Jamaica has been battling with civil disturbances in the western area of Kingston, the island’s capital, leading to loss of lives and destruction of property. In response to the situation, the Bishop of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands the Rt. Rev. Alfred Reid presented the following message on the Diocesan radio programme “Think on These Things” (RJR 94-FM 4:45 p.m. Sundays), on Sunday May 30. Bishop Reid said:

NEARLY THREE THOUSAND YEARS AGO –
the Prophet Isaiah addressed these words to a Nation in the grip of fear.  He said/wrote:
“. . . THE LORD SPOKE THUS TO ME WITH HIS STRONG HAND UPON ME, AND WARNED ME NOT TO WALK IN THE WAY OF THIS PEOPLE, SAYING: ‘DO NOT CALL CONSPIRACY TO ALL THAT THIS PEOPLE CALL CONSPIRACY AND DO NOT FEAR WHAT THEY FEAR NOR BE IN DREAD. BUT THE LORD OF HOSTS, HIM YOU SHALL REGARD AS HOLY.  LET HIM BE YOUR FEAR’ AND LET HIM BE YOUR DREAD”  (Isaiah 8:11-13 RSV)

Here is another translation from the Contemporary English Version (CEV):

THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF ME WITH HIS POWERFUL HAND AND SAID: I AM WARNING YOU.  DON’T ACT LIKE THESE PEOPLE . . . AND DON’T BE AFRAID OF SOMETHING BECAUSE THEY ARE. I (THE LORD) AM THE ONE YOU SHOULD FEAR AND RESPECT:  I AM THE HOLY GOD, THE LORD ALL POWERFUL. RUN TO ME FOR PROTECTION.” (Isaiah 8:11-14a (CEV)

THE BACKGROUND to this Text
is the conspiracy of the Syrians and the Ephraimites to dethrone Ahaz, King of  Judah and set up a puppet king of their own in his place.  In Isaiah 7:2, we read “WHEN NEWS REACHED THE ROYAL PALACE THAT THE EPHRAIMITES HAD JOINED FORCES WITH REZIN, KING OF SYRIA TO ATTACK JERUSALEM, KING AHAZ AND EVERYONE IN JUDAH WERE SO TERRIFIED THAT THEY SHOOK LIKE TREES IN A WINDSTORM.”

Conspiracies tend to beget more conspiracy. King Ahaz even attempted to make his own deal with the King of Assyria behind the back of his disloyal brethren, the Ephraimites (11 Kings 16:7-8 & 11 Kings 10:3)

Conspiracy is in the air - The conspiracy to dethrone Ahaz and Ahaz’s conspiracy with Assyria.  Nobody knows what to think and everybody is  quaking with fear.  In this situation, the great prophet Isaiah is inspired to propose an alternative conspiracy.  He says:  CONSPIRE WITH GOD, FEAR GOD AND NOBODY ELSE”. This passage of Scripture is of cardinal importance.  It is probably the first time in the history of biblical religion that people are called to separate themselves in spirit from their social group in obedience to God.  The Prophet calls on his fellow citizens to fear God instead of fearing man, to make an alliance with God instead of seeking an alliance with the military power of Assyria.  Later in the same Book of Isaiah, when Assyria was the aggressor, the Prophet denounced the attempt to form an alliance with Egypt instead of trusting in God.

THE MESSAGE OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH IS SIMPLY THIS: WE MUST NOT GO INTO PANIC BECAUSE OF ANY HUMAN CONSPIRACY HOWEVER DANGEROUS; NEITHER MUST WE SEEK TO CONSPIRE WITH THE ENEMY OR POTENTIAL ENEMY.  If we conspire with God and fear God, we will not be immune or invulnerable, but we will be victorious in the war even if we lose some of the battles.

Let me say a few words to the many Jamaicans “whose hearts are failing them for fear” at this time of great distress and sorrow.  As the Security Forces move to do battle with the criminal underworld which may be better resourced and armed with even more deadly weapons, we can expect retaliation, reprisals and an unrelenting backlash.  I wish I could say otherwise but I will not offer a bogus comfort or a false assurance. I will, however, offer THE REAL COMFORT AND ASSURANCE that Isaiah offered to the people of Judah.  It was not accepted then, but I hope it will be accepted now.

