Day 203: Rejoice in the Lord

Isaiah 25:1-10 An unnamed city (probably representing Babylon) had been destroyed, and Jerusalem had become a place of comfort and safety for the poor and vulnerable of the world. A banquet would be prepared of the finest foods, death would be vanquished, and there would be only joy in the city. This banquet is a type (TYPOLOGY!!) of the heavenly banquet and of the Eucharist by which one is nourished with the Body and Blood of Christ.

Ch 26:1-19 After a hymn of praise, Isaiah professed quite eloquently his trust in the Lord, who in turn invited his faithful to seek shelter in their homes to avoid the divine wrath that was to come upon the earth. Nothing can trouble those who put their complete trust in God. St. Teresa of Avila used to pray, “Let nothing trouble you, let nothing frighten you; everything passes, God never changes. Patience obtains all; whoever has God wants for nothing. God alone is enough.” (CCC 227)

Ch 27:1-13 The mythical creatures of the sea symbolize chaos on earth and defiance toward God through the demonic forces of evil. In this case, these monsters symbolize Assyria, Babylon, and Egypt. The restored land is bearing fruit as it undergoes its purification, and the Lord is certain to protect the land from interlopers. In the end, the exiles and dispersed Jews returned to Jerusalem to worship again as one people. 

Habakkuk 3:1-19 In a hymn, or psalm, Habakkuk paid homage to the power of God and expressed his own trust that God would show mercy to Israel and bring its oppressors to justice.

(*The Didache Bible RSV-CE Ignatius Edition, 2006)

• Ok so we got a lot of chapters in Isaiah today

• SO GOOD!

• Chapters 1-39 is the Book of Woe or the Book of Condemnation

• Chapters 40-66 is the Book of Consolation

• AND YET…

• Today, how good are Chs 25-27

• We have Praise for Deliverance from Oppression in Ch 25

• We have Judah’s Song of Praise to God in Ch 26

• We have Israel’s Expiation in Ch 27

• We have all of this HOPE that is plopped right down into the middle of this call to REPENTANCE 

• And this PROMISE OF JUDGMENT

• A promise of the fact that if you do not turn back to the Lord, here is what is going to happen

• IN FACT…

• Isaiah says VERY VERY CLEARLY, “Here is what is going to happen. You will be brought into captivity. You will be brought into the land of Babylon. You will be brought into the land of Babylon. You will be brought into a land that is not yours anymore. You will be taken from the land of PROMISE and brought to a FOREIGN LAND.”

• How incredible is Isaiah 25:6-8, “On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines...And he will destroy on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.”

• GOSH!

• And it goes on and we will talk about it in just a second

• But this is the PROMISE of the DAY OF THE MESSIAH!

• This is the PROMISE of that DAY OF REDEMPTION!

• That’s what we are saying in our prayers

• God has CREATED US

• God has also REDEEMED US

• Here in our BROKENNESS, God has met us with his MERCY

• Isaiah 25 is a Scripture that is often read at funerals

• Isaiah 25:8-9, “The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces...It will be said on this day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

• This is the PROMISE of God 700 YEARS BEFORE JESUS

• BEHOLD THIS IS OUR GOD

• When we look at Jesus, that’s what we say

• That was John the Baptist who said at the River Jordan, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

• At every MASS the priest says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”

• This is our God who has come to save us so let us rejoice and be glad that HE HAS SAVED US!!

• THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!

• WHAT A GIFT!!

• Isaiah  Ch 26 is more PRAISE OF GOD

• Isaiah Ch 27 talks about how the Lord will make a FULL EXPIATION

• At some point, ultimately, even though God will bring about this JUDGMENT

• It will not be a PERMANENT JUDGMENT

• It is a TEMPORARY JUDGMENT

• Oriented towards CONVERSION

• Oriented towards HEALING

• MAN, WHAT A GIFT!!

