First Insight

Isaiah 1:18-20: “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken  NIV

This is a well-known text, but I want to highlight something you may not have considered. The statement comes just after a divine castigation of Israel. God tells his people that he is sick of their insincere offerings; “Stop bringing me meaningless offerings!.” He tells them that he cannot bear their evil assemblies and that their festivals have become a burden to him. He even tells them that when they pray he will not listen to them. He concludes by making it very clear what he expects them to do: “Learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.”

The Lord then says something that no co-called deity of the ancient world would have said: “Come let us reason together.”  He tells them that he is prepared to make their ‘bloody’ sins as white as snow… IF. And this is what I would like to point to in this passage: IF they are willing and obedient, he will reward them abundantly, but IF they resist and rebel, then they will be ravaged by war. God was allowing them to decide for themselves, to choose his way by exercising their wills.

Did this all suddenly change when the Lord Jesus incarnated and introduced a New Covenant? Clearly not! Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, “O Jerusalem , Jerusalem , you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37) He gave the rich young ruler the choice to follow him (Matthew 19:16–22), he gave the woman caught in adultery a choice (John 8:1–11), and he gave the paralysed man at Bethesda a choice (John 5:1–9). Jesus addressed the Jewish leaders with, “These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40).

Moreover, he didn’t change his mind at the time of the Protestant Reformation when Calvinist pre-determinism became popular?! No amount of clever verse-picking and philosophical argument even comes close to proving that Paul’s teaching overwrote the Lord’s and reversed an eternal key principle.

So then, for me, a key takeaway from this passage is that almighty and all-powerful God is prepared to reason with his people and give us enough decision-making capacity to decide whether or not to heed him and obey. However, there are consequences to the decisions we make, especially if they are wilfully disobedient.

Second Insight

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter” HCSB

I think the best way to understand the prophet’s use of the word ‘woe’ is as a solemn and heart-breaking warning of impending disaster and even divine judgment. Jesus addressed the Scribes and Pharisees of his day many times with this word. They were doing what the prophet Isaiah warned of; they were calling evil, good and what was good, evil.

Is it possible that sometimes we pass on their lies and confusion? If we do, then I am sure it is not out of a desire to harm or spread evil, but rather through our woeful lack of fact-checking and critical thinking. A story pops onto our newsfeed, or a friend forwards something on WhatsApp or Facebook, and we just share it without much, if any, thought. We fail to think about the content of the communication, even at a common-sense level, and we seldom, if ever, make a serious attempt to check its source and fact claims. In failing to do this, we are aiding and abetting those who call evil good and good evil. It is not a pleasant thought, but one worth considering seriously. If you would like something to help you think through this modern-day woe, then click on https://truthistheword.com/how-to-evaluate-truth-claims/ or https://truthistheword.com/how-to-fight-fake-news/

Third Insight

Isaiah 2:22 “Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?”

The phrasing here is almost poetical, but the New Living Translation makes the meaning very clear with “Stop putting your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. How can they be of help to anyone?”

We all put trust in people and their work countless times a day. We accept a lift from a friend and tacitly put our full trust in them not to cause us injury or even death. Then there are the people who manufactured our friend’s car … and the mechanic who last serviced the brakes!

However, I don’t think this is the class of trust to which Isaiah refers. The context here is God versus human beings as our primary source of trust.

The question that occurs to me, though, is, in what ways do I evidence my trust in God rather than myself or others? I can think of many, but here is just one. When confronted with a choice between biblical truth and the opinion of others, which do I choose? Sometimes the teachings of scripture are clear, but often the bible just presents us with principles. “Do not steal” is a command and not just a suggestion (Romans 13:9). However, what about biblical principles such as Proverbs 11:1: “Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is his delight.”? So, overcharging someone because you think they won’t notice is not the same as pickpocketing? Think again. We are all faced with life situations that are not regulated against in scripture, but are covered by biblical principles. To violate a principle is surely akin to disobeying a command. When we are guilty of either, are we not, in effect, failing to trust God and his ways? On the positive side, when we obey a biblical injunction or comply with a scriptural principle, we are displaying our trust in God.