Grace Lutheran Church 22nd Sunday, October 16, 2005

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

22^nd Sunday after Pentecost "God Opens the Door"

October 16, 2005 Isaiah 45:1-7

Locked doors are a matter of safety. I lock the doors to our home before I go to bed. It is a matter of security that before I walk away from my car I click the button on my key fob and listen for the click of the locks. Our church building has a security system and recently we have been reminding people if they are the last person to leave the church building they are to make sure the alarm is on. When I was growing up my mom was a sheriff's deputy who worked at the county jail. I asked, "Mom, should I worry." She said, "No, they are all behind bars and when they are not behind the bars they are in chains and in case they are not in their chains I have been trained to take them down." Then she proceeded to show on me an example of a very effective wrist lock. I wasn't any longer afraid of the people at the jail, now I was a little more worried about disobeying my mom.

Alarms, locks, chains are a matter of security, safety, protection. But when you yourself are the one in bondage and stuck deep in gloom then those same locked doors become stifling. If you forget your keys, you are a locked out. If you do something wrong, you are locked up. If you enter a secure building and are not authorized, the alarm goes off against you. Our nation has a great armed forces and they keep our nation secure and ensure our nations freedom from tyranny. But consider that during the cold war the Soviet Union also had a powerful armed force protecting its borders. The difference: the Red Army held in bondage its own people so they could not know freedom.

Isaiah as a prophet of the Lord spoke the Word of the Lord to the people of God’s promise that were stuck in Babylon. Babylon had come to Jerusalem and destroyed it and conquered the people. They were led away in captivity to Babylon, a city known throughout the world for its walls that none could penetrate. It had gates of bronze that none could topple. Any enemy attacking Babylon was going to come to the locked gates of Babylon and leave empty-handed. To be conquered by Babylon left the people of God with a dead hope.

They were stuck in this captivity. Everywhere they looked God appeared to be powerless and absent from their lives. They were behind the locked doors of Babylon without the key to open up their freedom.

In the midst of this hopelessness Isaiah brings words of promise for the people of God. The God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, is the Lord and there is no other. Besides the Lord there is no God.

The victory is not going to come from those locked behind the doors. The Israelites were not going to self-manufacture their way out of this captivity. Besides the prison breaks suitable for the movies, the chains of captivity are suffocating.

The Lord has anointed Cyrus. Cyrus was the leader of a tribe in what’s modern day Iran. He united the Persians and Medes and so created a large empire. He may of thought this was his own doing or the result of one of the gods of Persia but the Lord had grasped Cyrus' right hand. Whether Cyrus knew the Lord God or not, God was going to use him to open the doors that had locked in God's people.

I want us to take a look at some of the lines in Isaiah and how they give a picture of the work of Cyrus, but even more importantly that this work is reflective of God in action.

The line in Isaiah that the Lord would subdue nations before him is a reminder of how in history we know that many nations surrendered to the Persian army without a fight. They would smell the camels of the Persian cavalry and based just on the smell…they would surrender.

The line in Isaiah about how the belts of kings would be loosed at first glance might be reminiscent of a 3 stooges movie where somebody's pants fall down and the person is left standing there trying to cover his boxer shorts. But consider for a moment that the king would keep his sword on a belt. Taking off the king's belt is to take away his sword which is a symbol for taking away his means to fight war. Cyrus was not only going to defeat his enemy he was going to make his enemy powerless to wage war anymore.

The line that the Lord would open doors before him that gates may not be closed is a proven true by the annals of history. When the Persian army arrived to attack the city of Babylon they found the army had disappeared and the people of the city had opened the doors to greet him as a liberator.

The key in all of this prophecy about Cyrus and his amazing power is to recognize that an Israelite prophet is declaring that God was going to be in action, opening the doors of captivity through the unexpected anointed king of Persia, Cyrus. The one true Lord was doing this work. Cyrus would not know the Lord God in a covenantal relationship, but he would know the victory the Lord brought. In fact God is the subject of the verbs. God is the doer. The Lord was opening the doors of Babylon to free the people of God that had been locked up in captivity.

The Lord was revealing his nature as the Lord that opens the doors. The Lord God that you believe and trust is the Lord that is in action in every time and place opening.

Isaiah 22:2 says about the servant of the Lord, "I will place on his shoulder the key of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." The Lord, through our messiah, Jesus Christ opens the guilty heart. Isaiah declared, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be come like wool."

The Lord opens the heart of the person wracked by gloom and in the deep darkness of defeat. Our messiah is the light of the world. Consider this promise, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined." The Lord has opened the darkness and no longer do you need to serve the darkness of your heart, you are a disciple of the Lord that opens the door.

The Lord opens up pools of water and springs of living water for those that can find no comfort in the deadness of their hearts and upon those whom famine of the heart has left them hungry for hope. The Lord promised in Isaiah 35, "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing."

The prophet Malachi proclaimed, “I will throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing you will not have room.”

The Lord opened the virgin womb Mary and she gave birth to a son, the savior of the world. The Lord God is the one that opens the doors that are supposed to be shut.

Jesus ministry began at the waters of the Jordan River. As Jesus was washed by the waters of baptism the heavens were opened and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus ministry went forth from there and he opened eyes, ears, mouths, and hearts. Jesus opened the tomb for you and me. Jesus went to the gates of death. The gates that none could break out of. Indeed through our sin we deserve death and there is nothing we can do to break free from the tight grip of sin, death or the devil. But Jesus on Calvary breaks the cruel grips of death. We are now more than conquerors through him who loved us. There is nothing that can grip you that is stronger than the power of God to open.

In the book of Revelation John a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals. An angel boomed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” No one in heaven nor earth nor under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it. John wept and wept because no one was worthy to open the scroll or look inside. Then one of the elders said to John, “Do not weep! See the Lion, of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals. Then John looked and saw a lamb that had been slaughtered standing in the center of the throne. He came and took the scroll and then the heavens rang out with the song, “Worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive the power and wealth and wisdom and honor and strength and glory and praise.”

I want you to know that your messiah Jesus Christ has opened the kingdom of God to you. He went to the very gates of death and knocked them down, he leveled them, never again can anything separate you from love that is yours in Christ Jesus. Through your faith in Jesus you have freedom from the chains of sin. No longer are you a slave to your problems. No longer are you stuck in the darkness of disappointment. No longer are you held captive by the apparent finality of death. In Christ you are free.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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