In reading the opening chapters of Isaiah, I am struck by the similarities between my culture and Israel as described by Isaiah. The things that God condemns are commonplace in American society.
I suppose that in every culture in every age since the writing of Isaiah, readers have been able to identify some similarities between their culture and Isaiah’s. Yet I see an increasing drive in my culture to live without a prophetic voice. There is an increasing desire for spirituality as long as that spirituality does not include a transcendent Creator God who makes any demands.
For believers, the reading of Isaiah should provoke a need for repentance and at the same time draw us into the arms of the God who wants to “reason together” with us (Isaiah 1:18).
What should be striking is that if God condemned Israel and punished her for the perpetration of these sins, how can America hope to escape punishment? We have seen the fall of cultures more dominant than ours due to the internal weakness that these sins create. The breakdown of the family, the oppression of the poor (in the guise of helping them), sexual decadence and a failure to recognize absolute truth are all indicators of societal decline.
The only hope for our nation as a nation is for God to pour out his Spirit in a great revival. Our prayer must be focused on revival, starting with us individually, our churches and then our nation.
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