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The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Text: Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
Advent, December 14, 1986
Transcription of the spoken sermon
…Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14
…his name shall be called Immanuel (which means God with us). Matthew 1:23
The great Boston preacher of the 19th Century, Phillips Brooks, wrote the carol,
"O Little Town of Bethlehem," in 1868 for the children of his parish to sing in
their Sunday School Christmas program. It has become a favorite. It was as I was
reflecting on the course of the Christian era over centuries past that the phrase
from Brooks' carol came to mind The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.
In that small Judean village a child was born and the carol's author sensed well
the biblical witness regarding that birth; it was the pivot point of history.
Hopes and fears - a rather good description of the alternating moods of our lives,
our corporate existence in the community of nations, our family life, our
individual lives. Living in hope of some desired event or resolution; living in fear
of some dread result.
The hopes and fears of all the years came to sharp focus in Bethlehem: The hope
that life has purpose and meaning, that it is going somewhere, that our toil and
tears, our suffering and sadness will not be to no avail, ending in emptiness or
nothingness. Fearing that we may not hold on, that our best efforts and worst
sins may end in a morass of meaninglessness.
Tracing the history of Western Civilization from the sixth and seventh centuries
to the present has been an interesting and helpful study. One cannot help but
sense the ebb and flow of historical tides; one cannot help but realize how shortsighted we are in our quick reaction to events of the immediate present. No doubt
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
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that is exaggerated in our day because of the instant news coverage of everything
that happens around the globe. There is such a bombardment of facts and
opinions fastened on the immediate that one gets a skewed sense of things. There
is little historical perspective and sober reflection on the larger patterns of
history.
We get a sense of the super importance of the present and we are overly
impressed with one moment on the canvas of history. We lose the sense of being
linked in the larger chain of beings and we lose perspective on that which
ultimately matters.
NBC may be the first to scoop the events breaking in Washington, but they were
not there in Bethlehem. If they had been, you can bet their camera would have
been at Herod's court or Jerusalem and Tom Brokaw would probably have
remained in Rome at the Imperial residence. Yet in the dark stillness of
Bethlehem streets the hopes and fears of all the years were focused.
It was not an easy world then. It was in quite as much turmoil then as now. That
part of the world has been an open wound on the earth's surface for centuries.
Rome was the occupying force. The period of history is part of the Pax Romana,
the Roman peace; it was, however, a peace enforced by Roman legions, an
enforced peace - certainly not the biblical shalom. Herod was the puppet ruler by
the grace of Rome and he was jealous for his power and the perpetuation of his
kingdom. Paranoia broke out with a vengeance following the visit of the Magi
who spoke of the appearance of a star which foretold the birth of royalty.
Male children two years and under were massacred by Herod's order just in case
it might be true that one had been born who would lay claim to Herod's throne.
Can you imagine the brutality of that world? Can you imagine the fears with
which a mother raised a child in that time?
Yet even in that brutal age with no press corps to keep a monarch honest, there
were serious, reflective spirits who yearned for something better - hopes were
present even in the world of pagan Rome. Hans Küng reports that
In the year 42 or 41 before Jesus' birth, at the beginning of the fifteenth
year of grievous civil war following on the murder of Caesar, the Roman
poet Virgil in his famous Fourth Eclogue announced the birth of a world
savior. Was this an expression of hope in Caesar's great nephew and
adopted son, Octavius and his house? In any case, when Octavius finally
returned to Rome in the year 29, as sole ruler, after the victory over
Antony and Cleopatra, his first official act was to close the temple of Janus,
the double-faced god of war.
And "Augustus divi Felius" – "son of the divine one" (of Caesar elevated
after his death to be a state god), translated in the Greek East as "Son of
God" – did everything possible to realize the hopes nourished by Virgil of
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
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the Utopia of an imminent reign of peace; Pax Romana, Pax Augusta,
sealed with the consecration of the gigantic Ara Paces Augustae, the
Augustan altar of peace, in the year 9 B.C.. In the same year (according to
the famous inscription found in 1890 in Priene in Asia Minor and later
elsewhere) the "gospel" (evangelion, "good news") of the birthday of the
"Saviour" and "God" who had now appeared - Caesar Augustus - was
proclaimed in the East to the whole world: the savior who had brought to
the broken world new life, happiness, peace, fulfillment of ancestral hopes,
salvation. (On Being a Christian, p. 438)
Was not that ancient world as weary as our own of the interminable conflict, war,
suffering and death that has been history's hallmark from the beginning?
