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Contemplating Isaiah’s Scroll, Part I



 

Children don’t always want what’s good for them. They want what they want. Should they, in later years, turn inward or wander wayward, they may need a good talking to. It may take hard words. Direct words. Not screaming or belittling or exasperating words, but hard just the same (hard to deliver and to receive). But that doesn’t mean they’ll listen. I was that sort of teen.

 

 

Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth, for the Lord has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me” (Isaiah 1:2 CSB).

 

 

The prophet Isaiah tells us that Yahweh has spoken. It’s a word for all of heaven and earth (Isaiah 1:1). God revealed that word to His servant Isaiah. The Holy One of Israel, which Isaiah uses to aptly and repeatedly refer to God, charged Isaiah to rebuke the sinful nation of Israel, God’s beloved children (Isaiah 1:4).

 

The Book of Isaiah opens immediately confronting the real issues at hand. From the start, God shoots straight for the heart, addressing their rebellion and lack of understanding (Isaiah 1:2-3).

 

God points out that even the beasts of the field know their owner and master (Isaiah 1:3). But not the children He has cared for and reared. They have been willfully disobedient and have acted corruptly (Isaiah 1:4). They have forsaken God.

 

Our modern sensibilities would deem these words harsh. Offensive, even. I know I don’t want to hear what I most need to hear. Who enjoys being called an evildoer? But, when it’s true and necessary, isn’t it a grace? For the only way to address a real problem is directly. When a heart is hard, only hard words penetrate. Only blaring words capture the attention of someone whose head is pointed in the opposite direction. And the only way to truly help – and bring about change – is with correction. But before wielding words, let’s remember that Isaiah delivered these words in obedience to the Lord’s calling, by the power of the Spirit, and the grace of God.

 

God asked Israel a pertinent and logical question: Why? “Why do you persist in rebellion?” (Isaiah 1:5a). I think He follows it up with the answer. He rightly diagnoses the problem when He says, “The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint” (Isaiah 1:5b). (Or maybe their rebellion is the cause for sick heads and faint hearts).

 

God, as Father and Yahweh of Hosts, knows.

   He knows best.

      He knows what is needed.

         And He knows His children, those He designed and created.

 

God said, “Hear… give ear.” (Isaiah 1:10). His children needed to listen to Him. To His words spoken. Because, as Isaiah points out in 1:3, they did not understand. Their heads were sick, their hearts faint (Isaiah 1:5). We too are wounded and weak. We too are wracked with sin.

 

God also graciously issued a call to repent (Isaiah 1:16-17), along with commands of what would turn them from their sin back to Him (which we’ll explore more in-depth next time).

 

It is prudent to honestly consider the truths presented in chapter one of Isaiah. To ask the hard question: Is what God said of Israel true of us? God’s words have heart penetrating power to bless, but only those who choose not to walk away due to offense.

 

It is, after all, a grace He has spoken to a rebellious lot at all.

 

 






I am studying my way through the Book of Isaiah this year. So, I thought I'd share my thoughts here occasionally. This post comes from the first chapter, with primary focus on verses 1-5, 10, and 16-17.

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