Isaiah 12
November 24, 2013
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
For most of here, we would remember Jules Verne’s 1864 novel, Journey to the Center of the Earth where a mad scientist takes a journey down through the mouth of a volcano into the Earth’s core where he and his companions find a world of prehistoric dinosaurs, giant humans, huge tropical vegetation, among other wild things.
Of course, any elementary school science student knows that the story is pure science fiction. When you drill down deep into the Earth you don’t eventually pop up in China, nor do you find dinosaurs unless you count their remains in the form of oil. The Earth’s core isn’t a prehistoric wonderland but it’s a solid ball made up of an iron and nickel alloy that is as hot as the surface of the sun.
From the surface to drill down to the core of the Earth would be 3,959 miles. The deepest hole that humans have drilled is in the Soviet Union in 1970 and it only reached 7.5 miles, a long way from the center of the Earth.
Most human drilling is a lot shallower than that. We know about drilling for oil. Even in our current Long Range Planning Committee work, we talked about “drilling deeper” to understand some of the real challenges that block our ability to grow as a church.
But the most common purpose for which humans dig deep is to find water. For us Californians, this is a particularly important subject—the rain we got this past week has helped our parched and dry land. Since the beginning of history, people have gone to great lengths to tap into underground sources of water, digging wells by hand without the benefit of modern drill rigs.
In rural Pakistan, for example, a group of villagers dug down 400 feet by hand before they tapped into an aquifer. Digging 400 feet is no easy task. Then it takes a camel and a really long rope to draw the water out of such a deep well, and while it’s a slow process, every drop is precious. Knowing this, it’s a shame on how we waste so much water even as we live in an arid and desert place like California. We hope to have more rain this year.
Isaiah
In our reading for today, the prophet Isaiah knows a lot about digger deep and about the reward that those who are willing to keep going down until they find a precious resource. Isaiah writes to a people who dwell in the desert, but it’s as much a spiritual desert as it is a geographical one.
The first 11 chapters of Isaiah is dominated by prophecies concerning the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem along with the destruction of Mount Zion and its temple, which was the spiritual center of Judah. Chapter 12 expresses thanks for God’s salvation, declares trust in God for that salvation, and calls upon God’s people to praise God for God’s mighty deeds of deliverance.
The people of Judah were destined for exile after years of turning their backs on God. Foreign invaders pounded on the walls of Jerusalem and would eventually conquer the nation, scattering the people of God around the nations of the ancient Near East. And yet, Isaiah tells them that there will be a “remnant” of people who will return home as “a signal to the nations” that God is still with them (11:11-12).
Isaiah 12 is short psalm that summarizes the promises of God laid out in the previous chapters and offers a short form of praise to God for the salvation of the people. It starts off with the voice of an individual giving thanks for God’s salvation and moves to the community calling them to give thanks, praise, shout and sing for joy over what God has done. It’s like us this morning. Having we been scattered across this Bay Area and separated from one another and today in the spirit of Thanksgiving, we have gathered together to give praise and sing for joy over what God has done?
Wells of Salvation
Isaiah characterizes salvation as a “well” from which water can be drawn—water that saves, refreshes, cleanses and strengthens God’s people. Given the deep sin of the nation, the people would need to dig deep in repentance in order to tap into God’s healing water, but the promise of God is that it’s available to all who seek it.
Most of us don’t think much about where our water comes from these days. We twist a tap and don’t think twice about the source until the bill comes. Some people who live in rural areas may still draw their water from a well but mostly they had a professional drill the well for them. We’ve never felt the joy of a parched people who’ve labored for days, weeks or years to dig in dry earth and who finally find water deep in the hole.
Finding water isn’t easy. Neither does drilling deep to find the “wells of salvation” until we dig deep enough to repentance, confession and transformation. Only when we dig away at those things, with God’s help, do we really experience the joy of what God has in store for us.
Have you ever been dehydrated? When I play tennis, I have to drink lots of water to keep myself from being dehydrated. Without enough fluids, we feel tired, our minds are fuzzy, and you can actually feel like you might be having a heart attack. All that is from is not having enough water. While we’re acutely aware that something is very wrong, it may take a long time to realize that we are thirsty. It’s to parched people that Isaiah writes these words in Chapter 12. So, what do we discover when we dig deep into God’s salvation?
First, we discover God’s grace. Isaiah says that when we hit rock bottom, what we find first is God’s grace. “Though you were angry with me,” the people will say to God when they have bottomed out, “your anger turned away and you comforted me” (v. 1). Isaiah reveals that God is always ready to forgive us, no matter what we have done. When we come to God with our sin and brokenness, when we confess our sins and turn away from them, God turns away anger and wrath and, instead, comforts us in the knowledge that we belong to God. Our relationship with God is restored, and we can begin to look up and see light from the deep hole of sin we may have dug for ourselves.