In Isaiah's time it was little different than our own. The Old Testament lesson
reports the international crisis, the intrigue, the maneuvering for position that
occurred in the Eighth Century B.C.
The year was 734 B.C. On the world horizon, a great Empire was forming and its
massive power was becoming a threat to all its neighboring peoples. That empire
was Assyria, whose King was Tiglath-Pileser. The smaller neighboring peoples
began to confer together. If they united, perhaps they could resist the Assyrian
power.
There was Syria whose capital was Damascus and whose King was Rezin. There
was Israel, the Northern Kingdom, whose capital was Samaria and whose King
was Pekah.
They formed an alliance and urged their neighbor to the South, Judah, whose
King was Ahaz, to join with them. But Ahaz was not ready to join. He, too, knew
Assyria was growing in might and influence, but he feared that joining such an
alliance would provoke the Assyrians and goad them into an attack. Thus, he
rejected the offer of Israel and Syria who, in turn, felt they could ill afford to have
their southern flank exposed and decided, consequently, that they would move
forcibly against Judah and put a puppet king on the throne. They marched
against Jerusalem and King Ahaz and his people tumbled. Jerusalem was
besieged and Ahaz was terrified.
It seemed he had but two options — yield and join the alliance against Assyria, or
appeal directly to Tiglath-Pileser, the Assyrian King, which would make him a
vassal of Assyria.
A third option never occurred to him: to stand firm and trust God. That, however,
was precisely the counsel of the prophet Isaiah. God's word through the prophet
was:
Be on your guard, keep calm; do not be frightened or unmanned by these
two smoldering stumps of firewood… (Isaiah 7:4)
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
Although they were determined to bring Jerusalem to its knees, the prophet's
word was clear:
This shall not happen now, and never shall…
Have firm faith, or you will not stand firm. (7:96).
Ahaz was a practical man. Talk of standing firm and trusting God was foreign to
him. He did not really want to hear Isaiah's word. And so God's word came a
second time. This time Isaiah went a step further, offering a sign if the King
desired.
Ask the Lord your God for a sign, from lowest scheol or from highest
heaven. (7:11)
And the world lives under a cloud of fear, driven to the brink of hopelessness, yet
always hoping, as well, that some conference or summit might yet produce peace
on earth.
Isaiah's word to Ahaz was trust God for, beyond Damascus and Samaria and
Assyria, beyond the kings and rulers of the earth, the Sovereign of history is
working His purposes out. And as a sign that that is indeed the case, a child will
be born and named Immanuel. That sign was not lost on Matthew reporting the
birth narrative of Jesus.
In Matthew's narrative of the birth of Jesus, he cites this Isaiah passage, seeing
the child Jesus as the ultimate expression of the truth that God is with us. After
telling of Joseph's dream in which he was told of Mary's child, Matthew writes:
All this happened in order to fulfill what the Lord declared through the
prophet: The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and he shall be called
Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God is with us.’
Isaiah's statement did not say anything about a virgin bearing a child. The
Hebrew word for virgin was not used and the word used refers to a young woman
of marriageable age. Matthew definitely uses the passage to support a virginal
birth, but he adds that. It is not in Isaiah. It is not our purpose in this message to
deal with the question of the Virgin Birth, but I only point out here that in the Old
Testament context there is no reference to a virgin birth. The sign is a child of
natural birth whose presence points to the presence of God; whose name says it:
Immanuel, God with us.
And this is important for Matthew, too. If you stop to think about it, Jesus was
named Jesus, not Immanuel. Jesus means Saviour. His name was sign-ificant.
But Matthew is not concerned that he was not specifically named Immanuel, but
only that he be understood as being a sign of God's presence.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
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If a child born in Judah in the days of King Ahaz sign-ified God with us, then
Matthew says the final and fullest sign of that truth has occurred in the birth of
the child Jesus.
Matthew wrote a Gospel. That is, Matthew wrote Good News. The Good News is
that God is with his people. The Gospel is the story of God's action for his people
in Jesus.
