5/03/17 Isaiah 1:10-20 “Are
Christians listening to God anymore?”
I note that the word used last
week for “nation” in Isaiah 1:4 (“Ah, sinful nation”) was gowy or goy. That same word is used for Gentiles
in the following:
Isaiah 49:6 – And he said, It is a
light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will
also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
So effectively, God was calling
His people Judah “Gentiles”!
Isaiah 1:10 – Hear the word of the
Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of
Gomorrah.
rulers – chief; ruler; commander (in war); dictator. Strong says
it is derived “from 07096 in the sense of
determining; a magistrate (as deciding) or other leader: — captain,
guide, prince, ruler”.
“rulers” appears to be focused upon those who
made the decisions in Judah, which may not necessarily have been the king.
Instead of the king having the overall authority in Judah, God is aiming this
at all those who have any decision-making capacity at all.
people – a people (as a congregated unit); specifically, a tribe
(as those of Israel); hence (collectively) troops or attendants; figuratively,
a flock: - folk, men, nation, people.
With “people of Gomorrah”, God is
focusing upon those who belong collectively to that group called the people, in
this case, Judah as a people rather than individuals. Once again we see that
this condemnation of Judah by God focuses upon the group as a whole rather than
upon individual people within that group.
Both Sodom and Gomorrah were
together representative of extreme evil against God. Jesus used the wickedness
of such as Sodom and Nineveh to demonstrate the level of wickedness of the
people of His day.
Matthew 11:23 – And thou, Capernaum,
which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty
works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have
remained until this day.
Luke 11:32 – The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation,
and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold,
a greater than Jonas [is] here.
But in Isaiah Judah symbolises the
wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah; in Isaiah’s day there could be no greater
condemnation. Judah has not heard the word of the Lord, nor has she paid
attention to the law of God! Like the pharisees of Jesus’ day, they would have
put on a good show of doing all the works of religion, yet totally disregarding
God’s requirements at the same time.
Isaiah 1:11 – To what purpose [is]
the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith
the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts;
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
The people were clearly carrying
out the sacrifices as required, the burnt offerings, the fat offerings, the
blood offerings. Yet none of it was the least bit satisfying to God. It didn’t
matter how much they did; here it is said to have been a multitude of
sacrifices. All the t’s were crossed and the i’s dotted, as the saying goes.
They were apparently doing everything by the book! They were “blameless”!
What was the purpose of their
multitudinous sacrifices to God? What were they doing it for? What good would
it do them? What did they hope to achieve?
But following the rules and
formulae of worship is not what God desires.
Psalm 51:16-17 – 16 For thou desirest not
sacrifice; else would I give [it]: thou delightest
not in burnt offering. 17 The sacrifices of God [are] a
broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
1 Samuel 15:22 – And Samuel said, Hath
the Lord [as great] delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in
obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey [is] better than
sacrifice, [and] to hearken than the fat of rams.
Psalm 40:6-8 – 6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears
hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. 7
Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book [it is] written
of me, 8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is]
within my heart.
All sacrifices and offerings must
be an act of worship, not ritual!
Isaiah 1:12 – When ye come to
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
When you enter in to present yourself
before Me, who has required (demanded) this by your hand (by your strength; by
your doing) to trample My courts? Who asked you to trample (the idea is of
desecration) My courts? Who asked you to desecrate My courts with your unwanted
sacrifices and offerings?
The letter of the law was being
observed, but not the spirit of the law.
Ecclesiastes 5:1 – Keep thy foot when
thou goest to the house of God, and be more ready to
hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do
evil.
Zechariah 7:5 – Speak unto all the
people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in
the fifth and seventh [month], even those seventy years, did ye at all
fast unto me, [even] to me?
What does God require of them, but
to be just and merciful, and walk humbly with their God.
Micah 6:6-8 – 6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, [and] bow
myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
calves of a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I
give my firstborn [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the
sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what [is] good;
and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
Isaiah 1:13 – Bring no more vain
oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; [it
is] iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
oblations – gift; tribute; oblation; meat (meal) offering; Pulpit
Commentary – a cake of fine flour
mingled with oil, and generally had incense joined with it.
It is translated “meat offering”
in the following:
Leviticus 7:9 – And all the meat
offering that is baken in the oven, and all that
is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be
the priest’s that offereth it.
Clearly incense was related to the
oblation; one was vain (empty; lying; worthless) and the other an abomination
(disgusting; unclean when used of ritual things).
new moons and Sabbaths – special times of religious observance. There were
special times each year which they were called to observe as a nation (calling
of assemblies). This included the Passover and the Day of Atonement.
