Isaiah began his ministry at a crucial time in the history of Israel and Judah. By 735 BC, the Assyrians had risen as a world power and were the first Empire to systematize terror.

The Assyrians Are Coming!

Jonathan Cahn in “The Harbinger” calls them the first terrorists of the world. They levelled cities to the ground, physically mutilated their captives and even “flayed alive those who rebelled against them, and nailed their skins to the wall for public display” (The Harbinger, p. 37). They were the military power that would destroy the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC and would threaten the southern kingdom of Judah, even coming to the outskirts of Jerusalem.

Isaiah lived and ministered in the southern kingdom of Judah. In Isaiah 1, the prophet gives the reason for the breaches in the wall of security and protection around Judah. They have rebelled, forsaken and spurned their faithful Husband, the Holy One of Israel (Is. 1:2-4). Foreign armies have begun to overrun and trample some of their towns and cities and have seriously weakened the capital city of Jerusalem (Is. 1:5-9). This is what Moses had warned would happen if the Israelites were to become unfaithful in their covenant relationship with Yahweh God (Deut. 28:25-35).

Our Relationship With God Determines Everything

Their security and prosperity have been breached, as well as their relationships within their own society (Is. 1:17, 21; 3:12-15). The fatherless and the widow are routinely taken advantage of in Judah. The once faithful city of Jerusalem use to be filled with God’s justice and righteousness, but now it has become a harlot, where murderers dwell (Is. 1:21). These breaches of national security and national social life find their root in Israel’s breach with their Creator And Covenant God.

They still pray much and offer many sacrifices at the Jerusalem Temple (Is. 1:10-15). The faithfully “go to church“, but their outward religiosity masks an idolatrous heart (Is.2:6-8). They are fooling and deceiving themselves in their pride and hypocrisy, but they are not fooling their Holy God (Is.1:15-17). Despite the judgments that God is beginning to bring upon his people, the LORD offers hope to them (Is.1:18-20). “Let’s reason together!” the LORD urgently says to  his people through Isaiah. Obedience is always of highest priority for God’s people, especially when the Assyrians are breathing down your neck.

There is hope and blessing for those who repent and make the Lord their refuge (Is.1:19, 27), but only despair for those who persist in their rebellion (Is. 1:20, 28). The Lord gives his people a grand glimpse of who they were meant to be (Is. 2:1-5). The nations were to conform to them in their worship and character, but in their unfaithfulness, the Israelites have conformed to the pagan nations (Is.2:6-22). Even though they are God’s people, they have become like Sodom and Gomorrah (Is. 1:9-10, 3:9). So God is going to treat the unrepentant in Judah like he treated Sodom and Gomorrah (Is. 3:1-26).

But God is also merciful. As Jeremiah declares: “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail” (Lam. 3:22). The Lord will purify his people from their guilt and give them new hearts. In Isaiah 4, the Lord gives a picture of what will be: a purified people in a new covenant relationship with their Bridegroom God. I believe this is a picture of the intimacy of relationship that Messiah Jesus will make possible on Mt. Calvary’s cross. But more of that on Monday.

QOTD: Do you take seriously the need for obedience and faithfulness in your relationship with the LORD?