Comfort and Conquest
Between the introduction of the Mercedes-Benz Gelandewagen in 1979 and the current 2023 model for sale today, the sweet spot is probably 2014’s G63 AMG. This G-wagon shares character strengths common to any G: military-chic styling, formidable off-road capability, and vault-like doors. It has gobs of power; with 536 horsepower, this three-ton truck traps 105 mph in the quarter mile. Yet it lacks the modernity built into the new-for-2021 models, which has rack-and-pinion steering and independent front suspension (like a Civic). Its steering wheel is squared off at the bottom (like a GTI) and has a red stripe at the top (like a Porsche). A truck like that is just a little too close to being a car, and a little too believable as a cinderblock with a 149-mph top speed.
But the generation before this, with its log axle front suspension and recirculating-ball steering, fits in that sweet spot of automotive insanity. It’s a leather-lined tank, a G.I. Joe in stilettos, an apparent rupture in the laws of physics.
The Biblical book of Isaiah has a sweet spot too, one that seems to defy reason: Chapter 40. In the first 39 chapters, God responds to the unfaithfulness, selfishness, hatefulness, stubbornness, and forgetfulness of His people. They went back to nations that had enslaved them, and asked for protection. Their priests and prophets abused beer and wine. The people viewed God’s law – intended to guide and protect them, and reveal Himself to them – as a nagging to-do list. Israel’s spiritual wanderings have a physical cost, and God let other nations conquer them. This is described in great detail, until chapter 40:
“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.” (verses 1-2)
The original Hebrew text for these verses translates similarly to “encourage.” Why should Israel be encouraged? How are they supposed to find comfort?
He lavishes comfort onto His people before He explains how it’s going to happen, during a time when it’s not entirely believable. Eventually, chapter 41 and the following 11 chapters describe God, and how no one but Him can provide this. He has more power than earthly rulers, for in fact He created the heavens and everything therein, which the astrologers and stargazers use to make meaningless prophecies. He is more useful than some mute idol made of gold, because he listens and even responds to anyone who calls on Him. He’s about to show some muscle and empower Israel to conquer some of the nations that oppressed them. Those nations will suffer from God’s conquest, but Israel, God’s chosen people, will feel comfort.
Chapter 52 explains God’s method for delivering His people, and us: Jesus. Within God’s righteous justice, there’s a sweet spot, and it’s incredibly narrow. Only Jesus made it, and there’s comfort through his conquest against sin and death, offered to people God has redeemed, who are fully justified by the sacrifice of Jesus.
Justified by God? It would make more sense if we did what we were supposed to all the time. Or if God looked at how hard we tried to do good, had pity on us, and bent the rules a little. Or if the path that leads to God were wide enough to allow a variety of activities that seem normal or feel good. That would make sense.
But no, we’re not a car-like 2023 G63. We’re a truck with century-old technology, completely incapable of being sporty or comfortable. And God comes along, replaces our heart with one overflowing with things that don’t make sense like love for people who don’t like us, honesty when bending the truth is so much easier, and purity when everything around us seems dirtier and dirtier. He upholsters us with Jesus’ blood-stained linens and makes us totally clean, and now we have His comfort and His power.
