Isaiah 1

CHAPTER 1THEME: God’s charge against the nation IsraelChapter Isa_1:1 is God’s solemn call to the universe to come into the courtroom to hear God’s charge against the nation Israel. Isaiah lived in a time of tension. In many respects it was a time of crisis in the history of the world. World-shaking events were transpiring. Catastrophic and cataclysmic judgments were taking place. There was upheaval in the social order. A new nation had arisen in the north; it was moving toward world domination. Assyria, the most brutal nation ever to put an army on the battlefield, was marching to world conquest. Already the northern kingdom of Israel had been taken into Assyrian captivity. The southern kingdom of Judah was in a precarious position, and an Assyrian army, 185,000 strong, was just outside the walls of Jerusalem. In this dire, desperate, and difficult day Hezekiah entered the temple and turned to God in prayer. God sent His prophet with an encouraging word. He asserted that Assyria would never take Judah, the army of Assyria would never set foot in the streets of Jerusalem, and they would never cross the threshold of any gate of the city of the great King. But God was preparing another nation, Babylon, the head of gold down by the banks of the River Euphrates; this nation would eventually take Judah into captivity unless she turned to God. God was giving Judah another chance. In order to establish the justice of His cause, God called her into court; He held her before His bar of justice. He gave her opportunity to answer the charge, to hear His verdict, and to throw herself on the mercy of His court. God invites us into the court to see if He is just. It is well for this day and generation to go into the courtroom and see God on the throne of judgment in this sensational scene. In the thinking of the world, God has been removed from the throne of judgment. He has been divested of His authority, robbed of His regal prerogative, shorn of His locks as the moral ruler of His universe; He has been towed to the edge of the world and pushed over as excess baggage. This is a blasphemous picture of God! He is still the moral ruler of His universe. He is still upon the throne of justice; He has not abdicated. He punishes sin. Isaiah records the principles upon which God judges the nations. God raises up nations, and He puts them down. The kingdoms of this world today are Satan’s, but God overrules them. God has permitted great nations to rise, and He has permitted Satan to use them; but when it is time in God’s program for certain nations to move off the stage, He moves them offSatan notwithstanding. Even God’s own people, the Jews, are a testimony of the fact that He rules in the affairs of the nations of this world. There is an expression that keeps recurring in my thinking from the Song of Moses which the children of Israel sang as they crossed the Red Sea. The expression is, “Jehovah is a man of war.” Yes, He is! And He will not compromise with sin. He will not accept the white flag of surrender. He is moving forward in undeviating, unhesitating, and uncompromising fury against it. There would be hope today for man if he could say with Isaiah, “I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne” (Isa_6:1).

Isaiah 1:1

First of all, note that this is a vision “concerning Judah and Jerusalem.” I am sure that we will not make the mistake of locating either one anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. There is, however, a marvelous application for America todayone that we need to hear and heed. “In the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.” Uzziah, the tenth king of Judah, became a leper because he intruded into the holy place, which even a king was not permitted to do. However, Uzziah is classed as a good king. Jotham, his son who followed him, was also a good king. But Ahaz, the grandson of Uzziah, was a bad king. Finally, Hezekiah, the last king mentioned, was a good king. He was the king who asked that his life be prolonged, and God granted his desire. Asking this was probably a mistake on Hezekiah’s part, because many bad things took place during his last years that actually were the undoing of the kingdom.

Isaiah 1:2

God begins this prophecy in a majestic manner. This is God’s general judgment against Judah. He is calling the world, if you please, to come into the courtroom and listen to the proceedings as He tries His people. God does not do anything in a corner or in the dark. This language is strangely similar to the way Deuteronomy 32 begins: “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.” When God put the nation Israel in the land, having taken them out of the land of Egypt, He put down the conditions on which He was “homesteading” them in the Promised Land. He called the created intelligences of heaven and earth to witness these conditions. Now, after five hundred years, God says, “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.” He is ready to take them out of the land and send them into Babylonian captivity. He calls the created intelligences of heaven and earth to witness that He is just and right in His dealings. His charge against them is rebellion. The condition upon which they were allowed to dwell in the land was obedience. They were disobedient; and, according to the Mosaic Law, when a man had a rebellious son, that son was to be stoned to death. God’s charge against them is a serious one.

