RELEASE FROM DARK DUNGEONS

I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon
those who sit in darkness.

Isaiah 42:6-7 (read 42:1-7) NIV

Human eyes are blind to Divine will. The Jews expected the coming of a warrior messiah to put the nation of Israel in the position of supremacy above all nations with them facing toward Jerusalem to receive the light of salvation. They are still waiting! The present day State of Israel is a contradiction to both scriptural and secular standards of righteousness and justice in spite of the Zionist use of “proof texts” to support it.

Many Christians today await the return of a powerful triumphant Christ to establish a Kingdom of peace in the world, with the condemnation of the wicked to eternal torment in hell and the rewarding of the good with endless paradise. They, too, are still waiting!

Both Jews and Christians rely on divine violence to enforce justice and peace. The Jews rejected Jesus because he is not the mighty warrior savior of conquest and liberation. Christians place their ultimate hope in a vindictive Christ instead of in a vulnerable and peaceful Jesus. In the meantime they tolerate armed conflict and injustice.

A careful reading of Isaiah 42.1-7 shows the nature of the person who announces the will of God for all people of the world: “He will not shout or cry out or raise his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out… In his teaching the islands will put their hope.” The light of his teachings would open the blind eyes and release the prisoners from their dark prisons.

The prophet Isaiah indicates that God is pleased with those who do not use force and who respect the broken and the weak. The opening of the eyes of the blind comes before the setting free of the prisoners. The worst blindness is the blindness of closed eyes. Our human tendency is to close our eyes to the truths that trouble us and to live in a world of illusions. Living with closed eyes results in living in dark prisons. A closed mind enslaves.

Often evangelization consists of exchanging one prison for another. When we adopt the posture of possessing the whole truth we think we have the right to impose this truth to others. This "truth" becomes another dark prison. We enter into a state of denial by closing our eyes to everything that is not within that “truth”. Speech is dangerous because it can be used to build new prisons. Testimony, not proclamation, can lead the blind to open their eyes and get out of a prison while avoiding the falling into another one.

ISAIAH 42:1-7 – NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)

“Here is my servant, whom I uphold,

    my chosen one in whom I delight;

I will put my Spirit on him,

    and he will bring justice to the nations.

He will not shout or cry out,

    or raise his voice in the streets.

A bruised reed he will not break,

    and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.

In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;

     he will not falter or be discouraged

till he establishes justice on earth.

    In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”

This is what God the Lord says—

the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,

    who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,

    who gives breath to its people,

    and life to those who walk on it:

“I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;

    I will take hold of your hand.

I will keep you and will make you

    to be a covenant for the people

    and a light for the Gentiles,

to open eyes that are blind,

    to free captives from prison

    and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.