I had something happen that has never happened to me before. Sometime during the night, I awoke with a bible verse in my mind: Isaiah 36:10. Now, I know my bible fairly well, but this was not a verse with which I was familiar.
In the morning, I got up, pulled out my bible, and read it. Here’s what the verse says:
Have I now come up without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it’.”
In this statement, we see a clear difference of opinion as to who is on God’s side. The person who is being spoken to thinks they are on God’s side. The person speaking believes they are on God’s side.
Now, why would God lead me to this verse? I’d like to unravel this question and the answer I’ve arrived at. To explain it, I need to first describe the background to this verse.
The Background of Isaiah 36:10
If we look closely at the context, we find that the story takes place during the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah. The Assyrians have come and threaten to destroy Jerusalem. The one who is speaking is the General of the Assyrian Army, Rabshakeh (we’ll call him Rab). He is speaking to the Hebrews inside the walls of Jerusalem. Not wanting Rab to frighten the people of Jerusalem, the Judeans call out to him, saying: “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak with us in Judean in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” (Is. 36:11).
What did Rab do? At the top of his lungs, he called out in Judean so that all would understand him, telling the Judeans that Hezekiah would not save them, that their God would not save them, and that they were all “doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine” (vs. 12).
Humanly speaking, this was devastating news. In their time, the Assyrians were the most violent and cruel of conquerors. No wonder the leaders of Judah didn’t want the common people to know what Rab was saying. On the other hand, by Rab speaking plainly so that all the people could understand him, the Judeans knew the situation they faced. And they turned to God to protect them.
In Isaiah 37:35, God said: “I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.” In the end, 185,000 of the Assyrians died, and the Assyrians returned home in defeat and disgrace.
The Application
Here’s a general principle that I take away from this story: When faced with adversity, face it squarely and honestly. Rather than try to interpret what the “Assyrians” say, putting some sort of spin on their words so as not to frighten those who will be affected, find a way so that all of your people will know exactly what the Assyrians are saying in their own words. Consider the following example from the Presbyterian Denomination.
College Corner Presbyterian Church in College Corner, Ohio, is a member of the Presbyterian Church USA. They are seeking to leave their denomination. Now, as with other denominations, such as the Methodists and the Episcopalians, there is an ongoing debate as to who owns the property of the local church. The denominations say the property is held in trust for the denomination, while the local members say they’re the ones who own the church property they worship in.
When College Corner indicated that it would hold a meeting of its congregation to vote on leaving the denomination, the Presbytery voted to issue a written warning indicating that the pastor and elders of that congregation ran the risk of being removed for seeking to leave the denomination.
What, exactly, did the denominational authorities say regarding College Corner, and also another church in Indianapolis called Wallace Street Presbyterian? The answer can be found in the Whitewater Presbytery June 4, 2008 First Reading papers. One can access the entire document at http://www.whitewatervalley.org/business/presby_meetings/docs/June_08_First.pdf . The Presbytery created something called the Committee on Ministry to review the cases of these two churches. On page 14 of that document, one can read the following:
“The Presbytery by this action shall delegate to the commission the following powers, to take effect when it should become evident to the commission that minister(s) or congregation members are moving toward expressing a desire for separation and the reconciliation is not likely:
a. Access to all church records, including but not limited to: membership rolls, minutes of session and all boards and committees, financial records, membership directories, newsletters, and materials distributed for congregational information.
b. Authority to call a congregational meeting (G-7.0303a(2) and to obtain current and accurate membership lists from the church for this purpose.
c. Authority to engage appropriate legal counsel.
d. Authority to take all necessary steps to discern the “true church” (G-8.0601), that is, those wishing to remain loyal to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
e. In the event that a session calls a congregational meeting for the purpose of considering actions leading to separation from the PCUSA, the commission shall have authority to dissolve the session and assume the full powers and jurisdiction of the session. In the event that this has occurred prior to this action of presbytery, the power shall be effective immediately. With the full authority of the session, the commission shall be empowered to:
i. Provide for worship and for the continuing pastoral care of all of the congregation
ii. Receive and act on request from members to be transferred or deleted from the membership rolls.
iii. Determine and negotiate distribution of all property and assets of the congregation, with any final resolution to be recommended to the Presbytery Council for approval; Council will subsequently present its recommendations to the presbytery.
f. Authority to dissolve the pastoral relationship upon evidence that the pastor has advocated separation from the denomination or upon renunciation of jurisdiction, fully observing the due process requirements of the Constitution [G-9.0505b(2), G-6.0701, G-6.0702].
The COM welcomes any opportunity to have conversations with other ministers, elders, or church members who have concerns about the denomination or presbytery. The COM also appreciates the contact from congregation members who are concerned that their church leadership is contemplating separation, so that reconciliation and open communication may be achieved.”
As God allowed Rab the Assyrian Speak to the Judeans, So Let the Denomination Speak to Its Congregations
My journey began with a bible verse the Lord put in my mind. It ended with reading the Presbyterian Denomination’s own words on an issue of interest to me. Having read the above statements, one is lead to ask a series of questions:
1. If the Presbyterian Denominational Authorities can threaten to take action to remove the pastors and the session of College Corner and Wallace Street Presbyterian Churches, replacing them with “their” people and then “Determine and negotiate distribution of all property and assets of the congregation,” what is to prevent them from threatening any church that seeks to ask its own membership what they think about staying in the denomination, or leaving it?
2. By stating that they would “negotiate distribution of all property and assets of the congregation,” hasn’t the denomination admitted that the church property in question is NOT held in trust for the denomination?
3. How is encouraging “contact from congregation members who are concerned that their church leadership is contemplating separation” different from the thought police of totalitarian regimes who attempt to entice and coerce their citizens to inform on one another?
4. Finally, one might ask how any church could even seek to communicate with its members that the denominational powers would make such threats?
The answer to these questions, it seems, is to allow the denominational authorities to speak their own words in plain English to those who are so threatened, just as Rabshakeh the Assyrian spoke in plain Judean to the citizens of Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah. Then, those who hear, read, and understand these words will have the opportunity to pray, think, and ask the denominational leaders to explain why the free exercise clause of the First Amendment of the Constitution has been set aside by the Presbyterian Church, United States of America.
As in the days of Hezekiah, we must walk by faith. Because he was willing to face adversity squarely and honestly, turning the results over to God, there was a revival in Israel during his reign. Had he chosen to not turn to God, I am sure that the Assyrians would have destroyed Jerusalem.
I think that is the message for Christians in our day. Regardless of how God will act, we must, like Hezekiah, follow Him, and simply trust God to decide who is on His side.