What did God say to drunkards in Israel and Judah? Do we listen to the word about God’s kingdom and bear fruit? Let’s look at Isaiah 28.
What does God have to say to drunkards of the tribe representing northern Israel, Ephraim? Is it a problem today?
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley Of those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent; As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction, Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters, He has thrown it down to the earth with His hand. The splendid crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim is trampled underfoot. And the fading flower of its glorious beauty, Which is at the head of the fertile valley, Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to the summer, Which one sees, And as soon as it is in his hand, He swallows it. (Isa 28:1-4 NASB)
Though northern Israel failed, who will be the glorious crown for the remnant?
In that day the Lord Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people. He will be a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isa 28:5-6 NIV)
Have the spiritual leaders also failed in this regard, vomiting from excessive drinking?
But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment. For all tables are full of vomit and filth; No place is clean. (Isa 28:7-8 NKJV)
Rather than repent, do the people insult the nature of God’s holy scriptures?
“Who does the Lord think we are?” they ask. “Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, just recently weaned? He tells us everything over and over—one line at a time, one line at a time, a little here, and a little there!” (Isa 28:9-10 NLT)
If Israel failed to listen to God in their own language, would they hear the Lord in the language of their Assyrian captors?
But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and in another language, to whom he said, “This is the resting place. Give rest to the weary,” and “This is the refreshing;” yet they would not hear. Therefore Yahweh’s word will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken. (Isa 28:11-13 WEB)
Is this message also for those in Judah and Jerusalem? Is their covenant of lies with a foreign power, a deal with death?
Therefore, hear the Lord’s word, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem. You said, “We’ve cut a deal with death; with the underworld we made a pact. When the overflowing flood passes through, it won’t reach us; for we have made lies our hiding place, and in falsehood we take shelter.” Therefore, the Lord God says: Look! I’m laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a valuable cornerstone, a sure foundation: the one who trusts won’t tremble. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line. But hail will sweep away the hiding place of lies, and water will overflow the shelter. Your deal with death will be dissolved, and your pact with the grave won’t stand. The rushing flood: when it passes through, you will be annihilated by it. Every time it passes through it will take you, for morning by morning it will pass, by day and by night. It will be nothing but terror to understand the message. The bed is too short to stretch out, and the shroud is too narrow to cover oneself. (Isa 28:14-20 CEB)
Had the Lord given Israel victories at Perazim and Gibeon? Would the next time surprise them with defeat unless they repent?
The Lord will fiercely attack as he did at Mount Perazim and in Gibeon Valley. But this time the Lord will do something surprising, not what you expect. So you had better stop sneering or you will be in worse shape than ever before. I heard the Lord All-Powerful threaten the whole country with destruction. (Isa 28:21-22 CEV)
How long can God teach His people before He expects His plowing and sowing to bear a crop?
Give ear, and hear my voice; give attention, and hear my speech. Does he who plows for sowing plow continually? Does he continually open and harrow his ground? When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter dill, sow cumin, and put in wheat in rows and barley in its proper place, and emmer as the border? For he is rightly instructed; his God teaches him. Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin, but dill is beaten out with a stick, and cumin with a rod. Does one crush grain for bread? No, he does not thresh it forever; when he drives his cart wheel over it with his horses, he does not crush it. This also comes from the Lord of hosts; he is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom. (Isa 28:23-29 ESV)
Did Jesus also use an analogy about a crop and hearing God’s word? Do some bear fruit?
But the one sown on the good ground—this is one who hears and understands the word, who does bear fruit and yields: some 100, some 60, some 30 times what was sown. (Mat 13:23 HCSB)
What did God say to drunkards in Israel and Judah? Do we listen to the word about God’s kingdom and bear fruit? You decide!
