Focus: Equally Guilty!

Text: Ps.130:3

"If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?"

Prophet Isaiah started his ministry by pointing out the errors of the people. From chapter three he started his pronouncement of woes upon the people for their evil ways. Let us go to chapter five and see how the woes increased. There are no less than six woes in this fifth chapter.

*Woe for wrong use of land

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!" (V.8). All lands belong to the Lord, and so no one can use the Lord as he wishes or deprive others of their rightful inheritance.

*Woe on booze, drunkenness or alcoholism

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that continue until night, till wine inflame them!" (V.11). These are moral ills, social failures and personal perils.

*Woe on sinful cleverness

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope" (v.18). This is woe to those who use clever means to market evil. They make evil look good, attractive and salable. They sell poison for food and lie about almost anything and everything.

*Woe on perverts

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!" (V.20). These are deluded men and women who turn morality upside down and write off true spirituality. As far as they are concerned, absolutes do not exist. They are color blind. Good and evil mean the same thing to them. They are depraved and degenerate.

*Woe on the conceited

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" (V.21). These are the 'I-too-know individuals - self-deceived and self-conceited. They are wrongheaded and pompous. They do not see how stupid they are. They are blind to their own ignorance.

*Woe on abusers of wine

Isaiah declares, "Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink" (v.22). These people are not only into alcoholism but they also mix different alcoholic beverages in one cup. They drink to stupor. Booze is their idol. They go overboard with booze. These are social evils and perils. 

The human society is diseased by sin in all its forms. Man keeps finding new ways to do evil, thereby taking evil to new heights. Man is greatly advanced in iniquity. Though iniquity claims antiquity, yet new versions, inventions and dimensions of evil are constantly emerging.

*Woe of personal conviction

Isaiah boldly denounced these moral ills of society, but didn't take time to look at himself until chapter six where his eyes opened to behold the Lord sitting upon His throne. He saw that while Judah's throne was vacant after the demise of Uzziah, God still occupied His heavenly throne. He saw the glory and blazing holiness of the highly exalted King of the universe - God Himself. He saw the seraphim of God humbly standing in their own places. He quickly saw his real spiritual and moral condition by seeing the glory of the Lord and His immaculate holiness. Then he cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts" (Isa.6:5). He saw his own evil ways and declared a woe on himself. His change occurred when he saw the revelation of God's glory. 

No one ever truly sees himself as he is until he sees or encounters the glory of God.

Isaiah denounced evil in others, but could not denounce evil in himself until he saw the glory of God. His real calling, consecration and commission happened right there in the place of divine encounter. It was there and then that the fire of the altar was used by a seraph to effect his cleansing. The tongue that denounced evil in others was indeed in need of cleansing.

The Lord Jesus Christ says, "Why BEHOLDEST thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but CONSIDEREST NOT the beam that is in thine own eye?" (Mt.7:3). You carry a log of wood in your eyes, but all you can see is the speck in another's eye. 

We are all suffering from lack of proper consideration. Paul says, "Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1Cor.10:12). Had it not been for the Lord's mercy we would have been consumed, for if God should mark iniquity, tell me, who can stand or survive? We all stand equally guilty and condemned before God. It is only by the shed blood of Christ that we can obtain pardon for our sins, and deliverance from our wrongdoings. Pulpit and pew are equally guilty before God. We have need of repentance and change of heart. Amen!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter