2013년 5월 26일 주일 영어예배 설교
이사야 40:6-8

But the word of our God will stand forever
(Isaiah 40:6-8)

God has put eternity in man’s heart, so human beings naturally yearn for eternal life. Man’s eternity is accomplished. The matter is how it will be accomplished, either by eternal life or the eternal punishment. And without God, their creator and sustainer, to gain the eternal life is impossible. But tragically, ironically, with their depraved and disordered mind, human beings are very keen to stand together against their God in every matter, at the same time, they still yearn for the real life, or the eternal life with their vestige of original nature. And, of course, obtaining the eternal life is not made possible by themselves in itself. This is because the seed from which they are begotten is perishable, it is from the very perishable flesh that has left its God. Today, we are going to be finding what will stand forever in spite of man’s desperate situation and how to stand forever with it for man.
In verse 6, “A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.” Now, the Israel people are still in the captivity under Babylon. Not only are they slaves of the superpower then but also their spiritual situation is ruined. They have lost their identities as God’s chosen people for so long, and they are not even able to understand what the problem is for them. They are in total inability. Here, finally God launches His own work of restoration and salvation. God declares that their iniquity is pardoned and they are forgiven. Only by God’s faithfulness. Only by God’s ardent love for His people. Only by keeping His covenant. Declaring this salvation, God says in today’s text, “A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.” The phrase, “A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?”, can be understood as God’s commandment and the prophet’s reply. Here, God compares all flesh to grass, and its beauty to the flower of the field. Why does God suddenly compare human beings to the plants like them? It is because God wants to identify the nature and character of flesh, or human beings.
In verse 7~8, “The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” This verse makes it clear that the nature of flesh is withering and fading. Here, the grass, the flower, and the people point to Babylon then in terms of the situation of Israelites. But it is also obvious that they are referring to man itself and all the affairs related with man because some other Bible texts including 1 Peter provide a ground of this reading. Therefore, the expression not only indicates the destiny of the superpower, Babylon, then with regard to the declaration of salvation of Israel people, but also shows the characteristic nature of human beings and its affairs in history. It doesn’t describe just the rise and fall of one country and biological aging of man, but the ultimate nature and character of them. And in fact, all men and its concerns in history wither, fade, fall off, and disappear without exception. Then why and when does the grass wither and the flowers fade? Verse 7 says, “when the breath of the Lord blows on it.” This expression of today’s text shows the most crucial and realistic fact. It is that the real concern and main matter in history is not human itself and its affairs but the Lord and His sovereignty over the history, especially His work of salvation for His elect. The methods and means of human affairs for the work of the Lord itself cannot occupy the center in spite of human beings’ severe delusion. Before the Lord’s arbitrary and willful wind on them, they shiftlessly and passively fade. And also the verse tells us that the Lord is the controller over the world in His own history. In this fact, there is no any exception, even the superpower like Babylon and its ruler. And today’s text again makes it clear like this, in verse 7b~8a, “…surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades…”
In previous texts of today’s, the prophet is delivering the message of restoration and salvation of God for God’s people. And in texts after today’s, the prophet is heralding of the good news with the greatness of God. The prophet who received critical truth from God is now about to declare the point and ground of all the developments of his. We can find this overwhelming fact in verse 8, “but the word of our God will stand forever.” In this context, this expression means that the main agent, or the subject itself that gives the restoration and salvation is the word of our God. And the substance itself that brings about the withering and fading of the grass and flower, or human beings and its affairs is also the word of our God. That is, the very controlling and sustaining substance that has sovereignty over the world in history is the word of our God. When we say “the word of our God will stand forever”, ‘the word of God’ encompasses all the meaning, declaration, record of the word of God as the absolute truth. And finally all the word of God is integrated into our Lord Jesus Christ, and accomplished through Jesus Christ because Jesus himself is the Word itself. So now we need to find realistic and ultimate meaning of today’s text toward us, Christian people who live in the 21st century.
