Exposition by Max A Forsythe
In the summer of 1863, the Army of Northern Virginia invaded Pennsylvania. General Robert E Lee purposely took the road north looking for a decisive battle to end the war. He and his comrades found it at Gettysburg. Believing in their moral and military supremacy, the rebels pounded on the Union position for three days, to no avail. Many researchers admit that Lee and his men had their dander up, so much so that their defeat surprised them all. The high point of the battle came and went on the third day with the shattering of Pickett’s Virginians in the bloody angle on Cemetery Ridge. The fighting there was pretty intense for a few minutes. As the issue of the fray hung in the balance, one Union commander ordered his troops to fire into the hand to hand combat without regard for the Union troops in the way. That decision helped to decide the day, the battle and the war!
Now, it is not too often that military officers will knowingly or willingly fire into friendly forces unless the situation is desperate. During the police action in Southeast Asia, there were more than a few such situations when the American troops were being overrun by the enemy units. Radio operators would call friendly fire directly into their own position, then hunker down in the fox holes and hope for the best. That was a sure way to win medals, posthumously sometimes.
Now it is unlikely at this point in time that any of us will have to endure such a desperate military experience, they are grim enough to read about and to watch in the movies. However, in that one particular social protest situation, all of our Christian divisions of pickets have been repeatedly defeated. The pro-life forces have been forced to withdraw from the battlefields around the killing centers in this fair nation of ours. While the national media applaud the defeat, there is some consternation within the evangelical community. Just a couple of weeks ago, World magazine took the clergy of this country to task for not doing more for the lost cause.
What more could have been done, I wonder? Wouldn’t Washington and the media have ignored three million marchers the same way they ignored three hundred thousand? Would ten times the number of pickets have made any difference? Would more advertising? Would more violence? Like the Northern abolitionists who detested slavery, should a violent confrontation have been sought in a new civil war? (Please note the question marks in my tone of voice) Unless Christians are directly attacked or pregnant women are taken away for forced abortion, as the pro-choice crowd is already doing in China, I believe that armed resistance must be avoided, and extremists like Paul Hill must be put out of the organized church.
What should Christ’s Church be doing about the issue? As you all know, we are providing about five to ten per cent of the administrative costs for Heritage Haven, and the Women In the Church have made contact to be a part of that vital ministry. In addition we did help one young lady when she delivered. Then there was the baby in Logan County that is alive because one of my students asked for help in getting that pregnancy to term. On two occasions we have also hosted right to life meetings in our facilities when no other hosts could be found in all of Franklin County. In addition, many of you have participated in marches from time to time. And I went with you until the march coordinators chose to use the Lord’s Day. What have we accomplished with our minimal contribution? I think it is time to change our focus and expend all of our efforts in prayerfully calling in friendly fire, and for our supporting text I will use our sixty-fourth chapter in Isaiah today.
Verse one follows after Isaiah’s great vision of the blood spattered Messiah trampling the enemies of God into dust. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!” This must be our prayer, even as our rebel congressmen break into the bloody angle of Congress to do battle with the entrenched liberals! As we watch how successful they are not being with the budget, we may well wonder if any other contests will be successful?
“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!” Are we willing to admit that God Himself must accomplish the victories that we so earnestly desire? The only person who is held in more contempt by the liberals than individual Christians is God Himself. May they realize a holy fear in the awesome presence of our Creator. May friendly fire from heaven fall down upon the land well described in verses five to seven, even ours.
Now we know from our study of Revelation that, while some people are carried away in natural catastrophes and social upheavals, some are also saved because of that experience. And yes, even Christians are taken away in the midst of war and natural disaster. But, let us remember where they are taken. And for those who are converted because of their experience, is that not worth the cost of life experience, even as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes his experience in the Russian Gulag?
Remember those rebels who had to return south from Gettysburg? By the end of the war, those who had lost their cause and laid their weapons down at Appomattox had undergone a sincere religious revival. They took that revival home and established the Bible Belt. It is that type of revival which is much in mind here in Isaiah’s text as well.
Derek Thomas notes that in this passage we should see several steps in that revival process. First, he outlines that the Lord makes known His presence and power, suddenly and dramatically. Second, just as in Isaiah 63:2, there is a sense of holy fear as the nations tremble before the Lord of hosts. Third, even as the church fails in achieving God’s purpose, we must cry out for God’s direct intervention. It is in the midst of revival that God displays His sovereignty. Fourth, revival is a display of God’s mercy. Wherever the Church has drifted from orthodoxy, there is little difference to be seen between the Church and the world.
Look at the description of the Church in verses ten and eleven. Is this not true for our day, even as it was in the day of Isaiah? May the Lord have mercy upon us, and my we sincerely pray the words of Isaiah in verses eight and nine. “Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever.” Do we not know the experience of that divine mercy? Have we prayed for the Lord to mold us and make us after His will? If you can answer yes to those two questions, then let may you let the Spirit lead you on and up to the humble petition in verse twelve. “After all this, O Lord, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?”
Do we ache, do we suffer because of the wickedness let loose in our world? Do we worry about what this world is coming too? Do we believe there is anything more we can do to right the ship of state in Washington? Let us be in regular prayer for the Lord to come down, even if our own little fox hole is singed, even if we are caught in the cross fire. “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down.”
Resources Used:
Ellis, Charles..
The Wells of Salvation.
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentary Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
Box 13926 - Columbus, OH 43213
(c) 2001
18 February 1995
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.