Isaiah 42

“BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM JUDGE”
In Isaiah 41, God was saying, “Be still and know that I am God.” In Isaiah 42, God is saying in so many words, “Be still and know that I am the judge of the world.”
Read Isaiah 42:1. Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
4 He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.
Three times in these four verses Isaiah talks about God sending forth One to bring judgment to the Gentiles. He will judge by the tender of His life and the truth according to His Word.
The word for judgment is often identified with a final verdict of condemnation, or a sentenced passed upon one who is guilty.
However, the word for judgment means to “hear and determine, forming an opinion.” It is the process of gathering fact and information, then examination, and the presentation of truth.
To understand God, one must know that He is the creator of the universe, which is an awesome thought. God, (Elohim) created this world out of nothing.
He is not only the creator but He is the “Holy One,” which means He is a cut above. The purest, most innocent, most moral and righteousness person in this world is still described by Isaiah as “filthy rags” compared to the holiness of God.
God can not be approached by man. He cannot be convinced to declared any other verdict to mankind but guilty.
As the judge of the world, the Lord has declared, “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” He has declared “all the world is guilty before Him.”
The world must know that God is also the judge of His creation. Every human being, every cherub, every angel, every principality and power created by the hand of God will be judged by Him.
God created man and man sinned and sinned and sinned. God did everything humanly and divinely possible to bring man back to Him. And He will judge man by the choices man makes in life.
Some people live a life trying to believe, this world is all there is. They say, so live it to the fullest and do anything and everything you please. This is ignorance.
Some religious people live this life thinking, “I have a key to sin, I will do as I please. They have no idea the dire consequences that await them.
That is why God reveals that He will judge every man’s sin. Paul writes in Romans 2:16 that, “… God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.”
God wants man to fear that judgment, so man will abstain from sin. The understanding of His holiness and the fear of God’s judgment keeps man from sinning. Whereas, the love a person has for God, gives a person the desire to serve Him.
Let me give you a few ideas of God’s judgment.
1) A great judgment took place on a hill called Calvary 2,000 years ago. Second Corinthians 5: 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God placed every sin that every man would ever commit on His Son. Jesus paid for the sins of the world on Calvary through his suffering and death, and thus satisfied the Holy Father.
The sins of the world were paid for on Calvary. Every true believer will never taste of the judgment of death and hell, for God’s judgment fell on His Son.

When the pioneers were making their way across one of the central states moving west to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading, many obstacles stood in their way.
They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress at a very slow speed. One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, in front of them. It was a prairie fire.
Soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before, but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them.
One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon the burnt ground.
As the flames roared towards them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, “Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?”
The leader replied, “My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing where the fire has already been!”
What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ! For in Christ the judgment fires of God already fell.
We who stand with Christ are safe for we are standing where the fires have already been.

On Christ, Almighty vengeance fell, which would have sunk a world into hell.
Jesus bore our sins for a chosen race, and thus He becomes our Hiding Place.

2) There is personal judgment of sin. There are consequences for personal sin. First Corinthians 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
Calvary took care of man’s eternal destination, which is for all who have put their faith in Jesus Christ.
But, daily, personal judgment is needed if we are to escape daily judgment.
A - Judgment fell on Korah in Numbers 16, when he murmured against Moses. The earth opened up and swallowed him and those who followed him into hell. The ground opened up and 250 people dropped into hell.
The people did not fear God. They did not behold His holiness. Rather than becoming fearful of god and repenting of their gossip and murmuring, they complained about the death of Korah and murmured against Moses.
God started a plague in the midst of Israel and people began to die like flies. Before Moses and Aaron could pray and make an atonement for the people’s sins 14,700 more people died.
B - King David loved God greatly, but he got his eyes off God and got them on a woman. Judgment fell on King David when he sinned and tried to hide that sin. That sword never left David’s house till the day he died.

With all of that in mind, Isaiah wants Israel and to know that God is Gracious in his judgment, but God is not passive.
He will judge reckless living whether it is from the wicked world or from His wayward children.