The Gospel begins with his birth - Immanuel. The Gospel ends with Jesus' word,
"I am with you always, to the end of time."
That is no coincidence. Matthew brackets the good news with the fundamental
truth of God's presence with his people.
A child is born whose sign-ificance is "God is with us." The child grows, becomes
a man, proclaims the Kingdom, is crucified, resurrected and leaves our spacetime world with the words his name sign-ified, "I am with you always." (Matt.
28:20).
Ahaz was not interested. The fact was he did not believe in the preserving power
of God. But he did not want to admit that and so he covered up his unbelief with a
clever bit of false piety. He said,
No, I will not put the Lord to the test by asking for a sign. (7:12)
Isaiah was not fooled by this apparent piety about not putting God to the test.
Rather, he was exasperated. He set the record straight:
Listen, House of David, are you not content to wear out men’s patience?
Must you also wear out the patience of my God? Therefore the Lord
Himself shall give you a sign. (7: 13-14)
And herewith comes the familiar promise associated so indelibly in our minds
with the much later birth of Jesus.
A young woman is with child, and she will bear a son and will call him
Immanuel. (7:14b)
In Hebrew that name means "God with us." Who bore the child and who the child
was, we do not know. A Jewish tradition says the child was born to Ahaz's wife
and was Hezekiah, Ahaz's son, who succeeded him. That, however, is not
important. The point of the sign is simply this; a child would soon be born and
before that child was weaned or in a period of two to three years, the Syrian and
Israelite powers that were presently ringing Jerusalem would themselves be
decimated and destroyed. Because of his lack of faith, Ahaz would not enjoy
peace and prosperity, but at least at this juncture, Jerusalem and Judah would be
spared. The hostile nations would come to misfortune. They need not be feared.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
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And every time Ahaz looked on the child he would be reminded that the God Who
is for His people is the God Who is with His people.
That is the Gospel; that is good news.
Ahaz rejected the sign. He followed his own judgment, which was disastrous. He
appealed to Tiglath-Pileser and the Assyrian King happily responded, moved in
and reduced Judah to a vassal state. Isaiah denounced the action and predicted
that Ahaz had opened the floodgates to an Assyrian takeover, which, indeed, he
had.
Such is the historical context in which Isaiah's word about the sign of a child
whose name was Immanuel was spoken.
We could change the names of the nations and the leaders and we might be
reading the history of the late twentieth century. The Iranian Arms Deal has filled
our news for a month now. Only short years after the devastation worked by the
fundamentalist revolution in Iran, we are negotiating with Khomeini. Israel,
whose existence is not granted by the Arab powers, becomes the middle man in a
game of international intrigue that siphons off the profits of arms sale to an
adversary to support a revolution in Central America. Our administration argues
the necessity of such negotiation because Iran is so crucial in the larger chess
game between the super powers whose nuclear arsenals are aimed at each other.
We celebrate another Advent. We live in a world with good cause for fear - more
cause than Ahaz or even Phillips Brooks dreamed of; we live in a world whose
technology has been perfected to a point where we can explode this planet.
Yet we are a people of hope. Our world has been the recipient of a sign, the sign of
a child whose sign-ificance is "God with us." We live in hope because we trust in
God. In God, not in Washington, or Moscow, or Geneva.
We do not despise the efforts of world leaders; we rather encourage their efforts
and pray for their success. Yet, we know the world has not changed much. Still
pride of nation, lust for power, drivenness of ego despoils the world. No human
solution will save us; we need the intervention of God.
In the sign of a child we have the assurance of his presence with us. He has come
to us; He will come to us in history's consummation; He is with us.
How we wish God would mount a bulldozer and flatten every obstacle and
remove every obstruction to his Kingdom purposes. But that is not his way. He
comes with all the force of a hint, with rumor of angels, with the vulnerability of a
child.
© Grand Valley State University
�The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
It is Advent again. It is not easy to believe. Yet the choice confronts us: Will we
live in hope, keeping the vision, or, in bleak despair? Will we give in to fear, to
bitterness and cynicism?
Advent is a season to lift up our eyes, to await with expectation the coming of the
God Who came to us in a child and promises a day when every knee will bow and
every tongue confess that the child has become the Lord, the Sovereign of
Nations, the Prince of Peace.
