God sends us prophets so we can see things from his point
of view. This is more important than we
might realize as we tend to get wrapped up in the ways we view things. It is easy for us to understand our times through
what is trendy to believe, what our favorite columnists or political pundits
believe, or what the wind blows in under the guise of conventional wisdom. In short, we tend not to see things through
God’s eyes. So he sends us
prophets. Their words are God’s words to
us in our times so we can have our eyes opened to the way things really
are. And the view from there is not
always pretty.
Isaiah begins with a lament. “Ah,” he says, “sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity.” It is true that prophets were not always the most popular of
people. They were curmudgeons. You typically did not want to hear what they
had to say, but the more we hear the words of the prophets, the more we hear
the sound of weeping. The rebellion of
God’s people broke their hearts. They
said the things they said, not because they were spiteful nags, but because
they were compelled by the word of God and their love for their people. I have no doubt that Isaiah would have said
something different if the truth about God’s people was different. But as it as it stood, they needed to hear
some difficult things.
They were like a body broken out with disease from head
to toe. The boils were obvious, their
heart was weak, and the wounds were raw.
Their sins were no longer hidden or hideable – they were out there for
everyone to see. A disease under the
skin might be masked for a while, but once the boils begin to grow and the
wounds begin to fester, the problem becomes clear to anyone who has eyes. Except, it seems, to the diseased.
God’s people have not bandaged their wounds, lanced the
boils or applied ointment: “they are not pressed out or bound up or softened
with oil” (vs. 6). In short, they are
riddled with disease and have refused the treatment – they are full of sin but
have forsaken the God who heals them.
They are a beaten and bruised boxer who thinks he is victorious. They are covered with festering boils and
believe they are healthy. Their lives
have become ugly and they believe they are beautiful.
This is the most powerful deception of sin. We begin to consider sin itself to be
righteousness, we take disease to be health, we begin to believe that wrong is
actually right. And in the end, we will
begin to refuse the category or sin altogether.
Sin’s greatest magic trick is its disappearing act. It does its damage; it ravages the soul, and
convinces us that it was never really here.
The people of God need to see these things. We cannot progress into a meaningful
understanding of God or relationship with him until we understand what sin does
to our souls. Once we grasp this
reality, we have the option of leaving the wounds open and festering, or
turning to a great and gracious God.
Isaiah tells us that God has left us a remnant; fur us, it is an
opportunity. God’s grace has left a way
of forgiveness and healing where we deserved to be destroyed. We deserve what Sodom and Gomorrah got. Their sin and rebellion led to utter
destruction. Will ours?
God decided to save sinners, so he has extended his
healing grace. May we see what God sees,
and may we have the wisdom and humility to let him bandage the wounds of our
sins and bring the healing only he can give.
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