God Who Saves

”The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. 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. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.” Oh sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on Him. Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep on rebelling? The whole head is hurt, and the whole heart is sick. From the sole of the foot even to the head, no spot is uninjured — wounds, welts, and festering sores not cleansed, bandaged, or soothed with oil. Your land is desolate, your cities burned with fire; foreigners devour your fields before your very eyes — a desolation demolished by foreigners. Daughter Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. If the Lord of Hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah.“ (Isaiah 1:1-9 HCSB)

One of the primary tasks of a pastor is to make disciples and to do so means these disciples must be led into places where they can feed, grow and become obedient followers of Jesus (see Matt. 28:19-20). To be honest, it seems much easier to do this through teaching and preaching of the New Testament. At least it is for me. Part of that is familiarity and part of it may be laziness. Why wander off into dangerous, unfamiliar pasture land when there’s plenty of good, green grass right near the house, right?

Do you ever struggle in your reading and understanding of the Old Testament? Do you ever read, reflect and wonder a bit about how God seems so different between the two Testaments? Let me start out our time in Isaiah with a rather bold statement: If the God you view from the Old Testament seems vastly different from the One you encounter in the New Testament then perhaps your understanding of God is wrong or you’ve misunderstood the Old Testament. Trust me, I understand where you’ve been and how you feel. But after 58 years of walking with Him and 45 years of trying to make disciples to walk with me in this journey, I’ve come to realize that there is no difference in God but there’s a lot of my understanding that needs to be corrected.

Let me try and illustrate what I mean. As a child, I received discipline from my parents. My mother and dad were raising four boys during a time of great social and cultural upheaval in our world. When I disobeyed my parents, I would often be spanked. Let me state emphatically, I have NEVER been abused by my parents. Some folks believe that spanking is synonymous with abuse but, as a byproduct of that discipline, I would insist that they are not the same thing. I have received multiple spankings at the hand of my father, but my father never used those moments of discipline as a means of abusing me. He used them as a means of loving and teaching me, in a firm but caring way. Now, if you had asked me if I was abused right after receiving a spanking I might have agreed. But that’s because a five year old NEVER believes he deserves to be disciplined. After all, he should get whatever he desires in that moment. Right?

You see, therein lies the heart of the matter. The difference in what the child wants and in what the father knows. Giving a child anything and everything he wants leads his destruction and that is at odds with what the father knows about life and reality and what he knows is best for the child. A father’s loving heart is at odds with a child’s selfish and rebellious nature.

In Isaiah, we start out our study with the issue of a broken hearted Father and His selfish, rebellious, stubborn and unrepentant children. In the opening verse, we are introduced to our journey companion: Isaiah. Son of Amoz, who is relating his vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of four specific kings. However, if you don’t pay attention you might have missed the most important detail in that introduction. Isaiah’s name means: the LORD saves. He hasn’t come with just any message regarding Judah’s fate, he has come to let them (and us) know that “the LORD saves!”

Isaiah then moves us into the meat of the problem. God is calling the heavens and the earth as witnesses in a cosmic court to address the spiritual disobedience of His children. If you’ll remember, Moses used similar words when he called Israel to commit to their covenant with the LORD: ”I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”(Deuteronomy 30:19-20 HCSB)

Speaking through Isaiah, God says that He has raised children who have rebelled against Him. He then compares them to an ox and a donkey. He says that even dumb animals understand that their existence is dependent upon their owner and his care and nurture. An ox knows. A donkey understands. But Israel doesn’t know, My people don’t understand. This is an expression of God’s broken heart over the condition of His people and their unwillingness to trust Him, follow Him and obey Him.

We treat God, our loving and generous Heavenly Father, as a problem to work around while we get on with the real business of life! The prophet says, “how stupid!” Even an ox and a donkey are smarter than that. And it breaks His heart, as it would any father whose child or children responded to him in the same way.

Have you ever had a child (or children) who made choices that you knew would bring them trouble and anguish but they wouldn’t listen to your pleading? You don’t despise them, you grieve over them. You don’t turn your back on them and reject them, you love them, pray for them, long for them to return and you actively seek ways to restore them. You send message after message, messages of love, forgiveness and restoration.

But one thing you don’t do… you don’t tell them that their poor choices are perfectly fine and probably best for them. You tell them the truth about themselves and their choices. Son, I love you but that was a bad choice. We can’t undo it, but we can work towards changing the outcome if you make better choices going forward. And that’s exactly what God does…

God lays their sinful, rebellious choices before them but He does so in an interesting and insightful way. If you only tell the child that their choices were poor you’ve not accomplished much. You must help them understand why the choices they made are wrong and how they can make better choices. At first, it may sound like all God does is berate them for their poor choices. He does call them a a people weighed down with sin, a brood of evildoers and depraved children! But then He focuses on the source of their problems: “They have abandoned the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on Him (v. 4).”

