Isaiah 9:1-7 The Rescue Who Needs Rescuing? 1 Rev. Brian North December 13 th, 2015 Today we continue the series we ve been in the last couple weeks on this theme of rescue. We ve looked at what we re rescued from, and who will do this rescuing. Today we re looking at who needs rescuing. There are various ways that this question could be answered. Some might say that no one needs rescuing. I don t actually think many people would agree with that position. Anyone who has a sense of compassion on par with a rock can see that there are people on the face of this earth who need rescuing. Such as girls and young women who have been brought into the sex industry; orphans; the people fleeing Syria; homeless people right here in Kirkland, people who s marriages are struggling, people who are up to their ears in debt we could go on. So most anyone with a pulse would agree that there are people who need rescuing in some way, shape, or form but for the sake of argument, a person could say that no one needs rescuing. At the other end of the spectrum, some people might suggest that all people need rescuing. On one hand, this is actually a fairly common response. As a result, billions of dollars are spent on making plans to rescue the human race. This takes different forms, but one, for example, is the plan to colonize Mars, or maybe some other planet, or to build something in space that could be colonized. Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, and others, have spent tons of money on exactly this. Three weeks ago, Bezos space exploration company Blue Oracle made a major stride forward in being able to make transportation from earth out to outer space much more cost effective than ever before, as the first ever rocket was able to safely return to earth with it s rocket engine still in tact. Previously, they all had to fall into the ocean, and were one-time use things, rendered useless by the salt water. This is very costly to build a new engine every time. But not any more. Take a look at this video: Video Clip Here. (If you re reading online, you can watch the clip here. They ve added about 20 seconds of CGI effects of f loating in space, but the rest is essentially what we showed in service.) Short-term, the plan is to make trips into space available to people like you and me just for fun because people like you and I will be able to afford it.
It s Disneyland on steroids. But long-term, the plan is even grander. Bezos said: The long-term vision is to see an enduring human presence in space. We want to see millions of people living and working in space, Jeff Bezos. i This is, in a sense, an effort to rescue humanity, to get us off of this dangerous earth to a place that s safer, and has better long-term prospects for sustaining human life, such as Mars. Because, you know, Mars looks so much more habitable than this terrible place God has given us called earth. Some people are very serious about this. For instance, the website, redcolony.com, lists several reasons why we should try and colonize Mars, including that it offers a backup plan for humanity. ii So that s a second response to who needs to be rescued: humanity. All of it. Not that everyone on earth could actually get into space, in all likelihood, but the point of this kind of rescue is to keep the human race going. Other people see rescue as something that only they themselves and a select group of people need or qualify for. This is, or can be, a selfish view of rescue, that really says some people aren t worthy of being rescued. It s easy for people to think that they re the only ones who have those problems, and therefore, are the only ones who need rescuing. So someone might say, I need rescuing from the financial hole I m in when they have a roof over their heads, food in the fridge, and money in the bank account. That s not to say everyone who has a roof, food, and money in the bank is automatically without financial problems there are a lot of people who have major financial issues even though you d never know it from the way that they live. But it is to say that: It s too easy to fall into the trap of believing that you re worse off than everyone else. That you re the only one with this problem whatever that problem may be. So it could be financial challenges, it could be relational problems such as parenting difficulties or marital challenges, it could be a season of grief and loss, and so forth. It s not that the challenges we face like those aren t real, and it s not that we should ignore the things from which we need rescuing. It s just that we want to be careful about becoming so absorbed in what we need rescuing from that we ignore that others need rescuing too, and maybe they need it more desperately than we do. 2
3 The flip side of this self-focused rescuing is to say, I don t need rescuing, but there sure are a lot of other people who do. This can come off a little holier-than-thou, or snobbish. And we certainly want to avoid that. But more problematic is that it ignores the fact that there s probably something in your life from which you need to be rescued, and so it misses the opportunity to be rescued. If we think we don t need rescuing, then we are deceiving ourselves. Washington Mutual, was a great example of this. Here was a company that seemed to be doing great. In the early 2000 s they were the largest thrift bank in the country, they were gaining market share, they had mergers and acquisitions that expanded their territory. They seemed impervious, like they could do no wrong. Certainly there wasn t any rescue needed there, right? The thinking was that it was other banks that needed help. And then, all of a sudden, in the span of a couple years, maybe even less time than that, they went from being the darling of the banking industry to out of business. Over 100 years of banking history came to a screeching halt, and they fell off the face of the earth All because they didn t see their own need to be rescued, until it was too late. We don t want to be blind our own need to being rescued. So, again: There are various responses to