O Come, O Come Emmanuel (Part 3)

In the last two articles, we have discussed the dark state of this world. The world is dark because of sin and its consequences, which have wrecked both mankind and his world. This is the problem, the root problem of all other problems.

You've probably heard the saying that the first step to finding a solution is admitting there is a problem. And that's true. But it's also true that merely knowing the problem does not always lead directly to a solution. Even when people agree on a problem, they do not always agree on a solution. There is no doubt that our world is in trouble--there is no question that mankind has a very real and very pressing problem. However, there are different ideas about how to solve that problem. Given that we live in darkness, what light should we seek? In these verses, we see what the people of Judah were doing to deal with the problem in their day:

(Isaiah 1:10-15) Hear 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. And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

The people of Judah were in the middle of a dark and desperate time, and they knew they were. And it seems that, in their desperation, they had sought for a solution. And, strange as this may sound, that solution involved God and God's law. In these few verses, we have reference to many different religious observances—sacrifices, burnt offerings, religious gatherings, and the list goes on. The people of Judah were seeking for help in the things of God; they were looking towards the Lord's temple. In short, their solution was Religion.

And you would think that would be a good thing. As we saw earlier in the chapter, the fundamental problem here was that the people were separated from God, so it should be good that they were taking care to strengthen their religious bonds. Many people today are still very interested in religious things—even people outside of the church. You will find people even in the world who want to talk about religion and the things of God. At Christmas time, especially, religious words and themes seem to permeate the world. And you would think that is a good thing.

And to some extent, it probably is. But it is not good enough. Religion, in and of itself, is not enough. Religion, on its own, cannot solve the problem of mankind. The flickering candles on the altar of religion are not bright enough to drive back the darkness of this world. This passage makes that fact clear and also clearly explains why this is the case.

Religion was man-centered rather than God-centered. In verse 11, God asks: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?” In other words, “What is the point of this?” It is a rhetorical question, meant to make the people consider their actions. And God goes on in the rest of the verse to answer the question—there was no point. “I delight not.” In theory, the people were offering these sacrifices to please God; but God was not impressed.

I think the Jews had this idea that somehow God needed their sacrifices. And often, I'm afraid we have this same idea—that God needs something from us, that God is somehow in need of our worship or obedience. But God needs nothing. And if He did need something, He wouldn't get it from us. “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.” (Psalm 50:10-12)

In verse 12 of our text, God asks: “Who hath required this at your hand?” In other words, “Who told you to do this?” This is really odd if you think about it because what they were doing—worshipping, offering sacrifices, and so on—had been commanded by God; these things were part of the law that God had given to Moses.

But I think that is the point. While in theory what the people were doing was obeying God, in reality, obedience to God was not the main thing driving them. They may have been offering sacrifices according to the law, but the rest of their life was directed by their own ideas and desires. Their whole life was based on a blueprint of their own devising. The fact that they had managed to work some of the things of God into that blueprint did not change the fact that it was their own plan and not God's. Several chapters later in Isaiah, God will speak this condemnation of the people: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.” (Isaiah 29:13) They had a religion, and it had some of the things of God in it, but it was a religion centered on man—in their own ideas, desires, plans, and precepts—and not on God. 

As I said before, we live in a world where many people like to talk about God and about religious things. As we approach Christmas, there will be churches across the country full of people. And that is good—but the truth is that for many people today, just as for the Jews of Isaiah's day, their religion is based around man rather than God. Many people are building their thoughts and lives around their own desires and plans or, sometimes, around the words of some other person, rather than around the things of God.

I remember hearing somewhere about a choir that was holding a special presentation at a church—and as part of the presentation, they were going to sing “Onward Christian Soldiers” and march in carrying a cross, just as the song describes. But, for some reason, they were unable to carry out the plan and had to leave the cross outside. And so they had to sing the chorus: “Onward, Christian soldiers,/Marching as to war./With the cross of Jesus/Standing at the door.” That is how many people treat the things of God—they want them somewhere, just not anywhere too important. They have room in their house for a manger scene, but there is no room in the manger scene for them. They are willing to put a star on the top of their tree, but they have no desire to follow the star as the wise men did.