In other words, they were trying to do this without God.

Albert Einstein is quoted as saying: “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

Isaiah tells us that the people who turned their backs on God have suffered tremendously. They are covered in bruises, welts and festering sores from head to toe. No spot on their body is uninjured and their injuries go untreated. There’s historical context here that might help us not just know, but understand. Assyrian military pressure is mounting from the north. Judah has attempted to build an alliance with a few allies to stand against the growing threat. In doing so, they’ve turned away from the LORD their God and begun to rely more and more upon political expediency to address this threat. But Judah is not just any nation, they are the people of God.

Their sin is the rebellion of trying to live their lives independent of God. God reminds them, even a dumb ox or donkey recognizes its owner and the benefit of being obedient to him. Yet, they fail to acknowledge that they are God’s people and that their best life is found in complete obedience to His Word and His will. Their land lies desolate and their cities are burned black and lie in ashes while foreigners devour their fields. But why? Why would God allow His people to suffer and why would He allow His glory to be tarnished in such a way?

Because God’s people are not identified by the political borders that define their nation or the walls that delineate their cities. The people of God are to be known by their relationship with HIM! God chose to love them, not because they were lovely but because they were willing to love Him, follow Him, obey Him and be in covenant relationship with HIM! When they cease to do so, His love is not abandoned and His covenant is not discarded. His deep love moves Him to discipline them deeply.

Isaiah uses one more picture to illustrate God’s love. Daughter Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a besieged city. That last part may be more historical fact than poetic license. He calls Jerusalem His Daughter Zion. His daughter looks more like an abandoned shelter in a vineyard or a gardener’s shack in a cucumber field than she does the Daughter of the Holy One of Israel. But that’s not how He wants her to be known, not how He wants her to be seen.

So, God’s words to His daughter, Zion, are full of mercy: I have left a few survivors, a remnant who can return to Me or else you would be like Sodom and would resemble Gomorrah. You might question my choice of words. That’s merciful? How can you call that merciful? I’m going to leave at least remnant, otherwise you would be totally destroyed and devastated – like Sodom and Gomorrah.

Ah, there’s the heart of the matter. Why would God condemn His child for one small sin? If God loves His people and His daughter, Zion/Jerusalem, so much then why not just move on and forgive and forget? We always tend to minimize our sin and its depravity. We see our sin as little, insignificant infractions that doesn’t amount to much. That is, if we even recognize it, at all. What’s the big deal?

In reality, those are just symptoms and the real disease lies much, much deeper within us. I’ve been asked on several occasions why God would condemn someone to an eternity in hell for one single lie. The truth is, God doesn’t condemn someone to hell over a single lie. That lie is just the tip of the iceberg. The heart of lying is rebellion against God’s authority and God’s law. It is to look at God and say, “You aren’t the boss of me! I can do as I please, and you can’t stop me.” So, you can’t be guilty of just one lie. You’re guilty of absolute rebellion against the Holy One of Israel, the God of all creation, the LORD God Almighty.

The Devil knows your name,
But calls you by your sin.
God knows your sin,
But calls you by your name.
– Ricardo Sanchez

To go back to our Einstein quote from above, any fool can know but the point is to understand. When we begin to truly understand our sin then we can begin to confront it and God can deal with it. The only conviction of sin that ends up healing us is when we see how we have despised and forsaken the very One who died to save us. Conviction of THAT opens us up for healing of the rest. But conviction doesn’t come through knowing or even understanding sin, it comes through the Holy Spirit. ”When He (the Holy Spirit) comes, He will convict the world about sin, righteousness, and judgment…“ (John 16:8 HCSB)

However, one of the reasons we see so little repentance in the world is that the world sees so little repentance in the church. It is imperative that the church remembers that the measure of our wrong against God is the measure of his love invested in us. God is heartbroken over Judah’s response to His judgment. His judgment is intended to draw them into conviction and repentance. But they continually walk around, covered in the bruises and welts of His discipline as they turn a deaf ear to His Word, His call to return and to be restored.

The same may be said of Christ’s church, today.

We wonder why our pews are empty, our altars bare and our baptismal pools dry. Perhaps it is because we fail to recognize God’s judgment on our passions, our alliances and our allegiances. Perhaps it is because we see our sin as “no big deal” as we flaunt it before God. When will we see a revival or another awakening in our nation? When we see our churches on her knees before God in humble contrition, honest confession, passionate prayer, unwavering faith and a zeal for God’s glory and not her own.

Oh church, if the Lord of Hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would resemble Gomorrah.