2 Chronicles 8:13 – Even after a certain
rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three
times in the year, [even] in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the
feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles.
They were required to gather
together as a nation; such times were usually declared rest or Sabbath days in
which they were to do no work, thus being allowed time off for these
observances.
God says, “I cannot away with it (cannot
endure it; cannot put up with it); it is iniquity (trouble; wickedness;
idolatry), particularly (especially) the sacred or festive assembly (solemn meeting).”
solemn meeting – Pulpit commentary says, “The
word thus translated is applied only to particular days in the great festival
seasons, as to the eighth day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Leviticus 23:36;
Numbers 29:35; Nehemiah 8:18), and the seventh day of the Passover (Deuteronomy
16:8), or else to days specially appointed for religious services by civil
authority (2 Kings 10:20; 2 Chronicles 7:9; Joel 1:14; Joel 2:15).”
Isaiah 1:14 – Your new moons and
your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble
unto me; I am weary to bear [them].
God
hated (in the way an enemy or foreigner might hate) their special religious
observances (notably new moons and appointed feasts). They were a burden to
God; He was weary of having to put up with such observances (tired of it; sick
of it all).
trouble – burden. Used as “cumbrance”
(encumbrance) in:
Deuteronomy
1:12 – How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and
your burden, and your strife?
God is
sick and tired of their choreographed rituals. He hates them; they are a burden
on Him, an encumbrance, a stumbling block. Why do they bother with so much
ceremony when they just don’t have their hearts in it?
Deuteronomy
6:5 – And thou shalt love the Lord
thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
These
people were “loving” God with all their might, but with very little soul and
with absolutely no heart in it at all. Their hearts were elsewhere.
soul – soul; self; life; person;
appetite; mind; living being; desire; emotion; passion. God hates these useless
displays of religion with a passion (with His emotions). This was religious
ritual, just following all the “rules”!
Isaiah 1:15 – And when ye spread
forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers,
I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
When you pray with your hands held
up toward heaven …..
Psalm 63:3-4 – 3 Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life,
my lips shall praise thee. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I
live: I will lift up my hands in thy name.
….. I will refuse to look at them nor see
them. I just won’t listen or take heed.
Proverbs 1:27-29 – 27 When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction
cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. 28 Then
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but
they shall not find me: 29 For that they hated knowledge, and
did not choose the fear of the Lord:
When they cry out for Me to help, I will refuse to deliver them from their enemies.
Zechariah 11:6 – For I will no more
pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord:
but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into
the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I
will not deliver [them].
(Even though Zechariah is after
the captivity, it shows that they just won’t learn, no matter how much
judgement God brings upon them.)
your hands are full of blood – literally “full of bloods” (or bloodlettings, acts of
violence spilling blood – plural). In Vs 21 God calls them “murderers”,
probably associated with their hands being full of blood.
Isaiah 1:21 – How is the faithful
city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but
now murderers.
Note Acts 7:52 – Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted?
and they have slain them which shewed before of the coming of the Just One; of
whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers:
It may also have included the
murder of Zechariah.
2 Chronicles 24:20-21 – 20 And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, which stood above the people, and said
unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the
commandments of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye have forsaken the Lord,
he hath also forsaken you. 21 And they conspired against him,
and stoned him with stones at the commandment of the king in the court of the
house of the Lord.
This was in the days of Joash, grandfather of Uzziah, so
it is probable Isaiah was aware of this murder.
Isaiah 1:16 – Wash you, make you
clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do
evil;
make you clean – purify yourselves (spiritually).
Psalm 51:7 – Purge me with hyssop,
and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Also see Vs 18 below.
This is a spiritual cleansing in
order to restore a relationship with God. These people have broken their
relationship with their God. No longer is He their God and therefore no longer
are they His people (Jeremiah 32:38). This is the context of this passage.
Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a clean
heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Also 1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us [our] sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
put away – to cause to turn aside; to put aside; cause to depart;
reject; abolish.
They aren’t to just make sure God
doesn’t see the evil they are doing; they aren’t to simply put their
evil aside from God’s sight. Because God knows all things, there is no option
at all of being able to do something without God “seeing” it. Therefore, as the
last part of this verse emphasises, they are to cease doing (bring to an
end) their evil. There is no compromise in this, no partial withdrawal from
evil, but an abrupt and sudden end to all their evil. God will accept nothing
else but a sincere effort to be holy as God is holy.