Emmanuel – God with us – the promise of God coming to us, the promise of a
day when the Kingdom of this world will become the Kingdom of our God and of
his Christ.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Interfaith worship
Sermons
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Advent III
Scripture Text
Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1:23
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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1986-12-14
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The Hopes and Fears of All the Years
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Richard A. Rhem
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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eng
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on December 14, 1986 entitled "The Hopes and Fears of All the Years", on the occasion of Advent III, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Isaiah 7: 14, Matthew 1:23.
Advent
Birth of Jesus
History of Israel
Hope
Meaning
Presence of God
Prophet
War
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Text
The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
From the sermon series: God, Our Ally
Text: Hosea 11: 8-9, 32; Hosea 14: 4
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
August 25, 1985
Transcription of the spoken sermon
God is our Ally.
He will never give up on us - not because finally we will come round and deserve
His love, but rather because His love, flowing out of His own depths, will never
let us go. That is the theme of this message: He will never give up on us; He will
never let us go.
This is a message about the unconditional love of God. It is a message about what
is translated from the Hebrew word hesed as God's "steadfast love." This is a
message about God our Ally Who has called us into a covenant relationship to
which He remains faithful even when we prove unfaithful. This message is a love
story, the story of a love beyond compare, a love beyond human conception. This
is the story of a love that will never give up, never let us go; a love that will finally
heal us and bind us to the bosom of God.
The message comes from Hosea, a great Eighth Century B.C. prophet who
experienced deep pain in his own marriage and therein discovered the pain of
God at the unfaithfulness of His people Israel, but discovered something more
amazing - that God's love is unquenchable.
The first three chapters of Hosea deal with biographical material from the
prophet's own life. There has been much debate about the interpretation of these
chapters. I cannot give you the whole discussion, but will summarize what I
believe is the most adequate understanding of Hosea’s experience. In Chapter 1:2,
we read,
…The Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, for the
land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.”
This was probably a reflection after the fact. Hosea married Gomer and she
proved unfaithful. The verse above summarizes what happened rather than
indicating that Gomer was a harlot before Hosea married her. The first chapter
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
records Goner's unfaithfulness. Although it is not clearly stated, it would appear
that Hosea divorced Gomer because of her wantonness. (cf. Hosea 2:2a, 4-5a).
Then in chapter 3:1, we read,
And the Lord said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is beloved of a
paramour and is an adulteress; even as the Lord loves the people 0f
Israel, though they turn to other gods..."
So, Hosea redeems Gomer - buys her back out of the bondage of her harlotry and restores her as his wife. In his own experience, thus, he found a "lived
parable" that pointed to the unquenchable love of God.
He was tormented by his separation from Gomer, he felt maimed and
incomplete, and he realized that however little Gomer might deserve his
love… yet she retained it to an undiminished degree, and he was
constrained even against his own judgment to attempt to restore the old
marriage relationship.
The mystery of the compulsive power of his own love for Gomer made
Hosea reflect upon the love of God for erring Israel. It was thereon that
he founded his message of hope for his people… (Interpreter Bible, Vol. VI,
p. 562)
Martin Buber writes,
That a particular person should be bound to love another particular person
in utter concreteness, is there such a thing as this? The word can only be
spoken to one who already loves. He loves, he still loves the faithless one,
he cannot suppress this love, but he does not want it, for he feels himself
degraded by it. ...Into this state of soul God's word descends, "Continue
loving, thou art allowed to love her, thou must love her; even so do I love
Israel." (The Prophetic Faith, p. 113)
Hosea loved Gomer still. He redeemed her and brought her back. She did not
deserve such love and grace.
But if Gomer did not deserve such merciful treatment as Hosea felt
constrained to give her, no more did Israel merit the mercy and love of
God. Her redemption from sin and shame was an act of God’s grace and
of his love that would not let her go. (Interpreter Bible, p. 562)
The statement of God's unconditional, unquenchable love is beautifully stated in
the first verse of the eleventh chapter. Now the figure is not the marriage
relationship, but that of God the Father and Israel the son.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
But Israel was unfaithful; she worshipped the Canaanite gods. Tenderly, God
nurtured her.
I led them with cords of compassion, with the bands of love… (11:4)
But still they failed to live faithfully in that covenant love. They succeeded only in
eliciting God's anger. Judgment was surely coming; Hosea could feel it.
Hosea prophesied around 745 B.C. Jeroboam II had brought the Northern
Kingdom to prosperity, but Hosea could see the dry rot in the soul of the nation.
Judgment would come and judgment did come. In 721, the Assyrian Empire
came in and overthrew Israel, dispersing the ten northern tribes.
But judgment was not the final word. Judgment was only a means to the end of
finally bringing His people to their senses and causing them to return to Him.
Listen to the "last word:"
How can I give you up, O Ephraim!
How can I hand you over, O Israel!
How can I make you like Admah!
How can I treat you like Zeboiim!
My heart recoils within me, my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my fierce anger.
I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not man,
the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come, to destroy. (11: 8-9)
There you have the text, a text to ponder. There you have a statement of God's
unconditional, unquenchable love, a love that will never give up on us, a love that
will never let us go.
In God's relationship to Israel, we see mirrored His relationship to all nations.
God created the nation Israel in the event of the Exodus. Israel was a chosen
nation. God elected Israel to be a representative people for all peoples. We cannot
fathom the mystery of that choice, that election. It was not an election of one
nation cutting off the rest of the nations, but the choosing of one on behalf of the
rest. It was a particular choice with a universal purpose. Remember the call to
Abraham:
…by you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves. Genesis 12: 3
The basis of God's choice of Israel was simply love:
It was not because you were more in number than any other people that
the Lord set his love upon you and chose you…but it is because the Lord
loves you… Deuteronomy 7: 7-8
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
Israel was the representative of us all. Berkhof calls Israel God's "Experimental
Garden." In her concrete history – thus in the arena of our history – it has been
demonstrated that the human covenant partner will never prove faithful.
... in an experimental garden the soil and what can be done with it are tried
out, so that other fields, to which these experiments are applicable, may
benefit from it. ... in the Old Testament, Israel, in distinction from other
nations, is more than once pictured as a specially cultivated and tended
vineyard, from which might thus be expected a greater yield, but whose
unproductivity arouses the greater anger of God. (Christian Faith, p. 245)
Pointing to Israel's election, Berkhof shows that as a People she had a special
privilege and a special task; the outcome of the Old Testament is the
demonstration in our history of the faithlessness of the human covenant partner
and the faithfulness of the Divine covenant partner. Berkhof writes,
And we who are witnesses of this way know that Israel is no better or
worse than the other nations, but that her guilt and fate disclose the way of
the whole human race. The abiding relevance of the Old Testament is that
the experimental garden Israel has shown once and for all how unfruitful
we humans are in our faithfulness to God and our neighbor; and then, too,
how unimaginably faithful God remains to mankind which ever and again
seeks life apart from him. (p. 245f)
What is the solution? Certainly there is no hope from our side; there is no
solution possible from the human covenant partner. When God moved to effect a
solution through the gift of Jesus in whom He dwelt in fullness, we crucified him.
This is the New Testament history that corresponds to Israel's failure. Thus we
have in both Old and New Testaments the concrete history of radical human
guilt.
What is the solution? The solution is the radical grace of God, which flows from
the unconditional love of God. It was this insight that gripped Hosea, written
indelibly in his own soul through his personal experience. God says, in effect,
“You deserve to be given up; I should give you up. But how can I give you up? I
will not give you up.”
In his book Unconditional Love, John Powell writes,
In the Old Testament God reveals himself to the People of Israel as a God
of unconditional love. His gift of himself in the choice and creation of "My
People" is totally unsolicited, undeserved and unmerited. ... God decides,
God chooses, God offers his gift of love. He is by his own free act forever
committed to his People. The prophet Hosea uses the image of God taking
a bride: "And I will betroth you to me forever." (2:19-20) Through the
prophet Isaiah, God says, "Even if a mother should forget the child of her
womb, I will never forget you." (49:15).
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
The unconditionality of God's love for his People is a constant refrain in
the Old Testament. God has promised and God will always be faithful to
his promise. Jeremiah writes of God's constant willingness to forgive:
"With an eternal love I have loved you. Therefore, in loving-kindness I
draw you to myself." (31:3) (Unconditional Love, p. 97F)
Hosea understood the faithfulness of God to his covenant which was rooted in a
love that would never give up. As Bernard Anderson writes,
Just as Gomer played the harlot, so Israel had broken the covenant.
