Alesaggio
01-05-2004, 03:39 PM
Isaiah 30:8-15is the setting for this study.
The people Isaiah would prophesy to were ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving. Their hearts were calloused, their ears dull, and their eyes were closed (read Isaiah 6:9-10). Isaiah was a part of God’s divine mission in the world — to announce the glad tidings of a God who loved them and wanted to be in covenant with them, but the people did not want to hear; they did not want to understand. They say to Isaiah and the other prophets: “See no more visions! Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 30:10-11). They were more interested in a lie than the truth — as along as the lie was one they want to hear. Even if the warning of the prophets would have saved their lives and made their lives better, they still did not want to hear about it.
The first point that Isaiah is making in this scripture is: A rebellious people want to believe a lie. Isaiah’s message to his nation was that their continued rebellion against God would be the ruin of the nation. Sin would not only destroy their personal lives, it would destroy their country. Sin brings judgment — always, inevitably. Isaiah was warning them about what was going to happen if they did not turn from their sin and turn back to God, but they did not want to hear it. It was negative talk. They did not want to hear about God’s judgment; they wanted to hear about God’s love and blessing. They wanted Isaiah to build up their self-esteem. They wanted him to discuss pleasantries and recite poems. They wanted a positive gospel. And even though Isaiah was telling them the truth, they preferred to believe a lie.
It is hard to understand why people would prefer destruction over hearing and believing the truth. But this was the case in the New Testament as well. In the sixth chapter of Luke we read about Jesus ministering to people and healing them while the religious leaders stood by trying to find something to criticize. When Jesus healed a man’s deformed hand on the Sabbath, instead of being glad for the man, they were furious at Jesus and began to talk among themselves about how they could kill him. At the trial of Jesus, Pilate asked the people why they wanted to crucify Jesus and what the nature of the crime was which he had committed. But they only shouted louder to crucify him. And then they said to Pilate: “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:23-26). Seventy years later their wish was granted as the Romans completely destroyed the city and the temple.
Why would people prefer disaster to the truth? Because this is the essence of rebellion: “I am going to do it my way even if it kills me.” “We would rather live a lie than face reality. After all, illusions make us feel comfortable and secure; truth makes us uneasy.” The rebellious want to believe a lie and avoid the truth. When people reject the significance of morality and truth, they are uncomfortable and seek to create their own significance — even if it is a lie. Isaiah wrote: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15).
But even though the rebellious want to believe a lie, they also want to dodge the consequences. Here is Isaiah’s second point: A rebellious people want to escape responsibility. The people of Isaiah’s day did not want to follow God, but they also did not want there to be any consequences for their rebellious behavior. They wanted to rebel, but they did not want there to be any punishment. They wanted to believe a lie, and at the same time they wanted it to be true. They wanted to do all the wrong things and experience only good things. They wanted to be irresponsible and yet not have anything go wrong.
A Miami jury awarded a record $145 billion settlement from the tobacco companies to a group of smokers in Florida. A $145 billion dollar reward for people who willing walked into a store and bought a legal product which clearly said on its label: “Warning: The surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.” No one forced them to smoke. They did it of their own free will and willingly gave up good money, knowing that they were jeopardizing their health. They wanted to smoke and be healthy too. Where is the personal responsibility in all of that? The rebellious resent it when the consequences of their irresponsible behavior come calling, and they even want to blame God for what has happened to them.
This was the case with the people of Israel and Judah. They rebelled against the Holy One of Israel. They refused to listen to the prophets and heed their warnings. They trampled God’s laws and had the gall to blame God when the enemy trampled their cities. They wanted to do as they pleased, but they did not want to accept responsibility for their actions.
