Read: Is. 28; 2 Kings 17, 18:9, Is. 1:1-20
Isaiah warned Israel and Judah over and over of the coming destruction because they refused to worship the Lord. Finally the fulfillment of his prophecy came true. Assyria besieged Israel for three years. At the end of the three years, they were marched off into captivity. When Israel is out of her land, their timetable stops.
After a while, the king of Assyria decided to bring dispersed Jews back to Samaria so they could occupy and keep the land. But they still didn’t worship the Lord, so God sent lions to kill them. He also sent a prophet to tell the king of Assyria, why the lions killed them so the king sent them a priest to instruct them in how to worship Him. These people had come from six different heathen lands and they brought all the gods where they had been with them. They added them to their worship of the true God. God sent Isaiah to tell them he was tired of their worship and if they refused to listen to him he would destroy them with a sword. If they repented, he would make their sins as white as snow and in the future he was raising up a standard in Jerusalem who would be a plumb line of righteousness.
So how do we apply this to our lives? Jesus is the plumb line of righteousness. We come to Jesus with all our sins and he washes us and makes us clean. If we don’t forsake the gods of our old man we are as guilty as the Israelites who refused to give up their old ways. There is a reward for righteousness and a consequence for sin. We can live in righteousness and give up our old ways and choose the Lord’s ways or we can hold on to our old gods and try to make them work in our new life. The problem is, it will not work. We have to abandon our old way of thinking and our old desires and let God give us his. They are so much better.
Lord, show us the gods of our past that we still hold on to and give us the strength to throw them away forever. Give us a new heart of righteousness and holiness.
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