To Whom Are You Listening?

Isaiah 8:11-13: "The Lord spoke to me (Isaiah) with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: 'Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread.'"



Isaiah lived during an era that saw God's chosen people (i.e. the Israelites) living lives of utter rebellion against the Lord. In fact, God refers to these people as a "sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption" (Isaiah 1:4). Although they were great at practicing a formality of religion (1:11-13), their immoral, rebellious disposition toward the Lord's commands revealed their true hearts of disdain for the One True God. God recognized that their arrogant consumption with themselves was the systemic problem that caused their legitimizing any behavior that satisfied their wanton lusts, and all spheres of their lives were conformed to this self-idolizing philosophy. The ultimate tragedy came when the people began to flaunt openly their rebellion; these Israelites began to "parade their sin like Sodom . . ." calling their evil practices 'good' as they prided themselves in their "vast" wisdom (3:9; 5:20-21).



Although these Israelites believed that their strategies would prevail, the Lord told Isaiah that their pursuits would be thwarted. In the end, the Lord would bring judgment upon these people for their irreverence for the Lord and His Law. For this reason, God warned the prophet not to fall prey to the popular wicked disposition of the Israelites. Of course as Isaiah began to decry the evil perpetrated by the Israelites, he became a rather unpopular figure. History records that Isaiah would be executed by King Manasseh for his prophecies against God's chosen people.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the similarities of our culture today with the immoral practices of the Israelites 2700 years ago. We see in our nation, people who propagate attitudes and behaviors that clearly are in defiance to God's Will as recorded in Scripture. And what is tragic is the way in which our culture flagrantly promotes its antinomian behavior . . . even calling it "good." God will not be mocked by such tyranny; He will bring the sin of mankind to account.

We must follow a similar path as the prophet Isaiah, by resisting any temptation to follow the sinful ways of the unrighteous. We must yield ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and follow His commands. To do so will be counter-cultural; still, we are not to fear what mankind might do to us. We are to revere the Lord alone . . . for He is Holy!