ESOCS Devotional 4 January 2025 – Indictment and Invitation
MEMORY VERSE: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.” Isaiah 1:16
TEXT: ISAIAH 1:1-17
he vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
3 The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.”
4 Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
5 Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
7 Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
8 So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
11 “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
12 “When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
13 Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
14 Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
Cease to do evil,
17 Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke the oppressor;
Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.
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Isaiah was a prophet during the time when the original nation of Israel had been divided into two kingdoms – Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern kingdom had already sinned greatly against God and the southern kingdom was headed in the same direction. From the human point of view, the nation was prospering, but from God’s point of view, it was rotten from within.
Isaiah starts with a probing examination of Judah’s present situation and gives a passionate plea for God’s people to return to the Lord. He says the people are like rebellious children who do not have as much devotion to God as animals do for their masters (vv. 1-4). As long as the people of Judah continued to sin, they cut themselves off from God’s help and isolated themselves (vv. 5-8). He compares the rulers and people of Judah to the rulers and people of Sodom and Gomorrah (vv. 9-11).
They are placing more faith in the rituals of their religious system than they are in God (vv. 12-14). They attend the temple services and do a multitude of sacrifices to the Lord; but their hearts are far from God, and their worship is hypocritical. God was unhappy with their sacrifices because they had come to place more faith in the rituals of their religion than in the God they worshiped. Although the people did not feel sorry for their sins, they continued to offer sacrifices (vv. 15-17). Gifts and sacrifices mean nothing to God when they come from someone with a corrupt heart.
In a few seconds, purse and ponder! Are mine different from these attributes listed above? Are mine also part of those who are indicted by the Lord. If you think you are inclusive, you have an opportunity to make a change today and become renewed by accepting the free invitation of the Lord.
CHALLENGES
- It takes faithfulness, diligence and humility to submit yourself completely under the Lord and obey Him in all things.
PRAYER POINT
- Lord, my heart cry is to always keep your words and per time obey you. May this always be the burden of my heart, in Jesus name. Amen.
FURTHER READING: Isaiah 1:18-end; 1 John 1:12-end; 2:18-end
ESOCS Devotional 4 January 2025
