Read Isaiah 65:11–16
Questions from the Scripture text: Whom does Israel forsake (Isaiah 65:11a)? Whom do they forget (verse 11b)? But for whom do they prepare a table (verse 11c)? For whom do they furnish a drink offering (verse 11d)? How will YHWH repay them (Isaiah 65:12a–b)? Why—how have they “responded” to Him (verse 12c–d)? What did they do instead (verse 12e–f)? Who speaks/renders verdict in Isaiah 65:13a? What will His servants receive (verse 13b, d, f; Isaiah 65:14a)? What will happen to unbelieving Israel (Isaiah 65:13c, e, g; Isaiah 65:14b–c)? How will the elect remember them (Isaiah 65:15a)? Why (verse 15b–c)? To Whom alone, then, will people turn for blessing and to offer worship (Isaiah 65:16a–d)? What will God have done with His servants’ troubles (verse 16e–f)?
How does idolatry progress, and how does God respond to it? Isaiah 65:11–16 looks forward to the first serial reading in morning public worship on the coming Lord’s Day. In these six verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that idolatry doesn’t just add to God but turns us against Him, so that He is right to judge the idolaters among His people and make them into a warning for others.
False worship leads to false gods, Isaiah 65:11. Those mountains which men preferred for worship in Isaiah 65:7c are now contrasted with the Lord’s own holy mountain in Isaiah 65:11b. Whenever man begins to add his own ideas to worship, it inevitably leads to the forgetting of the Lord Himself. One thing leads to another, and pretty soon a man is trusting in fortune (NKJ “Gad,” verse 11c) and living for destiny (NKJ “Meni,” verse 11d). Christians who think they are too sophisticated to worship idols of stone make the same worship errors and spiritual errors to this day.
Discipline that Discriminates, Isaiah 65:12-14. We saw that the Lord will make for Himself a believing remnant (cf. Isaiah 65:8-10). Now, we see the difference that results from their repentance and faith. God is One Who discriminates between those who are His by faith and life (“Behold, My servants”) and those who are in His church but not genuinely His (“But you”). The differences are appropriate. They have worshiped ridiculous, purported deities who depend upon their worshipers for food and drink (Isaiah 65:11c–d), so they will go hungry and thirsty (Isaiah 65:13c, e). But those who belong to YHWH, Who needs nothing, they will feast with true joy (verse 13b, d, f; Isaiah 65:14a), while unbelieving Israel descends into failure and misery (Isaiah 65:13g, Isaiah 65:14b–c).
Discipline that instructs, Isaiah 65:15. This discrimination the Lord intended for the instruction of His elect. They would see those who are false within the church as a warning, a curse (cf. verse 15a). He still has His chosen, His servants (verse 15c), but He calls them by another name.
Discipline that succeeds for others, Isaiah 65:16. What are the results among the elect servants of the Lord? They refuse to bless themselves in creatures or any false God; they bless themselves only in the God of truth (cf. verse 16a–b). They offer every sort of worship only to the true God, here summarized under swearing by the name of God in vows and oaths. How happy are they whose sins God has put away (verse 16e–f; cf. Psalm 32:1–2)!
What sorts of things has man added (ancient or new) to the worship of God? How do people end up trusting in their fortune or their destiny, rather than in God? What did God end up doing to Israel? What should this warn us from doing and encourage us to do?
Sample prayer: Lord, forgive us for when we have added to Your worship. Whatever we add, we tend to prefer to what You have commanded. We so easily slouch into crediting things to fortune or destiny and become forgetful of You. You would be right to take away our food, our drink, and our joy. But, You have been merciful and chosen a remnant to save and to make into Your servants. Thank You for Your great mercy to us. Keep forgiving us, and granting us repentance and sanctification we ask, through Christ, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness!” or TPH434 “A Debtor to Mercy Alone”
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