Firstly, Isaiah counselled National consensus and National unity.  In regards to the Syro-Ephraimitish conspiracy, he says in Chapter 8 verse 10 “TAKE COUNSEL TOGETHER AND IT SHALL COME TO NAUGHT, SPEAK THE WORD AND IT SHALL NOT STAND: FOR GOD IS WITH US.” It is hard for the powers of evil to defeat a united people.  In fact, it is only because of the unexpected and unprecedented unanimity of protest that this particular struggle has reached as far.  We cannot lose our nerve at this point.  There is real security and comfort in mutual support; social solidarity and moral consensus with growing clarity about what is right and what is wrong.  Let me hope that our present trials will teach us to stand together against counsels of expediency and compromise, about truth and right in the interest of questionable partisan alliances. For too long we Jamaicans have thought it expedient to keep on the right side of the wrong people or groups.

We are in fear now, but let us face it – we have lived in fear for a very long time.  The present crisis did not, of itself, create fear, but may be, it is the occasion for us, together, to say “No more”, “enough is enough”. Every human life is precious in God’s sight: not only those who might be killed in the present war that they themselves declared, but the thousands of innocent Jamaican children and old people who have been savagely slaughtered like sacrificial lambs in some obscene pagan ritual over the years.  All these people and, even those who are dying now, will have died in vain unless we are united in building a new Jamaican civilization in which, for all our rich diversity, we are truly one people.

However, the main thrust of the prophet’s message is not only national unity, but unity in God and under God.  He proposes the revolutionary idea of “a conspiracy of faith” instead of a conspiracy of fear.  In the verse about unity, it ends with an affirmation of faith. “Take counsel together and it shall come to naught, speak a word and it shall not stand “for God is with us” (verse 9).

Let us remember that the promise of “Immanuel” comes out of this very episode in Judah’s history – “Immanuel” “God with us”, “God is with us” or, as a prayer, “God be with us”.  Ahaz was not impressed, perhaps “faith” sounds too airy-fairy.  He wanted something more practical like the Assyrian army.  But Isaiah insists: Lack of faith in the true God will result in a disaster greater and more certain than that which now threatens Judah.  Faith is the true source and secret of security.  Psalm 46 is a wonderful expression of this faith.  “God is our hope and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth be moved and though the mountains tumble into the deepest sea; though its waters rage and foam, and though the mountains tremble at its tumult.” (Psalm 46:1-4)
THE LORD OF HOSTS IS WITH US, THE GOD OF JACOB IS OUR FORTRESS.

“Ye fearful saints fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head.  Fear Him ye saints and you will then have nothing else to fear, make you his service your delight, your wants shall be His care.”

What will save Jamaica in the present crisis and what will save us from the perpetual recurrence of this kind of tragedy is a firm faith in God and in God’s way and truth.  In Isaiah 7:9b, the Prophet says to King Ahaz, “IF YOU DO NOT STAND FIRM IN FAITH, YOU SHALL NOT STAND AT ALL.” We need a faith as sincere and strong as that of the women who last week volunteered to die for their hero. We cannot have less faith than they.

Of course, Ahaz did not accept Isaiah’s teaching and decided to put his trust, not in the God of  heaven, but in the  King of Assyria who demanded that in return he had to establish an Assyrian Shrine in Jerusalem and in that Shrine to offer  up his own son as a sacrifice
(2 Kings 16:3).  So let us weigh the options: if not faith in God then faith in what?  If not a pact with God, a pact with whom?  It would seem that the alternative to an alliance with God is an alliance with the devil.  Jamaica must not make this mistake. 
Hear the Word of the Lord, written in Isaiah 41:10 – “. . . DO NOT FEAR, FOR I AM WITH YOU, DO NOT BE AFRAID, FOR I AM YOUR GOD; I WILL STRENGTHEN YOU, I WILL HELP YOU, I WILL UPHOLD YOU WITH MY VICTORIOUS RIGHT HAND.”

LET US PRAY:

Come, O Spirit of God
And make within us Your dwelling place and home
May our darkness be dispelled by Your light
And our troubles calmed by Your peace
May all evil be redeemed by Your love
All pain transformed through the suffering of Christ
And all dying glorified in His Risen Life.   Amen.