OUR MUTINY WOULD DENY US SALVATION In chapter 57 he spoke of adultery combined with idolatry as obstacles on the way of enjoyment of the free work of God’s salvation. In chapter 58 he spoke of hypocrisy as a serious ailment that affects the religious. And now, in the present chapter, he speaks of mutiny against God as an obstacle. 1. Iniquities that hides the face of God 1-8. 2. Effect of sins 9-15. 3. Need for God, the Savior 16-21. 1. INIQUITIES THAT HIDES THE FACE OF GOD “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” (Is. 59: 1, 2) As far as the Lord is concerned, He is the capable, whose hand is not short that it cannot save; and He is the loving Father, whose ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear the voice of His children. Yet, it is all the fault of man, whose iniquities - his mutiny against the Lord - became a veil that separates between the two of them. They have corrupted his eyes, to behold God, and his voice to be heard by Him. God desires and capable to save, yet He does not force us to be. Our sins and transgressions stand in the way of enjoying His salvation. As long as that is the hateful cause of being separated from God, let us remove it!1 St. John Chrysostom Every sin is serious, as it displeases God2. Abbot Theophan the Recluse What does he mean by the sins and transgressions that separate us from God, and hide His face from us? It is the tendency of man to reject God’s Law, and to depart outside His kingdom. The apostle says, “Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3: 4); it is rejection of God Himself, of His kingdom, of His Law, and of His image after which we were created. That is what displeases the heart of God. In other words, our sins and transgressions, are not just certain actions, as much as they are indicates of the condition of the inner soul and where it stands as to God. Because it thinks that, being attached to Him is a sort of servitude and deprivation, it desires to rid itself of Him and of His commandments, translating that in various ways. That is why the Holy Bible portrays sin sometimes as opposing God. The work of sin - as the law of the devil’s kingdom - is to snatch humanity from the kingdom of God, to deprive it of encountering the Father and to enjoy the reflection of His image, and of the fellowship with divine nature. While the work of Christ’s righteousness is to draw the deceived souls to the kingdom of God, to liken the Son of God, and to share with Him His features and His glory. If sin is a condition of the soul and its situation, yet, this is demonstrated in inner actions in the heart, in thought and 1 To the Fallen Theodore, 1:8. 2 Cf. Tomas Spidlik: The Spirituality of the Christian East, p. 187. 7 feelings, as well as in outer actions, in words and deeds. St. Cyprian says, [The truth of it is presented by the prophet through divine Spirit... that although God is capable of canceling the opposing things, yet the evil worthiness of sinners stand in the way of His help. Let your sins and transgressions be counted; let the wounds of your conscious be taken into consideration, so that, each one of us, realizing that he deserves what he suffers, would stop protesting against God and against us1.] The prophet parades here a set of sins, previously committed by the people, and are still committed by many of them: a. Murder and violence: “For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity.” (Is. 59: 3) If “God is love,” whose Law is compassion and mercy; that of the sin is hate, violence, and murder. That is why, wishing to uproot the kingdom of evil, He says, “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whoever says to his brother ‘Raca’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” (Matthew 5: 21, 22) b. Telling lies: “Your lips have spoken lies. Your tongue has muttered perversity.” (Is. 59: 3) Having rejected God, and become referred to the kingdom of the devil, they bore its features: violence, together with deceit and telling lies. The devil has been called, “a liar and the father of it” (John 8: 44), and a ‘deceiver.’ So, if the Lord Christ is the “Truth,” the devil is “lies” and “deceit.” Lying is the law of the kingdom of the devil. So the Holy Bible warns us against it: “Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord. But those who deal truthfully are His delight.” (Proverbs 12: 22) “No lies is of the truth” (1 John 2: 21) Every proud and deceitful man is a liar, of whom people suffer, although they, very easily, could say the truth2. St. Augustine c. Favoritism: “No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth.” (Is. 59: 4) They are practicing the law of their king, namely oppression and favoritism. The fruit of their offending deeds is the destruction of others with no benefit to themselves. In this, they liken a woman who is conceived, not by a human fetus, which give her joy when delivered, but after too long suffering pregnancy and labor, she brings forth iniquity, that destroys her and all those who are around her. “They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.” (Is. 59: 4) and as the Psalmist says, “Behold, the wicked travails with iniquity; conceives trouble and brings forth falsehood.” (Psalm 7: 14). The second analogy is that they become like a ‘viper,’ laying viper eggs that hatch what kills and not what fulfills and supports (Is. 59: 5). The third analogy is that they are like a spider weaving a spider’s web, not to become garments, but to entrap insects (Is. 59: 5, 6). In these three analogies there is one common factor, which is ‘deceit.’ In the first, a woman looks as though pregnant, expected to give birth to a baby, but she, instead, brings forth ‘iniquity.’ In the second, eggs, that are supposed to fulfill man, will hatch into 1 Treat. 5:11. 2 On Ps. 140. 