Sermon Podcast

Isaiah(2):- Stop Offering Meaningless Worship

Is 1:10-20 Rev Evan Seah

14 January 2024

The primary basis of God’s judgement of Judah in Ch 1 (and in fact throughout the whole book of Isaiah) is the corruption of their worship. But what was wrong with Judah’s worship? On the surface, they were offering ‘multitudes of sacrifices’, giving God the best offerings of ‘rams & fat of fattened animals’ (v11), observing ‘New Moons, Sabbaths and appointed feast’ (v13) in a rather prescribed way. (This was unlike that in the Book of Malachi, where God judged them for offering crippled & diseased animals (Mal 1:8).)

Yet, God called these worship and sacrifices ‘detestable’, ‘meaningless’, (v13) & that which brought Him ‘no pleasure’(v11). Why didn’t God accept their offerings, even though it was His command for His people to offer sacrifices & incense? The reason was because those sacrifices were not sacrifices at all. Sacrifice denotes transference of the worshiper’s sin to the animal, and therefore making atonement for their sins. However, if the sacrifice did not resolve the issue of sins, and people continue to live an unrepentant and unholy lifestyle, their worship would be of no meaning, but just a performance like that of pagan worship (e.g. 1 Kings 18:28), believing that the more they offer, the more they would be ‘blessed’.

Because of Judah’s corrupted worship, God called them Sodom & Gomorrah (v10). But was Judah’s sin to a degree like that of Sodom & Gomorrah where people those days lived perverted lives? No! God judges Israel not according to relative righteousness, but according to the portion of grace and glory given to them, to live holy lives and to have intimacy with Him. For ‘from everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded.’ (Lk 12:48) Though Israel might have been living more ‘righteously’ than the other nations, they were sinful in God’s eyes because they did not respond to the tremendous grace God had given them. …Read More

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