Grace: Hope for Sinners
Isaiah 1:1-9
If the Lord of Heaven’s Armieshad not spared a few of us,[a]we would have been wiped out like Sodom,destroyed like Gomorrah.
"The book of Isaiah is a story of God's grace in the midst of the sinful lives of His people - the nation of Israel. Isaiah's prophetic ministry ranged from approximately 760 to 698 B.C. During that time, in 721 B.C., Samaria was besieged by the Assyrians, and Israel's ten northern tribes were enslaved. They had become like Sodom and Gomorrah, never to be heard from again. But God will always rescue a remnant saved by grace. In 721, the remnant was the two southern tribes - Judah and Benjamin. Isaiah's central message to them is one of warning, but also of comfort.
As Isaiah begins, Israel's problem is exposed. In verse 4 we read, "Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him." "Only the Daughter of Zion is left," (v. 8) - the tribes centered in Jerusalem. They, too, will be enslaved in 586 B.C. But by God's grace, a remnant will again return to Zion.
About the writer:
Bob Beasley is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary in California and is the author of six Christian books as well as a previous Anchor. He has taught courses at the Reformed International Seminary in the Ukraine, including a course on the book of Isaiah. Bob and his wife Amy, who have three children and six grandchildren, live in Asheville, North Carolina where Bob is an elder at Trinity Presbyterian Church.
INSIGHT
If we fail to understand the depths of our depravity and sin, we will never truly understand the extravagant grace of our heavenly Father.
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Genesis 1-2
Psalm 1
Matthew 1-2
Isaiah 1:1-9
1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
A Rebellious Nation
2 Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth!
For the LORD has spoken:
"I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows his master,
the donkey his owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand."
4 Ah, sinful nation,
a people loaded with guilt,
a brood of evildoers,
children given to corruption!
They have forsaken the LORD;
they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
and turned their backs on him.
5 Why should you be beaten anymore?
Why do you persist in rebellion?
Your whole head is injured,
your whole heart afflicted.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is no soundness—
only wounds and welts
and open sores,
not cleansed or bandaged
or soothed with oil.
7 Your country is desolate,
your cities burned with fire;
your fields are being stripped by foreigners
right before you,
laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.
8 The Daughter of Zion is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a field of melons,
like a city under siege.
9 Unless the LORD Almighty
had left us some survivors,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.
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