What Isaiah 25 Says to White Nationalism
While this is technically not the first post featured on our “Something More...” blog, it is the first we have published since rolling out our new website. With that, I offer you a hearty “Welcome!” We created this blog to give you an opportunity to hear from your pastors during the week, as we offer commentary and reflection that goes beyond the confines of the Sunday sermon.
As I’m sure was the case for most of you, my mind was overcast this past Sunday by the violent events of the weekend, particularly by the El Paso tragedy. The shooter was apparently motivated by his embrace of white nationalism/supremacy, directing his hatred toward our Hispanic neighbors. His motivation and actions are patently disgusting and merit our strongest measures of condemnation. White nationalism is utterly un-American.
What is more, it is fundamentally anti-Christian. We were reminded of this in the biblical text Sunday. The prophet Isaiah tells us,
6 On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine--the best of meats and the finest of wines. 7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people's disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken. 9 In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation." [Isaiah 25:6-9 NIV]
Notice the universal scope of the promises that Isaiah is communicating. These verses are preceded by the condemnation of those foreign nations that oppressed Israel and yet they are followed by a promise of salvation for ALL PEOPLE. God is going to make a feast for all people (v.6); for all people will God swallow up the veil (v.7); for all people will God swallow up death and wipe away every tear (v.8). God’s promise of salvation is for all people – it is not ethnically based! The Apostle Paul makes this abundantly clear in his letters, as can be seen particularly in his letter to the Galatians when he writes,
“28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.” [Galatians 3:28-29 NIV]
Salvation is not privileged by race, nor can our salvation be found in racial domination. Such thinking is fundamentally idolatrous. It idolizes one human race, crudely reducing the image of God to color, and finds salvation in the elimination or subjugation of all others. Plainly stated, it is anti-Christ. White Nationalism is anti-Christ.
Our salvation is not found in the barriers of race, but in Jesus Christ who tears down every barrier between us. We look forward with rejoicing to the day of salvation, the day in which God will make all things new, the day of that wonderful feast in which we will be seated together with people of every nation, tribe, and tongue, basking in the presence of our God, in whose image every one of us has been made.
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.