I recently quoted a few verses from the prophet Isaiah on my FaceBook page, along with a challenge for others to post their thoughts on a modern-day application of the verses. The verses were as follows:
And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honorable. - Isaiah 3:4-5
Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed. Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate. - Isaiah 6:8-11
I received only one response, but it was a good one. Troy, a brother from down in Iowa said this: “Wars, and rumors of wars. Defiance against that which is true. Denying natural law, God's Law. Wandering ignorantly into certain decline, and demise. Our eyes have lost sight of the way. Our ears refuse to hear what is true. Our feet carry us away from peace and honor. It is all ancient prophecy, yet through arrogance, we the children refuse to yield to these words.”
I would just add this:
First of all, here’s something to consider when looking at this passage. Where the Bible says, “children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them,” notable Christian commentaries of yesteryear seem to agree that this refers not just to physical age, but includes those with the understanding or mental capacity of children. Hmmm. I think I can come up with a least a couple examples of so-called leadership that fit that quite well.
Further, the LORD God, speaking through the prophet Isaiah prefaces verse 3 with, “I will give…” In other words, everything from the reduced mental capacity of the rulers, the people oppressing each other, the insolent children, right on down to the brutish men acting arrogantly against the honorable, …these things are the punishment, not the reason for the punishment!
The reasons for the punishment? Think – murder of innocent life (Exodus 20:13) (63.5 million babies since Roe v Wade in 1973). Think – calling evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Think – celebrating and encouraging sinful acts (Romans 1:32). And we could go on.
But then we read about God’s further judgment in chapter six, we see that there would come a time when people would hear, but not understand what they heard, they would see but not understand what they saw. And terrifying as it may seem, this too would be an act of God such that they would NOT repent. God is exceedingly patient and merciful, but eventually there comes a time when there will be no more place for repentance, but only for judgement. Now, for the nation of Israel, to whom this message was given, the final result of this judgement (… the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate – Isaiah 6:11) would occur in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman general Titus in 70 A.D. in what was one of the most brutal episodes in history.
Now, remember that this prophesy was specifically given to Israel. It’s not a prophesy about what will happen to our country, but that does not mean it doesn’t describe this country. What should put the fear of God into each one of us is the blindness that accompanies the point where repentance is no longer an option. Is that time past for our nation? We all see friends and relatives who vote for the destruction of our country and with it, their own destruction. They vote to continue the murder of the next generation in the womb. They vote for the continuing invasion by drug dealers, sex traffickers, terrorists, and other law breakers. They vote for policies that will inflate prices until their life savings will soon have the buying power of last week’s pocket change. They vote for energy policies that will likely result in the starvation of untold numbers while others freeze to death in their homes, all the while rejecting God’s gift of fossil fuels. They vote to have their grandsons castrated and their granddaughters mutilated, with the resulting psychological destruction. As proud members of the culture of death, they continue to vote for death and they don’t even seem to understand they are doing so.
Is all lost then? Is our nation doomed to suffer the same fate as ancient Israel? Perhaps, …but even if our nation as a whole is on an unstoppable trajectory, there is still time for individuals to call out to the Lord Jesus Christ for mercy and forgiveness. And though I have identified the spiritually deaf and blind by how they vote, don’t for one moment think that voting against those wicked policies will give you any sort of righteous standing before God. There will be plenty of conservatives, libertarians, and Republicans who will one day hear the dreadful words of Christ, “I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7:23) There is no salvation in any government or any political party. Salvation is only to be found in Jesus Christ.