You Can Read the Bible

Our reading today picks up after yesterday’s warning to “stop regarding man, in whose nostrils is breath, for of what account is he?” For in the Day of the LORD, “mankind will cast away their idols of silver and their idols of gold… to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of cliffs, from before the terror of the LORD, and from the splendor of His majesty.”

In chapters 3 and 4 the LORD promises “…to enter into judgment with the elders and princes of His people…” Listen for the accusations He levels, and later, when again promising a day when the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, there will appear over Mount Zion a familiar sight: “a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of flaming fire by night.”

In the middle of chapter 5, Isaiah draws a critical distinction: “Man is humbled, and each one is brought low…But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows Himself holy in righteousness.” Multiple times throughout these opening chapters, the LORD is not satisfied to refer to Himself simply by name, but insists that His right to judge is based upon a holiness and righteousness that man does not possess.

This is crucial to the indictment against Israel. The LORD Himself is the horizon against which Isaiah can declare, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil… who are wise in their own eyes.” The LORD planted a vineyard and gave it everything it needed; what more was there to do for it? Why did it not produce good grapes?

The commissioning of Isaiah in chapter 6 occurs “In the year that King Uzziah died,” approximately 740 B.C. It’s as majestic and terrifying as anything we witnessed with Moses and Aaron. Seraphim calling to each other above the throne “Holy, Holy, Holy is the LORD of Hosts!” …Isaiah’s terror at the vision, “Woe is me! For I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips! …and his response to the LORD’s query, “Whom shall I send, and who shall go for us? …Here I am! Send me!”

Our verse for this week is Romans 8:38-39: For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Isaiah 3 through 6. Now let’s read it!

Isaiah 3 - 6

For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of Armies, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah supply and support, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water; the mighty man, the man of war, the judge, the prophet, the diviner, the elder, the captain of fifty, the honorable man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the clever enchanter. I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable. Indeed a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, "You have clothing, you be our ruler, and let this ruin be under your hand." In that day he will cry out, saying, "I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing. You shall not make me ruler of the people." For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory. The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don't hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves. Tell the righteous that it will be well with them, for they will eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them, for the deeds of their hands will be paid back to them. As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths. Jehovah stands up to contend, and stands to judge the peoples. Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: "It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?" says the Lord, Jehovah of Armies. Moreover Jehovah said, "Because the daughters of Zion are arrogant, and walk with outstretched necks and flirting eyes, walking daintily as they go, jingling ornaments on their feet; therefore the Lord brings sores on the crown of the head of the women of Zion, and Jehovah will make their scalps bald." In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, the headbands, the crescent necklaces, the earrings, the bracelets, the veils, the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume containers, the charms, the signet rings, the nose rings, the fine robes, the capes, the cloaks, the purses, the hand mirrors, the fine linen garments, the tiaras, and the shawls. It shall happen that instead of sweet spices, there shall be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of well set hair, baldness; instead of a robe, a wearing of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, and your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn. She shall be desolate and sit on the ground. Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach." In that day, Jehovah's branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. It will happen that he who is left in Zion and he who remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem, when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning. Jehovah will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy. There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain. Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in the middle of it, and also cut out a wine press in it. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes? Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled down. I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned or hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it." For the vineyard of Jehovah of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression, for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress. Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the land! In my ears, Jehovah of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied. For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah." Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink, who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them! The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't respect the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands. Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst. Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it. So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled; but Jehovah of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope, who say, "Let him make haste, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!" 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! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink; who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent! Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust, because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. Therefore Jehovah's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the middle of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out. He will lift up a banner to the nations from far away, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly. No one shall be weary nor stumble among them; no one shall slumber nor sleep, neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the strap of their sandals be broken, whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind. Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver. They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds. In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew. One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is Jehovah of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!" The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of Armies!" Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven." I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!" He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but don't understand. You see indeed, but don't perceive.' Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed." Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, houses without man, the land becomes utterly waste, and Jehovah has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many within the land. If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed, as a terebinth, and as an oak whose stump remains when they are cut down, so the holy seed is its stump."

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