Wednesday, 26 March

My hand laid the foundation of the earth, / and my right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them / they stand at attention. 

Isaiah 48:13

He said in a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give him glory, for the hour of his judgement has come; and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.’ Revelation 14:7

These two verses have in common the claim that God created heaven and earth.  Less obviously, but more remarkably, they share the fact that both probably originated in times of distress, when people could have been forgiven for doubting that God was all-powerful.

Isaiah 48:13 comes from part of the Book of Isaiah thought to have emerged when the Jews were exiles in Babylon and when God’s promises to their ancestors (that they would have their own land, that God would dwell among them in his Temple in Jerusalem, and that David’s successors would reign there as God’s regents) all seemed to have been broken.  The Babylonians had ravaged Judah, destroyed the Temple, and taken their king into exile.  On the face of things Marduk, the god of Babylon, whom the Babylonians believed had created heaven and earth, must have seemed much more powerful than their God, Yahweh.  Yet amazingly it was from this dire situation that the first unequivocal statements of monotheism may have come.  It was not simply that Yahweh was as powerful, or even more powerful, than other gods.  Yahweh was the only God!  (See for example the previous verse.)

And centuries later, in a time of persecution and from exile, another voice dared to claim that despite everything God was to be worshipped and glorified because God was the powerful creator who would ensure justice.

Creator God, when times are hard, help us to hold fast to our faith in your power and your justice.  Amen

Adrian Curtis

 Manley Park Methodist Church