Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short...


"Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear..."

Thus begins an important prophetic passage in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The sub-title for the chapter is "Sin, Confession and Redemption." It speaks to the fact that all of mankind are similarly stuck in a state of separation from God. We stumble through life, the blind leading the blind, unable to work ourselves into reconciliation with the God whose blessing we crave and need.

At this intersection of God's love and the neediness of man, we find the one thing that separates Christian teaching and belief from all the other religions of the world...after surveying the situation, and the fact that mankind is in such a state of need, Isaiah says this about the Lord's response:

"The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice. He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene, so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him.

Having recognized that man's sin and shortcomings create a separation between us, God took it upon himself to intervene...to bridge the gap, and bring us home. Jesus is God...he is the reason that God's arm is not too short to save...he brought God's arm with him when he became a man...he brought his eyes and ears to earth, to hear us, to see us...and to know us. In the New Testament book of Philippians, we read about the significance of Jesus' coming:

"Jesus...who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross."

The Christian faith is unique among religions of the world, precisely because of passages like this one from Philippians...we teach that God comes to us...we are not striving to get to him, to climb some metaphorical spiritual ladder of legalistic perfectionism. We do not, and in truth, we cannot work our way to him. Our arms are too short...our efforts are to imperfect and too weak to span the distance.

But God's arm is not too short...his ears are not too dull to hear us. He knows our frame, and that we are but dust. He hears us, and his heart is attuned to the broken and contrite heart. He chose himself to intervene in our affairs and make things right between us...to come to our place here on earth, so that he could ultimately prepare a place for us in heaven.

Later this evening, many of us will attend Christmas Eve services...we will take a few moments to hear the story read...to sing the songs of joy...to light a candle, and be silent...and in this quiet, may we truly know that the Lord's arm is not too short to save, and that he is Emmanuel...God with us.

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