Be the Reed- Part 4 - Audio
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So today we're continuing our series in Isaiah be the read, be the read. And if you're not familiar, you haven't been here the last couple weeks, be the read refers to a fable of Aesop actually, Aesop fable where there's a bunch of reeds on the ground and there's also a tall oak tree. And the oak tree is like, I am strong, I am awesome and kind of makes fun of the reeds. You're weak and small and bendy. And the reeds sort of don't say anything, they just kind of bow their heads down in the breeze. And then a hurricane comes and the oak is like, ah, I'm strong, I can resist. And does until a few branches fall off. And then because the oak is like resisting like straight up, you know, the wind comes and just tears him up from his roots and the oak just gets laid out, destroyed. And all the while, the reeds just bend with the wind, they're just blowing in the wind. The hurricane does not impact, it does not affect them in a way that is detrimental. They just kind of go with it. And we've been talking about how that is kind of the vision that God has in for our lives, how we can live in a way that is going to allow his promises to come true without us trying to force things, us trying to make them happen, instead his spirit's going to do things. We simply are part of that process, we are going with how his spirit moves. And in order to understand that today, in this particular part of Isaiah 54, it's important to know how it is that reeds operate. So if you've walked around and you've seen reeds as sort of weeds, you've probably noticed that they don't grow up by themselves very often. Most of the time, whenever you see reeds, you see like a patch of them, a bunch of them together. And there's a reason for that. It's because if you excavate, maybe you've done this, if you've done weeding of reeds, where you pull one up, have you noticed this, and there's something underground that connects them to the other reeds, you can pull up like five, six, seven reeds all at once because they're connected undergrounds, what's called a rhizome, it's called a clonal growth. I looked it up on Google, so I'm trying to remember because biology is not my thing, or whatever this is, earth science, but there's these rhizomes, these sort of, they're not quite roots, they're just connectors that bring all the reeds together. And so when you see reeds, typically you don't see one, and even when you see five, six, seven, you're actually seeing, believe it or not, one plant, they're deeply, deeply connected. So while it looks like they're these individual stocks, the single reed is actually a we. And that is critical. It's critical for us to understand that being the reed means being a we. If we are to realize now the promises held in this text, because this text is exciting, I'm like, oh, send it, send it now, Lord. And so remember also, this text is supposed to be a prophecy of what's going to happen once the Messiah, Jesus comes, okay? So Israel is expected a warrior king who is going to make Jerusalem, we'll talk more about that, this awesome, amazing, powerful city, Israel is powerful country, that's not what happened. Nevertheless, the promises of this text are supposed to come to pass. And so the question is have they, and will they, and how? So take a look here, first, the prophet is going to describe Jerusalem, describe really us, right? Suffering one, storm toss, lashed by storms, uncomforted, look, I'm setting your gemstones
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Coast Bible Church, PastorTom Bennett, San Juan Capistrano, CA, www.coastbible.org