There was a change occurring in Isaiah’s people and the
message that Isaiah was trying to bring to them hit on the mark.
“Your rulers have turned against what is right. They are the
friends of robbers. Everyone loves to get pay in secret for wrong-doing, and
they run after gifts. They do not stand
for the rights of those who have no parents. And they never hear the cry for help of the
woman whose husband has died.
So the
Lord God of All, the Powerful One of Israel, says, “I will put an end to those
who fight against Me. I will punish those who hate Me.” Isaiah
1: 23-24 (NLV)
Here are the charges that were being brought against the
leaders of Judah, and let me ask you to keep in mind the changes that have
taken place in America over the last half century. These words could apply to our nation and to a
lot of the Church leaders today.
The rulers have become rebels.
The rulers were once the anointed men of God and now they
are rebelling against the very God that had placed them in power to begin with.
We look at the foundation of this nation, and those that
came to the New World, came here in search of the ability to freely worship
God. There was a predominant spirituality among those that founded our nation. The constitution set religious standards as
the basis of this Nations laws. It was because of the obedience to the God and
the things of the Lord that allowed this nation to see the wonderful blessings
that it had seen.
We also need to realize that in Isaiah’s time there was a greater degree of religious connection between the rulers and the Temple. It was the high priest that was used to anoint the king as the chosen one of God.
We don’t have religious and spiritual leadership combined in
this nation however we can see the rebellion in some of the Church leaders.
We can look at all of the sexual improprieties that are
running rampant in the Church of today. There
are denominations that are diluting the Word of God so that the black and white
of righteousness has blurred to a grey area of personal choice.
The leaders of Judah were being accused of being in the company of thieves.
How many charges of “fleecing
the flock” or sex scandals or promises of answered prayers or healings if you
send in a certain amount of money or send a specific dollar amount to buy junk
trinkets to support a T.V. ministry have been linked to our Church leaders? It is almost impossible to find anyone in a political
office who has moral convictions of their own and on their own? A lack of integrity is rampant in our nation!
Isaiah issues an outcry for the treatment of the orphaned and the widowed. Notice that this is a call by God to the people of God to care for the less fortunate of God.
He is not some high profile personality calling on the
government to create another program that is paid for by tax dollars that are
largely eaten up by oversized staff salaries in order to care for the needs of
those that are less fortunate. I am not against
the government programs they have become needed because the body of Christ has
lost its focus on caring for the needs of its own.
When the Church cries out against the government and the way
that it gives handouts and in the process promotes unbiblical living, the same
church should look at what has happened to its very own programs of tending to
the needs of the unfortunate. The
parallel between Judah and this nation grows more frightening with each
example.
Judah had lived in contrary to God’s Word for so long that
the relationship between God and His people were about to change. Look
again at the 24th verse: “Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the Mighty One
of Israel, says, “I will take revenge on my enemies
and pay back my foes!”
The words that the Lord gave to Isaiah in description of His
people are no longer the chosen people of God but “adversaries and foes.”
They have fallen from a “friend of God” to “adversaries and
foes” of God.
That sounds like a scary place to be.
Repentance and obedience is the only way out of this
situation!
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