Isaiah’s Promise Of A Listened-To People

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What if the most radical act of power is to listen first? We step into the closing vision of Isaiah and meet a people who have finally come home from exile, only to find that old wounds can resurface in new forms. The prophet refuses easy comfort, naming how neglect and hierarchy can grow inside our own circles, even as we celebrate a fresh start. From the aching line before they call, I will answer to the startling image of wolves and lambs feeding together, Isaiah sketches a future where justice sounds like attention and peace looks like restraint.

We unpack the historical backdrop—Israel’s golden years, the split, the conquest, and the long road of return—and then follow Isaiah’s promises into everyday life: houses kept by the families who build them, vineyards whose fruit is finally enjoyed by the planters, lifetimes that are not cut short by hardship. Along the way, we confront a hard truth: sometimes the wolves were not foreign oppressors but neighbors who forgot to listen. That is why the reversal matters. A community becomes new when those with power practice empathy, when the remnant are honored, and when plans are shaped by the voices once pushed to the margins.

For us as Christians, this hope takes on flesh in Jesus. We talk about Christ not as an abstract answer but as presence—love that draws near, attention that heals, and a way of life that refuses to siphon the work of one for the comfort of another. We share how imperfect churches can still be faithful by making listening a discipline, counting tears as data, and turning belief into practices that protect the vulnerable. And we celebrate how moments like baptism mark a public pledge to become a people who answer with care, even before the words are formed.

If this conversation moved you, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review with one way you plan to practice listening this week. Your stories help this community grow in hope.

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Episode Transcript

Pastor Darren (00:00):
Well, friends, uh, we are taking a journey in
November here.
Uh our journey is uh uh goingthrough just three of our Old
Testament prophets.
We had Haggai last week, and uhtoday we're talking about
Isaiah.
Next week it'll be Jeremiah.
Uh and it again is uh the ideathat these are some of the

(00:21):
prophets that started pointingtowards what we are grateful for
when we think about Christmasand what it means to us as
Christians and the birth ofChrist.
Uh and so I'll remind you as wedip into these prophets again,
as we dip into Isaiah, some ofthe history is helpful to
remember.
Took me four and a half minuteslast week, but now that I

(00:43):
already did it, I tried to shoeaway a charger score, and I
almost lost my whole lost themessage.
You were about to get a sermonon a on a ball game here in a
second.
No, but uh remind you it tookme a little while to say it.
I think we can do it really,really quickly this week since
we laid it out last week.

(01:04):
But you'll remember theIsraelites were a people that
had a high time with a couple ofkings, especially David and
Solomon, who were reallyeffective, but after they passed
away, the kingdoms split.
You know, the Israelitekingdoms split, and eventually
uh in their splitting evenbecame conquered.

(01:24):
And in the conquering, alltheir good people and all the
resources were just taken awayfor a couple of generations,
even more.
Uh eventually uh the conquerorswere conquered themselves, and
the new conquerors let theIsraelites go back home.
And so there's this uh uh umenergy uh around the coming back

(01:50):
home that is filled with somehope uh but also some challenge.
Isaiah is a prophet who waspreaching through uh a length of
that time.
So he you can understand uh thedifferent times where parts of
Isaiah were written down.
We're at the very end ofIsaiah, so he's preaching about

(02:12):
this being able to go back home.
So there's this hopefulness,this this new uh future that is
on its way.
Uh um, and interestingly, inthis new future, what we're
learning, what's being impliedhere, is that the oppression
that they faced when they hadbeen conquered and and all of

(02:34):
the resources and people havebeen taken away, that oppression
now sort of changed.
But what's interesting isthere's this new oppression that
has found its way, this newdisappointment.
You'll see it in verse 24, andit points to the crux of the
pain.
Before they call, I willanswer.

(02:54):
While they are yet speaking, Iwill hear.
This is something that the theIsraelites were were really
craving.
Being able to be listened towas so important.
And Isaiah is naming it here,and he's saying, in this new
future, that will no longer betrue.
You will be listened to.

(03:17):
Think what we're what we'rehearing, what's implied in all
of this, is there's this lack ofempathy in the world, in this
oppressive existence that theIsraelites were feeling, this
sense of nobody really caresabout us, not even enough to
listen to us.