Second, we discover God’s strength. When we go deep into the well of God’s salvation, we find God’s strength, or the fact that God is trustworthy and will deliver us from fear. “Surely God is my salvation,” the people will say, “I will trust in him and not be afraid for the Lord God is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation” (v. 2).
Isaiah reveals that the exiles will one day know that God was with them all the time, no matter how bleak the circumstances might have looked. Our salvation doesn’t come from our own efforts or by accident. It is God alone who saves us and stands by us in strength. Fear is not an option for those who trust in God and drill deep into his love.
Third, we discover a thankful heart. Twice in this passage, Isaiah puts words of thanksgiving into the mouths of God’s exiled but returning people. “You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O God” (v. 1). “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name” (v. 4). Our response to God’s saving grace is thanksgiving. We remember always what God has done for us, and we “make his deeds known among the nations” (v. 4). Indeed, we should have known the deeds of God has done in our hearts and lives, telling others how thankful we are to God’s grace, salvation and strength in pulling us out of sin and into new life.
Isn’t this the reason why we celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday in the first place? We gather to give thanks to God for all that he has done for us and we share these deeds of God with those around the tables whether upstairs today or in our homes. We lift up our seniors who have known the deeds of God in their long lives and give thanks to God that they continue to be wonderful gifts to the church community.
So often our prayers are all about what we want God to do. When we spend time thanking God, however, we begin to realize that God has already been at work in us long before we knew it. God continues to drill into our hearts with love until we see the light of grace. We offer thanks to God because we know we could never have done for ourselves what God has done for us.
And lastly, we discover the joy of worship. When we dig deeply into the wells of salvation, coupled with thanksgiving, we find a reason for worship. “Sing praises to the Lord for he has done gloriously,” Isaiah proclaims, “let this be known in all the earth. Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel” (v. 6).
So often we think of worship as an event we go to or an obligation we endure. We “go to worship” in an external way, but real worship is something that bubbles up from inside us. Our baptism marks us as people who have found deep water—especially us Baptists, and we should not come to worship each Sunday only anticipating the joy of being in God’s presence, we should want to celebrate it every day. Our worship should reflect the joyous sounds of people who have found water of grace.
This is the reason why the choir sings in worship and now that they have these very nice-looking robes and stoles, they’ll be singing even more, shouting loudly and singing for joy.
Living Water
From the very earliest days of human existence, there was the experience that was common to virtually every child of God once or twice a day, seven days of week, 365 days a year. It’s an experience that’s pretty much vanished from our modern lives here in America.
It’s the experience of walking for water. In the ancient world—and even today, in two-thirds of the world—walking for water is a highly social experience. Down at the village well, the women arrive, clay jars balanced on their heads. As they wait in line to dip their jars into the water, they talk with one another. They catch up on the latest news. They connect with their neighbors. Remember the woman who met Jesus at the well who was afraid to come when other women were there. Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty” (John 4:13-14).
There are some parallels to that communal experience as we gather for worship. Don’t we all come to draw water, to fill our jars, then to take something back home with us again? And don’t we come to be with one another?
We may get much of our drinking water from the kitchen sink or the water cooler, but when it comes to the water of life, we need to go back again and again to that well. It’s not enough to drink one time and be done with it. Nor is it possible to capture that water’s flow and deliver it elsewhere, by means of plumbing. We still have to build into our lives a regular rhythm of walking for the spiritual kind of water, or we’ll end up parched and dry.
In Isaiah 12, we see in verses 1 and 4, “in that day.” Isaiah envisions a day when the people will be delivered out of oppression and a ruler in the line of David will rise to rule with perfect justice. “On that day,” his reign will usher in a time of peace on God’s “holy mountain” that God intended for the creation in the beginning. “On that day,” Isaiah promise the nations will acknowledge the Lord’s appointed ruler and God will reclaim the remnant of God’s people from the nations.
For us Christians, “on that day” is coming as we celebrate the ruler from the line of David to be Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus Christ is the living water who restores us from our thirsty and parched lives and hydrates us back to full health.
We will never journey to the center of the Earth, but we can know what it means to discover the deep water of God’s salvation. So let us dig and drill deeply in the Lord!
Let us pray.
Lord God, we thank you for the living waters of Jesus Christ our Lord who restores our lives, our souls and our world. Lead us to know God’s grace, God’s strength and have a thankful heart for all that you have done for us. Lead us to worship you every day with our words and deeds to proclaim the Good News of Christ who is coming into the world. In his name, we pray. Amen.