Isaiah 2:6-9 – The Shame of God’s People
Isaiah says that God has forsaken the house of Jacob. Why is that? Because they are not heeding the Word of God. They are interested in conforming to the culture around them. What they’re doing is capitulating, giving up, throwing away that which is distinctive, and yielding to the sensibilities and the sins of the nations. But while we are to engage with those in the culture around us, it is so that they will be plucked as brands from the burning, not that we will get sucked into their muck.
People were saying, ‘What is the matter? Why does God exhort us through the prophet that we need to come and walk in the light of the Lord? Why, we not only have these new perspectives, we have wealth and plenty. God must be pleased with us. Isn’t everything fine?’ Their land is full of silver and gold, their land is full of horses. Their land is also full of what? Full of idols.
What are the consequences of this shame? Shame it is that the people of God should be trusting in and resting in these things instead of their God who has saved them and delivered them. The first consequence is in verse 6: “you have rejected your people, the house of Jacob.” The people of God are abandoned by their God for their sin. God leaves them in their idolatry. It happened before the Babylonian captivity, and it’s happened to the Jews since their rejection of Jesus. We give thanks that the abandonment is not entire. There are some Jews who’ve come to Jesus. The abandonment is not final, as we see in Romans 11, but it’s gone on for nearly 2000 years now. The other consequence we see in verse 9. People bow down and each man humbles himself before these idols! Therefore there is no forgiveness. No one comes through the Mediator whom God has provided. We must make sure that this shame is not within us. We are not to capitulate to the culture around us. We are to confront and transform the culture. We are always and only to use wealth and power to exalt Jesus and to rest in Him alone.
Questions
- What were the people trusting in?
- What were the consequences of this?
Prayer Points
- Pray that we would live holy lives.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.