Purified by Fire

”The faithful city — what an adulteress she has become! She was once full of justice. Righteousness once dwelt in her — but now, murderers! Your silver has become dross, your beer is diluted with water. Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love graft and chase after bribes. They do not defend the rights of the fatherless, and the widow’s case never comes before them. Therefore the Lord God of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will gain satisfaction from My foes; I will take revenge against My enemies. I will turn My hand against you and will burn away your dross completely; I will remove all your impurities. I will restore your judges to what they once were, and your advisers to their former state. Afterward you will be called the Righteous City, a Faithful City.” Zion will be redeemed by justice, her repentant ones by righteousness. But both rebels and sinners will be destroyed, and those who abandon the Lord will perish. Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees you desired, and you will be embarrassed because of the gardens you have chosen. For you will become like an oak whose leaves are withered, and like a garden without water. The strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together, with no one to quench the flames.“ (Isaiah 1:21-31 HCSB)

Sometimes things just don’t turn out the way you expect. I mentioned last week that my wife and I had been planning to take a few days off and to head out on a road trip going west on old Route 66. Our plan was to not plan out the trip. We decided to just drive west on the old highway, as much as possible, stopping at interesting places, eating at local restaurants and visiting the old curio shops, motels and museums along the way. We would drive as far as we wanted each day and look for a motel each afternoon to spend the night. Sound like fun?

We currently live just a few miles south of the old “mother road” and I actually grew up alongside it as a child in west Tulsa. So, it was an adventure that’s been beckoning to us for a while. We headed out onSunday afternoon a few weeks ago and began the journey westward. Most of those first few miles were quite familiar. We’ve driven that stretch of road through Wellston, Luther and Arcadia many, many times. We continued on through Edmond and then south into Oklahoma City and along 39th Expressway right past my work office and west towards Yukon and El Reno. We did get lost for a few minutes near Geary, but eventually made our way to Amarillo, Texas and spent the night. The next day we continued west through several cute little towns in New Mexico and reached Gallup in time for dinner.

Late that Monday night, my cell phone started ringing and I noticed it was our oldest granddaughter calling. Not a good sign. I answered and she was crying and aplogizing. I knew immediately what was wrong. We had received some snow at home and she had hit some ice and put my car into a ditch. My first question, “Are you OK? Is the baby OK?” She assured me she was fine and the baby was not with her when she wrecked the car. I told her to calm down, that as long as she and the baby were fine then everything else could be fixed. After my wife and I discussed the situation, we decided we would head home because we needed to get our insurance working to repair the car, as quickly as possible. Our vacation had just started but it quickly and unexpectedly took an abrupt turn.

Sometimes our relationship with God takes an abrupt and unexpected turn, too. In this week’s focal passage, Isaiah 1:21-31, the prophet hits us with an abrupt and disquieting accusation against Zion, the “faithful” city of God. His accusation is very biting and sarcastic; the faithful city has become unfaithful and is actually being an adulteress or is prostituting herself in relation to God. He goes on to say, she who was once full of justice and was known as the place where righteousness lived was now filled with murderers. He continues, though they should be refined and pure like silver, they were nothing more than the dross or slag from the smelting process. When they should be sweet and pleasant like beer or wine, they were now diluted and tasteless. The rulers are rebels and friends of thieves who love graft and chase after bribes.

In other words, the very city who should represent the epitome of God’s relationship with mankind and be filled with His glory and righteousness has become debased and is the worst place on earth to live. As an added example, they do not defend the rights of the fatherless and refuse to hear the plea of the widow for justice. It becomes easy to ignore our own moral failures when we justify our actions based upon our enemies actions. If you’ll recall, the people are feeling political pressure from Assyrian aggression and their leaders are looking around for allies to stem the rising tide of pressure. In doing so, they have compromised their relationship with the LORD and abandoned His precepts and principles. They were not treating others the way God had intended; not they way He expected of His people and not in keeping with His commandments.

So, God tells them that He will gain satisfaction from His foes and will take revenge against His enemies. Oh, so He’s going to take out His frustrations on Assyria and destroy them? Nope, wrong target. He speaks through the prophet: “I will turn My hand against you and will completely burn away your dross and remove all your impurities!” But it is important to remember, when God turns His hand against us it isn’t to destroy us but to purify, redeem, and restore us. Redemption and judgment are inseparable for redemption always comes through judgment. God’s purpose and goal is NOT to elevate Assyria but it is to judge, redeem and restore Zion – that holy place where God reigns, rules and dwells among His people.

