Chapter 27—Ahaz
The accession of Ahaz to the throne brought Isaiah and his as-
sociates face to face with conditions more appalling than any that
had hitherto existed in the realm of Judah. Many who had formerly
withstood the seductive influence of idolatrous practices were now
being persuaded to take part in the worship of heathen deities. Princes
in Israel were proving untrue to their trust; false prophets were arising
with messages to lead astray; even some of the priests were teaching
for hire. Yet the leaders in apostasy still kept up the forms of divine
worship and claimed to be numbered among the people of God.
The prophet Micah, who bore his testimony during those troublous
times, declared that sinners in Zion, while claiming to “lean upon
the Lord,” and blasphemously boasting, “Is not the Lord among us?
none evil can come upon us,” continued to “build up Zion with blood,
and Jerusalem with iniquity.”
Micah 3:11, 10
. Against these evils the
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prophet Isaiah lifted his voice in stern rebuke: “Hear the word of the
Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people
of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto
Me? saith the Lord.... When ye come to appear before Me, who hath
required this at your hand, to tread My courts?”
Isaiah 1:10-12
.
Inspiration declares, “The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination:
how much more, when he bringeth it with a wicked mind?”
Proverbs
21:27
. The God of heaven is “of purer eyes than to behold evil,” and
cannot “look on iniquity.”
Habakkuk 1:13
. It is not because He is
unwilling to forgive that He turns from the transgressor; it is because
the sinner refuses to make use of the abundant provisions of grace, that
God is unable to deliver from sin. “The Lord’s hand is not shortened,
that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear: but your
iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins
have hid His face from you, that He will not hear.”
Isaiah 59:1, 2
.
Solomon had written, “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a
child!”
Ecclesiastes 10:16
. Thus it was with the land of Judah. Through
continued transgression her rulers had become as children. Isaiah
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