Down the primrose path

Isaiah 9:9b-18

9 … In their pride and arrogance they say, 10 “Our land lies in ruins now, but we will rebuild it better than before. We will replace the broken bricks with cut stone, the fallen sycamore trees with cedars.” 11 The LORD will reply to their bragging by bringing Rezin’s enemies, the Assyrians, against them — 12 along with Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west. With bared fangs, they will devour Israel. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. 13 For after all this punishment, the people will still not repent and turn to the LORD Almighty. 14 Therefore, in a single day, the LORD will destroy both the head and the tail, the palm branch and the reed. 15 The leaders of Israel are the head, and the lying prophets are the tail. 16 For the leaders of the people have led them down the path of destruction. 17 That is why the Lord has no joy in the young men and no mercy on even the widows and orphans. For they are all hypocrites, speaking wickedness with lies. But even then the LORD’s anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. 18 This wickedness is like a brushfire. It burns not only briers and thorns but the forests, too. Its burning sends up vast clouds of smoke.

God’s people had grown arrogant and proud, and the Lord punished them with a godless enemy. The land was destroyed. Yet even then the arrogance remained. The people refused to repent. Rather than cry out to God for help, they announced their determination to rebuild themselves.

Part of the problem was leadership. Wicked political leaders are a disgrace but not uncommon; the real travesty was the lying prophets. Rather than declare the plain truth of God’s Word to the people, the lying prophets told the congregation what it wanted to hear. If the earlier chapters of Isaiah are any clue, part of the problem was that the widows, orphans, and oppressed were left to suffer on their own. (Isaiah 1:16-18) God’s people refused to obey his command to help people in desperate need. The lying prophets didn’t declare God’s Word that those who refuse to help people in need would not see his salvation. Perhaps the lying prophets went so far as to tell the people they had nothing to worry about. They were safe from judgment because they were God’s chosen people, children of Abraham himself.

But salvation apart from obedience is a lie. Instead of being Redeemer, God would be a trap and a snare to his people. Many would stumble and fall, never to rise again. (8:14-15) The wicked leaders and lying prophets were leading the people down the path of destruction. (v.16) The people became wicked like their leaders. They repeated the foolishness their lying prophets had preached to them. (v.17) The awful result was that the Lord would not have mercy even on the widows and orphans. The wickedness, the concern for self interest at the expense of the needy, would consume the entire nation. Not only would the worthless underbrush be burned away, but the beautiful forests would perish too. Thick clouds of choking smoke would fill the land, and the earth would be blackened by the judgment of God.

Hebrews 6:7-8

7 When the ground soaks up the rain that falls on it and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has the blessing of God. 8 But if a field bears thistles and thorns, it is useless. The farmer will condemn that field and burn it.