Scripture Passage

Sermon Text

Isaiah’s Vision of new heavens and a new earth

Today is Isaiah’s vision of new heavens and the new earth, all the description, It is a beautiful picture. I wish that this was our reality. One who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered a cursed, but our reality is different. Only a few people survive to be a hundred years old. We have one person in our congregation. Who’s going to be a hundred, soon, but she’s at a nursing home. It is so rare that the government gives you a congratulation letter. Once you become a hundred years old, it says that the Wolf and the lamb shall feed together and they shall not hurt and destroy each other. He’s talking about a peaceful world where there is no threat danger, violence, and killing people will not simply attack each other and exploit each other. Our world is different. I watch the news every morning and every single day I hear about gun violence. Especially these days, the danger is all around us. There is no play safe. Last time I went to get a haircut and my barber told me, Mister, he doesn’t know who I am, sir, don’t go to Eaton center. And I said, why? Because it’s dangerous. You can get shot there. If you cannot even go to the Eaton center because of danger, where can we go?

Darkness in our hearts

The world we live in can be quite harsh and so we are deeply engrossed in the world. We live in that dark reality slowly penetrates into our hearts like us Moses. We don’t see it. We don’t realize it. We don’t feel it because it happens so slowly. We don’t catch ourselves being affected, but soon we become hopeless, lethargic, selfish, negative, and critical. When our heart is dark, the world looks gloomy. Also when our heart is dark, we are looking at only the dark side of our reality. This is not a good cycle. Your heart is dark and used to dark things in the world and that dark thing in the word makes your heart darker and so this cycle becomes worse. Isaiah 6:65. Well, the message of the prophet, Isaiah two, these are lies who just came back from the captivities in Babylon, and then God gave Isaiah this beautiful image and beautiful message. I was wondering why God gave this kind of message to the people who just came back from the Babylonian captivity. They were liberated from captivity, take up political freedom. Now they came back to their home, but when they came back to their home, the home was in rule.

Lost their hearts

Jerusalem was in rule and the temple was destroyed. It was not like the home that they used to live. Everything was in rule, but more than anything else, their heart was in Rome. Not just a temple, not just the city, but their heart was in ruin. When they were taken into captivity, they lost everything, including their heart. They lost their songs. They cannot sing anymore. Then we heard the beautiful, Anthem from the choir, but they cannot sing this beautiful song anymore because they lost their heart. They lost their song. Simon said this is what Simon. Simon said by the rivers of Babylon. There, we sat down and there we wept. When we remembered Zion. Zion is Jerusalem on the willows. There, we hung up our harps for there our captors asked us for songs and our tormentors asked for mirth saying, sing us. One of the songs of Zion, how do we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? They lost everything. They lost their heart.

Aftermath of Violence

When one country has invaded another country. So many cruel things happen. They don’t just come in, invade you. They take everything. There’s violence, humiliation, rape, and exploitation. All kinds of things are happening. When one country in this under the country last week was remembrance day under Nazi occupation. Not only Jews were killed and exploited, but so many people were killed and so many families or destroyed, and they’re being affected and the damage this file has inflicted on the psyche of the people cannot be easily repaired. Once your psyche is damaged. Once your heart is damaged, it is very hard to repair just because you have political freedom. That doesn’t mean that you can enjoy freedom. You are not truly free, just because you are free politically, just because you’re back in your home. That doesn’t mean that you’re restored.

True Freedom

True Freedom is possible only through Healey and he takes many generations for the healing to take place. That was what happened to our or Aboriginal sisters and brothers. The damage done to them. You won’t be repaired very soon and easily, many generations it takes and still they are suffering are a struggle. They are struggling with the damage they live with. The ghost of the past. Koreans also have this damage. They went through 40 years of Japanese occupation, women who were taken into the war to be a prostitute to please Japanese soldiers and as soon as that occupation was finished, as soon as they were liberated, then there was a war, same people, North and South, they killed each other. The families were destroyed. The damage there hurt, threat, fear. They still live, live there. And when they came to Canada in a foreign land, as an immigrant, they lost everything, their dignity, and respect that to live with it.