C - Israel and Judah was God’s people that were to be the head of the nations. They forfeited that privilege; because of the life of sin they lived. They lost their position in life and they lost their power with God and became a nation scattered across the earth.
D - In Revelation 2 and 3 Jesus warned the Church that it too could lose its light, its influences, its witness and its power if sin was not confessed and repented of and if His people did not live righteously.
E – In a book entitled Down to Earth, John Lawrence tells the story of a city that dared God to show Himself and paid a terrible price. It seems that the city of Messina, Sicily, was home to many wicked, irreligious people.
On December 25, 1908, a newspaper published in Messina printed a satire against God, daring Him to make Himself known by sending an earthquake.
In the Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 9, printed in 2007, it is revealed that three days later, on December 28, 1908 the city and its surrounding district was devastated by a terrible quake that killed 84,000 people.
The Geophysical Research Abstract report states, “The 1908 Messina earthquake (M=7.2) is one of the strongest historical seismic events that ever occurred in Italy. It included a tsunami that killed many.

E - Charles Swindoll in The Quest For Character, gives the following story.
I read this past week of a couple (let’s call them Carl and Clara) whose twenty-five year marriage was a good one. Not the most pleasant marriage, but good. They had three grown children who loved them dearly. They were also blessed with sufficient financial security to allow them room to dream about a lakeside retirement home. They began looking.
A widower we’ll call Ben was selling his place. They liked it a lot and returned home to talk and plan. Months passed. Last fall, right out of the blue, Clara told Carl she wanted a divorce.
He went numb. After all these years, why? And how could she deceive him ... how could she have been nursing such a scheme while they were looking at a retirement home?
She said she hadn’t been. Actually, this was a recent decision now that she had found another man. Who?
Clara admitted it was Ben, the owner of the lake house, whom she inadvertently ran into several weeks after they had discussed the sale. They’d begun seeing each other. Since they were now “in love,” there was no turning back. Not even the kids, who hated the idea, could dissuade their mother.
On the day she was to leave, Carl walked through the kitchen toward the garage. Realizing she would be gone when he returned, he hesitated, “Well, hon, I guess this is the last time—” His voice dissolved as he broke into sobs. She felt uneasy, hurriedly got her things together, and drove north to join Ben.
Less than two weeks after she moved in with Ben, her new lover, he was seized with a heart attack. He lingered a few hours...and then died.

3) There will be a judgment for the believers at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
This judgment will take place in heaven prior to our return to earth for the 1,000 year millennium. There we will receive rewards and positions to reign with Christ during the Millennium or we will receive nothing at all.
This is the judgment for how we as believers lived for the Lord while on earth. If we were faithful, loving, seeking servants of God there will be many rewards.
If we were slothful, disobedient and stubborn there will be few.
Remember Paul’s words in Hebrews 12:1-2, 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Who is our Judge?
It was the woman 10 miles walk event of the Olympic Game. The Chinese woman was leading the other athletes coming into the last phase of the competition. She had been training hard for the last few years. The distance that she covered in training was enough to go round the globe a few times.
A gold medal was in view. While she was entering the stadium, she noticed that another athlete was coming from behind, in a very fast pace. She wanted to go faster to avoid being over taken but was unable to do so without having both her feet leaving the ground.
By the definition of the game, having both feet leaving the ground at the same time is considered as running, which is against the rule. Anyone who violated this rule for three times will be disqualified. She remembered that she had violated this rule twice in the past nine over miles. She was tempted but persisted in keeping her feet down.
She saw the other athlete over took her. A gold turned silver. A short while later, another athlete came from behind. Similarly, unable to go any faster, she saw this other athlete over took her. A silver turned bronze.
The first athlete past the finished line and the crowd roar. The second athlete past the finished line there was a big applause. The Chinese athlete finished third with much disappointment. All these years of hard work only to end with a bronze medal.
When the official of the game announced the winner, to everyone's surprise, the gold medal went to the Chinese athlete because the two athletes before her had violated the rule of against running in a walk event.
Who is our judge in life? Who set the rules of our lives? Others may be receiving the applause of the world, but should we admire the applause of the world?
Shouldn't we Christians follow the laws of our loving God, which are given for our best, for it is He who will be our final judge.

