Is. 28-29
God is calling out the fallacies with which His people have replaced Him. He says that He will show His people that He is the real thing. “The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden underfoot” (Is 23:3). And, “the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory” (Is 28:5a). The LORD will remove those who pretend to teach knowledge and teach His people true knowledge. He will swallow up all that they have trusted in – their lies and falsehoods and their covenant with death. He will sweep it away, leaving nothing standing but the true cornerstone that God laid as a sure foundation.
God does all of this so that He can restore His people to Him. His people were giving Him lip service while turning their hearts elsewhere. And so He promises to do wonders with them again, destroying all that is false and turning them back to Him. He will show Himself to be “wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom” (Is 28:29b). And His people “will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.” (IS 29:23b). They will once again accept God as their sovereign Maker and will cease trying to put themselves or anything else above Him.
All of this prophecy is so relevant for today! Remember that the story of God’s people in the Bible is the story of God’s people in the world. What they did and what happened to them is what we do and what will happen to us. And it is so evident! Everywhere I look I see people who have replaced God’s truth with terrible lies and have put their trust in falsehoods, making deals with the Devil himself, whether they realize it or not. They seek to exalt their own ways and their own ‘truth’, though it is all a lie – from the Father of Lies.
It is both frightening and comforting to me to know that God will have His day in court and that He will prevail. Those who trust in Him He will vindicate. Those who have been led astray He will bring back. And those whose eyes will not be opened and whose hearts will not be softened He will destroy forever. As for me, I pray daily for the wisdom to trust God fully.
Rom 1
Pretty sure SEO analysis would have a big problem with the length of Paul’s sentences…just sayin’.
As it was in Isaiah’s time, so it was in Paul’s day. And as it was in Paul’s day, so it is today. For anybody with eyes to see, ears to hear, and a heart to receive wisdom and understanding, it does not take much at all to see the beyond obvious correlation. As they say, it is infinitely obvious to the most casual observer.
Paul talks about unrighteous men who suppress the truth. They suppress it because God has made Himself and His truth obvious in all that He has created, so that we are all without excuse. And yet people refuse to acknowledge and honor God as God. They turn to their own foolishness and laud it as wisdom. They lift up their filthiness as glory. And so God gives them over to their own desires, “to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Rom 1:28b). None of it is good. But, “Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Rom 1:32).
We need to be so diligent to not fall prey to the lie; to not be led astray by those who suppress the truth. As obvious as everything that Paul said seems, it is not that easy. It is, as the Casting Crowns song says, a Slow Fade. Accepting one little lie, one twisted truth, leads to another, then another, and another. Each step is small, so it doesn’t feel like a big move away. After a while, however, if we look, we find that we have covered some serious ground – in the wrong direction.
So how do we protect ourselves form this slow fade? The Bible tells us in so many places in so many ways. What Paul says here is this: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, ‘the righteous shall live by faith.’” (Rom 1:16-17). Stay in God’s word and seek the truth daily! And always remember, “He who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 24:13).