Isaiah’s gives warning to His governmental leadership –
“Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land; But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” Truly, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Here in Isaiah chapter 1:16-20 – Isaiah is dealing with a very parallel situation in Israel as we face in the United States and the West today. Our national iniquity is at its highest point it has ever been in history; where many behaviors and activities are celebrated which 40 years ago where abhorrent in the public eye. When this occurs, a curse begins to grow in a nation – Proverbs 14:34 – “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people”. By the same covenant – God promises forgiveness and restoration when there is national repentance. 2 Chronicles 7:14 – “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
In fact – He does do this for Israel as Ezekiel the prophet relays the message from Almighty God to the people in Chapter 36:25-29 – “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you.”
However – if we look back at Isaiah chapter 1 – God gives His people specific instructions about what to actually do to facilitate national repentance.
- Cease to do evil, learn to do good; Seek justice, reprove the ruthless…
Here the Father is definitely dealing with a culture of death and wickedness – instructing them to cease evil and LEARN to do what is good – THEN seek justice and rebuke/reprove the ruthless. The truth is – one cannot understand the truth of good and evil outside of the ancient truth of Scripture. We LEARN to do good, by LEARNING the Word. There are calls and prophetic words about “Revival” and return to the things of God – I hope we understand that this cannot happen by experience alone – it must hold its infrastructure by the LEARNING of the Word of God… We can only see what true justice is after we have learned what good is – for if we are deceived – we are what Isaiah describes later in Chapter 5:20-21 – “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” – This is where much of widely-held social and moral values have been in recent years – EVEN IN THE CHURCH! – If you follow the pattern – Once a moral issue is deemed legal, when it does not align with Scripture – watch how much of the church follows into it regardless of its Biblical stance. Through the Father’s love we all have been made able to come near, from afar off – but the goal is to stay near and not fade off and away from the Father’s heart. Human nature fails in this generationally – and we see that pattern in modern society and in the journey of Israel throughout their quest to and from the Promised Land.
- …defend the orphan, plead for the widow…
How many of us have sown into the lives of widows and orphans? Are widows and orphans attached to your church missions support? – I hope so! This is a constant stream throughout the entirety of Scripture; to not forget them and to minister to them. God calls for the heart of man to be turned towards widows and orphans, so I encourage you to make this a point of your giving in 2020. When a nation blesses them and aligns with this in an uncorrupted fashion, it is a blessing to them. However, we must learn to do good, seek justice and reprove the ruthless and corrupted first before government programs have any validity. If you want to know how you can support widows and orphans in the land of Israel, please message us for more information.
- Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the Lord, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. If you consent and obey, you will eat the best of the land
I have heard many messages preached on this – as it pertains to an individual – however – God is speaking through Isaiah on a NATIONAL level – to NATIONAL iniquity. While it is wonderful to embrace this personally, the directive was towards a nation, its leaders, and the people as a whole. Yes – it begins by individual repentance, but if we never address the national repentance need – the effectiveness of the message is diluted. God’s promises are to a people, Israel, IF they come into a discussion with God – through His messengers, and realize the obvious: The people are living in disobedience… His promise is to cleanse a nation and bless the land again…
Voting and letting your voice be heard politically is controversial in the church. Many churches will not even allow voting registration to take place in their facilities, when that is perfectly legal – and that does not involve personally influencing a particular party to support. Some abstain out of fear – and some abstain because they teach and believe a Kingdom Message that we are not of this kingdom on earth. While that is true – our job is to bring His Kingdom’s influence into every area of this world’s kingdom – because greater is he that is in us…How can a society LEARN what is good? – if we do not initiate conversations – which is REASONING – How can they truly SEEK JUSTICE? – if believers are silent about Life versus Death, Israel, and the result of prosperity in a Biblically moral society. How are we able to do GOOD, if we are silent about what is evil? – Paul said – “I would not know what is sin apart from the Torah” (1st 5 Books of Moses). How can we teach people what true JUSTICE is, if we do not address corruption at the highest levels? Listen friends – the enemy’s plan has, and is to identify Biblically moral instructions and issues AS political issues. Why? – Because then he can alienate the believer from the core values, and translate them as concepts which are ethereal, ideal, and not reality. For example, if he can get you to believe that euthanasia and abortion are politically-based only, you have lost the battle, because you will not engage it; dismissing those issues as relegated for politics – When, in fact, the instruction in Exodus 20 is “Do not kill…”(murder, intentionally take a life etc.) – But the terms abortion and euthanasia – have somehow qualified these things as political – so, over generations, believers, less and less, will not engage the fight and stand for righteousness. By the way – these tactics are from Saul Alinsky’s playbook , “Rules for Radicals” – A true anti-Christian who taught the neo-revolutionaries in the last 60 years how to revolt against traditional values.
Folks – It also needs to be said, being a nation of laws is no good if there is an unwillingness to enforce them. Why do we not care for widows and orphans in the private sector – and trust the government to do so – when the recipient only gets about $.07 of every dollar where the need is located? – That tells me there are many grabbing hold of the income received.
See – we need to be involved – each of us – to demonstrate the ability to reason together; bringing influence regarding what Scripture says about these things in the same context as when Israel dealt with the same type of unrighteousness and corruption. In this case – Uzziah contracted Leprosy and died because of his corruption.
You and I need to generate conversations – REASONING – to bring LIFE to where DEATH and EVIL exist. We need to illuminate with THE truth, which has passed the test of time.
- But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.
The result of every elitist, decadent society throughout history is the above… Egypt, Greece, Rome, Persia, Ottomans, Great Britain, Germany, and even Israel in the Bible – Do we not think it cannot happen here? George Santayana – in The Life of Reason volume 1 (Reason In Common Sense) said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” We are marching as a nation, stretched beyond the ligaments and tendons towards a place where there might not be the ability to draw near as a nation again. When ligaments and tendons are stretched too much – they break…
See, we as evangelicals mainly focus on the salvation of the individual – and Yeshua came His first time to redeem mankind, individually – but we forget God loves national salvation, and national righteousness. Why would we ignore His call for us to see that perspective – and not engage our world to see it changed and influenced by a Kingdom Culture? Ask the Father today how you can affect your world with Kingdom Culture – you will be surprised at how He might respond and your ability to affect many for His reign…
Shalom in Yeshua