Like The Worst of the Worst – Spiritual Apostasy

Pastor Bill Farrow

Passage: Isaiah 1:10

Hear the word of the LORD,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah: 

The contrasts in Isaiah are profound.  He goes, at one moment, from speaking comfort to Israel, to calling the to judgment the next.  this is one of the first places we see this great contrast.

Hear the word of the Lord - The message of God. Having stated the calamities under which the nation was groaning, the prophet proceeds to address the rulers, and to state the cause of all these woes.  They are commanded to hear, implying that they are able to hear, or at least that they have a duty to hear what God has said.  Hearing, in this context, is always suggestive of far more than just the use of the auditory organ and the taking in of information – it almost always implies that God desires that there be some sort of response to what is proclaimed on the part of the hearers.  Always, within the very command, is the implication that God desires them to respond affirmatively and obey the command. 

At the very least, there is the desire that they hear the command, and that that hearing stand as witness against them in judgment.  The phrase underscores for us the very, very serious nature of what is being preached here.  This is not the opinion of a man, but the very Word of Lord God of Hosts.  Those hosts can either fight for, or against Israel!  The implication here is that their behavior will determine what the eventual outcome of the matter is.  We know it to be more complicated than that, but as far as preaching is concerned, it is entirely legitimate to “boil it down” to those kind of “brass tacks” and ask men to make a decision and commit to obedience, which is precisely what Isaiah is doing here.

Ye rulers of Sodom…You people of Gomorrah - The incidental mention Sodom & Gomorrah in the previous verse gives occasion for this beautiful transition, and abrupt and spirited address. Their character and destiny were almost like those of Sodom, and the prophet therefore openly addresses the rulers as being called to preside over a people like those in Sodom. There could have been no more severe or cutting reproof of their wickedness than to address them as resembling the people whom God overthrew for their enormous crimes.

There is no more dastardly and despicable people in the Bible than those of Sodom and Gomorrah.  They are portrayed in such vile terms as to be the very example of ungodliness and wicked rebellion against God.  The tremendous judgment that they underwent was nothing short of catastrophic and they were quite literally wiped from off of the face of the earth.  Their name became a synonym for sinfulness and for unacceptability before the Lord.

That is precisely the understand and the reference that Isaiah wants to call to mind here.  He compares Israel to Sodom and Gomorrah precisely because, at the root, they were no better!  Israel was favored, not because they were any better than the nations round about them, but simply because God chose to smile on them, and be gracious to them.  Israel had forgotten that and had taken the attitude that they were better than those other heathens around them.  In reality, they were not, and were, conversely, every bit as bad as any of the worst that had ever come down the pike!

For Israel to have forgotten this, and for them to assume that they were where and who they were on their own merit did terrible violence to the grace of God and betrayed their own spiritual apostasy.  It is the nature of those who have truly experienced the grace of God to recognize that they have, indeed, experienced that grace.  This statement is intended to “shake up” Israel and, hopefully, startle them into rethinking their position and reevaluating their course of conduct.

Looking at yourself honestly and truly is the most difficult and terrible thing a person can do.  Consequently, it is a thing that most people never, ever do!  I am reminded of the man who was leaving the church after a service and shook the pastor’s hand and said “You made me think Pastor; don’t ever do that again!”  How many of us are like that!  We have an inflated view of ourselves that God must deflate from time to time.  Hopefully, we are a bit easier and take less drastic action to deflate than did the ancient Israelites!