await
Christ’s return? And what do the resurrection and this future event seen in
Isaiah mean for us?
Five thoughts…
1)
Live with an eternal perspective – it’s
so easy to get caught up in the details of day-to-day living and completely
miss the trajectory of how God is working in the world. What are we doing with
our time, money, and careers, and in our relationships to further the Kingdom
of God? Are we fulfilling our own life missions or are we working to further
the mission of God in the world? The reality is that not everything that we do
with our lives matters and will have an eternal impact, so are we living for
ourselves and our own goals or ambitions, or are we living in a way that
reflects who God is to the rest of the world? Using the illustration from
Isaiah, as you picture yourself sitting down at this feast and looking around
at all of the other believers gathered together from every nation, who did you
bring with you?
2)
Our labor is not in vain - Paul elaborates on the resurrection
and what it means for our lives in 1 Corinthians 15, and he concludes the
chapter by saying, “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable,
always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor
is not in vain.” So as we wait for Christ to return and God to do away with
evil and suffering, we are to be steadfast, immovable, and to do the work of the
Lord, knowing that our work is not in vain and that what we do with our lives
matters. Again, we know that history ends in God’s victory, and in the here and
now, we get to be a part of what He’s doing in the world to bring love,
justice, and hope to others in the midst of their own pain. So trust God day by
day and proclaim the gospel boldly.
3)
Though life is hard and often painful, a
royal feast awaits us –
2 Corinthians 4:16-17 says, “Do not lose
heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed
day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an
eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” Though Paul had been flogged
mercilessly, imprisoned, beaten with rods, stoned, and shipwrecked, he
considered his pain and suffering “light” and “momentary” compared to what
awaited him – an eternity spent with God in a resurrected, glorified body.
4)
Feelings of depression and hopelessness are
temporary, untrue, and do not have to define us. Speaking very
honestly, I myself experience bouts of depression every so often where I don’t
really want to leave the house, I feel apathetic, and life seems pointless. But
as Paul says at the end of 1 Corinthians 15, “Thanks be to God, who gives us
the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” We know the end that history is
moving toward and the lengths that God went to in order to call us His sons and
daughters – and we can have confidence that life really does matter, I really
do matter to God, you really matter, and we can look forward to an eternity in
Heaven with Him – it’s this thought that often gets me through those kinds of
days.
5)
A relationship with Jesus is our only hope -
Let’s not get lost in all the details of the end times and bodies being
raised and miss the fact that a relationship
with Jesus is our only source of true, enduring hope. When I gave my life
to Christ as a freshman in college, I didn’t know much about the Bible or about
the Christian faith, but I believed that the Gospel that I was hearing about
for the first time was true –
That God loves me and desires a
relationship with me but my sin separated me from him. So God came down to us
in the flesh to live as a human in the person of Jesus Christ, to live a
sinless life, and to die undeservingly on a cross only to be raised back to
life three days later so that my sins might be forgiven if I place my faith in
Him and devote my life to him. And through a relationship with Jesus and the
power of the resurrection, I am also given the power to change even the most
deep-seeded areas of sin in my life. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the
dead lives within me and I am no longer in bondage to sin!
Hearing that Gospel, I decided in that moment
that Jesus was my only hope at living a meaningful, significant life and the life
that I was created to live. If you’re someone who goes back and forth on this
whole Christianity thing or has never seriously investigated the claims of
Christ and the truths of Christianity, I plead with you to do so, draw a line
in the sand, and to figure out where you stand. As it says in 2 Peter 3, part
of the reason that Christ has not yet returned to bring to fulfillment all that
He has promised is that God desires that none may perish but He is patient with
us that we might put our trust in Him. So are you going to put your hope in a
mighty God who has the power and desire to raise the dead and to redeem even
the worst things that will happen to us in life so that we do not suffer in
vain, or are you going to put your hope in something or someone else?
-CK