4) There is yet future the Great White Throne Judgment. This is where the dead of the ages that are in hell, will be resurrected to be judged one day. Their judgment will determine their eternal damnation. It will not be a chance to escape eternal damnation, but this judgment will determine the degrees of judgment passed upon man.
Ezekiel 7:8-9
“He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy” (Prov. 29:1).
The following incident is vouched for by a Church of England clergyman who knew all the circumstances.
A young woman, who had been brought up in a Christian home and who had often had very serious convictions in regard to the importance of coming to Christ, chose instead to take the way of the world. Much against the wishes of her godly mother, she insisted on keeping company with a wild, hilarious crowd, who lived only for the passing moment and tried to forget the things of eternity. Again and again she was pleaded with to turn to Christ, but she persistently refused to heed the admonitions addressed to her.
Finally, she was taken with a very serious illness. All that medical science could do for her was done in order to bring about her recovery, but it soon became evident that the case was hopeless and death was staring her in the face. Still she was hard and obdurate when urged to turn to God in repentance and take the lost sinner’s place and trust the lost sinner’s Saviour.
One night she awoke suddenly out of a sound sleep, a frightened look in her eyes, and asked excitedly, “Mother, what is Ezekiel 7:8 and 9?”
Her mother said, “What do you mean, my dear?”
She replied that she had had a most vivid dream. She thought there was a Presence in the room, who very solemnly said to her, “Read Ezekiel 7:8-9.”
Not recalling the verses in question, the mother reached for a Bible. As she opened it, her heart sank as she saw the words, but she read them aloud to the dying girl:
“Now I will shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee: and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations. And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth.”
The poor sufferer, with a look of horror on her face, sank back on the pillow, utterly exhausted, and in a few moments she was in eternity. Once more it had been demonstrated that grace rejected brings judgment at last.
Illustrations of Bible Truth by H. A. Ironside, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 31-32

5) There are also daily judgments that fall on mankind.
In Exodus 12:12, God wrote “…I will execute judgment: I am the LORD.” It was time for judgment to fall on Egypt. They had lived to long without God. They had rejected God’s signs and wonders. Now judgment would fall. That night the death angel of God moved throughout Egypt and the first born child of every household died, where a lamb had not been slain and the blood publicly displayed.
Some of daily judgments are world wide such as the Flood, when every man and creature on the earth died except for those on the Ark. Why did God send that flood? The Bible says, “Because of the wicked imaginations of man’s heart.”
Some of God’s judgments fell on nations, towns, and individuals for their evil living. Some of the judgments were plagues that wiped out whole villages. Some of the judgments came in form of pestilence, diseases, war and natural disasters. This happened to Israel and Judah many times.
Judgment by Earthquake
January 17, 1994 a earthquake hit Southern California that cost a record $20 billion dollars.
California’s $3-billion-a-year pornographic movie industry is viewing the earthquake as God’s personal destruction of American’s most wicked city, some porn producers say.
The quake was centered in the cities of Northridge, Shatsworth, and Canoga Park, which are home to nearly all of the U.S. soft-and hard-port video industry.
Every one of the primary porn studies and distributors, a total of around 70, suffered damage.
The headquarters of the largest, VCA Pictures, collapsed, destroying equipment and mast copies of several films. At least for that moment, high-level porn studio executives and models were edgy.
An executive at World Modeling, a San Fernando Valley agency supplying actors to the porn industry, says clients are backing away from X-rated acting as a result of the cataclysm.
“Our clients have a definite lack of motivation,” says the agent for porn actors, who requested anonymity. “It’s put the fear of God in them. I’m telling you, it’s enough to give you an attack of religion.”
“Can you imagine how the fundamentalists are going to leap on this when the smoke clears?” says a porn film director who works for many Northridge studios and asked not to be identified. “They’ll say it’s God’s retribution.”
“It seems as though the earthquake forced these people to get honest,” says Jack Hayford, pastor of Church on the Way in Van Nuys. “It has stirred many to the deepest points of introspection, and if just one of them is turned away from the filth they’re involved in, it is a major victory.”
Hayford, along with Hollywood Presbyterian Church pastor Lloyd Ogilvie, and Los Angeles Archdiocese Cardinal Roger Mahony has sent a letter of protest against the Valley-based porn industry to the California legislature, asking lawmakers to draft a bill eliminating its most notorious offshoot, child pornography.
By Perucci Ferraiuolo, Christianity Today, March 7, 1994, p. 57

