Skip to main content

Their sin Against God's glorious Presence. Isaiah 3:1-26

Their sin Against God's glorious Presence. Isaiah 3:1-26

In the book of Isaiah Jerusalem and Judah were being judged because of various reasons. God pronounces judgement in verses 1-5 saying "He is about to take both supply and support" because of the unbeliever's sin. He says He is going to remove all supplies of food and all supplies of water, the hero and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder, the captain of fifty and the man of rank, the councelor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter. God through Isaiah says He will make youths their officials and children will rule over them! People will oppress each other, man against man, neighbor against neighbor, the young will rise up against the old, the nobody against the honored.

If you read the entire chapter you will see that it is God who is judging them because of their sins! In verse 8 God is fighting with them saying "Jerusalem staggers, Judah is falling" then God gives one of the reasons why He is judging them "their words and deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence." They parade their sin and they do not hide it, (these people must have been pretty sinful) "Woe to them, they have brought disaster upon themselves." What catches my attention is that they sinned against God's "glorious presence." How can a people be so far removed from God, (answer: because of their sins), that they defied the Glory of God's Holiness and the respect and fear, that is due to our Lord? It might have taken years for their sins to reach the point that they did, and God was always watching, and He judged them!

Another sin the people were committing were that the youths of that day were oppressing God's people, (verse 12) and the women were sinning greatly too. They had a false religion leading the people astray, which were turning God's people away from righteousness. They were also oppressing the poor and vulnerable, (verse 14) "grinding the faces of the poor and crushing them" (verse 15). These sins were serious enough for the Lord to take action, but along with the judgment God tells Isaiah to tell the righteous that it will be well with them during this time of judgement,(verse 10) "for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds." God is gracious here. Then He goes on to say "Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what they have done."

In contrast to the righteous, the wicked do not receive God's comfort and provision during this time of judgement, but receive God's full displeasure. Even with this judgement, God doesn't make a full end of the people (4:2) and promises to cleanse the people (that are left) and cleanse the land. What lessons can we learn from Isaiah's day, and how can we apply these lessons today? We must quickly turn from our sins, and pray for God's mercy and healing and for His Presence to return to this Land. This is Mike.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Catholic Identity.

  I was born into the Catholic Church and was baptized as an infant, I had my first communion and reconciliation as a child, and was confirmed as a teenager. Although I was never devout, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Saviour when I was 21 through an evangelical Christian radio ministry, which in turn gave new life to my Catholic faith. Although I remained a Catholic, I identified as a born again Christian. It wasn’t until much later in my life that I learned the difference between the two denominations and what they taught about being born again. Regardless, there was a significant change in my life back then, which continues to this day. Being Catholic is much like an identity to me and I remember growing up under the papacy of St. Pope John Paul II. The culture I grew up in was largely affected by his papacy, and the way the culture viewed the church was significantly different from the way the current culture views it. Growing up, the pope didn’t try to be rele...
1 comment
Read more

Age of Brokenness.

  We are living in an age of brokenness, no matter what age you are, you probably have been touched with relationships falling apart, which causes more and more people to live in isolation. In this generation there is less of an incentive to heal and reconcile relationships, but that doesn’t excuse the amount of people who are broken. Why people don’t seem to be motivated to heal relationships is because our beliefs about faith and God have changed, really giving us less of an incentive to do what our religion says. If I act from my personal beliefs, but the person that I am responding to has abandoned religious beliefs, than the response to my wanting things to be better can be misinterpreted and rejected then by someone else. Generally when a society has expectations about broken relationships, loneliness and isolation, and the beliefs are generally accepted, society becomes a more compassionate society, because all value the same things. When religious values are undermined and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

  “Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17).   Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...
Post a Comment
Read more