Today, I am reading and commenting on Isaiah 1-4.

The first thing I want to note is that Isaiah began prophesying during the reign of Uzziah, about whom the writer of Chronicles said “he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.”  In fact, similar things could be said about 3 of the four kings who reigned during Isaiah’s time of prophesy.  Yet from the very beginning f Isaiah’s prophecies he calls out the people of Israel for their rebellion against God.  Isaiah tells them that the sacrifices which they offer are meaningless and their assemblies are worthless.  Isaiah told the people of Israel that they must stop doing wrong and learn to do right.  God was condemning their worship because it was empty.  Their worship rituals were not intended as an end in themselves.  They were intended as an expression of God’s command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  But the first of the expressions of following that command was that they were to ,”love your neighbor as yourself.”  We make the mistake of not paying attention to Isaiah’s prophecy today.  Have our worship services become meaningless and worthless?  If we do not want God to refuse to listen to our prayers, the same as He did to the people of Israel in Isaiah’s day, then we need to wash away our sins and learn to be willing and obedient.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.