Jump Start # 650

Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”

Our passage is taken from a series of several woes that God speaks upon Israel. The nation was a mess. Righteousness had been discarded and God had been replaced with idol worship. The idol brought to the nation a visible, tangible and manufactured god which was more to their liking. Jehovah was invisible. The idol stood before their eyes. The process of making this exchange, as it always does, included tossing out God’s word and substituting their own ways.

The woes found in our verse today are very revealing. They sound as if they were written just yesterday. Modern times are not so modern when we look at this verse. It shows that people had things twisted and backwards. They did not know what was right nor wrong. Things are no different today. To stand where God stands today is to be considered offensive and not accepting. The pleas to accept abortion, homosexuality and immorality as normal lifestyles is nothing more than calling evil good. There is no way around this. It has gotten so bad that liberal theology has made very loose interpretations of Scriptures and blasphemous claims about Christ. Why? Did good solid Bible study lead to these conclusions? Of course not. No way. It came from wanting to justify an immoral agenda that the Bible condemns. Rather than change the people, they want to change the messenge. In the process of all of this, they aggressively denounce anyone that does not accept their thinking.

Indeed some things never change. It was tough in Isaiah’s days and it’s tough in our days. Calling evil good does not make it good. Voting on legislation to make evil an acceptable law does not make it good. God is the one who defines what is good and what is evil. That cannot be changed.

The underling problem in Isaiah’s day, as it is today, is a lack of belief in the God of Heaven. Folks may be religious but they do not believe in the God of the Bible. If they did, they would understand that He has all authority and no one can change what He says. NO ONE. Churches that waste time voting on by laws, amending rules and having delegates and committees about the regulations and rules of the church simply don’t get it. None of that is necessary. None of that can be. God has ruled. God has stated. There is no changing, improving, or updating what God has said.

It seems that those who want to make evil good out number God’s people. They seem very vocal and pushy. They have little respect for anyone that objects. God’s people must stand their ground. They must stand with God. They must refuse to call evil good. Evil is not good. Evil is of the devil. Evil hurts, divides and enslaves man to all kinds of problems. Freedom is in Christ. It is in Christ that we have hope, future, and forgiveness. There comes a time when the people of God must be heard. This is not a call to be rude, mean, offensive nor violent. Never. Remaining silent can seem to be acceptaning, going along, or being a coward. The three Jewish boys in Daniel three refused to bow to the king and the nation. They faced serious consequences, but they would not go along.

Modern times have developed nice and pleasant terms for sin. Alternative lifestyle is like a menu item at a restaurant. It’s not. It’s calling evil good. God calls homosexuality unnatural, indecent, sinful yet forgivable. It is a behavioral problem that can be stopped and repented of. The Corinthians show that. They somehow did it without exit groups, intense counseling, or a ton of books on the subject. They had the Gospel and the desire to be right with God. It’s not the same as eye color or height. You can tell a tall guy to stop being so tall, but he can’t do anything about it. Homosexuality is not like that. Don’t buy the hype that a person can’t help it. The next natural argument is that a child molester can’t help it. Society already accepts that a drunk can’t help it. Can a thief help it? Can any sinner help it? Are we being pulled into the gospel of calling evil good? First, evil is tolerated. Next, it is accepted. Then it is called good. Finally, it replaces what is truly good. It’s happening right before our eyes. Do you see it?

Sin, any sin, can be stopped. It can be forgiven. A person can live a righteous life. God wants that.

The one part of our verse today that we have not mentioned is how it begins: Woe to those…God is warning those who are trying to make evil good that they are in trouble. Woes are not a good thing. When God says “Woe,” look out. God didn’t like it then and He doesn’t like it today. It is wrong to call evil good. What God has declared to be sinful is sinful.

There are layers of powerful lessons all connected here—the most important one is about God. There are some things that are just plain wrong because God said so. Doing them makes me wrong. I can be right, but I must stop doing what God calls wrong.

It’s simply, that simple.

Roger