# 41 2024 Dev. Isa.1. God’s Call for Righteousness! “Read all of chapter one first. We invite you into God’s space, to read His Word, to think on and interact with. This is God’s Story. Do you believe that this may also be part of our story, in our time? All passages are taken from the NIV.
Isaiah 1:1 “The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.” (That is the title of this book)These four kings reigned from 792 BC to 680 BC. But Isaiah’s work started in the last year of Uzziah’s reign, 740 BC. Uzziah was a king who reigned righteously. He did a lot to fortify Jerusalem and Judah, promoted agriculture and defeated the Philistines. But he did not remove the high places of Baal and he burned incense in the temple, only the priests can do that, he was stricken with leprosy.
Isaiah “repeatedly warned the people that Jerusalem and Judah would be judged because of their wickedness. But he also held to the hope that the kingdom would be restored again. Beginning in Ch. 40 Isaiah offered comfort with these promises of God: (1) Babylonian exiles would be allowed to return to Jerusalem; (2) a righteous suffering servant would bring salvation; (3) God would set up a new righteous kingdom.” We see from God’s promises that, even though Isaiah was written 3000 years ago, this is still relevant for today. What is happening in Israel is starting to happen to our country right now. We are to apply this to our towns, cities, and to ourselves!
Vs.1-9 is the introduction to the book. It tells who, it tells us the date, it tells us what is happening to God’s people and that there is hope. Heaven and earth are called to witness, “for the Lord has spoken.”
There is rebellion and animals are smarter than the people. “They have forsaken the Lord…” The prophet asks a rhetorical question; “Why should you be beaten anymore?” You are full of open sores and there is no one to treat your pain. Not only are the people hurting the “country is desolate, your cities burned with fire.” Yet there is hope: “Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah. Isaiah, like Abraham wants to have hope. We also need hope today.
Vs.10-15 “Hear the Word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah!” They are equated with Gentile cities that God destroyed because of the great wickedness of the people. Abraham interceded for them but not even ten righteous people could be found. Those were gentiles but Jerusalem and Judah, these are God’s people. God says: ‘I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals.’” God hates their insincerity, in their worship and their festivals ‘they have become a burden to me… I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!”’ How is our worship today? How is your sincerity?
Vs.16-17 “Wash and make yourselves clean.” How? “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
Vs.18-20 Here God’s grace gives the opportunity to repent. ‘“Come now, let us settle the matter, 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.”’ How? ‘If you are willing and obedient…”’ This goes for us as well. “For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Vs.21-23 God calls Jerusalem to account; “See how the faithful city has become a prostitute! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her but now murderers!”
Vs.24-26 God promises change. “Therefore the Lord… ‘I will restore your leaders as in days of old, your rulers as at the beginning Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City.”’
Vs.27-31 Hope for the righteous and punishment for the wicked. “Zion will be delivered with justice, her penitent ones with righteousness. But rebels and sinners will both be broken, and those who forsake the Lord will perish.”
The problem with the Israelites at that time was that they knew themselves to be the people of God; they knew that God had chosen them out of all the nations on the earth. His Temple was among them, therefore, God dwelt among them. He would never destroy them, would He? Is that our thinking today? Ask yourself? Does your church “ seek justice. Defend the oppressed.[a] Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.” The homeless, the poor and the disenfranchised? Think about these things! Praise be to God, there are churches and people who do.
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Heavenhigh 