Looking For Loopholes
Just before the death of actor W. C. Fields, a friend visited Fields’ hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. Asked what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, “I’m looking for loopholes.”
There are no loopholes! The person who has rejected Christ Jesus as savior will spend eternity in hell, burning forever.
The Christians who loves and lives a dedicated life to Christ will receive great rewards in the Millennium and eternity.
The believer who lives a half-hearted lost will suffer great loss. Paul said, “He will be saved yet as by fire.”
I – GOD’S GRACIOUS JUDGMENT 1-7
Isaiah 42:1 Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.
In verse one God says, “Behold.” That is the trumpet sound that calls soldiers to attention. It is a strong word that means, stop, look and listen to what I am about to reveal to you.
What God reveals is that He is going to send His, servant, His Son, Jesus Christ, who will bring judgment to the Gentiles.
Matthew 12:18 says almost the exact words of Isaiah 42:1. Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles.
Had the Jews known the Scriptures they would have known that Jesus was the Christ, prophesied by Isaiah.
The Lord reveals to the Jews that one day He will reveal to the Gentile, what He had revealed to the Jews for hundreds of years. Look at Isaiah 42:3, “…he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.”
Jesus said, “I am the truth” (John 14:6). He said, “Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free” (John 8:32).
What is the truth that man must know to be free?
1) Every individual must realizes that he or she is a sinner. That person must admit their guilt. That person must realize the consequences of their sin will banish them in hell for eternity.
2) Then a person must understand Calvary. A peson must see God’s love, His mercy, His grace as He gave His Son to pay for the sins of the world. With the realization of one’s lost condition and the understanding of God’s love, under the conviction of God’s Spirit that person must repent and commit his or her life to Jesus Christ.
3) At conversion, a new love and desire will fill that person’s heart. His life will change and every thing will seem different when Jesus sits on the throne of one’s heart.

Those who will escape the judgment of death and hell are those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah and Savior of this world.
The reason I share this with you is because Isaiah told the Jews that Jesus Christ, the Messiah would bring light to the Gentiles and that very truth caused most of the Jews to turn away from Christ rather than accept Him.
What percentage of the world today has their faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to heaven?
If you counted every person that says, they believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, it would include less 25%, and I am being very liberal with that figure.
A Jew doesn’t go to heaven because he or she is Jewish, nor does a protestant. It doesn’t matter the denomination tag one holds. No one goes to heaven because they are protestant, or Catholic. A person must have placed their trust and faith in Jesus Christ.
That is why verse four reveals that God will set or bring judgment to all the earth.
Isaiah then reminds us of God’s graciousness and goodness and greatness. 5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
God is saying, I gave you this universe as a gift to you. I have fed you and I have taken care of you. I gave you the patriarchs and the priests and the prophets and the promises and prophecies so you could see clearly who I am. I even sent my spirit to lead you. What else can I do to show you my love?

What else did God do? He told them His Son would be holy and righteous and a light to the Gentiles again. 6 I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Illustration: The nation of Nineveh was a evil nation. They warred against God’s people again and again. Jonah, God’s prophet, was commanded by God to go to Nineveh and preach that judgment was coming. The whole nation humbled their hearts and fasted and wept and prayed and God spared their lives.
Jesus Christ came to bring light to the Gentiles. He came to open blinded eyes and set the captive free. Read verse 7. 7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
When Jesus came into the world, he opened the way to all the earth to heaven. He came to open blinded eyes and release those imprisoned to their sins, and to set the captive free.
God’s gracious judgment extends to the entire world.
Grace is a gift freely given to man. It is a gift that one could never repay in their lifetime. Jesus was God’s gift of grace to mankind. Jesus paid a debt of sin for us; we could never pay back in a billion years.
Isaiah was trying to say, what Paul made so clear in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast.”
Now Isaiah changes his theme from God’s gracious judgment to God’s governing judgment.

II – GOD’S GOVERNING JUDGMENT 8-17
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
IMAGE OF GOD
Why does God reveal this verse to His people? God’s people were guilty of idolatry. They set up idols and bowed to them but worse they had a graven image of God in their minds. They thought incorrectly of who God was. To them, He was no longer holy. He was no longer just. He was no longer their judge.
God does not share his glory with anyone. There is one true God. His name is Jehovah. His Son is Jesus Christ. His Spirit works in hearts today. Those three are one.
Illustration: After 9-11 a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic Priest and a Muslim clergy sat on the same platform, trying to present a picture of peace to this world. Not one of them knew the true God.
A Jewish Rabbi denies that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. The Muslim Cleric denies Jehovah and Jesus Christ. He believes all are infidels accept Muslims.
And the Catholic Priest, if He was a man of God and if he truly believed that Jesus Christ was the only way to heaven would not be sitting on the same platform with idol worshippers.
Illustration: I say this sadly, the church movement in America that is using worldly methods to bring in the youth, is not godly. It is not holy. It does not practice righteousness. It caters to man’s flesh and not man’s spirit.
It is bringing in kids to worship a graven image of God, just as Israel was doing. Many kids think of God as a loving, good O’ Joe who lets anything go.
They think of a god that allows everybody to heaven that prays a prayer and they can live just about anyway they want to. They have no idea that a person must repent in order to be saved.
Kids think that they can pray a prayer and they become believers and they continue to live in fornication and drunkenness and in rebellion. That is a false image of God.
Whenever a person comes to Christ, there is a new life. There is a conviction. There is a conversion. There is a commitment. There is a change. A person has a new desire, a new love for the things of God. If it isn’t real, if it isn’t spiritual, the emotional movement will soon pass and they will revert to their own ways again.
Isaiah moves from the image of God (v 8) to the ideas of the Millennium. (9-17)
IDEAS OF THE MILLENNIUM 9-17
God’s declaration is to praise Him (10-12).
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. This is a picture of what will happen during the millennium. But, this is a picture of what should be taking place today in the hearts of God’s children. We should sing to Him. We should praise Him (10).

