READING: Isaiah 2-7
Here’s the way Isaiah described that situation in his day: “For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen because they have spoken and acted against the Lord, defying his glorious presence. The look on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it” (Isa 3:8-9).* Their words, their actions, and, indeed, the looks on their faces revealed that they openly stood against their Creator. They were no better than the people of Sodom, who showed no embarrassment or remorse in their drive to have sex with Lot’s guests. As one writer said of Isaiah’s people, “Sin is no longer sin, it is the new morality.”**
The sinful revolt of the Israelites in Isaiah’s day would not last without judgment, however; instead, Isaiah wrote, “Woe to them, for they have brought disaster on themselves” (Isa 3:9). The Lord God of Armies would carry out judgment on His people, and they would reap what they had sown. Once again, the scriptures remind us of the long-term destructive nature of our sin—and that “the Lord of Armies is exalted by his justice, and the holy God shows that he is holy through his righteousness” (Isa 5:16).
PERSONAL REFLECTION: How do you treat sin in your life?
PRAYER: “God, bring me to the place where I detest my sin.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Isaiah 8-12
*first published in 2019
**Motyer, J. A. (1999). Isaiah: an introduction and commentary (Vol. 20, p. 64). Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.