The book of Isaiah opens during a tumultuous period in Judah's history, spanning the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Despite experiencing periods of prosperity and military success, the nation has fallen into deep spiritual corruption and social injustice. The people maintain their religious rituals and temple worship but have abandoned genuine devotion to God, oppressing the poor and vulnerable while trusting in political alliances rather than divine protection. God has sent prophets to warn them, but they have persistently refused to listen or repent. Their rebellion has already brought consequences through military defeats and foreign invasions that have devastated their land, yet they remain spiritually insensitive to God's discipline. The Lord now calls Isaiah to deliver a message of indictment against His covenant people. The Lord is addressing the nation of Judah through the prophet Isaiah.
[2] Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
[3] The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s crib;
But Israel does not know,
My people do not consider.”
[4] Alas, sinful nation,
A people laden with iniquity,
A brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.
[5] Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
[6] From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.
[7] Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
[8] So the daughter of Zion is left as a booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
As a besieged city.
[9] Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.
[10] Hear the word of the Lord,
You rulers of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
[11] “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.
[12] “When you come to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
[13] Bring no more futile sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
[14] Your New Moons and your appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
[15] When you spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
Paul has been explaining that believers have died to sin and been united with Christ through baptism, just as Christ died and was raised. He established that sin no longer has dominion over Christians because they are not under law but under grace. Christians have been freed from slavery to sin and transferred into a new relationship with God. Paul argued that this freedom from sin's mastery does not mean believers should continue sinning, since they have experienced a fundamental transformation in their identity and allegiance. The apostle emphasized that just as Christ's resurrection brought new life, believers too walk in newness of life, having been crucified with Christ to break sin's power over them.
[12] Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. [13] And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. [14] For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
[15] What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! [16] Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? [17] But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. [18] And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. [19] I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.
[20] For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. [21] What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. [22] But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. [23] For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
During Jesus's ministry in Galilee, He has been performing miracles, teaching with authority, and attracting large crowds while facing increasing opposition from the Pharisees and religious leaders. The religious authorities have begun questioning His authority to forgive sins and criticizing His association with tax collectors and sinners. They have also challenged Him about why His disciples do not fast like the Pharisees and John the Baptist's disciples do. Jesus has been demonstrating His power over disease, demons, and nature, while also emphasizing mercy and compassion over rigid adherence to religious traditions. The tension between Jesus and the Pharisees continues to escalate as they scrutinize His actions and teachings, particularly regarding Sabbath observance and ceremonial laws.
[1] At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. [2] And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!”
[3] But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: [4] how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? [5] Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? [6] Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. [7] But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. [8] For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”