Northern Light

Christ in the Midst of Conspiracies and Conflict

One of the most disturbing trends on social media these days are the barbs Christians (especially pastors) throw at one another regarding politicians, politics, and politcal practice.  Social angst flows at an all time high. Warnings of one kind or another over the potential upheaval that must certainly be the outcome of any given political decision are launched like rockets from one side of the philosophical aisle to the other, and everywhere in between! Conflict over real conspiracies, perceived conspiracies, suspected conspiracies, and imagined conspiracies flourish among us and between us.

The sociocultural vibe is one of fear. There seems to be this overarching, undergirding, all surrounding, pervasive sense that someone from the other side is out to get us; that there can be no mutually beneficial act of government; that most, if not every decision, is intended as an attack on our personal freedoms. This, dear friends, is the garden where faithless fear grows.

Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet and take them to heart:

Isaiah 8:11-17 (ESV) ¹¹  For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: ¹²  “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³  But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ¹⁵  And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” ¹⁶  Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. ¹⁷  I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.

Christian, in this day of conspiracy and conflict, take special note of what God Himself sets before us through the prophet.

• This instruction comes from the Lord Himself. For the LORD spoke thus . . .
  • We ought to take God’s word as God’s word, especially now.
  • So many stumble and fall because they abandon God’s word.
    • They leave off reading and styding God’s word, so they don’t know what He has to say about our current events.
    • They also leave off applying God’s word to their own lives, losing both their personal moral compass and the anchor that would keep them from spiritual drift that damages and destroys souls.
    • God still speaks!
      • The Holy Spirit speaks the word of God to the ears and hearts and spirits and intellects of those who will listen.
      • The words of Jesus to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 remain applicable to the church today: He who has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
      • When the LORD speaks, Christian, listen!
• Isaiah experienced this word of God as intense, personal, weighty, powerful.
  • This was not a mere passing thought or fleeting impression. Isaiah felt the strong hand of God upon Him.
  • The apostle Peter instructs the follower of Jesus to Humble yourself, therefore under the mighy hand of God, and in due time, He will lift you up.
    • The mighty hand of God is the application of sovereign power and authority to our immediate experience and perceptions.
    • It is God expressing His will in the moment in a manner we clearly recognize.
• The word Isaiah receives from the LORD is a warning he understand and avoid a contemporary, cultural, fear producing error: warned me not to walk in the way of this people
  • Whatever “the way of this people” (Isaiah’s people, his current cultural context) was, which is revealed in the next sentence when God is quoted, Isaiah is warned away from it.
  • He is not to participate.
  • He is to have a different “way.”

It is helpful to know that prior to this word in Isaiah 8, Isaiah records another word from God. In that prophecy God reveals that He is going to send the Assyrians against Israel and Judah. They are going to ravage the land. People are going to die in the onslaught. Destruction is at hand. This will be God’s doing as He uses the savage Assyrian army to accomplish His will in the lives of His people. The people think, “God is with us. Nothing can touch us.” God declares instead that disaster is coming and He declares that even in that disaster He is present.

Isaiah 8:10 (ESV)  Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

So, that’s the context for God saying to and through Isaiah,

Isaiah 8:12-14 (ESV) ¹²  “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. ¹³  But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. ¹⁴  And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

God is not saying don’t recognize when a conspiracy is present. God IS saying, “Christian, look beyond the conspiracy. Look beyond the circumstances. Use the eyes of faith and see the sovereign hand of God at work in your culture, your situation, and your world.”

God is saying, “People without faith live in fear and dread of what may or may not happen to them. You, follower of Jesus, are not without faith. You have one focus and only one fear, one desire and only one dread, and that is the Lord your God!” The word here is that you put all the things that the people of the world around you–your cultural context–into the perspective of the Person and purpose of Almighty God who has redeemed you and called you to faith in Jesus, a faith that forgives your past, anchors your present, and secures your future!

You want to recognize something, someone, greater than you, able to control what happens in your life, able to impact the course of your experience and existence? Then see, in faith, that the only “something,” the only “someone,” who can truly, really do that is something or someone who can affect not just your immediate life but your eternal life. That someone is Jesus Christ.

And to everyone who puts their faith in Him, Jesus is our sanctuary. He is our certain hope. He is our peace and security. He is for us the Way, the Truth, and the Life. THIS is the Way we walk, not in fear of conspiracies but in faith in the Christ.

So, brothers and sisters, may we leave off fear mongering and commit to faith speaking? May we point one another not to men but to Christ? May we see and understand with the eyes of faith and not the heart of fear? God remains sovereign over this world, its course and its outcome. He raises up kings and nations and he takes them down. God alone is worthy of awe and wonder and worship and fear and dread. He is God. He is our sanctuary. Come what may, in Him we have no need to be afraid.