Tom Burke

October 2024
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The first chapter of the Book of Isaiah contains a stark and weighty commentary on the state of God’s people during Isaiah’s day.

 Isaiah 1:1–3 (King James Version)The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

The references to animals and their cribs (stables) may sound strange to our ears, but they would have communicated intimately to the understanding of Isaiah’s contemporaries. In the lands and times of the Bible, farmers did not live on their land, but rather lived in towns. The fields assigned to each family were located outside of town.

In the morning, the farmer would travel to his designated property along with his animals, and at the end of the work day, they would return home. Over time, the ox or donkey would need no guidance: they knew exactly how to reach their own stable, where they would be sheltered and fed. This practice can still be seen in many places today.¹

With this understanding, God’s message becomes plain: even though mere animals required no instruction regarding the place where they would find provision and safety, this was not the case with the children of Israel.² God then gives His evaluation of what His people had become.

Isaiah 1:4 (King James Version)Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

God first calls them a sinful nation. But what had He intended them to be?

Exodus 19:6 (King James Version)And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

He next refers to them as a people laden with iniquity.³ What kind of people had he called them to be?

Deuteronomy 14:2 (New International Version)For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession.

Deuteronomy 29:13 (King James Version)That he may establish thee to day for a people unto himself, and that he may be unto thee a God, as he hath said unto thee, and as he hath sworn unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Perhaps most startling of all are the designations “seed of evildoers” and “children that are corrupters.”

Psalm 105:4–6 (King James Version)Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore. Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen.

In essence, when God observed these people, He could no longer find any resemblance to Jacob, in whom they had been called, or to Abraham, who God referred to as a friend⁴ and with whom God had made His sacred covenant.

How could this happen? How could the people of God reach a place of such alienation from Him? God tells us: “they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.” Or, as translated in the New American Standard version, “they have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.”

Many commentators believe (and I agree) that the phrases found in Isaiah 1:4 describe a progression. Having neglected to include God in their thinking, planning, and prioritizing, they grew to despise Him, to reject Him as a viable source of sustenance and protection.⁵ And so, finally, they left Him behind completely.

What a sad state! It is no wonder that these people, alienated from the One True God, would be defenseless against the devastation that would soon come upon them.⁶

Complete rejection of God, as demonstrated by the children of Israel, does not occur overnight. Perhaps that is why the Scriptures refer to it as “backsliding.”

Jeremiah 8:5 (King James Version)Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return.

In fact, the children of Israel slid so far back that God eventually declared them to be no longer His people.⁷ I am so very thankful that this can never be the case for the Christian. In Christ we are eternally blessed, chosen, and brought into God’s family and are assured that we are redeemed, forgiven, and acceptable to God.⁸ In Christ we can boldly declare that nothing can separate us from God’s love.⁹

Though eternally secure, I can nevertheless separate myself from Him in mind and heart. I can backslide from the joy and peace that faith brings, back into the mundane and soul-grinding cares of the world. Though still a saint, I can lose all outward indicators of the holiness within.

Such dreadful loss cannot be blamed on God. If and when it does occur, it is due solely to the thoughts, the words, and the concepts that I choose to embrace deeply within myself. And, though I may appear to others to have changed suddenly, the reality is that my departure, like that of Israel, is invariably the product of a long series of choices.

2 Timothy 2:16–18 (New International Version)Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.

There is no evil message in existence that can magically turn a believing Christian into an unbelieving one. However, there are words that, when given a nesting place, can result in “more and more” ungodliness, day by day, just as gangrene can gradually take a limb, or even a life. God’s Word, when received, increases faith.¹⁰ The men mentioned here had departed from the faith. Their words, when received, gradually ate away at the hearts of those who listened, until their faith, too, was completely overthrown.

The path for you and me should be obvious. As a wise woman recently shared with me, “Some days I honestly do not have a lot of time to read God’s Word. But on the days when I don’t feel like reading God’s Word, I drop everything and open my Bible.”

In other words, that feeling becomes like an alarm, warning me that I am drifting too close to the shoals and quicksands of unbelief.

Hebrews 2:1 (New International Version)We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.¹¹

Though this verse is dealing primarily with those who had heard the Gospel and not yet accepted it, it nevertheless points to the fact that, having heard the truth, I must see to it that I do not subsequently drift away. Yes, there are many voices urging me to drift, even commanding me to drift, but none can make me drift.

God’s Word is inexhaustible. His promises are sure. As we choose to embrace those promises, their Author is well able to sustain us in this life, and into eternity.

Proverbs 3:21–23 (New International Version)My son, do not let wisdom and understanding out of your sight, preserve sound judgment and discretion; They will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble.