8 "Remember this, fix it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. 9 Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. 10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please." (Isaiah 46:8-10)
Author George Santayana once wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (Reason in Common Sense, The Life of Reason, Vol.1). This quote has appeared in various forms throughout human history, underscoring the truth that when we forget about the past we often regret it. Unfortunately, it's easy to forget. However, there are things that we do that can help us remember the past and, hopefully, the lessons that it holds. We observe holidays to commemorate significant events of the past that have shaped our world. We build memorials to those who have led, invented, sacrificed, or perished in the past to remember what they have contributed to our current lives. We mint coins, commemorate stamps, name buildings, set aside parks, etc. as ways to remember the significant events, people, and occurrences of the history that has made us what we are.
Despite our efforts to remember the past and all that it holds for us, we tend to forget it. The problem we have with history is that it is in the past. We are much more oriented toward the present — even the moment — that we are toward the past. We see the things that are memorialized as having happened a long time ago. Much of them occurred in places that are far away. Most of them seem very far removed from our daily lives. While we may recognize the importance of what others have done for us, we don't realize the degree of sacrifice that others have made on our behalf. We, like the generations before us, refuse to learn the lessons that others have learned at a great cost. Even when they are clearly put before us, we rebelliously insist that our lives and experiences are different. We're sure that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated in our lives. Our certainty condemns us.
While we are naturally inclined to disregard the lessons of human history, we are even more disposed to ignoring the history of the divine narrative of the Bible. Like the generations of believers who have preceded us, we need to be reminded of what God has done for us and how it is significant in our lives. It's easy to forget these things when we are caught up in daily life and focused on earthly things. It's also easy to see what God has done for us as things that happened a long time ago in faraway places that have little to do with modern day life. God knows our tendencies and calls our attention to them when He calls us rebels. And rebels we are. We recognize that we have rebelled against the Law of God through our many sins. But we are also rebels when we refuse to pay close attention to the history of God and His people. This history was written for our learning and understanding. More than that, this history has been preserved for us because it is our history. By calling our history to mind, God intends to spare us from the errors of our fathers — and the deadly consequences of those errors. But more than the failures of the past, God wants us to understand who we are in His sight by remembering the mighty acts through which He has rescued and redeemed us. Because we are rebels, we would rather think that we've done what was needed to be good in God's sight. We conveniently forget His Word, our previous bondage to sin, and how helpless we really were before He came to us. Forgetting these things puts us at risk of repeating the errors of our forefathers. Forgetting these things is joining in their rebellion.
God calls us to "remember the former things" so that we don't endure the calamities that plagued our forefathers. When we remember the mighty acts of God's deliverance through the ages, we also remember that greatest of all acts that God performed for our deliverance. It happened a long time ago in a place far away, but it came to close to us and remains with us. In His promise in the Garden, God made "known the end from the beginning." In time He fulfilled His promises in the death of the Promised One on the Cross of Calvary. It may have happened long ago in a place far away, but it is a present reality for all who have been Baptized into His death and resurrection. God calls us to remember His ultimate act of deliverance, to fix it in our minds, and take it to heart, because we are redeemed rebels who have experienced the most dramatic event in all of history through the circumcision of our hearts. Each day we live in the newness of the life He has given us by dying for us. Every moment of our lives is defined by this incomparable act of love, mercy, and grace. Remember this? How could we possibly forget it?
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