For God, for God’s salvation, for God’s grand picture of His saving operation in history, the Israel means spiritual Israel and not just physical Israel. The whole and balanced teaching of the Bible obviously indicates the fact that when God set the promise with Abraham, God already had the idea of spiritual Israel, not just ethnic. Especially, from the interpretation of this in New Testament itself, this fact is indisputable. When we recognize the fact that we have also come under the selected and saved group, or spiritual Israel, we cannot but be amazed at this reality. Where were we? We were in captivity under Babylon. This means we were captured by sin and were under the curse of death. There was no hope at all. Human beings’ total depravity is more severe than they themselves think. Human beings’ total inability is much greater than they themselves think. They cannot find God. They cannot recognize their terrible situation and doomed status. They are not only able to accept their God and His truth but are also not even able to understand it. Human beings completely died spiritually. They are just waiting for their death day by day without God. They are just approaching their death day by day as the Bible defines, “you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1), “…I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” (Rev. 3:1). Even if the saving sound of the gospel of Christianity has been resounding all day and all night all over the world in history, they are not able to move even their one finger or eyeball to signal for rescue, that is, they never react to the saving gospel. This is not because they are so exhausted with their sin. This is not because they became so weak as much as they cannot raise their one finger due to their sin. But this is because they are dead due to their sin. What human beings need right now is not some spiritual or moral improvement for their saving. What human beings need right now is not some spiritual or moral energy for their saving. But what human beings need right now is the very new life to react to the rescue sound, or the word of God. Being reborn, regeneration, being in Christ with new identity and entity, is the only thing needed. Man’s struggling such as cutting edged scientific advance, highly improved moral senses and law system, high level education, well established social system, stable and cooperative international organization, many effort for equality and coexistence of mankind, they cannot save man from death, or sinful status. Man still never finds any way to save themselves from death. It is because no life is in there. They all just wither, just fade, and just fall off, not stand forever because there is no life. The problem is not the science, the systems, the environments, the efforts per se of human beings. The problem is the fact that they don’t know what they have to do with them towards their Creator as creatures. Consequently, what they need is the new life and new sense in order for them to react to the rescue sound, or the word of God, and they never gain it by themselves because they don’t have any life. They are just dead. This is the most reality of the realities in this world. “Surely people are grass and its beauty is flower of the field, the grass withers, the flower fades.” This identification of the Bible is true. At the very reality of human beings, God acts. God acts to give them the new life, new sense, and totally new identity in order for them to have the ability to listen and accept the gospel, the good news for their saving. And before the blow of the rescue operation of God with His word, the grass and flower of human beings wither and fade because only the word of God has the real life. The Babylon power, or the death power and even the mass of iniquities of Israel people, or the depravity of man cannot stop or have any effect upon the process of God’s act with the eternal word of Himself. And while all the grass and the flowers fall off, the word of our God stands forever. God does this through His own words. What is in the midst of the word? Yes, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ himself is the word of God. So the Bible says this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:1-3), “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14a). Only through Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ, there is life. Otherwise, all things finally wither and fade because there is no life. Jesus Christ, or the word of our God stands forever while all men and their beauty wither and fade because Jesus Christ himself is the main concern of the world in his own history, that is, the history and world itself is concerning Jesus Christ not human beings. Therefore, “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades. But the word of our God will stand forever.” Only Jesus Christ has the life and initiative standing forever. Only Jesus Christ, or the word of our God can declare the restoration, salvation, and the eternal life because the standing forever is only possible in Him. Human beings and its affairs, there is no life in them. Human beings don’t have any initiative and power to stand forever. The seed they are bearing is perishable. They don’t have any root connected to life source. They wither and fall off. They are all like chaff that the wind drives away. The only one who is in Christ, united with Christ, grafted to Christ, and get oneself wet into the blood of Christ, only the ones will be alive and stand forever with the word of our God, our Lord Jesus Christ. The death resulted from sinfulness and even the depravity and inability of human beings never obstructs the life power and initiative of Jesus Christ from giving His own people the life and eternity.
Everyone, listen to the resounding declaration in the midst of the seemingly powerful influences and groaning of the people with their iniquities and depravity, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins….. A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever….. Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news…..” I hope you are the one who reacts to this saving sound and believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, our unique hope holding the old rugged cross of Christ in this world, and live and stand forever with Him while the grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it.