REFLECTING IMAGES OF REBELLION
Someone has defined rebellion this way: “Reserving for myself the right to make the final decision.”
Are you a rebel?
How many of us think that it’s okay to go 110 km/h on the highway? As the pirates like to say, “It’s not a rule per se; it’s more like a guideline.” And in the States the speed limit is 75 mph, which means 120 km/h, or in other words, 130 km/h. Since most Americans drive faster than their own speed limit, you can cruise through most States at 140 km/h, because, hey, everybody’s doing it. Is this rebellion?
How do you rebel? And believe me, you do.
A friend of mind did not like the new gun registry laws that came out several years ago. In his mind the law punished the innocent and did nothing to criminals. He decided to bury his rifles and several boxes of ammunition. That way the police could not confiscate what they could not prove he owned. I wonder if he knows where he buried those guns.
Are we inclined to rebel? Yes, it’s in our nature to rebel.
In the washroom at Safeway there is a sign that reminds the patrons to wash their hands before returning to the store. Well I was going to before I read that sign. Now I don’t want to just because you told me. Don’t tell me what to do.
It’s in all of us, this tendency to rebel against authority. What’s painful is when you are the one in authority and it is your child who is rebelling. Now it’s not so cool; it’s not so insignificant. Now it really hurts. You make rules for your children’s safety and they flaunt them. They drive too fast, experiment with alcohol, dress too suggestively and get way too serious about their boyfriends and girlfriends. And you sit at home and wonder why they don’t believe you when you say that you love them and want the best for them. What did you do wrong?
If you were the perfect parent would your children rebel? Yes they would. Our Father in heaven is the perfect parent and his children still rebel. The great insult for any parent, and especially for God, is that the rebel does not believe that what you say is true.
Come and see some images of rebellion in Isaiah. Let me show you how God feels about rebellion.
1. “My children are rebelling!”
Isaiah’s vision identifies Israel’s problem from the start. It is so clear what has offended the God of Israel. His children are rebelling.
The overall image is subtle but it gives us the picture of a court with God as the judge. God has called and convened the great courtroom to order and has leveled the accusation, “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me” (v. 2). It is a general statement, it does not get specific, yet there is a noticeable hurt in God’s words.
The LORD even compares their disobedience to the subjection of animals to their masters. “The ox knows his master, the donkey his owner’s manger, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (v. 3). The comparison is stark. Even dumb animals know where their food comes from and who takes care of them.
Is that a fair contrast? I asked my dog the other day if he loved me. He just stared at me with those big eyes as if to say “What?” When I call him he will come to me for the most part. That is, unless there is something interesting to smell. My dog does not understand me either. Surely people are better than dumb animals.
Notice then, how God feels. His people have rebelled, his children have hurt him through disobedience, and they don’t really get it. They don’t even know how they have hurt him and he has to spell it out for them. He gave them rules to live by for their good and they decided to trust their own judgment about what was best. And the worst part is they think its okay. It’s not okay.
The LORD groans, “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, 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” (v. 5). I can imagine them asking, “How have we done this?” This is so unfair, the rebel without a clue says. They have no idea, so the LORD continues…
2. The Consequences of Rebellion
Though they have no idea there is a sense in which their disobedience was willful rather than ignorant failure to respond to God. They turned their backs on him. And what did they expect to happen when they did that?
When you want your own way what do you think will happen? You get your own way. Hurray! Independence from God is a fleeting feeling and only ends in disaster as you try to go your own way. Look at Israel when they went their own way: “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” (v. 7).
This is not a metaphor; this is the destruction that Judah faced when they turned from God’s way. The theology of this situation is curious. If a nation would honor God and obey him they would have success; if they ignore God the nation can expect destruction. Is this universal or peculiar to Judah? Take it personally: if you consider God’s way of life for you as an individual, you can expect blessing in your life. But if you ignore God’s truth you can expect disastrous results.
The image Isaiah gives us of a rebellious people very much like the legendary and infamous Sodom and Gomorrah (v. 9). They were into everything. If Sodomites thought it would give pleasure they did it regardless of morality. And what happened to them? God completely wiped out those wicked people.
Remember that Isaiah was called the Romans of the OT? Romans 1 reemphasizes what happens when people go their own rebellious ways: While they could discern from nature that there was a God men chose to worship idols, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie…” (Ro. 1:24-25). Three times in this chapter it says that God gave them over to what they wanted. The rebels get what they want. God gives them over to do what they want. And in the end it destroys them and breaks God’s heart.
Sociologist and historian Carl Zimmerman, in his 1947 book Family and Civilization, recorded his keen observations as he compared the disintegration of various cultures with the parallel decline of family life in those cultures. Eight specific patterns of domestic behavior typified the downward spiral of each culture Zimmerman studied:
“Marriage loses its sacredness; … is frequently broken by divorce; traditional meaning of the marriage ceremony is lost; feminist movements abound; there is increased public disrespect for parents and authority in general; an acceleration of juvenile delinquency, promiscuity and rebellion occurs; there is refusal of people with traditional marriages to accept family responsibilities; a growing desire for, and acceptance of, adultery is evident; there is increasing interest in, and spread of, sexual perversions and sex-related crimes.” (Confident Living, November 1987, p. 34).
This is the result of our rebellion.
