Bizarre Signs... Hints
"At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz. He said to him, 'Take off the sackcloth from your body and the sandals from your feet.' And he did so, going around stripped and barefoot...for three years" (Isa. 20:2, 3).
There are bizarre signs in the prophets. Isaiah goes around naked. Ezekiel is tied up. Jeremiah takes a linen belt and buries it. There are more grievous and personal signs as well--Hosea takes a wife that betrays him, Ezekiel's wife dies and is commanded to not mourn for her, Jeremiah is forbidden to marry or to mourn at funerals.... An intensely personal calling.
We see them suffering. As servants of God. Doesn't seem fair.
But they are signs of grace. God comes near to humans through them, revealing himself and his will. The prophets are called to a deep participation in both divine and human suffering. Jeremiah's confessions throughout his book are powerful expression of the emotional tension wrought by this double-participation. They participate in the judgment they themselves proclaim--Isaiah walks around naked in a symbolic participation, Ezekiel is carried off in exile, Jeremiah sees his people destroyed and his family is affected as well (the book of Ezra notes that his town was one of the ones carried off to the exile). He ultimately ends up in Egypt himself.
Yet, they participate in God's righteous anger as well (Jer. 20:1-12 expresses Jeremiah's anger for crimes against himself, but he recognizes it is ultimately Yahweh the people are rejecting, more than himself) as they are zealous for God's name. They also participate in God's hurt and pathos at his need to bring judgment. God does not want to destroy them, but the people will not listen (Hos. 11:8-9).
In short, we see a human being being a mediator between God and man, participating in both suffering of the people and of God. Without this suffering, without this intense, painful participation, proclamations of judgment would be condennatory and without love. Or, without the intense love of God and people, these prophets would join the false prophets, offering "peace." They wouldn't love enough to offer a true, but painful, remedy.
These bizarre signs, above all, point to Christ. The one who most deeply entered into the pathos of both man and God. The one who bore in himself the wrath of God. The truly bizarre--God became man, bore the suffering of his people himself.
There are bizarre signs in the prophets. Isaiah goes around naked. Ezekiel is tied up. Jeremiah takes a linen belt and buries it. There are more grievous and personal signs as well--Hosea takes a wife that betrays him, Ezekiel's wife dies and is commanded to not mourn for her, Jeremiah is forbidden to marry or to mourn at funerals.... An intensely personal calling.
We see them suffering. As servants of God. Doesn't seem fair.
But they are signs of grace. God comes near to humans through them, revealing himself and his will. The prophets are called to a deep participation in both divine and human suffering. Jeremiah's confessions throughout his book are powerful expression of the emotional tension wrought by this double-participation. They participate in the judgment they themselves proclaim--Isaiah walks around naked in a symbolic participation, Ezekiel is carried off in exile, Jeremiah sees his people destroyed and his family is affected as well (the book of Ezra notes that his town was one of the ones carried off to the exile). He ultimately ends up in Egypt himself.
Yet, they participate in God's righteous anger as well (Jer. 20:1-12 expresses Jeremiah's anger for crimes against himself, but he recognizes it is ultimately Yahweh the people are rejecting, more than himself) as they are zealous for God's name. They also participate in God's hurt and pathos at his need to bring judgment. God does not want to destroy them, but the people will not listen (Hos. 11:8-9).
In short, we see a human being being a mediator between God and man, participating in both suffering of the people and of God. Without this suffering, without this intense, painful participation, proclamations of judgment would be condennatory and without love. Or, without the intense love of God and people, these prophets would join the false prophets, offering "peace." They wouldn't love enough to offer a true, but painful, remedy.
These bizarre signs, above all, point to Christ. The one who most deeply entered into the pathos of both man and God. The one who bore in himself the wrath of God. The truly bizarre--God became man, bore the suffering of his people himself.
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