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Hezekiah and Jeremiah vs. the Spiritual Smorgasbord- By Paul Raabe
How do we address people in our country today who live in a polytheistic and pluralistic culture? How do we talk to them about the true God? In this reprint from a recent issue of Lutheran Forum, Dr. Paul Raabe suggests that Hezekiah and Jeremiah can point the way for confessing the faith in polyreligious America.
Hezekiah and Jeremiah vs. the Spiritual Smorgasbord
Paul R. Raabe
Chair of the Exegetical Department
Concordia Seminary
St. Louis, Missouri
Published in Lutheran Forum (Spring 2008) 10-13
The religious pluralism prevailing in the U.S. reminds me of walking through the midway at the state fair. All kinds of hawkers try to woo you with their wares. Our country boasts a myriad of religious voices, not only of the major world religions but countless other groups and movements too, as illustrated by the 1999 Parliament of World’s Religions:
Among the more than 900 presenters were missionaries and evangelists for The Temple Beautiful, The Church of Scientology, Inter-Religious Dialogues, Sukyo Mahikari (of pure light to purify you spiritually, physically and mentally), Earth Centered Spiritual Paths (Earth Spirit), Kashi Foundation, The Council of Thai Bhikkus, Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, The Anand Marga Mission, The Quakers, The Art of Living Foundation, Free Masonry, Satanism, Sikh Dharma International, Scientific Pantheism, Anthroposophy, Clairvoyance and Spiritual Healing, Experiencing the Soul—Before Birth During Life After Death, and several self-proclaimed Supreme Masters.1
How do we address people living in and influenced by such a religious and spiritual smorgasbord? Hezekiah and Jeremiah point the way for confessing the faith in polyreligious America.
Hezekiah
Isaiah 36-37 records one of the most dramatic events in the history of ancient Israel. In the year 701 B.C., Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, was threatening to conquer the city of Jerusalem. The Assyrian official tries to convince Jerusalem to surrender.
Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “Yahweh will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? (Isaiah 36:18-19)
What would Hezekiah, the king of Judah, do? Would he ask Egypt to help? That was the great temptation—to rely on human might. But instead King Hezekiah went to the temple of Yahweh and prayed to Him:
O Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Yahweh, and hear; open your eyes, O Yahweh, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O Yahweh our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are Yahweh (37:16-20).
Hezekiah’s prayer is very instructive for people who live in a context of many religions, many so-called gods or ideas of god. Hezekiah lived in such a world as well. The ancient Near East was exceedingly religious and pluralistic. There were no secularists or atheists, really. Every nation had its gods and goddesses. Sennacherib’s spokesman claimed that Assyria defeated the gods of the other nations. Surely Yahweh, the God of Israel will be no match either, so surrender, Hezekiah!
The threat struck close to home. If Assyria conquered Jerusalem it would mean deportation and exile. Barely twenty years previously the Assyrians had conquered Samaria, the capital of Northern Israel, and deported its people; Assyria could follow through on its boasts. Humanly speaking, Jerusalem and her military were no match for the military power of Assyria. Human reason would suggest either surrender or appeal to mighty Egypt to save Jerusalem.
But Hezekiah looks to Yahweh in faith. He beseeches the God of Israel. Our God, the God we worship and praise, the God to Whom we pray, the God Whose Word we follow, is not some generic deity. Our God is not an impersonal force like in Star Wars, “Use the force, Luke.” We neither pray to nor receive forgiveness from an impersonal force. An impersonal force is something to be used. But our God is not some thing we can use to further our own agenda or to accomplish our own desires. Our God is this specific God, the God of Israel, the personal God whose name in Moses and the Prophets is “Yahweh.” Our God is the God of Abraham, the God of Moses, the God of David and now also the God of Hezekiah and Isaiah. Our God is this specific God who delivered Israel from Egypt many years earlier and to Whom Hezekiah prayed for deliverance from Assyria. We Gentiles worship the God of Israel.
This God of Israel is the almighty maker of the heavens and earth, as Hezekiah confesses in his prayer. To address this God is to confess that we did not create ourselves. And to acknowledge this God as creator is inevitably also to ask: how do I stand before your own maker and judge?
