All things new

By Tyler Tankersley

Most biblical scholars agree the prophet Isaiah is divided into three sections: Isaiah 1-39 was written before the Israelites were sent into the Babylonian Exile and Isaiah 40-55 was written while the people were in the midst of their captivity.

The final third of Isaiah (chapters 56-66) is a series of prophetic oracles written as the people are returning to Jerusalem from the exile.

Amid the ruin of their ransacked city, they are asking the questions: "What kind of world are we going to have now?"

Some of the people want a return to the "good ole days" and they want to rebuild the city of Jerusalem exactly the way it was before, brick by brick.

As they are having this conversation, however, God suddenly speaks up and says, "I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind" (Isaiah 65:17).

God essentially tells the people, "I am not just interested in a new temple or a new city; I am interested in a redeemed creation and a redeemed world."

Do we still believe God is in the business of making all things new? It's so easy to become hopeless and cynical. Something we have seen in this election cycle, from both conservatives and liberals, is an appeal to our hopelessness; each side tried to make the case that electing their opponent is a sure path to apocalypse. Such negativity breeds disunity and vitriol.

Recently I read a fascinating book called "The Genesis of Liberation." The book recounts how American slaves in the 19th century were exposed to the Bible.

White slave owners would hire white preachers to come into slave houses and preach sermons from passages such as, "Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling" (Ephesians 6:5).

The slaves were told by the white preachers that their lot in life was to remain in their forced state of captivity. Eventually, however, some of these slaves learned to read, and some of them found themselves with copies of the Bible.

While the white preachers who were beholden to the slave owners preached from a select few passages related to slaves' obedience, these newly literate slaves suddenly were reading different stories. They were reading about Moses leading the people out of slavery in Egypt, they were reading about the biblical mandate of sabbath-keeping, and they were reading about the God who hears the cries of the oppressed and marginalized. They read about a God who is interested in making all things new.

I believe God still is in the business of redeeming our world. God dreams of a world dominated by relentless peace, so much so that "the wolf and the lamb shall feed together" (Isaiah 65:25).

Do we still believe in hope? Do we still believe we are more than our present state of cynicism and apathy? Do we still believe God is making all things new?

I think we are often afraid to ask that question because most likely the answer is that God is indeed making all things new and the starting place is: me. Which is probably not a bad place to start.