DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Isaiah
5:16-26 (2/24-3/9) Reading at Sixth Hour
Wednesday, Second Week of Great Lent
Self Destruction:
Isaiah 5:16-26 SAAS, especially vss. 22,
24: “Woe to your strong ones who mix intoxicating
drink....their root shall be like chaff and their flower shall go up like dust,
for they did not will to do the law of the Lord of hosts, but despised the word
of the Holy One of Israel.” Again in Isaiah, the prophetic indictment of sin is
followed by a promise of a Divine, imposition of punishment and action,
hopefully corrective. In these
verses, Isaiah continues his familiar pattern. Four woes are pronounced - against 1)
disdaining God (vss. 18-19), 2) reprobate thinking (vs. 20), 3) pride (vs. 21)
and 4) self-serving (vss. 22-24) followed by Divine sentence.
The conclusion of the passage is a decree of judgment
against the Lord’s own sinful people for these four woes: “...in
the manner that stubble shall be burned by coals of fire and consumed by a
violent flame, their root shall be like chaff and their flower shall go up like
dust...” (vs. 24). Isaiah’s
understanding of sin seen in this passage, and the fact that sin has
consequences, closely agree with
Disasters have spiritual beginnings in men’s hearts,
for we “...draw sins to [ourselves] as with a long rope...” (Is.
5:18). We put our hands to the rope
of desire and pull, drawing the act of sin to ourselves. Isaiah highlights this truth by
verbalizing the basic statement of every sinner’s heart: “Let [God]
speedily hasten what He will do that we may see it”(vs.
19) - a rankling affront! And in
the heart's recesses, corrupted passions only aid the journey toward visible,
sinful actions. The corrupt
interior moment effectively ignores the truth of God, questioning whether He
acts in our lives. Such interior insults makes us utterly without
excuse before God (Rom. 1:20).
Denying and destroying the image of God within us, we do ourselves in first by disastrous
consent in the heart. The sinful
heart dares God to act visibly, as putting up a billboard of that which already
is truly written within. The creature
arrogantly manifests sin with an appalling demand for God to prove Himself, to
meet our criteria, so that we may trust Him!
From sinful arrogance, there follows
inversion of truth. As Isaiah declares: men “...call
evil good, and good evil... [and]
put darkness for light and light for darkness [and] put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter!” (vs. 20). The Prophet portrays what the Apostle
Paul calls the reprobate mind (see
Rom 1:28). As we flaunt God and
choose not to “...glorify Him as God, nor [to be] thankful,” it is
we who become futile in our thoughts,
and our foolish hearts are darkened
(see Rom. 1:21). Just listen to the
arguments favoring killing the unborn or homosexuality, pornography,
euthanasia, sex outside of marriage, gang marauding, or recreation with drugs. Rationalizations supporting these sins
display a common darkness of heart.
Where hearts ought to mirror the image of God we too readily
“...suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (Rom. 1:18).
Isaiah pronounces woe to them that “...are
intelligent in their own eyes” (Is. 5:21).
When foolishness
or pride are translated into visible behavior, the result is a self-serving
that inevitably perverts goodness, as Isaiah says, “...to justify the
ungodly for a bribe and take away justice” (Is. 5:23). The word of the Lord is: persist in sin
and refuse to repent “...and be burned by coals of fire and consumed by a
violent flame...” for despising God’s word (vs. 24).
From
my youth up many passions have warred against me. But do Thou help and save me, O my
Savior, and quicken and exalt me in purity made resplendent by the Triune
Unity.
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