A Generation Called to Repair the Breach

by Rani Mathai

Three weeks ago, we had an emergency call from a fellowship family calling for an hour of intercession for a young minister of a church in Kerala, my home state in India Hindu militants in his area wanted him to quit all the work of his new and vibrant church and to leave the thriving business town.  They threatened to march on the church in massive numbers on Sunday, October 13, 2002. They normally carry out their threat, as proven by their track record.  They are armed and violent, and the government generally would look the other way. We met for prayer on October 12, the Saturday evening when it would be Sunday morning in India, and about the time of their scheduled Sunday worship trusting that God's power would scatter forces of the enemy. At the prayer gathering that night we had a visiting pastor from India as well, a man fully in the know of the political trends and Christian struggles in India today. He was given a few moments to share a word. He took us to the Book of Nehemiah and spoke briefly of Nehemiah as a man of prayer and as a builder of what was ruined. He then asked us to pray as Christ would have us pray. While we pray, he said, let's especially pray for our enemies; in this case, the anti-Christian BJP government and the various Hindu organizations, and for their leaders. –  And he quoted the Words of Jesus form the Gospel of Luke. " Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.  Bless those who curse you and pray for those who spitefully use you ". He asked us to pray for these leaders by name. We realized that the Lord was speaking to us and we obeyed. God gave us the grace to recognize the power in the Words of Christ and how much authority we have in exercising that power if only we obeyed those Words. There was an immediate comfort of obedience, just doing the right thing. The results were also immediate and comforting.  We got a call the following morning to say that the Hindus indeed did march toward the church, planning to stop the people even as they would be at the church door.  But God put such a strong stir in the heart of the Indian congregation that they were in fasting and ceaseless prayer.  They decided to start arriving early, as early as 3.00 AM, enter the church, and to be in prayer.  Accordingly, by 5 AM, the entire congregation was in, and they worshipped in power till 1.00 PM that afternoon, adults and children alike.  A special detail of the police stopped the rally from entering the church premises.  They had a day of great victory on a day when they could have suffered great peril. That day, it didn't take much for us to see once again what we should have known all along: that the simplicity of the gospel is the secret of its power. It is the code of conduct for heaven.  It is the style of heaven doing business.  Yet we Christians find it very difficult to practice this simple gospel in our personal and corporate lives and that is the underlying reason for all the problems we face in our society today.  Jesus said, " Without me, you can do nothing", which also implies that with Him we can do everything.   

The people who put this conference together desire that this would not be just another multicultural conference where some people other than the white Americans get together and talk about things that they've already heard and known.  They desire that this would be a time when the Spirit of God shows the power in the simplicity of obedience resulting in changes driven by heaven.  Having said this, I would like to draw your attention to a few Scripture verses–Let's turn to Psalm 85. 

Let me read selected verses: Can you put it up on the overhead, please?

Verse 1. –Lord,You have been favorable to Your land; You have brought back the captivity of Jacob.  Verse 4: Restore us, O God of our salvation.  And cause your anger toward us to cease.

Verse 6: Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?

Verse 8: I will hear what the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and His saints.  But let them not turn back to folly.

Verse 10: Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed.

Verse 12: Yes, the Lord will give what is good: And our land will yield its increase.

God always dealt with Israel in intimacy. He would be their Provider, Healer and Defender as long as they obeyed His commandments.  If they disobeyed, He would let their enemies subdue them and they would be taken captives by foreign kings. This happened several times in their history.  But when they were in captivity, they would repent and cry out to God and God in His mercy, would deliver them. Psalm 85 is one such prayer. Look at verses 4 and 6 especially.  This is a prayer for restoration and revival.

To restore means to bring back into the original condition.  Restoration is not an easy task.  Consider the World Trade Center – if it took army size crews to clean up the debris, what it would take to restore the site to its pre 9/11 condition. The Bible has numerous examples of how God restores.  When God restores a situation or a person, there is something new and better to show for it. The scripture says the glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former.  We have human witnesses of this truth in the stories of Joseph, Job and in the prophecy of Joel. 

Restoration started in Eden itself. God created man in His own image–male and female, and He found that it was very good.  This and the variety in creation show that diversity was God's idea; not only diversity, but unity in diversity–a harmony in variety-- as well.  "and they shall become one flesh" Genesis 2: 24 says.  God's intention was that man would enjoy this oneness because of the image, intimacy and fellowship of God.  But, man, however, disobeyed and ended up choosing to work things out for himself without relying on the wisdom and resources of God.  When man made this self-centered decision, he lost his Godliness.  You know, before his fall man had the very garment God has.  What is God's garment, by the way? God's garment is light–His glory.  Psalm 104 verse 2 says, "You cover yourself with light as with a garment".  So God's garment is light and Adam and Eve before their fall had this very light as their garment, but he lost that garment when he disobeyed.

