Holy Heartache - God's Lament For His People (1 Of 15) Series

Holy Heartache: God's Lament for His People

Introduction

We took pictures in the fall. Anyone else here have a wife or mom who likes to take pictures at the beginning of the holiday season? We're all dressed up nice, smiling faces, obviously the perfect family. What no one sees is that moments before the picture is snapped, it was chaos. Morgan and Mati were terrorizing their brother, Ceresa and I were yelling at all of them. The chaos stopped just long enough to snap the photo you see today.

Like my family trying to present a perfect image, the people of Judah and Jerusalem were maintaining an appearance of righteousness while chaos and unfaithfulness reigned in their hearts and society. Isaiah's vision exposes the reality behind the facade.

Another story to help illustrate the point. When I was in high school I was always messing around with my truck. I changed my brakes once and didn't have a clue what I was doing. Another time I had a fuse that was blown and would immediately blow any fuse I tried to put into the fuse box. I asked a friend and they suggested I just put a bigger fuse. I did that and after a few moments the smell of burning plastic began to fill the air.

This is like the people of Judah during Isaiah's time. Everything may have looked right on the outside, but internally things were burning up.

Isaiah 1:1-9

1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2 Hear me, you heavens! Listen, earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.

3 The ox knows its master, the donkey its owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.”

4 Woe to the sinful nation, a people whose guilt is great, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the Lord; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.

5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.

6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and open sores, not cleansed or bandaged or soothed with olive oil.

7 Your country is desolate, your cities burned with fire; your fields are being stripped by foreigners right before you, laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

8 Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a city under siege.

9 Unless the Lord Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.

I. Some Background on Isaiah

Political and Social Setting in Isaiah's Time

A. International Tensions and Threats:

During this era, the Assyrian Empire was expanding and becoming a dominant force in the region. This posed a significant threat to the smaller kingdoms, including Judah.

There were also tensions with the Northern Kingdom of Israel and other neighboring nations like Egypt and Babylon.

B. Internal Political Instability:

The succession of kings during Isaiah's time saw varying degrees of faithfulness to the covenant with God. Each king's reign brought different policies and religious practices.

King Ahaz, for instance, is noted for his idolatrous practices, which included making alliances with Assyria and incorporating pagan worship elements into the temple service.

C. Social Injustice and Economic Disparity:

The society was marked by a growing divide between the wealthy and the poor. Economic exploitation and social injustice were rampant.

The wealthy elite often accumulated land and wealth at the expense of the poorer classes, contrary to the laws and principles outlined in the Torah, such as the year of Jubilee and provisions for the poor and widows.

D. Religious Apostasy and Idolatry:

There was a significant departure from the worship of Yahweh as prescribed in the Mosaic Law. Idol worship, including the worship of Baal and Asherah, was prevalent.

Religious practices had become formalistic and ritualistic, lacking genuine devotion and obedience to God. The prophets, including Isaiah, condemned these practices as empty and offensive to God.

E. Moral Decay and Corruption:

The leaders and people were criticized for their dishonesty, corruption, and lack of moral integrity.

Bribery, perversion of justice, and neglect of the needy and vulnerable were common, indicating a society that had strayed far from the ethical standards of the Torah.

F. William Henry Green, a biblical scholar at Princeton in the 19th century, said:

"Who can tell us, whether this awful and mysterious silence, in which the infinite one has wrapped himself, portends, mercy, or wrath? Who can say to the troubled conscience, whether he, whose laws in nature are inflexible and remorseless, will pardon sin? Who can answer the anxious inquiry, whether the dying live on, or whether they cease to be? Is there a future state? And if so, what is the nature of that untried condition of being? If there be immortal happiness, how can I obtain it? If there be an everlasting woe, how can it be escaped? Let the reader close his Bible and ask himself seriously what he knows upon these momentous questions, apart from its teachings. What solid foundation has he to rest upon, in regard to matters, which, so absolutely transcend all earthly experiences, and are so entirely out of the reach of our unassisted faculties? A man of facile faith may perhaps, dilute himself into the belief of what he wishes to believe. He made us take upon trust God's Unlimited mercy, his ready, forgiveness of transgressors, and eternal happiness after death. But this is all a dream. He knows nothing, he can know nothing about it, except by direct revelation from heaven."