Glenn Clark was a football coach, Christian leader, and writer during the early 20th century.
Once, he argued with a grocer about whether the apples were rotting. The grocer insisted they weren’t, but Clark disagreed. He explained that once apples are picked from the tree, they start to rot.
Clark used this to illustrate a truth relevant to today’s passage from Isaiah: when we disconnect from our relationship with the Lord, we start to spiritually decay.
Jerusalem was the most important city in Judah. It was the focal point of the nation’s relationship with God. However, God lamented the degeneration of the city’s moral and spiritual life.
How the faithful city has become a harlot, she that was full of justice! Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers (Isaiah 1:21).
Adultery is often used to illustrate spiritual unfaithfulness. The people of God sold themselves to idols, hoping to get from them what they wanted.
When people stop trusting God to provide what they need or want and turn to idols they believe can be manipulated, spiritual prostitution will occur.
Think about current expressions of how we attempt to manipulate modern-day idols for our benefit.
- People play the stock market and gambling apps on their phones.
- When a man or woman has been manipulated in a relationship, we say they have been played.
- When someone exudes power, skill, or beauty, we call them players.
I don’t know of any reference to God, where we can say “He got played” by a human.
Righteousness is doing what is right and justice is the application of right living in society. When we disconnect from a relationship with God, these crucial aspects of humanity leave the scene.
Corruption
Corruption can be seen as a rotting apple that is no longer part of the tree or a devotion to God that is blended with the world.
Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water (**Isaiah 1:22).
God’s people didn’t ask for a divorce. Instead, they cheated on Him. They wanted God and the gods of their world. They were like silver adulterated with impurities and wine mixed with water.
It is always a good practice to ask God in prayer, “Lord, how am I like the bad guys in this story?”
During a sleepless night, my mind wouldn’t stop thinking about money and power. I was aware that these are two major idols of American culture and kept repeating Jesus’ instruction in the Sermon on the Mount.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:23).
I had to face the fact that it is hard for me to only focus on God in the face of the gods of our society. The only solution is to remain connected to the Source of Life.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
The Problem
As a young pastor, I remember reading this verse in James and shuddering. “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1). There is a great responsibility to speak on behalf of the Lord.
Leaders in business, government, and religion should give serious thought to God’s condemnation of corrupt practices.
Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. Every one loves a bribe and runs after gifts. They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come to them (Isaiah 1:23).
The general consensus of the nations that surrounded Judah was that the powerful were entrusted with the care of the vulnerable. The leaders of the nation that was in a covenant relationship with God did not care for the vulnerable. Instead, they companions with those who exploited the vulnerable.
God’s Solution
I recently visited with men who live in a recovery house. They reached rock bottom, turned to a recovery program and the church. If these men take advantage of their situation, they will be better off than extremely successful people who believe they have no need to repent.
That’s the essence of what God said through Isaiah 700 years before Jesus entered the scene.
Therefore the Lord says, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes.
I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy.
And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:24-26).
I was a guest speaker with a dynamic inventor several years ago. Like the men I visited with, he reached rock bottom too. As he walked to a bridge intent on jumping to his death, the Lord spoke to him. He said, “Give me your life.”
The man turned around, found the first AA hall and a church. After the meeting where we were the speakers, we had coffee together. I learned of how God is using his latest invention to benefit communities and churches in Africa.
Rock bottom can be a time of cleaning out the dross in our lives, given the proper response. Sadly, rebels don’t fare well.
Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed (Isaiah 1:27-28).
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