Elizabeth Seipel - Isaiah Speaks Today: Drawing Closer to Jesus through the Book of Isaiah

Chapter 1

Scripture 1:14

The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his masters crib: but Israel [read: the Christian church today] doth not know, my people doth not consider.

Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the Lord , they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Application 1:14

There are so many people now also whom the Lord is calling, and they will not listen, so they dont know Him. Many of these call themselves Christians, but they are content with their salvation and slip back into this world while waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. They are not living in the loving, blessed, and powerful personal relationship that the Lord desires for His people. The world is falling into the abyss of hell. Governments are outlawing the acknowledgment of our Lord, and many so-called Christians are sitting back in silence, believing the lies put forth by deceived church leaders. One such deception is that Jesus will come back before the antichrist and the tribulation he puts forth against Christiansthat Christians will not see the tribulation enforced by the beast. Not only does this make Christians lethargic about their faith, but it tends to make them not care about standing up for Him against corrupt government leadershipso much so that they purposely allow themselves to become ignorant of what is going on and how anti-God and antichrist it is!

Others who claim to be Christians are not saved at all and are living in this world as their own.

Scripture 1:56

Why should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.

From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

Application 1:56

These peoples souls (minds and emotions) are sick. They are rotting with the thoughts Satan puts therethoughts of depression, pride, selfishness, self-pity, envy, loneliness, confusion, etc.and they dont come to Christ to be bound up in His love and have His ointment of joy, peace, love, patience, faith put on. The church as a whole has turned its back on the Lord and are letting the people and the church as a whole be bruised and cut up by the existing secular governments. They are bowed down and obeying them and denying the power and love of our Lord. The sickness in the church will go on, until its leaders and its people fully repent of the false doctrines that have been rowing through the recent years! He says, There is no soundness in it. No soundness of doctrine, no standing on the Rock, which is Christ alone. All mushy, man-made doctrines that make people feel good in their emotional realm and feed the sins Satan has put into their minds.

Scripture 1:7

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Application 1:7

Without Christ in our lives we are desolateempty within ourselves, and Satan can come and devour the good in us and take over as much as we let him. Collectively, when we have people like this making up the church, we have a people who should have the power of God in them, but they dont because they have abandoned the deep relationship with Him that is necessary. This is why our cities are physically being burned with fire and our land is being taken over and overthrown by strangers, as the church stands by silently and watches the enemies of God being welcomed into this great Christian nation and others throughout the world, and we are commanded to give up our public displays of worship so as not to offend them. This is blasphemy on the part of the church to be silent when these things happen! God will judge the church first and will not defend us without our heartfelt repentance.

Scripture 1:89

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Except the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.

Application 1:89

Satans influence will grow until it overcomes us, as a once-neat cottage, if left unprotected and uncared for, will be overgrown by vines and brush. The church should be the remnant in the Sodom and Gomorrah of this world. There is no question that our nation, and most nations of the world, are being taken over by the demonic sin of sodomy, which carries all other lies with it. It goes so much deeper than the physical choices being made; it is a rebellion against the very plan of Go, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, which is what Gods plan of legitimate sex represents. Instead of being the remnant, standing for Gods righteousness, much of the church has become a silent slave to demonic forces that are ruling our governments.

Scripture 1:1014

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 : I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

Application 1:1014

He is speaking to the people of today (Christians included) who think more of the pleasure of this world than of Him. He doesnt want us to go to church to simply obey the laws of the churchwhatever the denomination. He wants us to come to Him first, to listen first to Him, then to other people, through the screen of the Holy Spirit in us, and not put church laws and church leaders opinions before His inner voice in each of us. We need to study the Word for ourselves, praying for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We are to make our lives a sacrifice to Him, instead of our sacrifices being denomination-oriented and becoming in that way of a shallow nature. He hates rituals that have not the Spirit in them. He abhors cowardly people who will not stand for Him (Rev. 3:16).

Some Christians are still so bound by their church denomination that they go simply because their leaders say so, the church rules say so, or their neighbors will wonder why they werent there. Hes asking, Who told you to comeMe or someone else? I find it shocking and sad that in verse 10, He speaks of the rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah as giving sacrifices to Him. Obviously, He is not speaking of the Sodomites, the unbelievers and homosexuals, He is speaking to His church but calling them citizens of the sinful cities! Lot chose to live among these sinners as the only family worshiping the God of Abraham, and he nearly was annihilated with the Sodomites. This is the situation in which God sees His church today! We are living in the spiritual squalor of sinful Sodom and Gomorrah and doing nothing about it! As times goes on, it is inevitable that the poison and filth oozes into the church rituals, words, and sacrifices and makes them filthy in Gods eyes and ears. They sicken Him because He knows of the compromise and complacency that are mixed in! Notice that there werent even ten righteous, so apparently, He doesnt consider merely going to church, while compromising by closing ones eyes to sin as righteousness. This is something the church needs to ponder seriously !