Wednesday, March 13

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Wednesday

In 1 Corinthians 1:19 Paul quotes the Old Testament Scriptures, “For it is written; I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” 

This quotation comes from Isaiah 29:14.  The “wisdom of the wise” in Isaiah refers to political shrewdness, and Paul applies it generically to every form of human wisdom that exalts its own cleverness. The point is this: All human schemes that fail to take God into account will run aground.

“Woe to the obstinate children,” declares the Lord, “to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; who go down to Egypt without consulting me.  - Isaiah 30:1-2

Isaiah mocks the failed scheming of the worldly-wise Jerusalem politicians who sought to ensure Israel’s safety. Their clever statecraft came to naught, because their alliance with Egypt so alarmed Assyria that it sparked the invasion they sought to avoid. The prophet reminds them that God is the Creator and humans are mere creations, and that God will turn things upside down. 

You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay!  Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”?  Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?   - Isaiah 29:16

God’s rescue strategy opts for what appears to be weakness in this situation by allowing Jerusalem to become besieged and crushed before rescuing it.  God doesn’t need human help. He set aside the cleverness of the wise. Paul illustrates the word of the cross with this story from the history of the Hebrew people of how God works, especially in terms of human redemption. God does not need anyone but Himself to accomplish His plan of salvation.

This was true in Isaiah’s day, it was true when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians, and it is still true today.  The power of the cross can penetrate even the darkest place and it can overcome any obstacle.

In 1969, the Fernsehturm (In English: television tower) opened in the center of East Berlin, Germany. The tower dominated the East Berlin skyline and served as a television tower as well as a dome-shaped restaurant. The Communist government placed it near a church intentionally so that it would dominate over it.  It was designed to be a powerful political symbol of their superiority and might.  But when the tower was completed, something unexpected and amazing happened during the commemoration ceremony.  As the Communist officials and political leaders stood at the foot of the tower and looked up in pride, the sun broke through the clouds and hit the globe-shaped glass dome of the tower.  Illuminated by the light of the sun, a huge bright cross reflected from the dome shining over the city of East Berlin. The Communists were furious.  In their "superiority" they had forgotten to consider this physical phenomenon. They tried everything they could to get rid of the cross. They painted the dome, used physical distortion techniques, tried to cover it up. Nothing helped.  Just as they could not get rid of the sun they could not get rid of the bright shinning cross reflecting from the dome of the East Berlin television tower across the city. President Ronald Reagan referred to the tower in his famous “Tear Down the Wall” speech in 1987.  He said: “Yet even today when the sun strikes that sphere, that sphere that towers over all Berlin, the light makes the sign of the cross. There in Berlin, like the city itself, symbols of love, symbols of worship, cannot be suppressed."

There has never been and there will never be anything like the power of the cross!

Jeff Frazier