The third point that Isaiah makes is: A rebellious people want to avoid God. They said to Isaiah, “Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” This is almost the motto of our own rebellious culture which says, “We don’t want to be confronted with the God of Creation; we want to believe the lie of evolution. We don’t want to be confronted with God’s laws; we want to take them down from our public walls. Don’t say we are wrong for killing our unborn children. Don’t expose our racism. Don’t tell us that God’s design for marriage of one man and one woman in a committed relationship is the only way that our sexuality can be expressed. Don’t try to shame us because of our immodesty that has become so debased that we no longer can blush. Don’t force your morals on us. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with a holy God.” But if we do not confront this culture (or some churches), which is in a moral free fall, what will happen? When we no longer want to be confronted with God our values go. When our values go everything goes.
In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north. To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China. It’s 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and more than 1500 miles long! The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defense too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. But during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence China was successfully invaded three times. It wasn’t the wall’s fault. During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down, or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open door. When a nation tries to avoid God they leave an open door because they have nothing on which to base their values. When a church loses its values it is not safe not matter how secure it appears to be. Once hell bribes the “gatekeepers” the entire assembly is brought to ruin. Lowering standards and allowing the ways of worldliness to slip through the gates of the church will doom its inhabitants. Woe to the gatekeepers that fail to keep the gates! The watchman that fails to watch and warn! The blood of the many shall be on his hands!
Are there actions we must take to prevent being over run by the ways of the world. A righteous people must model the truth. If the people of God are going to convince others of the truth they have to live the truth. It is becoming more and more difficult to reason with people in the world. People in our culture are affected by emotion rather than logic. They believe what they see more than what they hear. Part of the solution is for the people of God to live such lives that we model the truth as well as speak the truth. Those who follow God must not be ashamed of being a part of the truth. We have to stop being embarrassed that we are Christians, because we have the answer for the world’s problems. We cannot just know the truth, we have to live the truth. We have to live lives of holiness and integrity. We have to show that God’s ways work, because they are working in our lives. What the world cannot argue with is an authentic life. If we are ever going to reach the world it is going to be through lives which are faithful and convincing. So the message to us is: Get a life — get a righteous life. Don’t just talk about God, live a faithful life, one of holiness and truth.
The people Isaiah would prophesy to were ever hearing, but never understanding; ever seeing, but never perceiving. Their hearts were calloused, their ears dull, and their eyes were closed (read Isaiah 6:9-10). Isaiah was a part of God’s divine mission in the world — to announce the glad tidings of a God who loved them and wanted to be in covenant with them, but the people did not want to hear; they did not want to understand. They say to Isaiah and the other prophets: “See no more visions! Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” (Isaiah 30:10-11). They were more interested in a lie than the truth — as along as the lie was one they want to hear. Even if the warning of the prophets would have saved their lives and made their lives better, they still did not want to hear about it.
The first point that Isaiah is making in this scripture is: A rebellious people want to believe a lie. Isaiah’s message to his nation was that their continued rebellion against God would be the ruin of the nation. Sin would not only destroy their personal lives, it would destroy their country. Sin brings judgment — always, inevitably. Isaiah was warning them about what was going to happen if they did not turn from their sin and turn back to God, but they did not want to hear it. It was negative talk. They did not want to hear about God’s judgment; they wanted to hear about God’s love and blessing. They wanted Isaiah to build up their self-esteem. They wanted him to discuss pleasantries and recite poems. They wanted a positive gospel. And even though Isaiah was telling them the truth, they preferred to believe a lie.
It is hard to understand why people would prefer destruction over hearing and believing the truth. But this was the case in the New Testament as well. In the sixth chapter of Luke we read about Jesus ministering to people and healing them while the religious leaders stood by trying to find something to criticize. When Jesus healed a man’s deformed hand on the Sabbath, instead of being glad for the man, they were furious at Jesus and began to talk among themselves about how they could kill him. At the trial of Jesus, Pilate asked the people why they wanted to crucify Jesus and what the nature of the crime was which he had committed. But they only shouted louder to crucify him. And then they said to Pilate: “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:23-26). Seventy years later their wish was granted as the Romans completely destroyed the city and the temple.