(03:37):
Clearly, this would be feltafter you've been conquered.
There's not necessarily a lotof uh good feelings and a lot of
good heart over the people thatyou have conquered.
But what is um interesting inthis rebuild now as the
generations, and it's been afew, the generations of people

(03:59):
who are now returning back tothe homeland are now creating
kind of their own world ofoppression, their own world of
not listening to who was there,and that remnant that weren't
taken away, that basically hadto kind of survive without the
drive, without the leadership,without the resources, but

(04:22):
managed to survive, now has whatmight feel like older brothers,
older sisters coming back andsaying, All right, here, we're
gonna do this and do that.
You can probably imagine howthat might have felt.
There's this joy that they'reback, but now they're telling
you all what needs to happen,all that you're gonna need to

(04:46):
do.
In the midst of that, Isaiah ispointing to a new future in
which some of that feeling thatcame off apparently, like some
heartlessness, even from thosewho were coming back, from their
own compatriots that werecoming back.

(05:07):
There's a feeling that evensome of that heartlessness there
would be a new hope away fromthat.
Another verse, verse 25, talksabout the wolf and the lamb
shall feed together, the lionshall eat straw like the oak,
but like the ox.
Right?
We see that and we think, oh,those conquerors, they're the

(05:29):
wolves, we are the lambs, and inthis new future we're all gonna
live together.
But as you read Isaiah, youstart to realize, well, not all
the wolves were the conquerors.
Sometimes they were the peoplewho were coming back and not
treating each other super, superwell.

(05:50):
In the midst of that, this isthe message that Isaiah is
trying to get across, this senseof hope for a future.
It's grounded in this realitythat they've been allowed to go
back home, but it's a picturethat he is painting that is more
full than just being able to goback home.

(06:14):
And you can hear the heart ofthe Israelites in the future
that he paints, the prophecy ofhope that he wants to deliver to
these people.
No more shall the sound ofweeping be heard in it or the
cry of distress.
Can you hear the heart of theIsraelites in just that

(06:38):
prophecy?
It's implied that that's whatthey're going through now.
And you can guess why theywould be so hopeful for this new
future.
No more shall there'll be in itan infant that lives but just a
few days, or an old person whodoes not live out a lifetime.
We can fill the story in therea little bit.

(07:03):
The Israelites were probably apeople who lost infants.
They were probably a people whouh for whom didn't get to live
out their full lives throughhardship or even something
worse.
You can hear Isaiah's prophecyand how much it probably meant

(07:25):
to them.
They shall build houses andinhabit them, they shall plant
vineyards and eat their fruit.
Sometimes you look at that andyou think, well, yeah, I mean,
isn't that kind of how the worldworks?
Well, not when you've beenconquered, not when you're being
oppressed.
Often all your work is goingtowards somebody else.

(07:48):
So this prophecy of hope fromIsaiah really is is one would
guess, really speaking into thehearts of the Israelites.
They shall not build andanother inhabit, they shall not
plant, and another eat.
For like the days of a treeshall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoythe work of their hands.

(08:10):
Again, you can hear the painthat the Israelites have been
going through when it talksabout all their work going to
help other people and not them.
We can imagine how frustratingthat would be for us, how
heartbreaking that would be forus, and how hope-filled the

(08:33):
message might come to theIsraelite people as Isaiah
preaches it.
The crux of this painting thatIsaiah is is creating is that at
least for us Christians, thecrux of the picture, the crux of

(08:54):
the message to us foretellsChrist.
This is what Christ is lookingto bring for us.
This reality is what Christwants us to know.
It's the hope that he bringsthat that is literally embodied

(09:15):
in Christ and in his life, hisvery presence amongst us.
We understand as Christiansthat his presence is evidence of
the love that we have from thecreator of the world.
Our world may be imperfect, itmay be broken, but the creator,

(09:35):
the one who created it, lovesus.
Listen to us, wants for us toflourish, wants for us to be
able to thrive in this worldthat God created.
God wants us to know a love sodeep that it is evident in God's

(10:01):
being willing to send Jesus tobe here amongst us.
Jesus who comes with thismessage of love, and he in his
own existence among us isevidence of that love.
People are still awakening tothis reality of the presence of

(10:32):
love in our world, and they'reseeking to be part of that in
whatever complicated way thatmight come to them.
We know we're not perfect asChristians.
We know our churches, ourinstitutions aren't perfect, but
we're here doing our best torest and live out the reality of

(10:56):
our belief that God is here andGod is love, and that love is
real, and that love matters.
We want this to be a placewhere all God's children live
together peacefully, dare I say,even in appreciation for each
other, a place where all ofGod's children are heard,

(11:20):
listened to, and respected asGod would have them be
respected.
I was able to celebrate thattoday with the baptisms.
I hope that you were able tocelebrate that too.
Amen.