Woe Against The Schemers

Topic: Omnipotence
Passage: Isaiah 29:13–24

May 18, 2022

Commentary

In this third “woe” the Lord exposes the political tactics of the rulers of Judah (vv. 13-14). They were trying to turn things upside down and thought that God would not hold them accountable for what they were doing. The people professed to know God as they were formally involved in acts of worship, but their hearts were far from Him. They were more concerned with man-made rules than with God’s laws. They thought they could hide their plans from God by doing things at night (v. 15).

Isaiah asked the people to look ahead and consider what God had planned for them. Their formal, external, petty religion was inconsistent as far as God was concerned. As they depended on their own devices instead of surrendering to the Lord it pointed to the fact, they did not think God had the wisdom or ability to help them (v. 16).

God will one day turn everything around by establishing His glorious kingdom on earth. The devastated land will become a paradise (v. 17), the disabled will be healed (v. 18), and the outcasts will rejoice in the Lord (v. 19). The founding fathers (Abraham and Jacob) will see that their many descendants will be glorifying the Lord (vv. 20-24).

Application

Thinking that God couldn’t see them and didn’t know what was happening, the people of Jerusalem tried to hide their plans from Him. It is easy for me to do the same thing today. In Psalm 139 we find that God knows everything about us. I need to be constantly asking myself the question: would I be embarrassed if everyone knew my personal thoughts? It is for sure that God knows my every thought and that is what counts most!

Isaiah 29:13– 24 (NET)

13 The Lord says, “These people say they are loyal to me; they say wonderful things about me, but they are not really loyal to me. Their worship consists of nothing but man-made ritual.

14 Therefore I will again do an amazing thing for these people— an absolutely extraordinary deed. Wise men will have nothing to say, the sages will have no explanations.”

15 Those who try to hide their plans from the Lord are as good as dead, who do their work in secret and boast, “Who sees us? Who knows what we’re doing?”

16 Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker, “He didn’t make me”? Or should the pottery say about the potter, “He doesn’t understand”?

17 In just a very short time Lebanon will turn into an orchard, and the orchard will be considered a forest.

18 At that time the deaf will be able to hear words read from a scroll, and the eyes of the blind will be able to see through deep darkness.

19 The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord; the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.

20 For tyrants will disappear, those who taunt will vanish, and all those who love to do wrong will be eliminated —

21 those who bear false testimony against a person, who entrap the one who arbitrates at the city gate and deprive the innocent of justice by making false charges.

22 So this is what the Lord, the one who delivered Abraham, has said to the family of Jacob: “Jacob will no longer be ashamed; their faces will no longer show their embarrassment.

23 For when they see their children, whom I will produce among them, they will honor my name. They will honor the Holy One of Jacob; they will respect the God of Israel.

24 Those who stray morally will gain understanding; those who complain will acquire insight.