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Today’s message begins with this.
For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind. (Isaiah 65:17)
Isaiah saw new heavens and a new earth.
Today’s message came from the third part of Isaiah.
Isaiah’s message consists of three parts. They are all to do with Babylonian Captivity.
The first part deals with why the exile happened. The second part was for those who were in exile and gave them hope that they would return home. The third part was the message for those who returned from the exile.
Today’s story comes from the third part.
People returned from exile. They came home. They were in captivity and now they were freed to come home.
But the home they returned to was not a utopia. What was waiting for them was not a rich and abundant land.
Their homeland was still in ruins. The temple remained destroyed. People’s spirits were still crushed.
When you look at the experiences of Israelites, you can see two paradigms.
One is Exodus Paradigm and the other is New Creation Paradigm.
Exodus is being free from the bondage.
Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Moses brought them out of Egypt. That is the Exodus.
But what Isaiah is talking about today was not the Exodus.
He was talking about the New Creation. It is a different paradigm from the Exodus.
Isaiah saw new heavens and a new earth.
There will be no more of the sound of weeping or the cry of distress. They shall not labour in vain. Their hard works will be compensated.
They will live a long, happy, and healthy life. One who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They will all live in peace and harmony. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together.
It is a vision about the new creation. Isaiah’s vision of new heavens and a new earth.
Where did he get this vision?
Not from his reality! His reality was still devastating.
Was it his wishful thinking?
God gave him this vision. This vision creates hope. Hope is the product of this vision.
Thank you for allowing us to visit Cuba.
People in Cuba deeply appreciated your generous donations. To be able to raise $30,000 in a not-so-big church like ours tells us a lot about this church. Every time we opened the bag we brought to them, I could see their happy faces.
The country is in a very bad shape. Political leaders are not really concerned about people.
US embargo makes people’s lives miserable. People are the ones who receive the brunt of this terrible political situation.
We don’t know the real number, but a very conservative estimate of the number who left the country in 2022 and 2023 is more than a million people.
Now about 3 million? And all of them are between the ages of 15 and 59.
Many families have been destroyed. Only people that are left are old grandparents and young grandchildren.
People in the ages of 19 to 49, they are all thinking of leaving. We passed by government buildings that deal with emigration. There was a long lineup.
We went by pharmacies and there were no drugs on the shelf. The shelves were empty.
All the donations you gave generously were so much appreciated. We gave them the shoes you donated to the Matanzas seminary. The next day, they all showed the shoes they were wearing.
The churches struggle because only people that are left are elderly grandparents and young grandchildren. You can see that when you walk around the street or visit churches. They have a hard time running Sunday school. Because all the teachers left the country.
It is a devastating situation.
At Matanzas seminary, the principal gave us the lecture about Cuban history and told us that the paradigm they need is not the Exodus paradigm but the Creation Paradigm.
People are leaving and so Exodus model will not work for them. They need God who creates the new world.
When I went to Madagascar, I saw the poverty there too.
But they were not leaving the country. Lots of young people – I mean between 19-50.
But Cuban situation was different. Every day, young people were leaving the country. Then what’s left? A lot of old people and children.
So far theologians of the two-thirds world (or you know it as the third world) interpreted their situations with the paradigm of Exodus.
South Africa’s apartheid. Latin America’s liberation theology. Korea’s Minjoong theology. America’s black theology and feminist theology. They base on the paradigm of Exodus.
But what Cuba needs is the paradigm of the new creation.
The first day, we were all down. We felt very heavy.
At the debriefing meeting of the first day, they shared their hearts were heavy. We felt the hopelessness.
But from the next day, we all saw that people in Cuba did not lose their hope. Two words that we heard the most.
Dignity and Hope.
They kept the hope. The church was active and vibrant. Ministers were filled with passion.
At the Matanzas seminary, I told the students. What is hope in a hopeful situation? That is not hope.
Hope is hope only in a hopeless situation.
That was what St. Paul said.
For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Romans 8:24, 25)
I told them you are in a very difficult and almost hopeless situation. That is the best environment to explore the theology of hope. And show us what the genuine hope looks like.
You are not alone in this struggle. There is only one church of Jesus Christ in the world. God called you in this context to carry out the mission. But your mission is also our mission.
You are not forgotten. We will do our best to work with you.
People we met, leaders we met, they did not lose hope. They were fighting with their situation with the power of hope.
Hope is possible when you see the new world and new life God is creating for you.
Hope does not come from seeing your present reality. Hope is possible when you see the beautiful world God is creating for you.
Two weeks ago, I asked you what do you see in your future?
Do you see dark ominous clouds ahead of you? Or do you see the bright sun that is coming out of the dark clouds?
I always see the bright future.
Even in difficult times, I see the bright future. That gives me vision, and this vision gives me hope.
The resurrection is the new creation.
That was what St. Paul saw.
So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
My friends, Jesus is risen!
He opened the bright future of new heavens and a new earth.
Always focus on the new life God is creating for you. Even in hopeless situations, you will not lose hope.
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