3. When Religion is Useless
What is absolutely ridiculous in this context is that the people of Judah continued to offer sacrifices to God while they were disobeying him. In verses 11-15 we see that this people have continued to perform their religious rituals, sacrificing bulls and goats and holding festivals that are supposed to honor God.
All the while they are failing to live out practically what these sacrifices and festivals represent. There is no honor for God in outward ritual with no inner transformation. God is not impressed with lips that say the right words and a heart that is cold towards him.
This is what the prophets called hypocrisy. This is what I remember the preachers telling the church when I was growing up “You are just playing church.” It reinforces the truth that going to church every Sunday is not enough. Teaching Sunday School is not enough. Attending membership meeting is not enough. I don’t want your ritual, the Lord says, I want your love and devotion. I don’t want meaningless activity; I want a relationship with you.
But because it is all play and no meaning the Lord is disgusted with pretense: “When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood…” (v. 15). You think you are right but you are so wrong.
4. “What you need to do”
If they did not understand by now, the Lord makes it incredibly plain what he wants from them. Their hands are full of blood. Why? Because they divorced worship from justice; they separated a pious life from practical care. They failed to understand what God really cared about.
What did God want from them? “…wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight! Stop doing wrong, learn to do right! Seek justice, encourage the oppressed. Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow” (16-17).
When God delivered the Israelites from the hand of the Egyptians he showed them the character of God. The Lord cares for the oppressed; he is the deliverer of the oppressed. The Exodus was a great object lesson to the people that they should have a special concern for the poor and defenseless among them. For their times in particular it was the widows and orphans who needed special care. And in that prosperous society which Isaiah lived in, it was the poor, the widow and the orphan who failed to get justice in the courts when rich men wanted to take advantage of them. This angered God.
Do you think anything has changed? Who does Jesus hold up as a good neighbor in that famous parable? The Samaritan because he stopped to help a fellow human being. And James wrote, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (Js 1:27).
They failed God. We have failed God. We have failed to care more for people than for programs. Yet God still offers grace to us for one simple reason: We are his children and he never gives up on his children. He gets angry with us; he is hurt by us, but he never gives up. He offers pardon…
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (18). God chose scarlet for a simple reason. This bright red color was the most ‘fast’ color known. While other colors could be bleached out, scarlet couldn’t. How powerful the promise that even if our sins are like scarlet, God will make us white as snow. The snows are coming, I’m sorry. But you know there is nothing as blindingly white as fresh snow. That’s how clean God will make our lives if we stop rebelling against his way.
Turn to me, wash yourselves, and I will make you cleaner than you ever thought possible. One image has repeated itself in my mind recently and it is this: God has wiped my record of sins clean. But wait, let’s not go there yet.
One last thing God requires of us is this: “If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist you will be devoured by the sword” (19-20). If you are willing…you will eat. If you persist in rebelling, you will be eaten, devoured. Young people this is not a metaphor. Friends this is real. If we persist in pretending to live holy lives but foul ourselves with ungodly practices, we will be sorry for it.
5. “What I’m going to do”
Judah had been so fouled with impure actions and rituals and thoughts that if they turned to God it would take a miracle to make them holy again. Here is where the most profound image of the passage comes into play. Here is what God intended to do to make a holy people for himself.
The image of silver is where he begins this portrait. “Your silver has become dross, your choice wine is diluted with water” (22). Silver can contain some alloy and still be silver, but silver which has become dross has suffered a total degeneration. Same with wine: as soon as wine is touched with water no particle of it remains undiluted. When sin enters into our lives it destroys the nature it enters and leaves no part untainted. You cannot change your heart; you cannot work out a bargain with God. What do you do?
Nothing. It’s what God does. This is what the Lord says, “I will turn my hand against you; I will thoroughly purge away your dross and remove all your impurities” (25). This is the image of a refinery. To purify silver it must be put through the fire and refined. It is an image of both judgment and love and that is what is so profound. God’s judgment is seen as angry wrath and yet it is because of God’s judgment that we know and perceive his great love for us.
God will redeem, that is, purchase, his people in a way which is in complete harmony with his holiness. Redemption and judgment are inseparable – the one can only come through the other. Does this sound familiar?
This foreshadows the Cross of Jesus. “When you were dead in your transgressions and sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross” (Col 2:13-14). The Cross of Jesus is the dual reality of God’s love and God’s judgment. It is the heart of the deliverer who was the architect of the Exodus, the One who had compassion on the oppressed and the rebel.
You may have heard this story but let it ring true for us again today: Someone tells the story of a boy who was rebelling against his dad constantly. This boy was destroying his own life by his rebellion, but he refuse to heed his father’s words.
One day, the dad said to the boy, "I want to show you what you’re doing to your life. I’m going to put a wooden post in our front yard. Every time you rebel, I will put a nail in this post. Every time you obey, I will pull out one nail."
The first thought from the boy was, "I’m going to do everything I can to fill that post with nails." And he did. In two months’ time, he filled that post with nails. But he also began to feel the damage he was doing to his own life and to his parents’ lives.
With true remorse, the boy began to obey his father. One by one, the nails came out. When the last nail came out of the post, the boy broke down in tears. The dad asked, "Son, why are you crying?"
And the boy replied, "I got rid of the nails, but I can’t get rid of the holes."
There are holes in the hands of Jesus that speak to the consequences of our sin and rebellion. Those holes also speak of a loving Father who with breaking heart gave everything to save us from the consequences of our rebellion. Praise God for the holes in his hands.
AMEN