Let me illustrate with a little bit of physics: Kerri, I need your help.

referenced:  http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/scienceopticsu/newton/

Sir Isaac Newton in his experiments with light and prism, showed that a beam of sunlight entering a dark room through a small hole, when intercepted with a glass prism, was dispersed into the rainbow colors as you see on the screen.  One single beam of sunlight split into seven different colors.  I believe this was what happened to Adam's generation.  God intercepted Adam when he disobeyed.  Adam's progeny was dispersed into many colors, many languages, many cultures and traditions. It is very comforting to note that even in its dispersal, the varied light came in the form of a rainbow, a symbol of God's covenant.  The dispersed light caused by Adam's fall is restored into the original beam through another restoring prism, in the form of the Second Adam, Christ Himself.  Newton�s experiment proved this as well when he showed that if the path of these rainbow colors is intercepted by another prism as you see on the screen, this time the prism inverted, these rainbow colors will combine back to form the original beam as in the beginning.  This is what Christ accomplished on the cross.  First, when man disobeyed, God intercepted him as the true and righteous Judge.  The second time to bring the dispersed colors back into one beam, He intercepted them as the merciful redeemer on the cross and reconciled man and God and man and man.  The restored man will get the very light that Adam lost in the garden.  I John 3: verse 2 says, " we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is "  See  Psalm 85 verse 10 again: " Mercy and Truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed." This is when restoration and reconciliation happens.

Now the question is how we will appropriate this gospel of restoration in our lives, our broken families and divided society.  Restoration has two important steps: repentance and forgiveness, whether it be between God and man or man and man.  " I will hear what God the Lord will speak", says the Psalmist in Psalm 85 verse 8.  Come with me to Isaiah ch. 58 to hear what the Lord speaks. Read the whole chapter on your own, but let us take a few lines for now.  This is a call for repentance to Israel which was transgressing against the Lord through rebellious spiritual corruption.

Isaiah 58 verse 1: "Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins.

Isa 58:2	Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God.
Isa 58:3	Why have we fasted, [say they], and you have not seen ? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no notice? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers.
Isa 58:6	[Is] not this the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?
Isa 58:7	[Is it] not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover them; and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
Isa 58:8	Then your light shall break forth as the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Isa 58:9	Then you shall call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I [am]. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the pointing of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10	And [if] you extend your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday:
Isa 58:12	And those from among you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of paths to dwell in.

I read verses 1-3 , 6-8, and 10-12. The Word of God clearly tells us that repentance involves justice. Not just a profession of repentance, but a true life of repentance.  This is what the Gospel also teaches us.  Loosing bonds of wickedness, undoing heavy burdens, freeing the oppressed, breaking yokes, sharing your bread with the hungry and receiving in your house the poor who are cast out.  Isn�t this the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Restoration and reconciliation will not be complete without forgiveness.  The Lord taught us to pray," forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors".  This is the most important part of my message to those who are here for the conference.  Let's undo the burdens of the past and forgive each other in the honor of the One who forgave us.  Those who are present here represent both the oppressor and the oppressed.  Isaiah 58 verse 12 reads:  �Those from among you shall build the old waste places.  You shall raise up the foundations of many generations.  And you shall be called The Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of streets to dwell in.  Repairing the Breach, that's our Mission:  We are called to be a generation to repair the breach caused by the follies of our fathers.  How do we repair the breach?  By bringing the broken parts together and joining them.  Many are trying to do this through politics, social reforms, motivational literature and workshops and even through churches and religious activities, but the breach is still there.  My book shelf has a number of books on Multiculturalism and diversity.  They all talk about tolerance, but none of them has a message of healing and restoration.  Breach occurred and still remains because the builders keep rejecting the stone�the restoring prism, if you will-- that best fits the gap. The stone that the builders rejected should become the Corner Stone.  You know the stone that the builders rejected is Christ Himself. " Unless the Lord builds the house, they that build, build in vain," says the Word of God.

You and I are called to repair the breach for the mission of reconciling the many different people that we are, who are called to be one because of what Christ has accomplished on the cross.  When we repair the breach, our streets will literally be restored to be livable and pleasant.  For this restoration to take place, we must undo the heavy burdens of the past through repentance and forgiveness.  Each of us has a part in it, whichever culture we belong to.  If we are willing to listen and obey, God will surely tell us what our part in this is.  Jesus's mother Mary at the wedding at Cana gave the summary instruction: "whatever he commands, do it ".  That's what the Psalmist also has said, "I will hear what God the Lord will speak".  Whatever he commands, whether it is to repent, or to forgive, or to make amends, let us do it AROUND THE CROSS. Then we will build the old waste places.  We will raise up the foundations of many generations and we shall be called the Repairers of the Breach and the Restorers of streets to dwell in.

And that's a MISSION POSSIBLE.

May the Lord bless you with these words.  Thank you.