Yet at this point a complication appears. How can my God, the almighty creator,
coexist with the Assyrians who conquered so many other lands along with their gods? Hezekiah does not shrink from the military threat they pose: “Truly, O Yahweh, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands.” But then he continues, “and they have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed.” Those other “gods” turned out to be no gods at all, but idols. An idol is only something human-made. It might be wood and stone, an abstract idea, or some social construction. But it is no god. “God” as we use the term is not something we made or imagined or constructed. “God” refers to the one Who made us, the creator of the heavens and earth. Either we are referring to the creator, or we are not referring to God at all.
What emerges from Hezekiah’s prayer is the non-reversibility of terms. God created us; we did not create God. God judges us; we do not judge God. God saves us; we do not save God. God forgives us in Christ; we do not forgive God. God commands us; we do not command God. God leads us; we do not lead God. And on our side, we pray to God; God does not pray to us. We praise God; God does not praise us. We trust in God and his word; God does not trust in us. We worship God; God does not worship us. God is the creator and we are His creatures. God is God and we are not.
These are basic distinctions that need to be re-emphasized amidst the confusions of our day and age. In countless ways Americans seek the divine. So they go to the desert, for example, and seek to commune with the infinite spirit by finding a vortex of divine energy. Or they look inwardly to themselves to tap the divine in their own soul and heart. But the real question for such seekers is not: where do you want to find God? The question is rather: does the almighty creator make Himself accessible to you at all? And if so, where has He decided to make Himself available?
The God of Israel, the creator Who is outside of us, does not have to be accessible to human creatures on planet earth. We cannot coerce or manipulate him. He is the almighty creator, after all, not a malleable idol. If fellowship between creature and creator is going to happen at all, it has to be initiated by the creator, and on His terms. The surprise is that the creator in His freedom has chosen to localize His presence in a certain spot. In B.C. times this was the temple in Jerusalem. As such, Hezekiah prayed, “O Yahweh of hosts, God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim. . .” The creator of all things made Himself available in Zion.
Now in the fullness of time this God became incarnate. And we find Him, we commune with Him, in those places where He has promised to be for us, in the gospel of Jesus Christ, in baptism, in the Lord’s Supper, and in holy absolution. He has made Himself very accessible and invites you to go to the places where he has promised to be for you.
Finally, Hezekiah prayed that God would save Jerusalem from Assyria so “that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are Yahweh.” God’s mighty deeds of salvation have a missional purpose. It is so that all other peoples, all kingdoms of the earth, may know the true God. Our biblical, creedal, confessional faith is not something secret. We are not a secret society or a mystery religion. We have been given the mission of bringing the good news of Jesus Christ to all nations. For what purpose? So that all nations would know their creator and savior and worship Him through His Son and in His Spirit. Precisely within our pluralistic time and place we must work to expand the choir of those singing praises to Him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb.
Well, what happened? Who won, Assyria or Hezekiah’s God? While the Jerusalemites were sleeping, God struck down 185, 000 Assyrian troops by His angel. The holy One of Israel, the almighty creator, wiped out His enemies, without the assistance of His people. God’s action here is necessarily a shock to an America that lacks any fear of God. The de facto American religion is universalism, a tendency fueled by our pluralistic context and desire to be a tolerant. People wonder why God would send anyone to hell, as if everyone starts out is in the lifeboat but God arbitrarily decides to throw some people overboard. The biblical picture, though, is just the opposite. Everyone is drowning in the sea, and only those whom God places in the lifeboat are rescued.
The episode recorded in Isaiah 36-37 illustrates the scandal of particularity. Only in Zion, among those gathered around God’s located presence for sinners, is there salvation. That is both a warning and a promise. Apart from that place where the creator is with us on His terms, there exists only the creator’s wrath against His enemies. But in Zion, where His gracious presence is located for you and me, where His promises fulfilled in Christ are spoken, where His sacramental saving gifts are given and received by faith, there you will find joyous communion with your maker, there you will enjoy His presence, rescue, and refuge. The traditional Christian saying summarizes much of Old Testament theology just as well as it does New Testament theology: extra ecclesiam nulla salus est [outside the Church there is no salvation].