And that connects to something else about man's religion: Religion substitutes knowledge for obedience. Remember that when Isaiah is writing these words, he isn't writing them to heathens—this isn't addressed to the Babylonians or Philistines, to people who had never heard God's words. These were written to the Jews, to the one people who had clearly received God's word. They knew who God is and what God requires. The very offerings and sacrifices they made testified to that. The Jews were people of the law, people who knew and preserved God's word. And yet they were not living according to God's word.

They may have been keeping up some of the religious rituals of God's law, but that was only one part of their life. The verses leading up to this already spoke of how the people had rebelled against God and had become sinful and corrupt. Verse 17 speaks of how they ought to have been living, and so, by implication, shows us who they were living—that they were living in oppression, injustice, selfishness, and complacency. They were not truly obeying God's law. This again repeats the idea of drawing near to God with their mouths but not their heart. They knew what God requires and seemed to think that was enough without actually obeying God.

This is something that the Jews still struggled with in the days of the New Testament. There were some who believed merely having and knowing the law was sufficient. But Paul reminded this was an error:  “For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision.” (Romans 2:25) The special priviledge of the Jews was that they knew the law, but that advantage was worse than useless for those who would not obey the law.

When the wise men came to Jerusalem, seeking the newborn king, the Jewish scribes knew the answer to their question—they knew that it was prophesied that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. And yet, we do not read that any of those scribes saw the baby Jesus as the wise men did. They had a knowledge of God's word, but they never acted on it, and so missed the chance to see God incarnate.

Merely knowing something is no replacement for obedience or actions. Knowledge is an important thing, but on its own, it accomplishes nothing. A degree in criminology, in itself, will not stop a single crime. A degree in medicine, in itself, will not cure a single disease. All the sermons in the world, even all the Bibles in the world, will not save a single soul. 

A religion that is centered on knowledge without obedience cannot solve man's problem, and that connects to the final point that mere religion cannot change or pardon the soul.

In verse 13, God refers to the Jews' offerings as “vain oblations.” Why were they called “vain”? Because they were accomplishing nothing. Religion, in and of itself, cannot actually change the nature of mankind. As the writer of Hebrews says: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.” (Hebrews 10:4) These religious offerings were supposed to point people to God. When taken as an end in themselves, they were empty and vain.

Look at how religious the people seem in these verses. And then we reach verse 15: “your hands are full of blood.” Despite their religion, they were living in violence and sin. In the New Testament, we find this pictured when the Jewish leaders arranged the false arrest and execution of Jesus—and then went on to observe the Passover. Religion, on its own, cannot change a person's nature. Merely going to church cannot make a sinner into a saint.

Christmas is a time when even worldly people talk about religion. But it doesn't change the way they live. If every person who had a manger scene lived according the teachings of the babe in the manger; if every person who owned a Bible live according to the teachings of the Bible, this world would be a very different place than it is.

The Jews of the Old Testament were used to dark situations. They had lived in turmoil and strife since almost the first instant of their national existence. But they had always had their faith in God to hold onto in the midst of the upheaval. If you talk to many people today, even outside of the church, they will tell you that they believe in God and that that faith helps keep them going in the middle of difficult times. The Jews were a religious people. And we in America are still, in many ways, a religious people.

And that is good in so far as it goes. There is some good in religious form and ritual. But that, in itself, isn't enough. In so far as our religion is based on our own ideas and fulfilled in our own strength, it cannot be the answer to the needs of mankind. Sticking Christian words or Christmas decorations around our house will not save us if the house is built upon the sand. If there is to be any hope for mankind, it has to come from some other source than mere religion.