As His children, they had rebelled against the Mosaic Law in this connection. In the Book of Deuteronomy note the law concerning an incorrigible son: “If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear” (Deu_21:18-21). This was what the Law did with a prodigal son. The crowd that heard Christ tell of the Prodigal Son was dumbfounded when He said that the father told the servant to kill the fatted calf instead of killing the son! When the Prodigal Son got home, he asked his father for forgiveness, and even before he finished his confession, his father had thrown his arms around the boy, kissed him, and forgiven him. Instead of stripes, the son was given a wonderful feast. God is not only just, but also merciful; but the rebellion of a son is a serious thing. Scripture has a great deal to say about it. In order to emphasize His charge and break the tension of the courtroom, God indulges in a bit of humor. I trust that you recognize humor in the Bibleit will make you enjoy it a great deal more. I think that when we get into eternity and get past the time of sin on earth and are finished with the program God is working out at this present time, we are going to have a good time. I think we are going to have many laughs and enjoy many hilarious situations. It does not hurt Christians to have the right kind of humor. God has put a lot of humor in the Bible.

A lady, who was a member of a church I pastored, was upset every time I found humor in the Bible. She would make a trip down the aisle and tell me that I was being irreverent. She has been home with the Lord for a long time, and I do hope she has had a couple of good laughs, because she certainly never had them down here. The fact of the matter is, she acted like she had been weaned on a dill pickle. Unfortunately, she never found humor in this life, and she didn’t seem to enjoy the Christian life as God has intended us to enjoy it.

Isaiah 1:3

This verse is a splendid piece of satire. The two animals that are used for illustrations do not have a reputation for being very intelligent. Neither the ox nor the long-eared donkey has a very high I.Q. The expression “dumb as an ox” is still often used. The donkey does not wear a Phi Beta Kappa key. I should qualify that statement: I admit that I have met a few who do! However, even these animals have intelligence enough to know who feeds them. When I was a pastor in Texas, there was a grassy vacant lot across the street from the church to which a very poor man with many patches on his overalls would bring his little donkey. While the donkey was grazing, many of the little boys and girls in the neighborhood would ride him, and even the preacher rode him once in a while. When I would get on his back, he wouldn’t pay any attention to meor to anyone else. Late in the afternoon the donkey’s owner would come for him. When he came tottering along, the donkey would prick up his long ears. He knew his owner. He knew who was going to feed him that night. On the contrary, a number of folk today do not have intelligence enough to know that God provides for all their needs. They don’t know that God feeds them. They do not even recognize that He exists. What a commentary on this sophisticated generation that no longer needs God. The story is told of a little boy, reared in a Christian home, who was having his first visit away from home. Although he was only going next door for the evening meal, he was eagerly anticipating the experience, and at five o’clock he was dressed and ready to go.

When it came time for all of them to sit down at the table, the little fellow, who was accustomed to hearing the giving of thanks at the table, bowed his head and shut his eyes. But the home to which he had been invited was not a Christian home, and they immediately began to pass the food. Because he didn’t want to miss anything, he opened his eyes and looked around. The little fellow was just a bit embarrassed, but not having any inhibitions, he raised the question: “Don’t you folks thank God for your food?” Then the host was a bit embarrassed but confessed that they did not. The young lad was thoughtful for a moment and then blurted out, “You’re exactly like my dog: you just start in.” There are many people like that today. Multitudes of people live just like animals. God said, “The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib, but my people do not know.” We hear today that man has descended from animals. Who says he has? Man acts like animals act; in fact, it could be said that some animals are smarter than some men. Instead of man descending from animals, maybe animals descended from men; maybe they have evolved into something better than man. Man has dropped pretty low. I think what the Lord said, when He opened up court, reveals that. He continues His charge in verse Isa_1:4:

Isaiah 1:4

We see God as the Judge of all the earth and of His own people Israel. It seems a strange thing to think of God as a judge, because in the thinking of the world today God has been removed from the throne of judgment. He has been divested of His authority. He has been robbed of His regal prerogatives and shorn of His locks as moral ruler of the universe. He has been driven to the edge of the world and pushed over as excess baggage. Don’t think I am being irreverent when I say that modern teaching has given us a warped conception of God.

He is characterized as a toothless old man with long whiskers, sitting on the edge of a fleecy cloud with a rainbow around His shoulders. He is simple, senile, and sentimental. He is overwhelmed with mushy love that slops over on every side, dripping honey and tears. He does not have enough courage or backbone to swat a fly or crush a grape. His proper place is in the corner by the fireplace where He can either crochet or knit. This is the world’s conception of God, but that is not how the Bible describes Him.

