Majesty and Mercy

Isaiah's prophecies finish with a vision of the majesty, mercy and justice of God.  His words in the closing verses are powerful, evocative and disturbing.  We get a picture of God as high above the understanding of human beings. He cannot be imprisoned within temples or rituals.

This all-powerful God who could do easily be portrayed as distant is anything but remote. He is intimately involved in the work and life of his creation.  He sees not just the outward actions of people but knows their inward motivation as well.

Another expectation would be that a God who was powerful and holy would side with those in his creation who were like him in being powerful but instead God declares himself to be on the side of the poor and the weak.  He is the God of the humble not the God of the proud. This has me wondering why so many of the men and women who achieve fame and popularity in the life of the church are often the least humble people you can meet.

He opposes these proud and powerful people so much that he compares their perfectly arranged sacrifices in the temple to the horror of human sacrifice or offering up an "unclean" animal like a pig.

The final aspect of God that Isaiah shows us is his justice. This is always the bit that I find most disturbing. We all think that justice is great in an abstract sense or very good for all those bad people out there but when we find out that the God who is all-powerful and all-knowing is also interested in Justice the we are right to get a little nervous.

The imagery is powerful, eternal fire, worms that never die, etc. The conclusion is obvious, don't think that because God is a God of mercy and love that he is somehow a soft touch who will simply overlook the evils in this world. One day God will judge this world and those who do not humble themselves before him will encounter the scrupulously fair side to his personality and receive from him everything that they did to others.