Hindered Worship: Isaiah 1:10-20

Did you know that God may not listen to your prayers? Our behavior may affect our prayers and worship as in biblical times. The Israelites often strayed from the Lord’s path in the Old Testament. Their behavior became so despicable that their godly deeds, religious celebrations, and even their prayers became repugnant to the Lord. It came to the point where Jerusalem was so corrupt that God’s people were unknowingly in rebellion against the Lord and weighed down with guilt (Isa 1:2-4). The lesson we will learn from this is that the Lord rejects his people’s worship when commenced without commitment and how that applies to our lives by studying Isaiah 1:10-20.

The Lord Rejects Worship without Commitment

Isaiah, the prophet, actively shared God’s messages with Judah between ca. 740–681 BC. The bulk of his prophecies relate to God’s judgments against wicked nations. Often included, though, are instructions toward repentance. This format of judgment with offers of hope are consistent throughout Isaiah. Verses 10-15 constitute the wickedness of Judah and Jerusalem that deserve God’s judgment.

Some Bible scholars liken this section to a court case, where the Lord, the great judge, brings an indictment against his people. Now, let us add context: “rulers” in verse 10 is related to the Arabic word for “judges” and likely refers to Jerusalem’s magistrates. Therefore, we have an ironic situation where God, as supreme judge, is having to judge the judges of Jerusalem. This alone demonstrates the moral depths to which God’s people have fallen.

Jerusalem was corrupt and depraved to the point where the Lord compares them to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:10). What were those cities’ crimes? Genesis reads, “their sin is exceedingly grave” (Gen 18:20, NASB). Jude wrote that they “indulged in sexual perversion and went after strange flesh” (Jude 7, NASB). The Lord later says in Isaiah that Jerusalem’s inhabitants “display their sin like Sodom; They do not even conceal it” (Isa 3:9, NASB).

Such a failure for Jerusalem’s spiritual leaders to respond to the Lord should be eye-opening to those who preach and teach today. Those in authority have a responsibility to be above reproach. Paul understood this, instructing elders to be unbiased, impartial, free from sin, and worthy of their wages (1 Tim 5:17–22). So too, we have the responsibility to live Christlike.

The Lord then offers specific ways in which the rulers of Jerusalem have failed. Verses 11-13a present a question and answer. The Lord wants his people to dwell upon the meaning of sacrifices and offerings. Understand, the Lord is not denouncing these Levitical rituals (cf. Lev 1–7); rather, he abhorred the emptiness of sacrifices and offerings continued without repentance. The worship system itself gained importance in the eyes of worshipers instead of why and who they worshiped. In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul instructs believers not to judge one another based on dietary observances or on which holy days they celebrate, calling these traditions, “things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ” (NASB).

The Israelites in Isaiah’s day, and possibly of humans overall, value the routine of spiritual acts. However, performing ceremonies without regard to internal changes makes God’s people find value in the quantity or quality of the religious acts that they perform. Just as God has enough rams and cattle (Isa 1:10), he has no need for more songs or prayers from us. One way we can test ourselves to see if we are falling into a similar mindset as that of the Jerusalem rulers is to ask if our worship is about “what we do for God” or “how we enter into the grace he offers to us.”

Verses 13-14 state that the Lord hates Jerusalem’s celebrations and assemblies (Isa 13:14). God’s chosen people are routinely gathering together to supposedly honor their Father’s goodness while disobeying him in between these events. This behavior incurs God’s wrath possibly more than any other. In Revelation 2, Jesus says he hates the ways of the Nicolaitans, ways which some in the church teach (2:6, 15). God rarely speaks of those he hates, appearing to reserve this kind of language for those who mislead others in his name.