this question of who needs to be rescued: 1) Nobody; 2) Everybody for the sake of future generations; 3) Somebody starting with me; 4) Somebody excluding me. Other than the Nobody response, the other ones really are right at some level. We all need rescuing. We need a rescuing that seeks to rescue all of humanity. We need a rescuing that includes me. We need a rescuing that includes others. We need rescuing from this earth, but we also need rescuing while we re still here on earth. We need rescuing from the challenges we face, from the hardships of life, from brokenness, sadness, grief, pain, loss, greed, hatred, depression, selfishness, disease and from the inevitability of death. And into that desire for rescue comes an ancient writing from Isaiah that speaks to people who need rescuing and points to someone who will in fact carry out this rescue operation who will provide a rescue that impacts us right here and now and that stretches beyond time. The book of Isaiah was written in the 8 th Century B.C., about 700-750 years before the birth of Jesus
Christ. And we see in it that there are all kinds of people who will be rescued. Isaiah tells us in the first four verses (9:1-4) about the people who will be rescued. It (9:1-4) includes people who are gloomy, in distress, walking in darkness, who live in the shadow of death, who don t have much joy, who are under a yoke that burdens them, and who are oppressed. Let me ask you: Have you ever felt gloomy? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt distressed? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt like you were in the darkness? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt like you were living in the shadow of death? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt like you lacked joy? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt like you have a yoke in life that burdens you? That s something from which you can be rescued. Have you ever felt oppressed? That s something from which you can be rescued! Those are the kinds of people Isaiah is speaking to. And he is looking ahead to a time when people who experience these kinds of things, are set free from them. They re rescued from them. Who wouldn t like to be rescued from these things? In the day in which Isaiah wrote, they certainly wanted to. The nation of Israel was under attack from the nation of Assyria. Modern day Syria traces it s roots to this ancient Assyrian nation. This text reminds us that this part of the world has been in political and military turmoil for thousands of years. Israel desperately wanted to be rescued. And in the last couple verses, Isaiah gives this prophetic word that a rescue will come. There will be a rescuer one day. He will come as a child, as a son, and he will be called, Wonderful Counselor. He will be called Mighty God. He will be called Everlasting 4
Father. He will be called Prince of Peace. Just based on those titles, it s clear that this prophetic word is about someone who s a little different. Then he writes, There will be no end to the increase of his rule and no end to the increase of his peace And his kingdom will be established forever. And while Israel was set free from Assyria, the true fulfillment of this prophecy didn t happen. Until Jesus Christ. The New Testament to this prophecy, to others in Isaiah, to others in other parts of the Old Testament, as being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. For instance, Matthew 4:15-17 quotes the first two verses of today s passage in their entirety, pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of them: that Jesus is the light that has dawned so that the people no longer walk in darkness. He highlights that Jesus came out of the region of Galilee, fulfilling the prophet s word about that. The story is told of a guy who owned a home in a valley near a river. The river flooded so badly one time that he had to climb up onto his roof. He prayed that God would save him. A tree floated by that he could get onto and float to safety, but he didn t take it, saying God will rescue me. A raft of people came by and invited him to safety with them, but he didn t take it, telling them, God will rescue me. A helicopter came by with a basket lowered down for him to get into, but he didn t take it, saying, God will rescue me. Unfortunately, he died. He got to heaven and he asked God, Why didn t you rescue me? The Lord replied: I send you a tree, a raft, and a helicopter, what more were you looking for? God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only son so that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16. Jesus has come to the rescue, for people like you and me. And our neighbors, because they need rescuing. Poor people need rescuing. Wealthy people need rescuing. Sick people need rescuing. Americans need rescuing. Canadians need rescuing. Argentineans Italians Chinese, Ethiopian, South African, Australian, Korean, Pakistanis, French, German, people who like football, classical music, rock music, the Cougars, the Huskies, the educated, the uneducated, the old, the young, the strong, the weak.there are people everywhere who need rescuing. And that rescue is ours when we, by faith, let 5
Jesus take hold of us, and we, by faith, take hold of him. It s not a rescuing from this world, like sending ourselves into outer space. It s not a rescuing for a select group of people that includes only you or excludes you. His rescue is intended for all people, here on earth, and it extends forever beyond space and time. The increase of his rule will have no end. His Kingdom will be established forever. That s the rescue that Jesus provides for people like you and me. This child who will be born, of whom Isaiah writes, is Jesus. He is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Let s pray LORD S PRAYER Amen. i http://www.seattletimes.com/business/boeing-aerospace/jeff-bezoss-blue-origin-reaches-milestonewith-reusable-rocket/. (Seattle Times article originally published online on November 24, 2015.) ii http://www.redcolony.com/features.php?name=whycolonizemars 6