We live in the time of Isaiah

In my morning devotions, I've been enjoying Alec Motyer's Isaiah By the Day, along with Kathleen Nielson's study of Isaiah.

There are so many parallels to the world as Isaiah saw it and how we live it today, reminding us again how things really don't change.  Circumstances do, and the objects of our sin do, but we don't.

In the passage Isaiah 2:22-4:1, Isaiah details some of Isreal's sins and the coming judgment.  Motyer comments:

To fall out of the power of the Lord is to lose his protection and be exposed to his hostility; the Lord standing up like a prosecuting lawyer in court (v. 13), the Lord hitting out at our welfare (v. 17), taking away our enjoyments (v.18).  So what provokes him to anger?  Isaiah replies:  'their tongue and their actions' (v.8).  Sins of speech are one of the most lightly regarded of all sins today and one of the most serious in the Bible's estimation.  Likewise, Isaiah does not leave us ignorant of God-displeasing actions:  leadership willing to destroy the national economy for self-interest (v.14) and careless of the needs of the uninfluential 'bottom end' of the social scale (vv. 14-15); and people devoted to frivolity and shallow indulgence (vv.16-23).  The Bible would not object to the 'daughters of Zion'  having nice things or wanting to look nice, but, as Isaiah shows, it does object to defining what life is all about in terms of wealth and possessions, and making outward show our chief desire.

The issue of sins of the tongue really spoke to me.  Sometimes, we think of sins of the tongue as being what we verbally express.  What about what we write?  Some of the blogs and the comments are full of the sins of the tongue.  Abruptness, rudeness, condescensions, pride; all in the form of little words on a screen, hurled to people who are faceless, and therefore without identity.  It's everywhere.  It makes me stop and think what I write more.  It's a good reminder.

The comment about our outward show stuck out to me as well.  Sometimes, we don't even know when we're "performing."  Our minds are often blind to our tendency to do that.  We may think we're not, but we are.  I am guilty of this more often than I care to admit.

That Isaiah.  He knows how to pack a punch.

Motyer's translation in concert with the ESV is really beneficial.  I'm learning more about Isaiah than I ever knew before.

Comments

[Melissa]

Thanks for sharing this info, Kim. After the lengthy FB discussion on my page yesterday, I was thinking about this very thing concerning my tone, intentions, frustrations, etc.

[Tricia]

Wow!! I can't believe you're reading Alec Motyer's commentary on Isaiah! Because, in God's providence, I was just listening to Time Keller's first plenary talk at the TGC Women's conference (which are up now, by the way, hurray! http://thegospelcoalition.org/conferences/2012-womens/#media) Anyway, he uses Alec Motyer's commentary of Exdous to do an exposition of Ex 19 and I thought it was excellent. And I'm saying to myself, "I've never heard of this Alec Motyer, I must get my hands on some of these commentaries." Crazy!! Happy Birthday to your son!!