Amos 5:14-15 – 14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the
Lord, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. 15 Hate
the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that
the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
Isaiah 1:17 – Learn to do well;
seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
relieve the oppressed – literally “set right (correct) the oppressor (the
ruthless)”.
Learn (practise) doing well (doing
right; doing good)
Seek judgment (justice) – do not
act unjustly, nor seek to be unjust toward others.
Correct (set right) those who
would oppress (weaker ones).
Ensure that orphans get proper
justice.
Plead the case for widows, be
their advocate in the courts of justice.
This is apparently applied to the
rulers who should be acting justly and to the people who were to do as proper
authority would require (see Vs 10 – the rulers of Sodom and the people of
Gomorrah).
Also note that they were required
to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God (Micah 6:8).
Isaiah 1:18 – Come now, and let us
reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be
as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.
Come now – God desires that they come to Him in order to hear the
problem and find the solution. If they don’t (won’t!) come, they cannot partake
of His mercy and grace; they will be out on their own, unable to avoid the inevitable
consequences. Jesus had similar to say to those of His day. The only solution
was for them to come, but they would not come!
Matthew 23:37 – O Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, [thou] that killest the prophets,
and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under [her] wings, and ye would not!
If only they could reason with God
(that is, hear His words on the problem and its solution), then the filth of
their sins could be as clean as snow; though their sins be red like crimson (as
with blood on their hands), they could be made as white as the wool. All it
would take is for Judah to listen and pay attention to God’s requirements.
Isaiah 5:3-7 – 3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah,
judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. 4 What could
have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when
I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? 5
And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will
take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; [and] break down
the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: c 6 And I will lay it waste:
it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall
come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no
rain upon it. 7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts [is]
the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked
for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.
Isaiah 1:19 – If ye be willing and
obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
If you would only do the right
thing and obey Me, says God, you shall once again enjoy the consequent
blessings. (That is, you, and not a foreigner or enemy, shall eat the good of
the land.) The land once again would become fruitful and productive for them,
for at that time it was only fruitful and productive for the foreigners and
enemies. Israel had been warned about their choice between the blessing and the
cursing of God; they should have known!
Deuteronomy 11:26-28 – 26 Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;
27 A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your
God, which I command you this day: 28 And a curse, if ye will
not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way
which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.
Isaiah 1:20 – But if ye refuse and
rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken [it].
Here’s the other side of the coin:
the blessing for obedience in Vs 19, and now the cursing for disobedience. If
they continued to refuse to obey God, if they continued to rebel against His
laws and statutes, then there was only one way: downhill to destruction, here
noted as the devouring by the sword. (See the two options in Deuteronomy
11:26-28 above.)
rebel – be rebellious toward a father, or toward God. That is,
rebellious against authority, against rules and laws.
hath spoken – spoken or promised, as used in Isaiah 1:2.
If they refuse to obey God, then
He has spoken (has promised) that even Jerusalem (that hut in the vineyard, etc, see Isaiah 1:7-8) will now be eaten up by the swords
of the enemy. It is the word of God; it is not just a spoken statement but a
promise that will not be broken.
Every one of God’s statements is
the equivalent of a promise; God has spoken and He will make it good.
Numbers 23:19 – God [is] not a
man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he
said, and shall he not do [it]? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make
it good?
Churches today are going through
the motions of their works of religion. They are even dictating to God what He
is and isn’t allowed to do for His people. Their God may bless them but not
curse them. He may not be permitted to let them fall into trials and
tribulations unless they have sinned, and He must bless with health, wealth and
good relationships all those who raise holy hands unto the Lord! (And, of
course, pay their tithes into the bank account of the pastor!) As long as the
church social gathering is large enough, God is clearly blessing them. As long
as the pastor has a nice house and a good car, God is blessing him. And their God
blesses such Christian groups with harmony and accord, and any who might
dissent are advised to toe the line or take their trouble elsewhere. Of course,
this includes those pesky trouble-makers who dare question the doctrines of
their leaders; such people are clearly not genuine Christians, or else they
would be more supportive of their pastor and leaders. Don’t they know their
pastor is always right?!
Nor should Christians leave their
churches simply because of its alleged doctrinal heresies; if the pastor says
it is true Biblical doctrine, then what unqualified person may argue or
dissent? Only the pastor and leaders now have the right to determine good and
bad doctrine; all others must listen and obey! Is the music too worldly? That’s
no excuse to leave your friendly neighbourhood church! But have they actually
asked God or listened to Him as to what He might want? Tested all
things? Probably not.
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