According to Hosea, this was the real historical tragedy, and all the
contemporary troubles of Israel were only symptoms of it. The "wife"
whom Yahweh had chosen and betrothed to himself had become a whore.
A "spirit of hostility" had inflamed the people, and they had become
estranged from their God. (4:12) Hosea's critique of Israel's society went
far deeper than a mere condemnation of social immorality, political
confusion, or religious formation. He was concerned with men's motives,
with the devotion of the heart, with the things in which men place their
trust. (Understanding The Old Testament, p. 247)
Sounding the keynote of Hosea's message, Anderson writes,
The deepest note struck in the book of Hosea is the proclamation that
God's "wrath" or judgment is redemptive. God's purpose is not to destroy,
but to heal. Through historical crises that shake the very foundations of
human self-sufficiency, Yahweh acts to free his people from their
enslavement to false allegiance and to restore them to freedom in the
covenant loyalty. Just as Hosea's love was greater and deeper than
Gomer's infidelity, so Yahweh's love for Israel is truly steadfast. It is a
divine love that will not let his people go, despite their fickleness and
harlotry. His "wrath" is not capricious, vindictive, and destructive; it is the
expression of a holy love which seeks to break the chains of Israel's
bondage and to emancipate her for a new life, a new covenant. (Ibid., p.
251)
... divine judgment is not the last word ... (verses 8-9). For even in the
hour of catastrophe Yahweh does not abandon his people, nor does his
love for them cease. It is not his will that Israel be destroyed as Admah and
Zeborm were leveled during the holocaust of Sodom and Gomorrah, (cf.
Gen. 19:24-25; Deuteronomy 29:23). Rather, the purpose behind
Yahweh's judgment is love, like that of a parent who lovingly disciplines a
wayward child. These verses passionately describe a struggle, as it were,
within the heart of God - a struggle that doubtless reflects the agony of
Hosea's experience with Gomer. But the triumph is on the side of the love
that will not let Israel go. (Ibid., p. 252)
Thus Hosea ends his prophecy with words of healing,
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
I will heal their apostasy; of my own bounty will I love them. (14:4)
The secret of such love lies in God. We cannot fathom it; we can only bow before
its majesty. It is beyond human comprehension. God points to His own
"Godness" as it were, differentiating Himself from us.
... for I am God and not man.
Such is the amazing story of the love of God.
It is interesting to relate Hosea's sense of God's love that never gives up on us to
Paul's struggle with Israel's rejection of Jesus. Romans chapters 9-11 relate that
struggle. Paul cannot understand how to put together God's faithfulness to his
covenant promise with Israel's disobedience. His final conclusion is that, through
Israel's rejection, the Gospel is being brought to the Gentiles. He concludes that
section of struggle with these words:
For in making all mankind prisoners to disobedience, God’s purpose was
to show mercy to all mankind. (11:32)
Then he breaks out in a great doxology, praising the God of so great salvation.
What are we to make of this amazing love story, this tale of unconditional,
unquenchable love? Must it not seem too good to be true? If it seems too good to
be true, it is because we are not accustomed to hearing this message stated simply
and straightforwardly. As the message has come to us filtered through centuries
of Church tradition - our own Church tradition included - the message has been
garbled and the unconditional love of God has been hedged in with numerous
qualifications and conditions. I think it accurate to say that for the most part the
message that has come through is that of a conditional love of God, conditional
on our response, conditional on our good behavior. We speak much of grace, but
we operate on the basis of good works and self-righteousness.
Is it not perhaps that we are afraid to let the truth of the radical grace and
unconditional love of God out because people might really believe it and presume
upon it, take advantage of it? Do we dare tell people that the love of God will
finally overcome their disobedience, their unfaithfulness, their unworthiness,
their fickleness, in a word - their sinful rebellion and self assertion?
Do we not rather make God's gift of salvation conditional on saying the right
words, confessing the right beliefs, conforming to accepted morality?
Have we not transformed the Gospel of God's radical grace and unconditional
love into a morality game? Has not the message of the Church been strongly
flavored with "Santa Claus theology" - that is – not "You better be good 'cause
Santa's coming to town," but "You better be good 'cause Jesus is coming again?"
