Isaiah 28 vs 1-13

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 1 – 4

Isaiah repeats himself here which is interesting. It signals that he is intense in terms of what he is saying. It’s a statement against really the people of the God in their pride and drunkenness and glorying in their own strength, victories and even beauty. But a couple statements here are applicable warnings for you and I today!

Woe to the crown of pride! Pride is a killer. We all have it. We all struggle with it. It’s even a complex word and situation because some pride is a blessing. Pride in your child, pride in the faithfulness of a friend, to be proud of someone is a great and Godly thing and even to be proud of yourself for how far you’ve come or what you’ve achieved through life, not a bad thing at all! But to hold yourself in some sort of majesty, pride in the flesh, is an absolute killer and it’s intensely difficult to walk in one and not dabble in the other!

So, what do we do? Fight pride? Nope. Losing equation. What we ought to do is seek humility. Then the pride we do express and allow is filtered, purified, and helpful/profitable. Humility is not putting others first. Humility is muting self. It’s a sense of connection with the whole world… Why seek humility? A few Biblical reasons. First, woe to those who don’t, thank you Isaiah. Also, Job 35:12, “There they cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.” There is a risk of essentially blocked/muted prayers…

Psalm 73:6, when “pride serves as their necklace, violence covers them like a garment.” Pride welcomes conflict in a life. Proverbs 8:13, “Pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” Proverbs 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes shame; but with the humble is wisdom.”

So…, fight pride? Nope. Losing strategy. Seek humility. And if not, woe, why pray?, conflict, violence, shame and a love hate relationship with God?? No thanks.

And Isaiah stands against the abuse of alcohol which is a prevalent theme in this chapter. Is the Bible and should the church be against all forms of drinking alcohol at all times? I can’t get there. BUT, drinking to the point of being drunk is certainly a work of the flesh. There is no spiritual benefit or act of worship there...

And then Isaiah speaks against the perceived beauty of those boasting against the Lord. Beauty is indeed a fading flower, on the outside. But internal beauty can grow and a person with a ton of external beauty and only a small amount of internal beauty is not desirable. But a person with a ton of internal beauty and only a small amount of external beauty is appealing, delightful, graceful and gorgeous essentially to everyone…, for life.

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 5 – 13

These verses are so revealing! Just absolutely spot on! Twice Isaiah points to abusing alcohol as “taking folks out of the way.” We often pray, “Lord take me out of the way and do what You desire to do…,” but that’s not a prayer I pray! I want God to put me right in the Way! Use me! Let me be the hands and feet and mouth and tool He uses to do what He desires to do…! And this verse is one of the reasons I take that position…

Being “taken out of the way” is not a good thing. And it’s one of the woes of a life of a user. Vision blurs, judgement stumbles and things become defiled. And then Isaiah just puts it out there. Who are you going to teach or lead to truth when you’re sick or drunk from drink? “God is the way to rest…, but, I need a beer.” See what I’m saying? If God is the way to rest then why do you need? Makes no sense and wouldn’t even persuade a child to believe…

But rather weight is given here, twice, and I love this that the Word of God and the ways of God should be handled, taught and considered line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, which is precisely the model of church services I find the most profitable! 

And, there’s a warning here. Isiah being so spot on! That for those that seek to lead people to truth and speak for the Lord, strong drink isn’t for you because you will find yourself, in the inner person, entirely divided. Snared and caught. Because you’re preaching/teaching and even believing one thing but doing something totally different. That will ruin anyone…

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 14 – 15

It’s wild that you can do that but you can. So incredibly totally… Someone can make lies their refuge. Where they go to hide and matters never get dealt with, maturity never happens, and in the most-odd way, a person can even become oblivious to how out of touch with reality they really are…

Have you ever met someone or known someone that is extremely self-centered but if you told them that it would shock them!? HA! Or someone that is not a very nice person but if you told them that, they’d just hurt you?! Proving the point! HA! I think we all do this to an extent and we all have “blind spots” as it were, but you can tell if someone if taking refuge in their blindness when you try and turn the lights on for them… How do you handle that when it happens to you? Rather telling…

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verse 16

The Cornerstone is always a reference in some way to Jesus Christ and the idea here is that if you are a follower of Jesus, in the presence of something that is true, hard truth, you don’t run from it. You don’t hurry your heart back to some sort of shelter from what is right and just…, but you move with intent rather than haste… Why? Because you are a follower and a seeker of Him who is Truth Himself… So, if there is something He wants to address, well, that’s part of who you are now…

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verse 17

In the heart and life of the true believer, justice (not emotion) is how you measure what you will and will not do, address, discuss with yourself, deal with. And righteousness is your level (not personal comfort or benefit). Hail, the judgment of God not your own, is promoted personally and calls out where you take refuge…, and the water of the Word is permitted to overflow anything you’re hiding away. It is impossible, if this is you, impossible not to mature, strengthen and grow up into the image of Christ if these circumstances are present in your heart (which will NEVER just happen…, this must be sought, it is humility).

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 18 – 20

I SO love this. This is so revealing, this chapter! You won’t have to try, set your mind on being real with God! If you are truly worshipping God, truly seeking Jesus and walking with the Lord (seeking humility), being anything or anyway else will just not fit. So uncomfortable. Like wearing clothes two sizes too small or sleeping in a four-foot bed… So too is the life of a righteous person in the presence of false reality…

It’s on one hand a huge benefit of knowing the Lord and on the other hand a huge pain in the neck!  HA! Before the Lord you didn’t know you’re a jerk. Then you give your life to God and start following Him and His Spirit (hail) and His Word start to show you that you’re a jerk! And you tell yourself, “Self, you’re not so bad, you’re not a jerk.” And then five seconds, minutes, later you’re over here telling yourself, “NO man, you’re a jerk!” HA!

It’s like that age old question. If you were wrong, would you want to know? By the reaction and action and life patterns of so many, the answer is NO! But God doesn’t let you get away with it IF you are truly walking with Him!

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 21 – 22

I mean and that’s the thing right there! We all fight this, this revelation of all the things about us that need work…, and when we run from these things, which at times we all do, and we take refuge for a time or season in false realities, lies…, we strengthen our own personal bondage. No one has ever been any better by mocking God… Agree with Him quickly the Bible says…

Isaiah Chapter 28 Verses 23 – 29

You’re not going to yield a crop by planting seeds sealed in plastic bags. The point is, there is a Way that leads to life and that is what God wants to do in your heart, in your mind, in your life. What is He wanting to do in yours?