Why would people prefer disaster to the truth? Because this is the essence of rebellion: “I am going to do it my way even if it kills me.” “We would rather live a lie than face reality. After all, illusions make us feel comfortable and secure; truth makes us uneasy.” The rebellious want to believe a lie and avoid the truth. When people reject the significance of morality and truth, they are uncomfortable and seek to create their own significance — even if it is a lie. Isaiah wrote: “This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: ‘In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:15).
But even though the rebellious want to believe a lie, they also want to dodge the consequences. Here is Isaiah’s second point: A rebellious people want to escape responsibility. The people of Isaiah’s day did not want to follow God, but they also did not want there to be any consequences for their rebellious behavior. They wanted to rebel, but they did not want there to be any punishment. They wanted to believe a lie, and at the same time they wanted it to be true. They wanted to do all the wrong things and experience only good things. They wanted to be irresponsible and yet not have anything go wrong.
A Miami jury awarded a record $145 billion settlement from the tobacco companies to a group of smokers in Florida. A $145 billion dollar reward for people who willing walked into a store and bought a legal product which clearly said on its label: “Warning: The surgeon general has determined that cigarette smoking is dangerous to your health.” No one forced them to smoke. They did it of their own free will and willingly gave up good money, knowing that they were jeopardizing their health. They wanted to smoke and be healthy too. Where is the personal responsibility in all of that? The rebellious resent it when the consequences of their irresponsible behavior come calling, and they even want to blame God for what has happened to them.
This was the case with the people of Israel and Judah. They rebelled against the Holy One of Israel. They refused to listen to the prophets and heed their warnings. They trampled God’s laws and had the gall to blame God when the enemy trampled their cities. They wanted to do as they pleased, but they did not want to accept responsibility for their actions.
The third point that Isaiah makes is: A rebellious people want to avoid God. They said to Isaiah, “Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!” This is almost the motto of our own rebellious culture which says, “We don’t want to be confronted with the God of Creation; we want to believe the lie of evolution. We don’t want to be confronted with God’s laws; we want to take them down from our public walls. Don’t say we are wrong for killing our unborn children. Don’t expose our racism. Don’t tell us that God’s design for marriage of one man and one woman in a committed relationship is the only way that our sexuality can be expressed. Don’t try to shame us because of our immodesty that has become so debased that we no longer can blush. Don’t force your morals on us. Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with a holy God.” But if we do not confront this culture (or some churches), which is in a moral free fall, what will happen? When we no longer want to be confronted with God our values go. When our values go everything goes.
In ancient China, the people desired security from the barbaric, invading hordes to the north. To get this protection, they built the Great Wall of China. It’s 30 feet high, 18 feet thick, and more than 1500 miles long! The Chinese goal was to build an absolutely impenetrable defense too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. But during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence China was successfully invaded three times. It wasn’t the wall’s fault. During all three invasions, the barbaric hordes never climbed over the wall, broke it down, or went around it; they simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through an open door. When a nation tries to avoid God they leave an open door because they have nothing on which to base their values. When a church loses its values it is not safe not matter how secure it appears to be. Once hell bribes the “gatekeepers” the entire assembly is brought to ruin. Lowering standards and allowing the ways of worldliness to slip through the gates of the church will doom its inhabitants. Woe to the gatekeepers that fail to keep the gates! The watchman that fails to watch and warn! The blood of the many shall be on his hands!
Are there actions we must take to prevent being over run by the ways of the world. A righteous people must model the truth. If the people of God are going to convince others of the truth they have to live the truth. It is becoming more and more difficult to reason with people in the world. People in our culture are affected by emotion rather than logic. They believe what they see more than what they hear. Part of the solution is for the people of God to live such lives that we model the truth as well as speak the truth. Those who follow God must not be ashamed of being a part of the truth. We have to stop being embarrassed that we are Christians, because we have the answer for the world’s problems. We cannot just know the truth, we have to live the truth. We have to live lives of holiness and integrity. We have to show that God’s ways work, because they are working in our lives. What the world cannot argue with is an authentic life. If we are ever going to reach the world it is going to be through lives which are faithful and convincing. So the message to us is: Get a life — get a righteous life. Don’t just talk about God, live a faithful life, one of holiness and truth.