• Now for Habakkuk

• Remember, Habakkuk is preaching about the reality that Babylon is going to come

• Babylon will destroy the Kingdom of Judah in the SOUTH

• BUT THEN…

• THIS IS GOD’S ANSWER

• God made the FIVE WOES that we heard about yesterday

• Today, we have HABAKKUK’S PRAYER

• Habakkuk’s prayer is, HERE IS GOD’S ANSWER

• God’s answer is basically REDEMPTION

• This is one of the places where we get to hear this TRUTH

• We get to hear in the depths of our heart WHAT GOD WANTS TO DO

• God wants to BRING HIS PEOPLE BACK

• It will be a NEW EXODUS

• Remember in the OLD EXODUS in the Book of Exodus we have the People of Israel enslaved in Egypt

• What God is saying is that there will be a NEW EXODUS

• “You will be enslaved in Babylon, exiled in Babylon. And even there, I WILL BRING YOU BACK!”

• There was an OLD EXODUS and there will be a NEW EXODUS

• This is the PROMISE

• This is INCREDIBLE

• Not only because this is God’s FAITHFULNESS

• But also because we know of God’s STEADFASTNESS

• At some point, this will be REALITY

• IN THE MEANTIME, WHAT DO WE DO?

• Since we know God is FAITHFUL

• And we know that God is going to bring us out of THE VALLEY OF ACHOR to a DOOR OF HOPE

• We know that he is going to bring us from Egypt into the Promised Land

• We know that he is going to bring us from EXILE back home 

• What do we do in those times?

• THIS IS INCREDIBLE

• At the end of Habakkuk 3, hear this now and go back and underline these words and write them down

• Habakkuk 3:16, “I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us.”

• God is STEADFAST IN HIS FAITHFULNESS

• God is GOING TO FIGHT

• Habakkuk 3:17, “Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls…”

• ALL THESE THINGS!

• THERE IS NOTHING!

• We have no fig trees

• We have no fruit on the vine

• The olives fail

• The fields have no food

• No flocks

• No herds

• Habakkuk 3:18, “YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

• THAT YET IS A BIG YET!!

• That YET is EVERYTHING

• EVERYTHING IN FAITH

• EVERYTHING IN ONE’S LIFE HANGS ON THAT ONE YET

• Even though NOTHING is going right

• Even though EVERYTHING is falling apart

• Even though ALL THE THINGS I worked for

• Even though ALL THE THINGS I hoped for

• Even though ALL THE THINGS God promised aren’t here YET

• YET...I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD

• YET...I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION

• Habakkuk 3:19, “God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like deer’s feet, he makes me tread upon my high places.”

• WHAT AN INCREDIBLE GIFT!!

• To be able to pray with that kind of FAITH

• That’s what we do

• EVERY SINGLE TIME YOU PRESS PLAY

• EVERY SINGLE DAY

• This is Day 203

• Every day for the last 203 days, YOU HAVE PRESSED PLAY

• That means that you have pressed play IN ANY SEASON, EVERY SEASON for the last 203 days

• It’s not just been GREAT DAYS

• It’s not just been days where you KNOW THE LORD IS PRESENT

• It’s not just been days where EVERYTHING YOU WORKED FOR IS COMING TRUE

• It’s not just been days when there was GOD’S FAITHFULNESS OBVIOUSLY PRESENT AND ACTIVE IN YOUR LIFE

• BUT…

• Even LOW DAYS

• Even DARK DAYS

• Even HORRIBLE DAYS

• YOU KEPT PRESSING PLAY

• You kept saying, “Lord, I know you want to speak to me. And you have a word for me.”

• So you have said for 203 days Habakkuk 3:18, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”

• WOW!!

• INCREDIBLE!!

• Fr. Mike is SO PROUD OF YOU!!

• Fr. Mike is praying for you

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• Because it’s HARD to pray that prayer sometimes

• So we need to sometimes PRAY IT FOR EACH OTHER

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we give you praise and we thank you. We thank you because, gosh Lord, in all of this we want to be counted among those who are righteous, not those who are wicked, not those who are unfaithful. And yet, we strive to be wise. We strive to be good. We strive to belong to you. But so often, Lord, we fail to belong to you. We fail to be good. We fail to be yours. And so we ask you that when we are wicked, when we are treacherous, when we are not righteous, we ask you to make us so. Because only you, only you and your Grace can make us the people that we are called to be, the people that you redeemed us to be. Lord God, what Jesus made possible your Holy Spirit makes actual and so we trust in your Spirit to come to us now and to make us new. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”