Read Isaiah 5:8-25, 6:1-9, 7:14
The prophet Isaiah was given a vision from God concerning Judah and Jerusalem. (Isaiah 1:1) In Isaiah 5:8-25 we see six woes of God toward Judah. The word woe is a word of exclamation and interjection, an abrupt lament. The people of God rejected His law and allowed paganism to influence them. They followed after their own selfish ways. Therefore, the anger of God was kindled. In God’s righteous anger, He lamented and identified their wicked acts.
Read through these six woes, do you see any familiarity within these verses to the world we live in today? If you’re a Bible believer, I think you would agree that the reason for these woes, though they may appear different, are still in practice today.
Let’s Compare the Six Woes to Judah with the Possible Woes of Today:
- Greed and Materialism (verses 8-10): advertising, coveting, spending, credit cards, debt, name-brand purchases
- Pleasure (verses 11-17): food, restaurants, entertainment, vacations
- Defying God and Ridiculing His Prophets (verses 18-19): disobedience and disbelief of the Bible, not attending church, persecution of Christians
- Reversing of Morality (verse 20): divorce, pornography, abortion, faux marriages of homosexuals, library drag queen story-hour, Satan worship
- Pride (verse 21): science, psychology, self-esteem, pragmatism, governments
- Justifying the Wicked (verse 22): legalization of wickedness, celebration of sin, hate crimes, woke-ness, critical race theory
It’s easy to look through this list and think about how bad of shape our world is in. There’s so much evil in the world. The evil we see can overwhelm us, but we are not supposed to be gazing upon the evil.
Let us read on dear Christian. In Isaiah 6:1-9, God reveals His holiness an eternal glory. God is seated on the throne. He has not moved. He has not relinquished His eternal power. Our gaze should be upon God. In Isaiah 6:5, there we see another woe, but this woe is different. This woe comes from a humbled and broken man gazing upon the glory of God. A man who recognized his depravity and his utter helpless state. This woe from Isaiah’s lips led into cleansing and restoration.
Though others would not hear Isaiah’s message of repentance and salvation, Isaiah willfully obeyed God’s call. God was angry with His people, but yet God was not finished with His people. Moving on to Isaiah 7:13-14 we read, “And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.” Immanuel means God with us. Here we see the foretelling of Jesus’s birth. (Matthew 1:21-23)
Moving forward we read in Isaiah 9:6 “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Dear Christian, you may become weary in your pilgrimage through this evil world, but this evil world cannot weary our mighty God! He had a plan from the beginning. (Genesis 3:15) God has given hope to this evil world. The greatest gift and the only hope for mankind was made available by the same God who has pronounced His woes to mankind.
Luke 2:10-14“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”
The woes of God brought about the wonders of His love. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
As Christians, we see the evil around us, but do we look at and confess the evil within us? Isaiah recognized and confessed his own depravity and then the depravity of the nation. God then cleansed him and used him to prophesy. May we never lose sight that we are all sinners and fall short of God’s glory. (Romans 3:23)
I encourage you to read through the six woes again. Instead of looking at the woes out there, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the woes within. 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
God told Isaiah that Judah and Jerusalem would not heed the woes, but this did not keep him from obeying God’s call. Isaiah’s gaze was upon God in all His glory. He trusted God’s sovereign plan. Dear weary one, it is not our responsibility to change the woes of this world around us. God has given us a Savior to deliver us from this evil world, we can have perfect peace through The Prince of Peace. Our responsibility is not to fix this world, it is to trust and obey. He has called His disciples to proclaim the woes and wonders of His love to the world around us.
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
John 16:33 “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”
Romans 12:21 “Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”
During this season and all year round, keep your gaze upon the Lord. Don’t worry on the woes, gaze upon the Wonder!
In Times Like These 