Damaged Hearts

That to survive, You will take a long time for them to be completely healed and experienced the true freedom in their hearts. That was why God gave Isaiah this message about the new heavens and the new earth. Isaiah wanted to heal the Soul of the Israelites by giving them the vision of new heavens and the new earth. He clearly saw the damage that was inflicted upon them without healing, without the healing of their hearts. Isaiah realized that they could not rebuild the country. That also what God wanted to do through Isaiah, my friend, heart damaged heart. It is hard to repair. I realized that it is the most difficult thing, a more difficult thing, more difficult than anything else. Once a person’s heart is damaged. It is so almost impossible to restore that the pain and hurt are often invisible. They manifest themselves in a different way without realizing it. Sometimes we wonder why that person behaves in that way. We don’t know, but there is a pain and hurt working out. And sometimes we don’t understand why am I behaving in this way? We don’t even know what kind of hurt and pain is affecting us.

Power of Hope

Living in this harsh reality, our hearts have become hardened and closed. Jesus expressed this generation in this way. He said, but to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling one another. We play the flute for you and you did not tense. We whale and you did not move. We have become so desensitized. We cannot rejoice with those who rejoice. We cannot cry with those who weep. We have become so indifferent. We have become so harden. Maybe we can see and imagine the brighter future healing comes. It is hope that heals us, hopeless People can not experience healing. When we have hope, we will hear the heartbeat of joy. That’s why Isaiah gave this vision of new heavens and the new earth you heavens and new earth are not We, human beings can create it is what God gave to us.

Everything has become a new

He said for, I am about to create new heavens and newer. I am in meaning God I will create. I’m about to create. It is not. You can create new heavens and a new earth. It is God who can and Isaiah said, the former things shall not be remembered or come to your mind. In other words, our hearts are so lifted that, you know, memory, the ghost of their past their pain and their frustration and their anger will be lifted up from your memory from your harshly. You don’t even remember that. You know the worst you’ll be restored. Your heart will be restored. It is God who can restore our hearts. Jesus came to do that. You heavens and new earth do not happen a long time in the future. New heavens and new earth happen when you’re in God and that’s what Jesus Christ came to do. This is that’s what Saint Paul saw in Jesus. This is what Saint Paul said. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation. You haven’t new earth. Your creation. Everything old has passed away. See everything has to become new. Christ came to do just that God was to create a heart within us. He wants to open a new world and a new life for us. The world may not change right away, but when our hearts are changed there, we can handle our harsh reality. When our hearts are restored, we’ll see a new world that we can dream of a new life. We can dream of a world where the Wolf and the lamb shall feed together without hurting each other. We can dream of a world where there is no discrimination. He treats and division. We can dream of a world where we don’t have to see you, people, anymore because we are all one.

New beginning

They will all live together in harmony, a blessing. Each other. This fusion of new heavens and new earth will cleanse our hearts by driving out the negative and destructive power from us, but our hearts are renewed. Your life begins. Do world begins. Let us not forget the dream and the vision of this new world and let us try our best to achieve that. The other day I was driving. When I drive, I don’t turn the radio or any music I drive in silence higher. I like quiet because that’s where I can think and it’s wonderful to just drive and think and I was driving to my Bible study on Friday, and these thoughts came to me, and then these three things that somehow God gave me, it is about how we should live. The first thought that came to me was we have to be edifying with what we say these days from news, from the leaders, the words that I hear and not Edify, we should Edify each other with what we say, let us be always gentle with what we say. Let us say beautiful words and communicate our love. Lift up one another. With words, we speak.

Corny is better than Cruelty

Sometimes even being corny is better than being cruel. Don’t you think? So, even if you sound corny to say that’s better than being cruel. So let us really have our tongues sanctified too. The second thought that came to me was to let us put some smiles on our faces. Our face is so dark. Sometimes I see people. Why are you angry? They don’t say anything, but I can see, I can feel the anger. So let us put some smiles on our faces. Our faces, our heart, whatever you’re going through in your heart comes out on your face. The third thought that came to me was to let us speak and let us be kind to each other. Not only the people that you like but to everyone.

Exercise your heavens

When you walk around, open the door for others, when you drive, don’t get so upset, be kind to others. I mean, I told you before, and you know my condo sometimes last time she was just about a few steps away. She went in and closed the door. Like why you wait. Then two people go over and save energy, right? Instead of going all by yourself, notice, be kind to each other. These three things may not bring about you, heavens and the new earth anyway. That’s what God does not we do, but at least we can exercise Your heavens in a small concrete way. When you practice these three every day, somehow you realize life is good. You see a new pattern in your life. So what are these three things first, or as we speak to smile on your face, three kind, be kind to each other? Very simple. Isn’t it let’s do that right after the worship service, we go out to the fellowship hall. Let us practice this there. Why don’t we say hello to each other this time, be kind to each other, put a smile automatically? Everybody’s smiling. Isn’t it? How nice that’s a new heaven and new earth, right?