Exposition by Max A Forsythe
Years ago in Junior High, our basketball coach got mad at the first string five. To demonstrate his ire he started a critical game with the "B" team. Well, we really tried hard and we ran the whole first quarter, but the scoring abilities of the other First Team was quite evident and at the beginning of the second quarter the coach sent in our best five.
In High School our second year senior who was six-four was disciplined and had to sit out a key tournament game the last year our High School was open. While I did not spend much time with sports, the minimal exposure that I did have, taught me that any field requiring athletic prowess was definitely not my calling. However, there are voices of concern being raised. Twenty years ago when I helped direct a Church Camp one of the appointed counselors demanded that there be no competitive events at all. More and more any spirit of competition and excellence is being destroyed, and like the playing field in Alice in Wonderland equal prizes must be awarded to all of the players without distinction!
But, wasn't this the nature of competition in education and training? Isn't this part of the process of sorting out professions and as we used to believe help identify our calling for employment. Only in the last generation have well-intentioned tests been developed to limit opportunities for employment by guiding "appropriate politically correct" people into positions of power and influence. Has this self-promotion of the second team brought us to the economic and political crises that face us in our time? Well, perhaps, but let us learn a lesson from chapter three in Isaiah. And that lesson is this, all political and economic events and the rise of specific persons to power are carefully allowed only within the providence of our Almighty God. If we have a certain sense that the second team is less than completely in control of events, than we are ready to hear the words of Isaiah who would show us that judgment on our country is already planned and prepared for.
Compare our experience with that of Judah and Jerusalem in Isaiah's day. Look at verse one of chapter three. God would reduce the prosperity of the Judeans. Supplies and support that uphold the Kingdom will soon be found wanting. In our own case, the droughts of the late eighties reduced the stored food supply by at least a third. One agricultural expert predicted that several more years of drought could cause limited starvation even in America!
Verse two talks about the reduction in key leadership skills for the Kingdom of Judah. See the list of military, judicial, teachers and even non-commissioned officers and craftsmen who are going to decline in number. Just this week the news reported that General "Storm'n Norman", hero of Desert Storm was a loose cannon during that short conflict. In a similar sense the effectiveness of our military is being reduced by budget and various other means. The craftsmen and skilled employees are limited by petty rules and regulations even as the most skilled grow older and the means of educating their replacement becomes less and less likely! In such desperation, the Judeans would turn to anyone who might have minimal signs and seals of the ability to create prosperity again. Sounds that the smoke and mirror experts who have trotted out the same economic plan signed into law by Bush just a few years ago. The key elements? Taxes and Ducks if you remember the sensational quackery! In the same sense the nations health care system is to be reinvented without a thorough study of the economic implications. In fact, the tragedy of the second phrase in verse twelve is actually celebrated before live cameras in Washington as the unelected First Mate threatens and cajoles the rich and mighty. Who would dare disagree with the wisdom of such a planner, after all it would be politically incorrect for the Senatorial gentlemen to treat a lady to the argument and dissension that they regularly share with one another.
Indeed the rigors of good government have been long put away. Does Washington indeed stagger and fall in the same way the words and deeds of Isaiah's people are described? Look at verse nine; one of the charges brought against God's people is that they don't even try to hide their sin. They indeed rub their sins in the very face of the Lord. What kind of parades did they have in Jerusalem, I wonder? Were they as such gay affairs as some contemporary events? Well, verse ten tells those who trust the Lord, that it will be well with them and eventually they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds. But, look at verse eleven:
"Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them! They will be paid back for what their hands have done."
Then in verses thirteen through fifteen God lets us know that He will judge the wicked rulers who have used Keynesian policies to steal the accumulated capital of generations.
Finally in verses sixteen through twenty-six the Lord speaks through Isaiah about the embarrassing picture of the ladies of leisure parading through Jerusalem. Now what is primarily condemned here is the nature of the wicked hearts within the lovely well adorned creatures that vie for public attention. This Madonna like haughtiness is a pride in the outward beauty of flesh instead of the inner beauty of holiness won by dedication to pleasing God instead of mammon. Ankle chains designed to limit the length of steps and to create an attractive gate cause the mincing steps. The lengthy list of jewelry suggests much more than minimal adornment. All of this finery the Lord promises to take away and instead of fragrance there would be stench instead. The ropes of slavery will replace the fancy sashes. The pleated hair would be pulled out, the brands of slavery would be burnt into their flesh and worst of all their husbands would be destroyed in battle Like the Eastern woodland Indians who suffered such severe casualties in the Indian wars, polygamous relations would have to be endured to maintain the facade of family life. Here in verse one of chapter four the desolation of the Lord reaches its high point. To reverse a popular advertisement, it just doesn't get any worse than this!
Perhaps the question we should ask at the end of this foul chapter is why? Now, that question is no longer appreciated in the study of society and history, but the why of History is ultimately more important than the how! The why of judgment is simple, Judah has violated their covenant with God and must pay the price. As Derek Thomas so clearly puts it:
"Few things come across so clearly in the Bible as God's declared opposition to sin."
But is His judgment the end of the matter? Well remember what we read earlier in verse ten of this chapter.
"Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds."
And just as the first theme of God's opposition to sin, there is also His divine plan to provide a root of salvation and beautiful branch of redemption, as we shall see in chapter four next weeks. May we, unlike the people of Judah here described not parade our sin before the eyes of our Lord, may we learn from the prophecy of Isaiah which in due time came to pass. And may we learn to hope for the grace of the One that Isaiah only looked forward too: Jesus Christ. Amen.
Resources Used:
Thomas, Derek..
Welwyn Commentery Series: God Delivers.
Young, Edward J.
The Book of Isaiah.
The Holy Bible.
New International Version (1984 Edition)
NOTE: I am not able to automatically
recommend any future editions.
Christ Covenant Reformed (Presbyterian Church in America) -
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(c) 2001
03 October 93
Permission granted to redistribute unedited versions with this notice.