Skinnykenny

As Moses reminded the Hebrews of all that God had done for them and this despite the fact that they were stiff-necked and for the most part faithless. Yet God spared them with minimal want and then fed them with manna. So also Isaiah lays out God's plan and salvation before Ahaz. More or less telling Ahaz that God has again set before Judah and it's king blessings and curses, life and death. Blessings and life if the king will chose wisely and curses and death if he choses poorly. Ah, but Ahaz sees himself as wise, sly and crafty, therefore he using false piety thereby deceptive words declares declaring, 'He will not chose either proposition set before him.' Thus, he saying neither yes or no, thereby giving the appearance of a pious response, but in truth is simply a non-committal lukewarm response to an ultra important choice. However, what Ahaz fails to realize is that God hates anything lukewarm. God would prefer his people to either be hot or cold, for these can be molded into something useful that will bring glory to God and his holy name. But the lukewarm, these God will spew out upon the earth back into the dust and ashes from which they came. The same applies to all believers, there can be no fence riders, either the believer is obedient and faithful thereby standing righteous before the Lord, or they are disobedient and unfaithful and will stand before the Lord in shame. But the lukewarm, the Lord has no use for, these unless they repent quickly will soon be cast into the unquenchable fire. Today, authentic Christians face even worse enemies, for the very worst enemies are among us, and they declare themselves to be Christians, and they invite and approve of every foul form of deceit for an advantage or up-ward mobility, or practice a little white lie to save a few dollars on insurance or taxes, or look the other way when there is the killing of the unborn by the tens of millions, the killing of the defenseless whether newborn or disabled or elderly, or anyone that does not meet their personal or national standards of productivity, and on and on, etc.. So, before we nonchalantly declare others, whether in history or in the present, as unbelievers, heretics, or worse, let us look at our very own selves and see if we even avail our selves to their low standards? Let us see if indeed we are so lukewarm that we won't truly commit our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to the service and worship of God alone, simply because we have become so comfortable and accustomed to all forms of blood letting, treachery and deceit. I do not suggest being careful, but being renewed in Christ Jesus, proclaiming his death and professing his resurrection and actually live His light and love with white hot confidence in His will alone, and thereby no longer approve of sin and no longer look the other way in the face of murder.

As Isaiah learned through self discipline and divine grace to die to oneself and put on God alone, so too the sower is God, but the seeds are the faithful who have learned how to die to ones self, who have learned the virtue of grieving and no longer suffer in grief, but now are ready to produce fruit due to a genuine willingness to be broadcasted into the world to be an example of true life in Christ. Before a kernel is suitable for planting it must first die or else it simply rots. Thus, the believer, like Isaiah must first die to ones self and then at God's will be broadcast into His field where the seed will become a power-plant of life, an actual living and growing example of life in Christ Jesus. Now, there of course will be many who will resist the divine light, life and way, for they rather love their imagined possessions of worldly power, authority and riches. And yes, many will not listen due to the various and numerous obstacles in their lives. But we as seeds are sent by God to these places and persons despite their infirmity of inordinate pride or impenetrable ignorance. Isaiah knew he was sent like a seed on a fools errand to a hard and rocky path filled with the potholes of stiff necks and hardened hearts, but with God leading him Isaiah also knew that everything is possible when divinity enters into the darkness of men's hearts. God did not tell Isaiah go and convert these people and renew their minds in the truth. No, rather God sent Isaiah to preach and prophecy the Word and He God the Almighty would do the heavy lifting, He would accomplish the impossible according to His own good and divine timing.

As excellent account of grief can be found in Luke 18:18-28. Here we witness a ruler asking Jesus what one must do to enter into heaven. Jesus then says that this ruler needs to sell all he has and give this to the poor, only then will he have treasure in heaven. The ruler was grieved, for he had much worldly wealth. But not only the ruler was saddened and grieved, but so too were Jesus's own apostles. However, Jesus reaffirms the need to surrender what we imagine we have and trust in him alone. In doing so the faithful will in turn receive much more even life eternal in heaven and perfect happiness. When we make the time and effort to learn to acquire the virtue of grieving, we will be enabled through God's grace to surrender our perceived and imaginary possessions and declare Jesus Christ as our sole and true possession, and this not by our merits, but God's merit.

