Is. 27:5 literally says: “or let him grasp or cling to my strength; let him make peace for me; peace he will make for me.” This seems to be the climax of Yahweh’s song of love to Israel, His vineyard, His bride. The song climaxes with this insistence, this burning desire for peace, repeated for emphasis surely, but repeated out of love, out of determination, out of passion. What could be put between God and His people? What could keep God back from His bride? Briars and thorns in pitched battle? Yahweh says that He would burn right through them: His love cannot be held back.
The final verse then seems like a continuation of his defiance of all obstacles: just let somebody try to bind me, take hold of me, capture me and make me submit. Just try to keep me at peace, away from my love, away from my bride. Just try it. Apart from this little apocalypse, Is. 24-27, the only other place the word “peace” has been used previously is in chapter 9 in the prophecy of the Child who would be born called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end…” This suggests that perhaps the reason for the repetition of this phrase: he will make peace for me; peace he will make for me – is that this exactly how God has established His peace in this world. Ultimately, God came for His bride in Jesus: overcoming every obstacle, overcoming every briar and thorn, all armies. But ultimately they took hold of his strength, and they nailed the strength of God to the cross. He was a trouble maker, come to destroy their world and make a new one, and so they sought to destroy Him so that they could have peace. And in that act of crucifying the Prince of Peace, when they took hold of His strength and sought to destroy him and make peace for themselves, God used their violence to make peace for Himself. Let him make peace for me; peace he will make for me.
In the very act of treason, betrayal, a cursed and violent death, God was overcoming every obstacle to His love, to His vineyard, His bride. What can keep your God back? What can keep Him from you, His people? Nothing. And in the very struggle, the resistance, the betrayal, the doubt, God is determined to overcome. So that at the very point at which some seek to tame His love, His love overwhelms. At the very point some seek to make their own peace, He establishes His peace for us. This is the table of peace, the table of the Prince of Peace whose government and peace will only increase.
Your God loves you and will not stay away, will not remain outside. From the mundane and trivial to the horrific and scandalous. Jesus is God with Us. He is determined to fill our lives. He will be Lord of the dishes and Lord of the cooking. He will be Lord of office work, the Lord of committees, the Lord of healthcare, the Lord of armies. Jesus is Lord, and He insists that His love and His peace fill it all. So come.
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