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
That is so very human, just like us. We use reward and punishment on our
children; good behaviour gets a reward; bad behaviour gets punishment. That
seems only reasonable; that seems like a just mode of operation.
Is that not also the way God operates? The answer is simply, "No."
Is that not why when He makes His amazing declaration about not being able to
give up on Israel, He explains,
... for I am God and not man.
Similarly in Isaiah 55 we read after the gracious invitation to return to Him Who
freely forgives,
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, and your ways are not my
ways… For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways
higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts; and as the
rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return until they
have watered the earth, making it blossom and bear fruit, and give seed
for sowing and bread to eat, so shall the word which comes from my
mouth prevail; it shall not return to me fruitless without accomplishing
my purpose or succeeding in the task I gave it. (Isaiah 55:8-11)
God is God. God is other than we are. In His dealings, Love always triumphs. God
will never give up on His People. His anger burns. His judgment falls. But His
love wins out and the last word is grace.
We hardly dare let this good news be known for we fear then we will lose our hold
on persons, we will lose our control factor. A good dose of threat and a pinch of
fear, the reinforcement of the guilt that is present and well deserved tends to keep
the Church in the driver's seat and the people subservient and docile. What would
happen if we really let it out that God's love is the final reality, the last word?
A great Christian leader and spiritual giant of an earlier day, A.W. Tozer, wrote a
beautiful essay entitled, "God Is Easy To Live With." He writes,
Satan's first attack upon the human race was his sly effort to destroy Eve's
confidence in the kindness of God. Unfortunately for her and for us he
succeeded too well. From that day, men have had a false conception of
God, and it is exactly this that has cut out from under them the ground of
righteousness and driven them to reckless and destructive living. (These
Times, 1-74, p. 10)
He points out how our notion of God must always determine the quality of our
religion. Instinctively we try to be like our God and if He is conceived to be stern
and exacting, so will we ourselves be. We can speak of salvation by grace, but we
reduce the glory of the Gospel to the drudgery of legalism. Tozer goes on:
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
From a failure properly to understand God comes a world of unhappiness
among good Christians even today. The Christian life is thought to be a
glum, unrelieved cross-carrying under the eye of a stern Father who
expects much and excuses nothing.
If we think of Him as cold and exacting we shall find it impossible to love
Him, and our lives will be ridden with servile fear. ... The truth is that God
is the most winsome of all beings and His service one of unspeakable
pleasure. He is all love, and those who trust Him never know anything but
that love.
Unfortunately, many Christians cannot get free from their perverted
notions of God, and these notions poison their hearts and destroy their
inward freedom. These friends serve God grimly, as the elder brother did,
doing what is right without enthusiasm and without joy, and seem
altogether unable to understand the buoyant, spirited celebration when
the prodigal comes home. Their idea of God rules out the possibility of His
being happy in His people, ... Unhappy souls, these, doomed to go heavily
on their melancholy way, grimly determined to do right if the heavens fall
and to be on the winning side in the day of judgment.
We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but
by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and
believing that He understands everything and loves us still.
Tozer had read Hosea. He makes such an important point. It is precisely the
knowledge of God's unconditional love that has the power to change us inside
out.
What have we produced in so much of the history of the Church? Not happy,
grace-full persons, but fearful, guilt-ridden persons whose external conformity to
the Law is a mask over seething hostility and rebellious resentment.
James Sandeishas written a book with the interesting title, God Has a Story Too.
He points out that the Bible is a story about God's action first of all, not about
human reaction. He argues that we moralize the Bible when we should theologize
the life. By this he means that the biblical narratives are stories not about human
achievements, human obedience, human goodness. We are not given a series of
models to emulate in the Bible. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife and
laughed when God said they would have a child. Moses murdered and was a
fugitive from justice. David was guilty of murder and adultery. Paul persecuted
the Church. Peter denied Jesus.
The Bible is the story of what God can do through the likes of such people - in
spite of them. The story is God's story - a love story, a story of a love that never
quits, a love that never gives up on us, a love that will never let us go.
