The opening verse of the book gives a very brief introduction to the prophet.
The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. (Isaiah 1:1 RSV)
In that historical note we learn that Isaiah carried on his ministry through the reign of four kings. (He actually was put to death during the reign of the son of Hezekiah, Manasseh, one of the most evil kings of Judah, just before the Southern Kingdom was carried away to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar.) So Isaiah lived during a time of great unrest. Israel was surrounded by enemies and criss-crossed with invading armies. It was a time of threat, danger and desolation. This was when the prophet was sent to declare to this people the cause of their misery.
The Jewish people are often referred to as the "chosen people." (Eskimos are God's frozen people. The Jews are God's chosen people.) The Jews were not so called because they were superior to other peoples, however. The Bible is careful to point out that God chose them, not because they were smarter, richer or greater than others, but as a sample nation, a picture of how God deals with the nations of earth.
He also chose them, of course, as the channel through which the Messiah would come. Speaking to the Samaritan woman, Jesus himself repeated the statement of the Old Testament, "Salvation is of the Jews."
Some would ask, why bother with this ancient history about a people who lived thousands of years ago, a history that cannot possibly have any bearing upon us today? To that, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament says that "all these things happened to Israel as types (or portraits) for our edification," (1 Corinthians 10:11). In the Old Testament we see ourselves portrayed. The problems it pictures are the same problems we face today. This becomes obvious in Verses 2-3 of this opening chapter. God says through the prophet:
This summons by God applies at all times and in all places. The problem is that the children whom he lovingly took care of, and to whom he gave tremendous opportunities, turned their backs on him in rebellion and walked in their own ways. God also pinpoints the most painful thing about the blindness of these rebellious children, that is, their ingratitude. Even animals, he says, know better. The ox knows his owner and the ass his master's crib. Animals are grateful for their loving care, but not the children of men. That highlights one of the problems this book of Isaiah confronts: Why is it that mankind is so blind to the goodness and mercy of God?
Every breath we breathe is by the mercy of God. Everything comes from his providing hand. But man ignores and turns his back upon all that, and then goes about saying that only man matters. That is incredible blindness. But that is the problem that Isaiah faces here. God analyzes the situation in Israel in one verse.Here we will see the parallel to our own times. Verse 4:
First, God says, Israel is a sinful nation. Man is not what he was made to be. He does not function the way he ought to. Sin -- that is, selfishness, self-centeredness. We are all afflicted with a tendency to take care of ourselves first, to look out for number one.
Secondly, God says, these people are "ladened" because of sin. Think of the heavy burdens that come upon us because of this urge to self-centeredness within us.
People have turned their backs on the living God, and do not like to acknowledge that he has any part in human affairs.
Further, God declares, "they have despised the Holy One of Israel." They have blasphemed the God of Glory, they have insulted his majesty.
The ultimate result is, "they are utterly estranged." They are alienated, we would say. People are alienated from God and from each other. History confirms that when you lose God, you lose man as well. You can only understand man when you understand God, for man is made in the image of God. To lose the image of God is to lose the image of man.
Isaiah goes on to use a vivid figure to describe the consequences of this.
The prophet goes on to describe the consequences of this seven-fold indictment of the people of Israel.
What vivid figures are employed to show the desolation that follows when people turn their backs on the living God! When there is a persistent refusal to acknowledge God, then the defenses are removed. Invaders take over and make life desolate and dreary, in the case of both individuals and nations.
But, as we see in this picture, it is not that at all. It is God in his mercy, trying to awaken someone. He tries to awaken a nation that will not hear, and make them listen to what he has to say. Often that is the explanation for many of the trials we face.
C.S. Lewis said, "Pain is God's megaphone. He whispers to us in our pleasures, He speaks to us in our work, but He shouts at us in our pain."
Many times we have seen someone who will not pay heed to what he is doing to himself and his loved ones until God lays him on a bed of sickness or he suffers an accident. Then he will listen. That is what God says is happening to Judah.