11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. We should lift up our voices and shout from the mountain top or tell the world of the greatest of our Lord (11).

12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands. The whole world will praise Him.
Isaiah now turns his attention to what Israel was doing now. He declares judgment on Israel (13-17). Why?
Look at verse 17. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods.
The judgment that God reveals in verse 13-16 is declared because Israel had a graven image of God. Israel was caught up in narcissism. They lived for self. They were proud. Their life style was more important than God’s will for them.
Paul said the same thing in Second Timothy 3:2-4. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
The lost world needs to hear truth. The Hindu people are said to bow to 300 million different gods. That is a very sad story. In America many worship sports, money, drugs, pleasure, TV programs, and many other gods, that no one wants to call a god.

III GOD’S GRIEVOUS JUDGMENTS 18-25
I gave the title to the last few verses as grievous or dreadful. Why? Read and you will see:
18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant?
God’s servants were blind. God’s prophets were deaf. God’s people could not spiritually see or understand what God was saying or doing because they were so far from Him.
Let me give you a few examples. I preach today that a person must be convicted by the Holy Spirit to be saved. I preach a person must, when convicted, repent and then believe or commit their lives to Jesus Christ. True conversion brings a change in a person life. That change is a desire for the word of God and the things of God. Those things are righteous and pure and virtuous things. Some folks hear those words but they go on living in sin day after day after day. Why? Having ears they hear not and having eyes they see not.
Their sins have literally blinded their eyes and minds to the truths of God’s word.
Now, read verse 20 and see the sadness of it: 20 Seeing many things, but thou observest not; opening the ears, but he heareth not.
A person with a molten image of God, hears preaching but they never change. They never seem to get any closer to God. They have decided that God can only have so much of their life and that is that. Like a person going to the grocery store, they say, “I will have a pound of sugar and no more, many say, I will have a pound of God and no more.”
Isaiah gives a word of encouragement to the righteous in verse 21.
21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable.
Then he turns his attention back to the majority of the Hebrew people in the last few verses. Notice what he says:
22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.
Do you understand that verse? Satan had robbed them of God’s blessings. They have become filled with the spoils or pleasures of the world. They were trapped in holes of pleasure so deep they could not get out. They were prisoners in their own houses, yea prisoners to sin.
Stop and think! They were blind, deft, trapped by Satan and spoiled with the sins of the world. The reason there was none to deliver them was because they did not want deliverance. They enjoyed living right where they were.
And that is why most people live where they live. They don’t see the gracious judgments of God. They don’t understand the governing judgment of God. Most people think that the economy and morality of the world is just by chance. They have no idea that God will dictate the outcome of a nation by the moral living of the people. And finally, the grievous judgments of God fell on Israel and the reason America is on a downward slope is because we have as a nation forgotten God.

Now, even though the people just don’t seem to care about spiritual things, the prophet still sends out a plea. Look at verse 23. 23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
Then Isaiah reveals something shocking. He reveals something that many liberal religions don’t believe or preach. Look at verse 24 and 25: 24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25 Therefore he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it hath set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart.
God gave victory to Israel’s enemies. God allow His own people to be robbed and they did not even know what was going on.
When the natural disasters came such as famine and pestilences, the tornadoes and fires, the wars and internal turmoil with their nation, they thought it was just by chance. No! The God of heaven can giver harmony to a nation, a home and a church and the God of heaven can turn it upside down.