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page 9
Thus when we become wiser than God, feel we must guard the morality of
persons and keep their religious practice in line by qualifying the burning passion
of His unquenchable love, we not only distort the amazing wonder of that love,
we also miss the greatest single catalyst for transforming human personality and
the greatest motivation for a life of trust and devotion lived in the light of His
grace.
Moralism produces self-righteous, proud and judgmental persons. Legalism
produces tense, guilty persons lacking joy and assurance in the freedom of grace.
Stressing a conditional acceptance produces fear and finally despair. In a word,
the shading of the truth of God's love that knows no limits simply backfires; it
does not accomplish the purpose. It does not work.
In a quarter century of pastoral ministry, I must say that it is grace that is most
difficult to receive and God's unconditional love that is most difficult to believe.
We do not deserve it.
We know we do not deserve it.
We are guilty people and we know it.
We despair of ourselves; why wouldn't God despair?
We condemn ourselves; why wouldn't God condemn?
We are faithless and fickle;
we resolve, we perform, we fall away again,
we have done it a thousand times;
will the pattern ever be broken?
And here is the greatest peril of spiritual existence: We despair and give up.
Rather than responding to the call of the higher, we give up and yield to the
lower.
We write ourselves off: "Hopeless Case."
The old Baptismal liturgy contains great insight and wisdom. Explaining the
meaning of the sacrament, it teaches that Baptism is a sign and seal of our ingrafting into the body of Christ... By
this assurance we are called to new obedience: to hold fast to this one God,
... to trust and love him with all our heart and soul and mind and strength;
and to forsake the world, crucify our old nature, and walk in a new and
holy life.
Fine. That is what we are committed to. But who can realize that high calling?
The Saints, right? Abraham, Moses, David, Peter and Paul? Maybe the Elders.
Maybe even the Deacons.
But that holy life is hardly within the range of ordinary mortals, is it? Maybe for
some. Some folks seem full of goodness and steadiness and from all outward
© Grand Valley State University
�The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Richard A. Rhem
Page10
appearance it would seem they are walking the straight and narrow. But as for me
...
Then our liturgy comes with profound spiritual insight:
And if we sometimes, through weakness, fall into sin, we must not
therefore despair of God's mercy, nor continue in sin, since Baptism is the
sign and seal of God's eternal covenant of grace with us.
There you have it! Again, the liturgy does not at the point of our weakness issue a
warning, but reminds us of a promise. It does not focus on what we ought to be,
but on what God has already established. Baptism is a sign and seal of an Eternal
Covenant of Grace.
That Eternal Covenant of Grace flows from the heart of the Eternal God, which is
Love; unquenchable love, unconditional love, love that will not quit, love that will
not give up on us, love that will never let us go. Radical grace. Radical love. That
is mind-boggling. If that is Who God is, then He is easy to live with, easy to love, a
joy to serve, a delight to please.
God is our Ally. He will never give up on us. His love will finally triumph. I do not
know how; sometimes through judgment, sometimes through adversity,
sometimes through death. That is His prerogative; for us the "how" remains a
mystery. But the "that" is clear: Love is the last word. God is love.
He will never give up on you!
References:
Bernhard W. Anderson. Understanding the Old Testament. Prentice-Hall, 2nd
edition, 1966.
Hendrikus Berkhof. Christian Faith: An Introduction to a Study of the Faith.
Wm. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1979.
John Joseph Powell. Unconditional Love: Love Without Limits. Resources for
Christian Living; first printing edition, 1978.
A. W. Tozer, “God Is Easy To Live With,” These Times, 1, 1974, p. 10.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XIII
Series
God Our Ally
Scripture Text
Hosea 11:8-9, 14:4, Romans 11:32
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
Bernhard W. Anderson, Understanding the Old Testament, 1966
John Joseph Powell, Unconditional Love, 1978
A.W. Tozer, "God Is Easy to Live With," 1974
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19850825
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1985-08-25
Title
A name given to the resource
The God Who Never Gives Up On Us
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
A related resource
Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 25, 1985 entitled "The God Who Never Gives Up On Us", as part of the series "God Our Ally", on the occasion of Pentecost XIII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Hosea 11:8-9, 14:4, Romans 11:32.
Covenant of Grace
God's Unconditional Love
Hebrew Scriptures
Hosea
Judgment
Prophet
Transformation