Seeking The Wrong Salvation
In the book of Isaiah, God is sending to his people a message of judgement. They are warned of the coming conquest of the King of Babylon and told that it is because they have rejected God to go after various idols.
By chapter 30, the people of Israel, who have been instructed repeatedly to turn themselves over to the King of Babylon by this time, are planning to run to Egypt for help instead. While God had promised their safety if they would surrender, they had turned from one false hope in their idols to another in the might of the Egyptians.
“Ah, stubborn children,” declares the Lord, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
Isaiah 30:1-2
Rejected Messangers
Not only have they become a people who fail to follow the instruction of God but they have gone so far as to wish not even to hear the instruction. Rather they would hear what is false but sounds good.
For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
Isaiah 30:9-11
Rather than trusting in God and being saved they chose to continue in the judgements they had been warned would come.
For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” But you were unwilling
Isaiah 30:15
He Waits
Yet despite how stiff-necked this people had become, going from one false promise to another seeking to be free from the judgements of God without submitting to him, God patiently awaited when at last they would turn to him and he could heal them.
For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”
Isaiah 30:19-22
Seek First the Kingdom
Many centuries later, Jesus would instruct his followers in this way:
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Matthew 6:33
It can be tempting, even for believers, to think that we can find some way in the world (making the right alliances, create the right economic system, etc…) that can maintain a stable way of life for a nation. That a people could perfect some model of government and set of laws that would guide a people no matter what their religion and culture.
However, there is one who determines when nations rise and fall and any which reject the instruction of the God of all creation cannot hope to find salvation in anything else. It doesn’t matter if a nation is a monarchy or democracy, if it is free market or a welfare state, it will fail if her people do not heed the God who rules from heaven.
That’s not to say that certain choices are no better than others toward the end of heeding his instruction. Rather it is to say that all the decisions about how to do those things are in vain if they aren’t made based upon how best to do so.
As John Adams admitted of the model of government he had helped to create:
Because We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition, Revenge or Galantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other
From John Adams to Massachusetts Militia, 11 October 1798
Many nations today are floundering, seeking in every direction an ideal way to preserve themselves while resistant to the idea that God ought to be the foundation. The good news is, God is eager to receive those who turn to him.
Whether it is a whole nation, a family, or even just an individual, there is no help, no system, that is capable of saving a people who reject the instruction of God. However, God is waiting for those who will rest in him. Though his judgements may tear down he is never far from one who seeks him first to build them back up.
