A Proper Response
5/4/26 Bible Thought (Isaiah 28-29)
Main Idea: God’s Word must be received with humility.
A Look at the Text:
After looking to the future, Isaiah’s writing shifts in today’s text back to his day, around 700 BC. With this, there were decrees of judgment against both Israel and Judah during the divided kingdom; apparently, the clock has turned back ever so slightly in Isaiah’s chronology before Israel was fully conquered in 722 BC.
Israel was characterized by drunken pride (Isa. 28:1). Their priests and prophets were in such a drunken stupor that they couldn’t give prophetic direction or render sound judgment (Isa. 28:7). They even mocked Isaiah’s ministry as if he were talking to children (Isa. 28:9-10).
Judah wasn’t much better. They likewise scoffed at the threats of coming judgment, believing that based upon God’s covenant with David, they were immune to destruction (Isa. 28:15).
To this, God promised judgment. The whip they thought they could avoid would certainly fall upon them (Isa. 28:18). Ariel (Jerusalem) would be subjected to siegeworks (Isa. 29:3) as they had rejected their God.
Perhaps they hadn’t done so in word, but they had in their heart. They drew near to God with their lips, while their hearts were far from Him (Isa. 29:13). They didn’t really fear God; the fear of God was just a lifeless command that never penetrated deep within.
God was going to bring judgment and wake up His wayward people.
Isaiah pleaded with them to listen. Just as God had set up the natural world with certain laws and principles (Isa. 28:23-28), in the same way, He had set up the rest of the universe, too. His moral law is just as binding as the laws of agriculture.
He is the Creator, and He established the way things work, as He pleased. Would they humble themselves and respond in kind?
Bringing it Home:
The antithesis of mockery is humility. A healthy heart yearns to hear God’s Word and to apply it, knowing that He knows what is best. We cannot claim to love God and then to shrug off His Word as if it is of little consequence. We must take what He says seriously, for again, He is the One who established all things.
Those in Isaiah’s day scoffed at God’s prophet, but God was sending another—a Cornerstone (Isa. 28:16). Many stumbled over that cornerstone. He became unto them a rock of offense, but those who believe, “will not be put to shame” (1 Pet. 2:6).
Many today scoff at God’s Son and His claim to exclusivity.
But God runs His universe as He pleases. If we are to be right with Him, it hinges upon Jesus Christ. We must receive Him who was the Word, with meekness. We must humbly come to Him and acknowledge that God is God, and we are not.
Just as you can’t argue with how crops work, you can’t argue with how salvation works. It is God’s work, not another’s.
Challenge:
Do I ever struggle with how God does things when it comes to salvation and faith, when I can readily accept that planting and harvest work as He designed?