Moving Away From God

   In the 8^th century B.C. God sent a prophet to preach in Israel.  That prophet’s name was Isaiah.  God’s charge against Israel was that they had forsaken Him, they had turned to evil and broken his holy laws.  We can almost hear Isaiah as he described the ugliness of their sin, “Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, A seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: They have forsaken the Lord, They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, They are gone away backward. ⁵ Why should ye be stricken anymore? Ye will revolt more and more: The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. ⁶ From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; But wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” (Isaiah 1.4-6).  Isaiah’s description of the ugliness of sin is spot on.  The nation of Israel was full of wickedness, murders, bribery, injustice, immorality of every kind, and worst of all they had turned to idol worship, idolatry.  Because of the nation’s sin God was going to send judgment upon them.  Isaiah was there to warn the people and give them a way of deliverance.  This was God’s offer, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1.18).  If they would have repented of their sin, asked God for forgiveness, and turned to live for Him, God would have forgiven their sin and preserved their land.  Alas, the biblical and historical record tells us of Israel’s continued pursuit of sin and the devastating judgment of God upon their land and nation.  There is a frightening parallel to this story taking place in our own day, in our own land.