Isaiah was grieved by the knowledge of his sinfulness in the presence of God, and the sinfulness of his people and nation of Judah in the sight of God. Yet, through the vision given he was strengthened for he no longer needed to personally grieve for his loss or the loss of his people or nation, rather and in addition to his many natural and supernatural virtues he acquired through self discipline and love of God he is now, with the grace of God enable to live the virtue of grieving, letting go of all those things and persons that otherwise might hinder him from serving the Lord completely and faithfully and thereby encouraged ever more to proclaim the "Word" of God ever more diligently. We all must pass through many degree's of grief through out our life in this valley of tears, and this especially so after we come to the saving knowledge and love of God. Yet with the help of God and our willful learning to trust in Him and his will alone we can and will live the life God desires us to live and our life will reflect what we believe, for we are enabled through His divine grace to put this belief into practice, and when necessary even use words.

As a side-bar, I want to say I like "Talmid Danny" insight about "emptying ours selves." I would like take this just a bit further if I can. It is human to grieve for a time. All beings can grieve for a time and perhaps all must grieve for a time. However all too often people continue to greave sometimes for decades over a loss of a precious possession or over a lost one. When a person grieves for so long, its because they have not learned how to let go of their imagined control. To grieve to the point of making one self sick or depressed clearly is not healthy to mind, body or spirit. Not only will such behavior hurt the person stuck in this rut, but it also hurts those around them, whether other immediate family members or extended family members or friends or even future opportunities and relationships. To grieve without letting go of that which cannot be controlled or retrieved is simply an unreasonable response that will lead to worse losses. I would suggest reading Luke 8:16-[18]. As Judeo-Christians we are to learn the virtue of grieving well. Grieving is one of the most important aspects of living the Christian life or living the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. When a person learns the virtue of grieving, and this is a gradual even life long process, when the loss or sudden calamity comes and it certainly will, the grief will be bearable and quite temporal as it is intended to be. From the moment God the Son made His fiat and said "yes" to the Father, the Son had begun His virtuous grieving even at the moment of His incarnation and as Immanuel and as the Christ. He taught His followers and His Church the art of virtuous grieving, offering ones self as a "living sacrifice" for the love and glory of God the Father. What is virtuous grieving? It is learning how to not hold on to those things and persons which we do not in truth have any actual capacity or the authority to control, we learn to let go of all attachments especially worldly attachments, so that our focus and attention is always squarely upon our heavenly Father and how we can know, love and serve Him most perfectly each passing hour of our mortal lives, so that we ultimately can live and be happy with Him in heaven for eternity. In doing so, we learn how to store up treasures in heaven rather than cling to imagined possessions. Clearly the prophet Isaiah had already mastered this virtue of grieving, for indeed by this time he was in true love and awe of God and willingly had given up all these temporal things of the upper class and which nobility had given him, and of which he had willed to sacrifice for the sake of God and His Truth. When loss and calamity came, Isaiah was very well prepared and was indeed able to die a good death unto the Lord and into eternal happiness with God the Father.

I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.' ... Isaiah 46:10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. "For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace; The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.… Isaiah 55:10-12 In other words, we do our part and faithfully live the Gospel and when necessary use words. We are to proclaim the Word of God with everything we think, say, and do and leave the increase in God's capable hands.

Isaiah is a learned and holy man (then and today), he understood courtly heraldry, courtly customs, gestures, postures, when in the presence of royalty, and because of this he recognized divine royalty when he saw it and he acknowledged his sinfulness especially in the presence of his divine King and God. As the vision progressed Isaiah understood that he had been cleansed/purged and chosen by his divine King and God. Isaiah then willingly gave his "fiat" declaring to God "Let it be so," "Send me." "I shall go." When one thinks about it for just a moment, who else could fill the bill as well as Isaiah? At that moment in human history, probably no one else. Plus, Isaiah knew many leaders and walked and talked with many others and even perhaps had in previous times had an audience with the king maybe even more than once or even more than a few times. Though these elitists, priests, scribes, prophets, nobles and royalty would not be pleased with his message, Isaiah would know how to handle himself and proclaim the "Word" of God clearly and confidently even when the message fell on deaf ears and hardened hearts.