Probably the most relatable part of this accusation to us is God saying he does not hear the many prayers of his people in verse 15. In an age where we hear preachers calling for more intense, corporate, and expressional prayer, few incorporate repentance with their message. Instead, congregants are assured that God always hears prayers. Judah also appears to have overlooked the importance that obedience has on the effectiveness of prayers. Along with their shameless exposition of sin, they are worshiping God with hands “covered with blood” (Isa 1:15, NASB). This is speaking of symbolic blood of guilt; however, Isaiah may have witnessed Ahaz, king of Judah, literally sprinkle blood of a sacrifice to the Lord over a replicated pagan altar of Damascus (2 Kgs 16:13). The attitude in which Judah worships is revolting to God. Their behavior suggests that their religion is distinct from their lives. Jesus said in Revelation 3:17 that this sort of two-faced behavior will cause believers unwittingly to become spiritually wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. Likewise, when we “play church” on Sunday but live in the flesh the rest of the time, our spirits will corrupt.

The Lord Calls for Repentance (Isaiah 1:16-18)

Although the Lord threatens Judah with judgment, he also offers his people a chance to repent. Now that God has indicted Jerusalem, he calls for change. The Lord provides instructions followed by a plea for common sense in verses 16-18. Repentance comes through a change in heart, yielding changed behavior. The blood on their hands needs washed away (Isa 1:16). Notice, God did not say, “Do good,” but “Learn to do good” (Isa 1:17). Judah could not walk justly because they had not learned how. Judah was repeatedly in difficult positions, particularly with Israel and the Assyrians, but instead of repenting, they chose to placate the Lord with their dead works. Micah rightly asks, “With what shall I come to the Lord?” (Mic 6:6, NASB). He answers his own question with three requirements, “Do justice . . . love kindness, and . . . walk humbly with your God” (Mic 6:8, NASB). This aligns with Isaiah’s message in verse 17.

We also need to “learn to do good.” We can measure our goodness according to the Lord’s standards by standing against injustice and helping others. After all, Jesus plainly told us that we will be judged based on our attitude toward helping others in Matthew 25:31-46.

After shaming his people, the Lord offers them a chance for salvation in verse 18. He says, “Let us reason together” (Isa 1:18). He is offering Judah the chance to be cleansed from their sins. A sincere cleansing of the heart needed to take place with Isaiah’s generation. Forgiveness is being offered, but only as a result of a changed attitude. The imagery of becoming “white as snow” is applied to those in the early church who overcome the world in Revelation 3:5. This hopeful imagery is in stark contrast to being “scarlet,” which is used to represent sin. In fact, the wicked city, Babylon, is described as wearing scarlet (Rev 18:16). The common sense of choosing to live for prosperity or death should leave God’s people confident that following the Lord is wise.

Obeying and Disobeying the Lord has Consequences (Isaiah 1:19-20)

This message from the Lord serves to distinguish between the path of the Lord versus Judah’s own paths. Judah had blurred the lines between life and religion, but the Lord warns them that any choice other than complete obedience would mean rejecting God. Although the choice may seem clear to us, the Lord ends up “spelling out” the consequences of Judah’s choices in verses 19 and 20.

The Lord offers two choices. Choice A, in verse 19, requires Judah to consent to and obey the Lord. This would be an enormous step up from where they are at currently. They must switch from mere conformism to giving their best to God. In return, they would become eligible to receive the best food of the land. Following this path would lead Jerusalem to becoming “the city of righteousness” and would restore her rulers (Isa 1:26).

Choice B, in verse 20, refers to any path that Judah may be tempted to take other than the narrow way offered by God. The consequence of this choice is that they “will be devoured by the sword” (Isa 1:20). Since a sword does not consume food, this is an unusual way to word God’s judgment.. This imagery conveys the idea that the sword will cause Judah to appear as if they had been devoured, leaving no doubt that the result is death. It may be a foreshadowing of the return of Christ, since Jesus kills his enemies “with the sword which came from his mouth” (Rev 19:21).

Conclusion

The lesson to learn from this passage is that the Lord requires attitudes of worship to accompany any rituals performed. It was unacceptable for Judah to routinely offer sacrifices, burn offerings, pray, and celebrate holy days without commitment in their hearts. Likewise, it is unacceptable for us to blithely participate in the rituals of Christianity. In a similar situation where Israel was struggling with worshiping other gods, Joshua demanded the same as Isaiah, saying, “Choose for yourselves today whom you will serve” (Josh 24:15). We face the same choice.

30 November 2019