Oh church, we need to hear God’s plea with ancient Zion for it is the same plea He makes to us, today. God’s judgment may come upon us but not as a means to elevate our enemies but to judge, redeem and restore His people – the church. God is not working to remove His glory from the church, He’s working to burn away the dross, her sin, and destroy the corruption that plagues her actions and sullies her reputation. He does this so that His glory may be visible in His people, once again. But as long as we seek unholy alliances to achieve our goals, we will not, cannot know the blessings of the LORD.

How can I be so sure? Because real redemption and righteousness are not just declarative acts of God’s grace but are also the outflow of our lives in response to it; acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly with God. God never brings redemption and restoration to those who put on a false mask of piety, belief and saving faith. We aren’t redeemed through a magical incantation of scripture or a sinner’s prayer. We are redeemed when, by grace through faith, we confess our belief and trust in Jesus as LORD, confess our sin, repent of it and turn to walk in humble obedience to Jesus Christ.

But we often don’t want to hear these difficult words of judgment for sin from God. I’m sure Judah didn’t enjoy hearing these words from Isaiah. But there’s a big difference between a true prophet of God and a false prophet. False prophets lead you into a false sense of security and religious self-righteousness but true prophets of God lead you into truth and a sense of the reality of your own sin and God’s righteous judgement in order to produce faith, repentance and to put His righteousness within you.

The Apostle James tells us, “In the same way faith, if it isn’t accompanied by obedience (or works), is dead by itself (James 2:17).” Or, consider Jesus’ words: ”The one who has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. And the one who loves Me will be loved by My Father. I also will love him and will reveal Myself to him.” (John 14:21 HCSB) Real faith is accompanied by personal obedience.

Back in Isaiah, God declares His intentions at restoring things to the way they are supposed to be. He will restore Zion’s judges and her advisers to what they were in the beginning. She will, once again, be called the Righteous City, a Faithful City. But there are conditions to His redemption. Those who seek justice, who are repentant and obedient will be redeemed. But rebels and sinners will be destroyed and those who abandon the LORD will perish (vs. 27-28). What is true for Judah and God’s holy city, Zion, will be true for His people, the church, today. Those who repent of their sin and hypocrisy will be restored but those who rebel and abandon Him will perish.

There’s one last thing I want you to see and hear…

In the final verses of our focal passage Isaiah tells them, “they will be shamed by the sacred trees they desired and embarrassed because of the gardens they have chosen. They will resemble an oak whose leaves are withered and look like a garden that has not been watered.” Trees and gardens? What’s going on in these verses? What is God condemning and what is Isaiah referencing? It could just be an analogy, but I doubt it. I think he is referencing specific actions that God is condemning.

It appears that Judah had not only sought out political allies in their struggle against Assyrian aggression, but they had also embraced the foreign gods and cultural worship involving groves of trees and tended gardens. These items likely reference local gods and worship customs by the people they are aligning themselves with. In other words, they had integrated these foreign cultural and worship objects into Judah’s culture and religious practices. This clearly goes back to the opening verse (v. 21) where God declares the “faithful city” is an adulteress or prostitute and the place where righteousness once dwelt but is now being inhabited by murderers.

This is not only a warning to Judah but also to the modern church. We must be on guard and aware of our natural tendencies towards integrating cultural beliefs and ungodly actions, attitudes and thinking into our Christ-centered culture and worship. But Isaiah also tells us a bit more, “the strong one will become tinder, and his work a spark; both will burn together with no one being able to quench the flames.” He appears to be referencing those who believe they are strong enough and capable of defending themselves against outside aggression. They don’t need God and they certainly don’t need to repent of any sin against Him. They are quite capable of handling the current situation on their own.

God tells them, “you might think you can handle this, but you’re strength will be the tinder and your actions will be the spark that ignite and set you on fire. Nobody will be able to put out the flames. You will burn bright, you will burn hot and you will quickly burn up. You think you are a strong oak in a beautiful watered garden, but you’re about to find out what happens when you abandon and disobey the LORD, your God.

I want to end by simply reminding you that God’s judgment is not designed to destroy, it is designed to redeem. His judgment calls us to remember, to confess, to repent and to turn to Him as humble, obedient children. His judgment is intended to burn away the dross and remove the impurities so that we stand pure, holy as righteous and obedient children before our God. God’s desire is not destruction but His desire is righteous redemption and obedience.

Will you rebel and try to stand on your own, against Him? Or will you remember, confess, repent and return to Him in humble obedience? Will you be purged and purified by this holy fire or burnt up by your own self-righteousness? Your future depends on your choice…