What is Judah's reaction to this? They know they are the people of God and that God is upset with them, so they try to remedy things, not by a turnabout, where they give way to the grace and mercy of God, but by a religious performance -- a shallow and external pretense of worship, Verse 10:
God is no pagan deity whose anger is mollified by bloody sacrifices. No, those are symbols, he says, and he has had enough of symbols which are empty.
What good are empty religious exercises that do not involve the heart, where there is no change in the life? These are merely play-acting and charade, designed to keep God happy so he will not destroy your plans or cancel your prerogatives.
God is saying, "If your heart is not in it, if you do not mean what you sing, and what you say, it is nauseating to me." What does God want, then? If religious ritual and beautiful, well-planned services don't do it, what will satisfy him? He tells Judah and us in very plain language, Verse 16:
Here are two steps, one negative, one positive: stop doing wrong; start doing right. This is what God wants. The sign of true faith is obedience and service. If these are not present, then the expressions of faith that you are offering are nauseating in his sight.
God's analysis of the human race is that we are tainted with self-centeredness so that we do not want to do good, basically. We want to minister to our own needs and our own lives. But when we hear his command, "Wash yourself, stop sinning, look out for others," the question arises, how can evil people do good things?
This cry is answered in the next three verses. This is the theme of the book of Isaiah. "Come now," God says, "let us reason together."
It could not be put any plainer. There is no help in man himself. We cannot heal ourselves. We need more than our habits changed. We ourselves need to be changed, and that change can only occur in a relationship with the living God.
This is the good news, this is the gospel. It looks forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and the shedding of his blood, his taking our place that God might put our sins upon him, and, thus, enable him to give us the gift of righteousness so that our hearts will be changed. Selfishness is not taken away but it is overcome by the gift of love.
Isaiah is true to his name: "God saves." "Yahweh saves." Only he can do it.
That is the message of Isaiah.
There may be some here this morning who have been attempting to clean up their own lives. People get the urge to stop doing things that obviously are hurting themselves and others. Yet it never seems to work. They may stop temporarily, but then another bad habit surfaces and soon they return to their old ways. There is no power to change. But the gospel, the beautiful good news, is that God has found a way to break through the human problem to give us a changed heart and teach us a new way of living.
It is the business of people who have been born again to keep on learning from his Word how God thinks, to obey that Word, and then to reach out and meet the human needs we find all around us.
Reflection:
I know this is a bit long even though I have actually tried to cut short a lot of things to help improve our limited attention span. Anyway, glad I managed to find the time to blog! Hehe…but I feel a bit bad because my SPR asked me if I could help him present a case in the MDT this morning, but I was giving lots of excuses partly because I am a slow reader and I do not like to do last minute things of such! I don’t mind doing the case presentation if he had told me yesterday. But anyway, he let us do our own things in our time for today (even though he wasn’t really happy with me) which gives me some time to blog.
I don’t really know what to write. After feeling lost for a few weeks, it is nice to be back again. Isaiah did speak to me this morning especially on the part where it says that many of us attempt to clean up our own lives and when a bad habit surfaces, we return to our own ways. This passage reminds me that if I try using my own will and power to change, I will still be the same. The power to change comes from His word. I probably have not been reading his word as regularly over the past weeks. Had been doing some light reading over the past weeks but spent a week or so stucked on the same passage. It is nice to be able to explore His word a bit longer today.
‘There is no help in man himself. We cannot heal ourselves. We need more than our habits changed. We ourselves need to be changed, and that change can only occur in a relationship with the living God.’
This part of the passage just reminds me of a relationship with the living God. I have to admit that I probably have turned to the ways of the world over the past weeks because I had been so busy with work + stress etc etc that it is easy to forget God in the midst of my busy day. I had been depending on my own strength so much that I was literally so mentally, physically drained starting the second week of my new placement. When I turned to the ways of the world, I changed. My old habits returned. Instead of doing my usual psalms, I just read something light everyday and didn’t even bother spending much time meditating on his words. I want God to change me. To help me understand others needs and not being too self-centered + selfish at times. I do sometimes forget and turn back to my old ways without realising it much.
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