Bible Survey: Part ThreeSample

Isaiah is the first of what are called the prophetic books of the Bible. Often when we think of prophecy, we think of predicting the future. Prophecy can involve that, but not always. A prophet is a person who serves as God’s spokesperson, so a prophecy can be any message God wants to communicate. To understand the timing of the writing of Isaiah, we have to remember back to 2 Kings. Isaiah lives during a time when Assyria is invading Israel and Judah. Israel will eventually be defeated and Judah will almost be defeated. Isaiah is delivering messages to the people of Judah during a very bad time when it looks like they will be losing everything to a very strong enemy.

Our chapter today is a beautiful one! Isaiah points out that Judah is not living as God wants them to live. He mentions Sodom and Gomorrah, which were evil cities that God had completely destroyed back in Genesis 19, which we didn’t read. God is letting them know that they deserve to be destroyed. He also lets them know that their empty worship is not acceptable. He calls them to truly recognize their wrong behavior and to turn to God so He can forgive them.

It is the same for us today. We all make mistakes, and we can’t make up for it by pretending to be interested in God. Receiving God’s forgiveness requires that we recognize our wrongdoing and depend on God’s mercy.