A Polished Arrow

[The Light Revealed: As Inclusive]

To bring up a bit of background to this morning’s text… it comes in a time in Israel’s history that
is filled with troubles. To help prepare us for this text, we need to have a quick glimpse of the
historic timeline of the nation of Israel. Beginning with 900 years before Christ’s birth, the good
and wise King Solomon dies, and the sons can’t decide who will lead in his place. The kingdom
becomes divided into two… a church split.

Nine tribes form the Southern Kingdom known as Judah, and the three remaining tribes form the
Northern Kingdom known as Israel. They enter a time of great stress and fighting between the
two kingdoms. The one great nation of Israel… has now been split. Trouble.

Fast forward a few years, and we see Egypt’s rise to power… starts conquering land. Assyria
rises to power and IT begins conquering land. You have the Babylonian Empire rising in power
and conquering land. Trouble… trouble… and MORE trouble!

This leads us into 700 BC… (200 years after the death of the great King Solomon), the great
Northern Kingdom… the nation of Israel… is fallen! Leaving just Judah. Trouble.

600 BC… Judah falls. This begins what is known as the Babylonian Exile. Israel and Judah are
destroyed and decimated and all its people are scattered like dust in the wind. Trouble…
trouble… trouble… trouble. Both kingdoms are gone… the people are no longer even together.
All hope… (it seems) is lost!

That is the setting where our scripture text lives and breathes. Our scripture text is given to us by
the prophet Isaiah, and he is writing in response to all of this “trouble”… he writes to his people:
exiled… completely defeated and destroyed after all this conflict. He writes to his people, and he
begins addressing the exiles back in Chapter 40… and his first words are this:

“Comfort, O comfort my people Israel, says my God”

“Comfort…. O comfort.” That is how he starts. And he keeps going for 20 more chapters…
addressing a people who have been destroyed, a people who have been lost, a people who have
been exiled to Babylon. What do you suppose they “hope” for? They are looking for a savior! A
savior to rescue them and deliver them home.

And so, that is what Isaiah gives them. Here, in beautiful language… Isaiah gives them the
savior they hunger for! So hear these words again, and listen closely knowing the context behind
all of this:

Isaiah 49:1-7 NIV

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

Now… pay very special attention to this next part:

“he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, "You are
my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." 4 But I said, "I have labored to no
purpose;”

They’ve been kicked out of their homeland! They have lost the war! Their army is decimated!
They are down and out and they shout at the Lord:

"I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due
me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." 5 And now the LORD says-- he
who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to
himself,” (Here he’s talking about bringing them BACK HOME!) for I am honored in the eyes
of the LORD and my God has been my strength-- 6 he says: "It is too SMALL a thing for you to
be my servant (here he is talking about his servant Jesus and Israel together) to restore the tribes
of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. (If God was going to bring them home, that
fine… but God wants them to know he has MUCH LARGER PLANS FOR THEM!)

He continues, “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to
the ends of the earth." 7 This is what the LORD says-- the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel-- to
him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: (Again, he’s talking
about Jesus… which is odd because they want a savior - a conquering king - to take them home,
and here Isaiah is talking about their savior who is despised, who is abhorred, who is servant!)
"Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, (again were talking about
Christ, Christ will bow down before princes), because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy
One of Israel, who has chosen you."

A Polished Arrow

[The Light Revealed: As Inclusive]

To bring up a bit of background to this morning’s text… it comes in a time in Israel’s history that
is filled with troubles. To help prepare us for this text, we need to have a quick glimpse of the
historic timeline of the nation of Israel. Beginning with 900 years before Christ’s birth, the good
and wise King Solomon dies, and the sons can’t decide who will lead in his place. The kingdom
becomes divided into two… a church split.

Nine tribes form the Southern Kingdom known as Judah, and the three remaining tribes form the
Northern Kingdom known as Israel. They enter a time of great stress and fighting between the
two kingdoms. The one great nation of Israel… has now been split. Trouble.
Fast forward a few years, and we see Egypt’s rise to power… starts conquering land. Assyria
rises to power and IT begins conquering land. You have the Babylonian Empire rising in power
and conquering land. Trouble… trouble… and MORE trouble!

This leads us into 700 BC… (200 years after the death of the great King Solomon), the great
Northern Kingdom… the nation of Israel… is fallen! Leaving just Judah. Trouble.

600 BC… Judah falls. This begins what is known as the Babylonian Exile. Israel and Judah are
destroyed and decimated and all its people are scattered like dust in the wind. Trouble…
trouble… trouble… trouble. Both kingdoms are gone… the people are no longer even together.
All hope… (it seems) is lost!

