Inside job leading Israel into ditch

Here’s an outtake from tonight’s study at my church and will have more tomorrow:

Isaiah 3: [8] For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their doings are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
[9] The shew of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.

You know the Sodomites. What do they do? When Paul talks about giving up the nations in Romans 1, he says: [26] For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:
[27] And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

Their own hand is rewarding them the evil. It not that something’s coming from the outside; it’s their doing, and he calls it “vile affections,” explains Richard Jordan.

The Sodomites were doing things contrary, taking the things God did and changing it into a lie.

Now what’s Israel doing? They’ve joined them. They’re declaring; they’re not trying to hide it. They’re not trying to hold it back. They’re putting it out on the table like this is the right thing to do and we want everybody to see it and be proud of it.

You see that sentence is they’re going to be rewarded evil that they produce. This is an interesting verse in Isaiah 2:10: [10] Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

So, right in the middle of all this pronunciation and description of what they’re doing, He says, “Listen, even in Sodom God remembered Lot.”

You remember that verse in II Peter: [7] And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: [8] (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
[9] The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

What did God do? He called Lot and his family out of Sodom. Even in the midst of all that favored nation, there was mercy to people who trusted Him and that’s what he’s saying here.

Isaiah 3:12: [12] As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Notice He still calls them “my people.” They haven’t gone into captivity yet. They’re still in the Fourth, looking at the Fifth Course.

He says, “Destroy the way of thy paths.” That’s His plea. He pleads with them, “Wake up!” There’s a verse like that in Matthew 23 with the Lord just before He dies. He denounces the leadership of the Pharisees leading Israel into the ditch. He’s literally denouncing the people who led Israel into the condition of Isaiah 3.

Matthew 23:37: [37] O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Judgment is His strange work; it’s not His desire. And when He said, “O my people,” it’s God pleading with them, “Come now, let us reason together. I don’t want you to go. But your rebellion takes you away.”

Moses said to them, “I set before you life and death. Choose life!” That’s God’s counsel and He gives it to them again and again. They’re looking to be carried into that Fifth Course of judgment; they aren’t quite there yet so He’s pleading with them, explaining to them the problem.

Here’s the reason: [13] The LORD standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the people.

By the way, “children are their oppressors and women rule over them.” There’s no leadership left among the people who are designed to rule the people. The children, they’re foolish; they’re capricious, cowardly. Verse 4 tells you that:

[4] And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
[5] And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

The don’t have any leadership left among the people who are supposed to be leading the nation. They’ve completely turned aside. So He pleads with them, and here’s the warning:

[14] The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
[15] What mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor? saith the LORD GOD of hosts.

Now, He’s going to stand up; He’s getting ready to come back in judgment. He’s going to stand up to plead; that’s what verse 10 is. But He’s also standing up to judge.

He already told you about it in Isaiah 2:19: [19] And they shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly the earth.

That’s the Second Advent. Match that verse with Psalm 110: [1] The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
[2] The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.

(to be continued tomorrow . . . )