Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 5:8-30
Think on these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 5:8-30:
1. The passage highlights the danger of moral relativism and the consequences of perceiving evil as good and good as evil. How do these distortions affect society and individual morality today? How can we guard against falling into the trap of moral confusion in a world where values can be easily misconstrued?
2. Isaiah's words address a significant human tendency—being wise in one's own eyes. What are the implications of this self-assumed wisdom in our relationship with God and others? How does this self-reliance hinder us from seeking divine guidance and understanding?
3. The chapter ends with a vivid description of impending judgment through foreign nations. In what ways can we apply the lessons from this passage to our lives today, especially in understanding the potential consequences of turning away from God and living in a manner contrary to His ways? How can we seek repentance and restoration in our own spiritual journey?
Transcript:
Once again, we have a story of God judging the people of Jerusalem, people of Judah, people of Israel for their unfaithfulness. We see here God describing what this is going to be through the Prophet, Isaiah. We read these woes and these things that we see that they are doing. We see some interesting stuff. Now, some of you, perhaps when I read verse 11, heard the words, Woe to those who rise early in the morning. You thought, That's right. You need to sleep in. You need to get plenty of sleep. Then we saw the rest of the story. It says, They rise early in the morning, and then they run after strong drink. There's nothing wrong with being an early riser. We post these videos early for those of you who are early risers. But the point is that you can see here what they are doing. There are all these issues, and one of them is that there is drunkenness, that there is all these different types of sinful activities that are taking place here. But really, what we see here in verse 12 is at the heart of majority of this issue. They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and lying at their feast.
They have these feasts. They may even be feast to the Lord, theoretically. They may be religious things. But what we see here is they do not regard the deeds of the Lord or see the work of His hand. They aren't concerned with God, whether that is His law or the meaning behind these festivals and meaning behind why they celebrate. They instead are doing it to do it. They are not following God in any way here. We see as we come down to verse 15, says that man is humbled and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. Well, it's hard to be humbled, right? That's what God says He is going to do here. Those who are haughty, those who think highly of themselves are going to be brought low. But what do we see? The Lord of hosts is exalted in justice. Regardless of what man thinks of himself, it is truly God who is above him. And so God is going to humble them. God is going to bring them low. He will be exalted in this. And the Holy God shows Himself holy and righteousness. Now, it's important that we understand what is being shown to us here, that God is holy, and He is to be exalted.
He is above all things. Even though we like to think that we are number one, even though we like to think that we are the ones who exalt ourselves, that we do these things. We bring glory to ourselves. God is the one who is truly exalted. God is the one who is truly holy, and it is righteousness that He has. We should be seeking that out, instead of seeking out things of the flesh, instead of seeking out the things that we desire, things that bring glory to us. As we look down, we see more woes being put out there for us to understand what the issue is here with people of Judah, Jerusalem. Verse 20, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. This is beautiful language. It's very poetic, right? It turns things around so that we truly feel it in the language, and it's easy for us to see who would call evil good and good evil. That's a terrible thing. Who would put darkness for light? Who could possibly mess those two things up?
Who could mix up bitter and sweet? Regardless of which one of these things you like, you can tell the difference between them. Why would you call one good and the other one evil? You get the idea here that we are to understand that these contrasts are very clear that they have been meshed together. They have actually been flipped. So, in verse 21, which I haven't highlighted here, but it says, Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and shrewd in their own sight. Isn't that really the issue? Woe to those who are wise in their own sight. We seek out our things, the things that we think are good, instead of consulting God. And ultimately, that is at the issue here. People are following after themselves. They think they're wise. It's not like they're intentionally being dumb, for lack of a better way of putting it. They think that what they are doing is wise, that what they are doing is good. They are calling evil good and good evil. They think that they are wise in their own eyes, that they are truth, that it is truly God who is wise. So, as we come down to the bottom here, we see that they are going to be carried off as we come to the end of the chapter.
We see here that God describes, can you get Prophet Isaiah? He describes these nations that are going to come. Verse 26 says that God is going to raise a signal for them to come, and they're going to come. And they don't get tired, they don't stumble, they are ready to go. Their arrows are sharp, their bows are bent, their horses' hooves seem like flint, their wheels are like the whirlwind. They're roaring as like a lion, like young lions they row. They growl and their prey. They carry it off and none can rescue. In other words, God is going to take them into exile through these foreign nations. This is how God was coming to judge their sin and their iniquities. That is the idea here of this chapter. Where I want us to dwell is on verse 20, with that good, poetic language that makes it clear for us. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. We put darkness for light and light for darkness. As we think about this passage, it's easy for us to look on people that are Israel and say, What were these people doing? But as we think about it, when we turn from God, what are we doing?
We're doing exactly what verse 20 says here, We're calling evil good and good evil. We are being wise in our own eyes. We're exchanging darkness for light and light from darkness. We choose the bitter over the sweetness of God's word. And so, as we think about what this means, we need to examine ourselves. Well, it's easy to see the sin of people in Jerusalem and in Judah and in Israel here. You feel like maybe that's not us. The truth of the matter is woe to us when we sin, when we call evil good, good evil. And so, may we hear these words, and may we be convicted of areas of sin in our life that we might turn to him and turn to Jesus, in repentance and faith.