God is going to judge this universe just as He judged His own people. That ought to be a warning not only to nations but also to individuals. Israel is described as “a people laden with iniquity.” This phrase throws a world of light upon the personal invitation that the Lord Jesus gave in the New Testament. He said, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat_11:28). Now we know what He meant"laden with iniquity." The people of Israel were laden with sin. Today His invitation goes out to those who are laden with sin to bring that burden and load to Him and find rest, the rest of redemption. In this verse God spells out Israel’s condition. They are backslidden, they have turned away from God, and they are a people laden with iniquity. Now He is going to spell out in detail the charge that He has made against them. This brings to mind the philosophy of human government upon which God operates. This system is presented to us in the Book of Judges, and you see this cycle of the history of human government working itself out in the nation. In the Book of Judges we saw Israel serving God, being blessed of God, and prospering. They began, in their prosperity, to turn away from God, and they finally turned to idolatry. They were in rebellion against God; in fact, they forgot Him. Then God delivered them into the hands of the enemy.

In a short time they began to cry out to God for deliverance. When they turned to God, He delivered them from their enemies and put them back in the place of blessing. This picture follows all the way through Scripture, and history corroborates the fact that there are three steps in the downfall of any nation. There is religious apostasy, then moral awfulness, and finally political anarchy. Many people don’t pay any attention to the cycle until the stage of political anarchy is reached, and then they cry out that the government should be changed and a new system adopted. Well, the problem is not in the government.

The problem in Jerusalem was not in the palace, but the problem was within the temple. The trouble begins when there is spiritual apostasy.

Isaiah 1:5

What God says in these verses is absolutely true. There is moral awfulness and political anarchy, but God is holding back. This still is not the charge that He is bringing against them.

Isaiah 1:8

In other words, if there had not been a faithful remnant, God would have destroyed Israel as He did Sodom and Gomorrah. But there has always been a remnant of God’s people. There is a remnant today: there are Christians scattered throughout the world.

Isaiah 1:10

Now God is spelling it out. The whole problem is spiritual apostasy.

Isaiah 1:11

God specifies His charges against His people. He has put His hand upon a definite thing, and He is going to prove that particular point in which they are wrong. He puts His finger on the best thing in Judah, not the worst. He shows them what is exceedingly wrong. Israel has a God-given religion and a God-appointed ritual in a God-constructed temple, but they are wrong in that which represented the best. They are bringing sacrifices and going through the ritual according to the letter of the Law, but their hearts are in rebellion against God. Their religion is not affecting their conduct. Frankly, that is a problem among believers today. A great many of us have reached the place where we have a form of godliness, but we deny the power thereof.

Isaiah 1:12

Even doing that which God has commanded becomes wrong when the heart is not in it and when it does not affect the believer’s conduct. If the Lord Jesus were to come into your church next Sunday, would He commend you? Would He compliment you for your faithfulness to Him? Would He tell you how much He appreciates your attendance at the services and your giving to Him? I think not! The One who has “feet as burnished brass,” whose “eyes are as a flame of fire,” and from whose mouth there goes “a sharp two-edged sword,” would not commend us (cf. Pro_5:4; Dan_10:6; Rev_1:14-16).

I think He would tell most of us that all of our outward form, all of our lovely testimonies and loud professions, are making Him sick. Would he not tell us that we need to repent and come in humility to Him? Surely this is a warning to the churches of America. Fundamentally, our difficulty today is spiritual; and, until the professing church repents and has genuine revival, there is no hope for America.

Isaiah 1:15

God says, “You are nothing in the world but a bunch of phonies. You come into My presence as if you are really genuine. You go through the sacrifices, but they have become absolutely meaningless to you.” God has spelled out His charge against them. They are guilty of apostasy. It has led to moral awfulness and to political anarchy in the nation. God has called Israel into court and has proved His charge against them. Israel is like a prisoner standing at the bar waiting for the sentence of judgment. God can now move in to judge them. But even at this late date God is willing to settle the case out of court. He says to Israel, “Don’t go into court with Me, because you are going to lose.” The Judge has something else to say, and we stand amazed and aghast at what He says next:

Isaiah 1:18

God is saying to Judah, “Do not force Me to render sentence. Settle your case out of court.” In Mat_5:25 the Lord Jesus said, “Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him …“don’t wait until he takes you to court. God says that He has a secret formula, a divine alchemy, a potent prescription, a powerful potion, a heavenly elixir that will take out sin. It is not a secret formula like the newest bomb, but it is more potent. You will find it in Isaiah 53 as the One who was more marred, who suffered more, who died differently, who was wounded for our transgressions. Because He paid the penalty, the Judge is able now to extend mercy to us. The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, keeps on cleansing from all sin. This is God’s charge against His people, and this is the basis on which they may turn to Him. If they will turn to Him, He will preserve the nationHe will give them almost one hundred yearsthen if they don’t turn to Him and change their ways, He will send them into captivity. We see an application of this to our own country. In my beloved country I see political anarchy. It is obvious to most of us that men cannot solve the problems of this nation, and certainly not of the world. The historian, Gibbon, gives five reasons for the decline of the Roman Empire in his book, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. As the first step towards decline, he lists the undermining of the dignity and the sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. The second step includes higher and higher taxes and the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace. The third was the mad craze for pleasure and sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral. The fourth step was the building of great armaments when the real enemy was within: the decay of individual responsibility. The fifth was the decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and losing power to guide the people. You see, a nation’s decline begins with spiritual apostasy, which is followed by moral awfulness, and results in political anarchy. Is there spiritual apostasy in this land of ours? Every informed Christian is aware that modernism has taken over most of the great denominations of America today; and, in this dire day, modernism, by its own confession, has failed. Dr. Reinhold Niebuhr, one of the mouthpieces of liberalism, is quoted as saying that liberal Protestantism has been inclined to sacrifice every characteristic Christian insight if only it could thereby prove itself intellectually respectable, but that liberalism finds itself unable to cope with the tragic experiences of our day. I find in my file an interesting article clipped from the Wall Street Journal several years ago: “What America needs more than railway extension, western irrigation, a low tariff, a bigger cotton crop, and a larger wheat crop is a revival of religion. The kind that father and mother used to have. A religion that counted it good business to take time for family worship each morning right in the middle of wheat harvest. A religion that prompted them to quit work a half hour earlier on Wednesday so that the whole family could get ready to go to prayer meeting.” America’s problem is the same today; it is a spiritual problem. Dr. Albert Hyma, when he was professor of history at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said, “The United States of America in the past fifty years has been dominated to a large extent by persons who do not understand the spiritual heritage bequeathed by their own ancestors.” Dr. J. Gresham Machen said, “America is coasting downhill on a godly ancestry, and God pity America when we hit the bottom of the hill.” Friend, we have hit the bottom of the hill, but God is saying to us, “Come, let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” There is a way out for America, but, if we go the same direction as other nations, our time is limited. Aaron Burr was a grandson of the great Jonathan Edwards who, upon an occasion, conducted meetings at Princeton, where Aaron Burr was a student. There was a great spiritual movement in the school. One night Jonathan Edwards preached on the subject, “The Mastery of Jesus.” Aaron Burr was deeply stirred, and he went to the room of one of his professors to talk to him about making a decision for Jesus. The professor urged him not to make a decision under any sort of an emotional appeal, but to wait until after the meetings were over. Aaron Burr postponed making a decision and went on to murder a great American and to betray his country. When he was an old man, a young man came to him and said, “Mr. Burr, I want you to meet a Friend of mine.” Aaron Burr said, “Who is he?” The young man replied, “He is Jesus Christ, the Savior of my soul.” A cold sweat broke out on the forehead of Aaron Burr, and he replied, “Sixty years ago I told God if He would let me alone, I would let Him alone, and He has kept His word!” There is a way out for America, and there is a way out for you and for me. Someone has stated it this way: Philosophy says: Think your way out. Indulgence says: Drink your way out. Politics says: Spend your way out. Science says: Invent your way out. Industry says: Work your way out. Communism says: Strike your way out. Fascism says: Bluff your way out. Militarism says: Fight your way out. The Bible says: Pray your way out, but Jesus Christ says: “I am the way (out) …” After the Lord brings His charges against Judah and offers them salvation and a way out of their trouble, He continues gently with a warning.

Isaiah 1:19

The government of God and the grace of God are two aspects emphasized in the Book of Isaiah. During the remainder of chapter 1 God is attempting to move Judah back to Himself. He is giving the people a warning.

Isaiah 1:24

Judah’s destiny depends upon the people’s response to God’s offer of forgiving grace. If they are willing to turn from their sin and obey God, He will bestow His favor upon them materially and spiritually and protect them from their enemies.

Isaiah 1:27

This has to do with idolatry because the idols were placed under the oak trees, and a garden was planted around them.

Isaiah 1:30

God has been misrepresented in the sense that He has been pictured as losing His temper and breaking forth in judgment. That is never a true picture of God. The fact is that our sin is like a wick, and when we play with the spark of sin, the fire will follow. “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Gal_6:7).