Isaiah 16 | Wayfarer

In love a throne will be established;
    in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
    one from the house of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
    and speeds the cause of righteousness.
Isaiah 16:4b-5 (NIV)

Yesterday I has someone approach me about a couple of dreams they’d had in which I played a part in their dreams. This person was nervous to share them with me, but they need not have been. I found the images interesting, though I can’t say for certain what they mean, or if they mean anything at all.

I consider myself a reasonable mystic. I believe that there are things in God’s creation, things of the Spirit, that lie outside our conscious understanding. I believe that God uses the prophetic. I believe that God sometimes speaks through dreams. I equally believe that we humans always mess things up whenever we try to package the divine into a human equation. I don’t believe all dreams are divine. Sometimes dreams are just dreams.

So it is with the ancient prophets. Isaiah was pronouncing a prophetic judgement against the Kingdom of Moab, a small nation that existed on the east side of the Dead Sea. Yet amidst the prophecy against Moab there lies a verse about the Messiah. It sort of sticks out in today’s chapter like a sore thumb.

Love is His throne.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” – Jesus

Faithful is the One who sits on the throne.
“…if we are faithless,
he remains faithful,
for he cannot disown himself.” 2 Timothy 2:13

One from the House of David.
“Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:11

One who in judging seeks justice.
“Here is my servant whom I have chosen,
the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will proclaim justice to the nations.”
(Jesus quoting Isaiah) Matthew 12:18

and speeds the cause of righteousness.
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” -Jesus

The world of the prophetic is an interesting place. It is a place where one prophetic message carries within it a wholly separate, though complementary prophetic message. Within a message for Moab on which Isaiah himself places a three-year timeline (vs. 13) is a prophetic word that would begin to be fulfilled some 700 years later.

And, sometimes dreams, which might otherwise be merely a natural nocturnal brain activity, contain snatches of the divine.

I thanked my friend for sharing the images and dreams with me. I explained that I would store the information and hold on loosely. If it’s something important then it will be made clear at the right time and place. If not, then it was certainly entertaining to hear the dreams described. I am discovering that the divine dance is an exercise in holding the right tension. Cling too tightly, step too mechanically and I step on my Partner’s toes. Hold too loosely and I let my Partner slip away. Then I’m dancing on my own, and that’s always awkward.

"A Ruler you can depend upon will head this government, A Ruler passionate for justice, a Ruler quick to set things right."Isaiah 16:5 (MSG)

While in college, I worked breakfast shift in the kitchen. My friend Claudius, who hailed from Zimbabwe, worked the same shift and we would clean together after breakfast. We talked as we cleaned and the discussion would often turn to politics. Claudius came from a very different experience in Africa and we would talk about the pros and cons of different systems of government. Democracy, Monarchy, and Socialist, we walked through them all in our after-breakfast scrub fests.

There was a lot on which Claudius and I did not agree, but as fellow believers we did come to agreement on a couple of key points. First, every system of human government is ultimately flawed because of our imperfections and sin. Because human beings are self-centered and given to lusts of the eyes, lusts of the flesh and pride, then the power of humans to govern is ultimately corrupted no matter what the system of governing might be. Therefore (and here is the second point on which we agreed), the perfect government is a loving, just, all-knowing, all-powerful, ever-present God sitting on the throne.

Compared to having God Himself on the throne, every other government is just shadows, smoke and mirrors.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and blackplastic