Jeremiah
Typically, Americans respond to religious pluralism in one of two ways. Either they demote every theological claim to the level of opinion, or they promote every claim to the level of truth. The former is a holdover from the fact-value dichotomy of modernism; science is fact, religion is opinion. The latter is a postmodern move that rejoices in pluralism because then no one community can claim to possess complete religious truth. The biblical worldview refuses to equalize all claims. Rather, it insists on a distinction, the distinction between truth and falsehood. Only the truth can and will benefit sinners.
Jeremiah 28 illustrates the point. The whole episode is one of high drama. The year was 593 B.C., four years after Nebuchadnezzar took into exile some of the leading citizens of Jerusalem, including king Jehoiachin. The place was the temple precincts. Hananiah, a recognized prophet, began with the words, “Thus spoke Yahweh of hosts, the God of Israel,” and went on to promise that within two years God would bring back to Jerusalem all the temple vessels and the exiles including the king.
Then comes the prophet Jeremiah. He comments, “Amen! May Yahweh do so.” Jeremiah would have been glad for such a turn of events; he cared about Jerusalem. But there is a problem. Hananiah has departed drastically from Israel’s prophetic tradition. Jeremiah reminds him that “the prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms.” Later Jeremiah continues, “Listen, Hananiah, Yahweh has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says Yahweh: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, because you have uttered rebellion against Yahweh” (28:15-16). The narrator then records, "In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died." That is how seriously God takes the question of truth. Being a prophet is risky business. God really wants sinners to hear the truth and not lies.
The future of Jerusalem with God was at stake in this exchange. Would Jerusalem listen to Hananiah or to Jeremiah? We, of course, know that Hananiah was a false prophet. But how were the original hearers supposed to recognize a false prophet? It is not as if Hananiah went around saying "Now, I want to preface my remarks by informing you that I'm a false prophet." Hananiah was, in fact, a recognized prophet, and he even used the standard prophetic messenger formula, "Thus spoke Yahweh.”
So what are the criteria? Jeremiah's response suggests a twofold litmus test. First, Hananiah did not speak according to the Lord's word but spoke from the imagination of this own heart, his own wishful thinking. He made it up. His message did not measure up to the external word, the preceding prophetic tradition going back to Moses.
Second, Hananiah made the people trust in a lie. He gave the people false hopes. He did not lead sinners to repentance but instead confirmed carnal sinners in their wicked ways. It is not simply a matter of saying right things. What impact does the message make on sinners? Is it leading them to repentance or not? That is one of the key questions to ask in our pluralistic age with its cacophony of religious voices. What is the impact on the hearers?
Jeremiah 23:16-17 emphasizes this point.
Thus says Yahweh of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of Yahweh. They say continually to those who despise the word of Yahweh, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
Falsehood gives sinners false hopes. It makes them happy and comfortable as they party on the Titanic. Truth has just the opposite impact. “But if they had stood in my council, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their deeds (23:22).
Falsehood confirms sinners in their sin. True prophets proclaim God's word and thereby lead sinners away from their sinful ways and to the God of Israel. The powerful word is what brings about repentance and faith. As verse 29 states, “Is not my word like fire, declares Yahweh, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”
Jeremiah reminds us why truth matters. Only the truth can benefit people. Only the truth of God's law can lead sinners away from their sinful ways and only the truth of God's promises fulfilled in Christ can lead sinners to faith. Falsehood leads to sin and death. Truth leads to repentance, faith, and life.
The great commission as Luke records it stands in continuity with Jeremiah. “Then he opened their minds to understand the [Old Testament] Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations beginning from Jerusalem” (Luke 24:45-47). Some Greek manuscripts make the connection even stronger with the preposition είς, "repentance unto forgiveness." Preaching repentance serves forgiveness.
Our concern with truth is not about power, getting it and keeping. We are about loving and helping people. Falsehood leads to death but truth leads to life. As Jesus says in John 8:31, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Only the truth can set you free, and the truth will set you free.
1 A. R. Victor Raj, “Pluralistic Spirituality: A Religion of the 21st Century,” Issues in Christian Education (Spring 2000):8.
Written By: host
Date Posted: 5/5/2008
Number of Views: 563
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