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What new is about to happen"

Gramps49Gramps49 Shipmate
in Kerygmania
This is the first reading for next Sunday:

Isaiah 43:16-21
Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,

who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior;

they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

Do not remember the former things,
or consider the things of old.

I am about to do a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.

The wild animals will honor me,
the jackals and the ostriches;

for I give water in the wilderness,
rivers in the desert,

to give drink to my chosen people,
the people whom I formed for myself

so that they might declare my praise.

I highlighted what I am interested in.

In the time of Second Isaiah, Cyrus the Great was moving through the known world attacking established and oppressing Empires. He may have been at the gates of Babylon as I understand it.

Moving to today. I am wondering what do people see on the horizon that would be a new thing the Lord is about to do?

And, no, I am not preaching this next week. I just find it an interesting prophecy to talk about.

Comments

  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    I don't perceive it, unless it is the line in the Spiritual - It won't be water but fire next time.
    Viz 2 Peter 3 (NRSV)
    "5They deliberately ignore this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water, 6through which the world of that time was deluged with water and perished. 7But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being kept until the day of judgement and destruction of the godless. "

    Not that I am into eschatology.
  • Merry VoleMerry Vole Shipmate
    Wondering if 'brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior' isn't quite an accurate translation. Why would the Lord 'bring them out' . Presumably this refers to the Egyptian army being drowned in the Red Sea and the Lord 'brought them down' not 'out'.
  • Lamb ChoppedLamb Chopped Shipmate
    Gramps49 wrote: »
    This is the first reading for next Sunday:

    Isaiah 43:16-21
    Thus says the Lord,
    who makes a way in the sea,
    a path in the mighty waters,

    who brings out chariot and horse,
    army and warrior;

    they lie down, they cannot rise,
    they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

    Do not remember the former things,
    or consider the things of old.

    I am about to do a new thing;
    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

    I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert.

    The wild animals will honor me,
    the jackals and the ostriches;

    for I give water in the wilderness,
    rivers in the desert,

    to give drink to my chosen people,
    the people whom I formed for myself

    so that they might declare my praise.

    I highlighted what I am interested in.

    In the time of Second Isaiah, Cyrus the Great was moving through the known world attacking established and oppressing Empires. He may have been at the gates of Babylon as I understand it.

    Moving to today. I am wondering what do people see on the horizon that would be a new thing the Lord is about to do?

    And, no, I am not preaching this next week. I just find it an interesting prophecy to talk about.

    It looks to me like God is doing the opposite of his former actions--there he made a dry path through the waters, and now he's providing water in the dry places. There he used water to put his enemies to death, and here he provides water for his chosen people to live.

    I'm fairly sure this is a prophecy of the Messiah and the living water he gives to us (John 4, John 7:37-38, also a glance at John the Baptist).
  • The_RivThe_Riv Shipmate
    This will help: https://youtu.be/1ppisOulgG0?si=8P66Jy4SlIKvq8IL
  • LatchKeyKidLatchKeyKid Shipmate
    The
    "I will make a way in the wilderness
    and rivers in the desert."

    Is very much like the Isaiah 40 passage that the Gospel writers see being fulfilled in John the Baptiser.

    "A voice cries out:
    ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
    4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
    the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
    5 Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all people shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ "

    I wonder if some people see the new thing as God sending the Messiah.
  • jay_emmjay_emm Kerygmania Host
    I recall the doge from the gondoliers asserting if everyday is special then no day is.

    Isaiah seems to be painting it as something truly special, and the contemporary events associated with the return from exile make sense as a fulfillment.
    And obviously the incarnation to ascencion would qualify.

    In that context just because we're reading it today there doesn't seem to be that much reason to think 2025 is a year for a 'new thing' in a way that say 1945 wasn't.
    But of course, if God is working his purpose out year by year, then that includes today.
    And once in a millennium events have to happen sometime.
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