Father Of Your Nation (part 2 of 2)

It was in response to that which occurred under the reign of Manasseh that the Creator God is reported to have made His irrevocable, though temporarily stayed decree of destruction, saying “Manasseh misled them so that they sinned more than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed from before the Israelites.  So the Lord announced through his servants the prophets: ‘King Manasseh of Judah has committed horrible sins. He has sinned more than the Amorites before him and has encouraged Judah to sin by worshiping his disgusting idols.’  So this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring disaster on Jerusalem and Judah… I will destroy Jerusalem… I will wipe Jerusalem clean… I will abandon this last remaining tribe among My people and hand them over to their enemies’” (2 Kings 21:9b-14a).  Again, it should be noted that the conquering was connected to the performance of the father of the nation---the king.  In the companion to the historical record, Isaiah addresses the conquering by Babylon with His report of Israel’s God saying “So I defiled your holy princes, and handed Jacob over to destruction, and subjected Israel to humiliating abuse” (43:28). 

To broaden the scope of this study and to bring the rest of the world into consideration according to the perspective of the Scriptural narrative, it would not be improper to think of Adam as the father of the human nation (spokesman and king).  In conjunction with that, it can be freely admitted that he sinned (failed to bear the divine image), as he was not faithful to the covenant that the Creator God had established with and through him.  Adam had been made as the Creator God’s image in and for the creation and was given stewardship and rule over that creation, but he is reported to have rebelled against his Creator. 

As this is considered and one looks back to the passage from Isaiah, it is possible to see that the defiling of the holy prince, the handing over of Jacob to destruction, and the subjection of Israel to humiliating abuse, goes far beyond the conquering of the nation of Israel, whether by Assyria or Babylon.  It goes all the way back to Adam, includes Israel, and points to Jesus.  Jesus, the Messiah and the king of Israel, would come to be seen as representative of His people.  He would eventually be understood to be their holy prince.  He was Jacob.  He was Israel, their father and spokesman.  As the second Adam, He also stands for all of humanity in the same role, though He was not unfaithful to His covenant charge, and of course, He did not rebel against His calling. 

Israel had been called out by their God to be His covenant people, and to be His instruments to embody His covenant faithfulness in the world, to deal with evil, and to set the world to rights.  So too was Jesus.  Just as believers are called by their Lord to share in the world’s, and in so doing, be salt and a light and a reflection of God’s glory that would draw all men to Him, so too was Israel.  As Israel embodied, Jesus fulfills that role, doing so by experiencing the defiling, the destruction, and the humiliating abuse of the cross, taking all of death’s power upon Himself, and defeating that power by coming out of the grave, in the power of the Resurrection granted to Him by the Creator God of Israel. 

Having fulfilled that role as and for Israel, Jesus then fulfills it for the wider world---the nations and the creation itself, by taking up the role that had been assigned to Adam, as the father of the world-encompassing nation that is the kingdom of God, to steward the Creator God’s good and renewed creation through that kingdom that is present and active whenever and wherever somebody claims allegiance to Jesus and acts according to His kingdom agenda as presented in the Gospels.  In essence then, Jesus carries out this task of fulfillment of the role given to the divine image-bearers in union with those that live in a trusting, faithful allegiance to Him as their King. 

As believers lay claim to Jesus and preach the Gospel of the crucified and resurrected Lord of all, they may very well find opportunity to share in defiling, destruction, and humiliating abuse.  When this occurs, despair should not their lot, but only trust, as they look to the words that follow hard on this message from the Creator God in Isaiah, in which He informs His people: “Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob… whom I have chosen!” (44:2b)