Isaiah is a learned and holy man (then and today), he understood courtly heraldry, courtly customs, gestures, postures, when in the presence of royalty, and because of this he recognized divine royalty when he saw it and he acknowledged his sinfulness especially in the presence of his divine King and God. As the vision progressed Isaiah understood that he had been cleansed/purged and chosen by his divine King and God. Isaiah then willingly gave his "fiat" declaring to God "Let it be so," "Send me." "I shall go." When one thinks about it for just a moment, who else could fill the bill as well as Isaiah? At that moment in human history, probably no one else. Plus, Isaiah knew many leaders and walked and talked with many others and even perhaps had in previous times had an audience with the king maybe even more than once or even more than a few times. Though these elitists, priests, scribes, prophets, nobles and royalty would not be pleased with his message, Isaiah would know how to handle himself and proclaim the "Word" of God clearly and confidently even when the message fell on deaf ears and hardened hearts.

The vision given reveals that God is the Creator of all that is "see and unseen" "known and unknown," "heaven and earth." All of Creation owns its existence to Him alone and give Him thanks, praise and glory for His goodness, beauty and truth, which without nothing would exist.

God first dedicated in song His love for His people then and today. God prepared the soil for his vineyard He removed the stones. In other words he originally and firstly removed those things which cause men to stumble, those things which men tend to place their trust in i.e. man made strongholds. God then planted His Holy Word into the mind and heart of His beloved people. God then placed His Holy Seal upon/around that which He loved. God then established His Holy Covenant and placed His Holy Church with all of its sacred outward signs of divine realities through the use rituals and sacraments for the express purpose of protecting and preserving HIs beloved. Then when the time for harvest came God discovered no fruit, he discovered that something was amiss that neglect had entered into His beloved and had become the norm. Next God challenges the people and their leaders within His beloved Church and demands an explanation! Since no worthy explanation is forth coming, God declares that His Church must endure much suffering and be diminished in various and important ways. It's most important protection will be lifted and removed i.e. its rituals, sacraments, etc., through excess growth of vining which in turn causes the fruit to be puny and lack-luster for all its energy is sent to the vines rather than to producing fruit. In other words God will allow all this good i.e. doing social good deeds of feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, helping prisoners, etc., etc., while neglecting the more important and greater matters of mercy, justice and correct worship of God through correct use of rituals and sacraments. Further, those without renewed minds and softened hearts i.e. the ungodly will infiltrate and cause even further abuses. Until the Church once again hears the voice of God and repents and returns to our heavenly Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, divine healing from the Holy Spirit will be withheld, therefore the Church becoming parched and even dying.

For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise. Galatians 3:27-29 Even "now on earth as it is in heaven," the true believers in faith through obedience to God's will in Jesus the Christ are living the very image and likeness of God the Father. The truly faithful and obedient to God are indeed allowing the Holy Spirit to renew their minds and soften their hearts that they will be receptive of the holy Seed i.e. the "Word" of God and all that this entails which includes correct religion and rituals given to us by the divine will of God the Father in fulfillment of the entirety of the OT through Jesus the Christ in His NT.

Each respondent has given good answers. I tend to agree or like Ivory's the best. However, I would also add abortion to the list of grave and terrible evils as a sign or indication of a societies depravity. God gave the Hebrews and the world His light. The world has willfully chosen lightlessness i.e. darkness. This of course requires an "act of the will." Therefore what we witness in the scriptures and in our own society is an active willfulness of disobedience, not only against natural law but against God personally. As the Hebrews declared through word and deed "I will not serve", so too we witness the same today not only in the world, but even worse within the various faith-based homes and communities where people have indeed at one point or another declared themselves Christian whether Catholic or Protestant. Just as we witness the Hebrews were indeed religious, so too today there are many who are religious today, but they have supplanted God and His Church with their own notions of what religion is all about. They have incorporated personal preferences, politics and their own conveniences into their brand of religion, thereby befouling God's true religion. In their hearts and minds and deeds they say good is bad and bad is good.