8 killer vipers. In the third, man sees a beautiful delicate web that proves nothing but spider’s web that covers no nakedness, but is meant to catch flies. These are the analogies he presents for those who unfairly judge others, in the name of justice. d. What is more serious, is that the iniquities they are committing, either mentioned here or not, are not done involuntarily or out of weakness, but they run and hasten, as though rejoicing in doing them (Is. 59: 7). 2. EFFECT OF SINS a. Deprivation of coming close to God, “the Truth”: “The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their ways.” (Is. 59: 8) Receiving sin is an acceptance of vanity and a rejection of truth; namely, an entrance into the kingdom of the devil, and deviation from that of God. How miserable and foolish I am! Although You are the Truth, yet, I did not seek Your counsel1. When I separated myself from You, I became like nothing!2 St. Augustine b. Getting into darkness: “We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness.” (Is. 59: 9) How miserable I am! Darkness prevailed over me. Although You are the Light, yet I hid my face from You!3 You are the Light to the children of light! Your day knows no sunset! It illuminates for Your children so that they would not stumble! Those who are outside of You, walk and live in darkness. All who distance themselves from You, the true Light, will go deep into the darkness of sin; thus, will be unable to discern the traps set for them along the way4. St. Augustine c. Loss of insight; and lack of alert spiritual leadership: “We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes. We stumble at noonday as at twilight. We are as dead men in desolate places.” (Is. 59: 10) The Lord Christ, the Sun of righteousness has shined, and we became as though in noonday. Yet, because of loss of insight, some of us stumbled as though in darkness. He hid His Deity. In the mist of the body, and in the lack of faith the deniers fell like dead. d. Crying out with no avail; the grown-ups pray loudly, growling like bears, and the young moan sadly like doves, but salvation is far from both (Is. 50: 11); for no other reason but their persistent and growing mutiny, that turned into a company to man, knowingly committed (Is. 59: 12). In other words, they keep on praying, yet in vain; as their prayers spring out of الحب الإلهي، ص 1 .169 الحب الإلهي، ص 2 .171 الحب الإلهي، ص 3 .167 الحب الإلهي، ص 4 .71 9 hearts that are not true in yearning to God, in trusting in His work in their life, and in their spiritual behavior. God, in His love, yearns to respond to men prayers, even before being expressed by his tongue, yet man, through his evil and lack of faith, denies himself the enjoyment of this divine gift. He is positively sure that his prayers are not going to be responded to! Who is this miserable man? Who prays and does not believe that God will listen to his prayers? St. John Cassian e. Righteousness standing afar off God, through holding fast to lying, and failing of the spirit of truth (Is. 59: 14, 15). 3. NEED FOR GOD THE SAVIOR God was greatly displeased by that. Yet the Creator of man, who loves and cares for him, does not stand as a spectator. “The Lord saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him.” (Is. 59: 15, 16) Because of that separation, the Intercessor was sent to uproot the sin out of the world, through which we were separated from Him as enemies, to get reconciled with Him, and to turn from enemies into children1. St. Augustine As there could not be an intercessor, capable of reconciling us with God, the Lord Himself, descended, and as expressed by St. Gregory the Theologian: [You haven’t entrusted an angel, an archangel, nor a prophet to save us; but You Yourself, got incarnated, and likened us in every thing, except in sin2.] What did that atoning Intercessor do to us? a. He preceded us as the Leader of the battle, and as a Representative of mankind, granting us victory by His authority and righteousness. “He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly He will repay.” (Is. 59: 17, 18) In place of the sin to which we were bound and got destroyed, He put on His divine righteousness as a breastplate for us; and in place of the perdition that came upon us, He put on His head a helmet of salvation; and in place of the weakness and collapse in which we fell, He put on the garment of vengeance against the devil and his angels, to repay them for their evil, and to deprive them of their authority over nations in the east and west. The Savior is glorified in peoples and nations, granting them victory, even over an enemy who comes like a sweeping flood; yet the Spirit of the Lord will stop him (Is. 59: 19). b. He established His Church, the new Zion, as a center of repentance (Is. 59: 20). He set it as a hospital for the sick, and not as a tribunal for judgment and condemnation, saying, “‘The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,’ says the Lord.” (Is. 59: 20) 1 Against 2 Letters of the Pelagians, 4.8. 2 The Coptic Liturgy of St. Gregory the Theologian. 10 Compassion to the weak and the sinners is the sole virtue that seeks the growth of the Church, the price that the Lord desires for His blood. Compassion is following the example of that of heaven toward mankind, aiming to salvation of all1. I wish we do not mock any one for his sin, but be sad; as it is written: “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall I will rise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me” (Micah 7: 8) He did not say that haphazardly, as he who rejoices over the fallen, would be rejoicing in the victory of the devil. Thus, we should be sad when we hear of someone who perished, for whom the Lord Christ died2. St. Cyprian the Martyr c. Setting a new covenant with humanity (Is. 59: 21), together with confirmation of the realization of divine promises. 1 On Repentance, 1. 2 Ibid 2.
Welcome