That is the setting where our scripture text lives and breathes. Our scripture text is given to us by
the prophet Isaiah, and he is writing in response to all of this “trouble”… he writes to his people:
exiled… completely defeated and destroyed after all this conflict. He writes to his people, and he
begins addressing the exiles back in Chapter 40… and his first words are this:

“Comfort, O comfort my people Israel, says my God”

“Comfort…. O comfort.” That is how he starts. And he keeps going for 20 more chapters…
addressing a people who have been destroyed, a people who have been lost, a people who have
been exiled to Babylon. What do you suppose they “hope” for? They are looking for a savior! A
savior to rescue them and deliver them home.

And so, that is what Isaiah gives them. Here, in beautiful language… Isaiah gives them the
savior they hunger for! So hear these words again, and listen closely knowing the context behind
all of this:

Isaiah 49:1-7 NIV

Listen to me, you islands; hear this, you distant nations: Before I was born the LORD called me;
from my birth he has made mention of my name. 2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

Now… pay very special attention to this next part:

“he made me into a polished arrow and concealed me in his quiver. 3 He said to me, "You are
my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor." 4 But I said, "I have labored to no
purpose;”

They’ve been kicked out of their homeland! They have lost the war! Their army is decimated!
They are down and out and they shout at the Lord:

"I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due
me is in the LORD’s hand, and my reward is with my God." 5 And now the LORD says-- he
who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to
himself,” (Here he’s talking about bringing them BACK HOME!) for I am honored in the eyes
of the LORD and my God has been my strength-- 6 he says: "It is too SMALL a thing for you to
be my servant (here he is talking about his servant Jesus and Israel together) to restore the tribes
of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. (If God was going to bring them home, that
fine… but God wants them to know he has MUCH LARGER PLANS FOR THEM!)

He continues, “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to
the ends of the earth." 7 This is what the LORD says-- the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel-- to
him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers: (Again, he’s talking
about Jesus… which is odd because they want a savior - a conquering king - to take them home,
and here Isaiah is talking about their savior who is despised, who is abhorred, who is servant!)
"Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, (again were talking about
Christ, Christ will bow down before princes), because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy
One of Israel, who has chosen you."

Now, we kick it up a notch. “Just going home? That is what you are whining about? You just
want to go home? That’s it? You just want to go home? You want a military leader to rescue you
and just go home? Guess what… that is too SMALL a thing. You are a POLISHED ARROW!
Just going home is too SMALL a thing. You have a very SPECIAL purpose. To just send you
home is too small a thing! It would be like taking a polished arrow and shooting a gopher!

God has been working through Israel, God has spent thousands of years preparing Israel. Israel is
a polished arrow and they just want God to pull the draw string back and just let them go home.
And Isaiah lets them know… that is TOO SMALL a thing.

Isaiah lets them know that when… WHEN their time comes… they won’t just go home… but
thy will ALSO begin the process of opening the door of salvation to EVERYBODY!

Verse 6, "It is too SMALL a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and
bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may
bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

They are whining about going home, and Isaiah lets them know that their day will come, but that
they need to remember that they ARE a polished arrow. They need to understand the purpose of
a polished arrow. What kind of target do you save a polished arrow for? You don’t wanna hit a
small target… you wanna hit a BIG target.

That is where we pull into the end in verse 7: “This is what the LORD says-- the Redeemer and
Holy One of Israel-- to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of
rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LORD,
who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

He wraps it all up, by saying Israel’s purpose is going to be to introduce the entire world to Jesus
Christ. They are a POLISHED ARROW, and God is aiming them at a BIG TARGET… that is
salvation for the entire world!
How many of you feel like a polished arrow? Because guess what, every single one of you is a
polished arrow. God has been working on you and polishing you for a very special purpose. He
has made you to fly straight, fly true, fly far and hit your target. But unfortunately, we haven’t
seen our OWN potential, and we’ve spent our energy and spent our purpose aiming at small
targets… shooting gophers!

We aim for small targets, we keep our hopes small, we keep our visions small, we keep our
ambitions small… and the word for us is… that is too SMALL a thing. You are a POLISHED
ARROW! Think about what that means.

This church is a polished arrow and our church aims too small. We want to focus on the 80
people inside these walls and the word is that is TOO SMALL A THING! Isaiah tells us who this
good news is for… it is for everyone.

Brothers and sisters, maybe it is time for all of us to take aim at a bigger target. Let the Lord
draw you back, and LET YOU FLY! Remember… you are a polished arrow… you were meant
to fly… you were meant to hit a BIG target.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.