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TREACHEROUS CHURCH

August 15, 2018

In Isaiah Chapter 24, the Lord says that a time is coming when He will  wreak havoc and total destruction on the earth.
Everything is broken.  The whole world’s economy is in ruins.   No one escapes the devastation.

1Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word.”

Isaiah’s prophecy continues to describe the devastation in verses 4–13.  There is a curse devouring the land – no joy or gaiety – only chaos  and gloom.

 

(text not printed here, see link)

Link to verses 4 – 13 www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+24%3A4-13&version=NASB 

THEN:
the vision switches and Isaiah sees people worshiping the Lord across the entire Earth.  They raise their voices and shout for joy. They declare His majesty and glorify His Name.  They sing “Glory to the Righteous One”.

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
The name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”

BUT:
Isaiah is stricken, sorely grieved, by those “worshipers” as he sees the truth that in fact they are treacherous, and he repeats it in emphasis.


Treachery defined is:
  • Betrayal of trust
  • Disloyalty
  • Faithlessness
  • Infidelity
  • Duplicity

16(b) But I say, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

Isaiah continues to describe how “The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled”
(from vs.3), and the inhabitants on earth and in heaven above will be punished “in that day”(vs.21), including the treacherous “worshipers”.

17 Terror and pit and snare
Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.

There is a day on God’s calendar mentioned throughout the Bible.  Sometimes it’s referred to as “the day of the Lord” (27 times) and sometimes as “in that day” (36 times); the number of occurrences depends on which translation.
This is as real a day as when the floods came upon the earth at the time of Noah.  We don’t know specific day and date, but each day draws us nearer.
The Lord reveals in those many Scriptures the circumstances of “that day”.  In this prophecy He tells us that when that time comes, there are those who appear outwardly to be true worshipers who are not.  Rather they are treacherous (see above definition).

Today, in the institutional church (IC)–

14They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
The name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”

and yet, for the first time in 2,000 years the Lord is pulling His children out of the IC.  This is not a social phenomenon.  It is a move of God — a divine action.  These are not believers leaving in anger, hurt or rebellion. They are God’s children walking by faith.  They and all the others who will come to Him comprise His Church, His Body, His Bride, the Faithful Remnant.

Isaiah sees the IC worshiping in his vision and seeing them through God’s eyes he says;

16(b) . . . .“Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”

Most people today, both believers and unbelievers, don’t really believe in the imminence of “That Day”; that they or their children will have to deal with . . .  that they need to be prepared for.   Even believers go to work, enjoy their families, recreation, hobbies, and the things of this world; even doing “good works”; with little or no devotion to their walk with Jesus.  Believers are sitting complacently and comfortably both in and out of the IC, ignoring the call of Jesus to come to Him.

The view that Isaiah had of the worshiping IC is the view that God sees, and Isaiah speaks it today as a wake-up and urgent warning to believers regarding that treacherous system. 
Lord, please give us all “Isaiah-Eyes”.
And, Lord Jesus, may we, all your sheep, hear your voice and come.  And as we come may we forsake all things that hinder and distract from You being The First and The Last in our lives.

Submitted with love in Jesus,
Duncan
duncan@1st-love.com

first published August 15, 2018

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