Meaningless Worship Condemned

       
                                                               Sunday School Lesson                                       

Lesson: Isaiah 29:9-16                                                                                                 
Golden Text:   “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).

I.  INTRODUCTION.  Worship involves giving reverence to God in both thought and action to acknowledge His worth.Simply put, worship is giving worth to God.The essence of worship is the worshipper is totally absorbed in humble adoration of God.But one of the most puzzling aspects of worship is that this most meaningful activity can become meaningless.Obviously, meaningless worship is a spiritual problem stemming from wrong spiritual teachings, attitudes and behavior.  As we will see in this week’s lesson, the penalty for meaningless worship is not only that God will not meet us in our worship, but that He will also send spiritual blindness to those involved and even to their leaders.

II. SPIRITUAL DARKNESS OBSERVED (Isaiah 29:9-12).  Our printed text is part of the second of five “woes” or sorrows prophesied by Isaiah upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  The Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians about ten years earlier in 722 B.C. because of their disobedience.  Now Judah is in line to face the same judgment for being in spiritual darkness leading to their disobedience.  This second “woe” is directed to “Ariel” (see Isaiah 29:1) which was another name for Jerusalem.  It foretold a siege that would bring the city down (see Isaiah 29:2-4), but their enemies will not be successful (see Isaiah 29:5-8).  This appears to be a prophecy concerning Assyria (see Isaiah 37:33-38).  With Judah in this sinful condition, in our text Isaiah went on to speak of their spiritual darkness.

A. A divinely induced darkness (Isaiah 29:9-10). 
1. (vs. 9).  In this verse Isaiah directed the people to “Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.”  The phrase “Stay yourselves, and wonder” means that the people were to delay whatever they were doing and stand in astonishment.  “Cry ye out, and cry” literally means “blind yourselves and be blind.”  This was a reference to what Isaiah’s mission would be in Isaiah 6:9-10 which was to blind their eyes to spiritual truth.  In essence, since they had already refused God’s revelation, their inability to understand it would be their divine judgment.  Isaiah describes the people of Judah as “drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.”  Alcohol causes one not to be able to reason clearly, or to keep one’s balance. They were acting as if they were drunk and in a staggering stupor, but wine was not the cause.  These people were confused and off balance spiritually.  They had rejected God’s words for so long that they had nothing to help balance their thoughts.
2. (vs. 10).  Here Isaiah reveals the part God played in Judah’s spiritual dullness.  He said “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.”   The phrase “For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes” simply means that God had allowed the spiritual understanding of those who were determined not to receive His truths to become desensitized to it.  Jesus referred to this principle to explain why those in His generation rejected Him (see Matthew 13:12-15; John 12:37-40).  The apostle Paul also referred to this principle when speaking of the unbelief of the Jews (see Romans 11:7-10).  Note: What was happening spiritually to the people of Judah can be explained this way.  Just as calluses form through repeatedly using the hands, so the heart grows hard through repeated rejection of God’s Word.  He allows those who rebel to follow their own desires and the Holy Spirit’s appeals no longer affect them (see Mark 3:22-30; Romans 1:20-31). The Judean leaders were also included in those who were spiritually asleep.  Isaiah referred to them as “the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered (or blinded).”  Those who should have been the ones sharing spiritual truths and insight had also become blinded.  What a mess!  The “prophets” were spokespersons for God who received His revelation and told it to others.  “Seers” were very similar to prophets but with different emphasis.  The “seer” sees God’s message with his eyes through a vision or some supernatural insight.  As a result, a prophet could also be a seer and vice-versa.  The “rulers” were Judah’s political leaders, i.e. kings.  The point Isaiah was making was that those who should have been giving spiritual insights to the nation were themselves insensitive to divine revelation.  This was truly the blind leading the blind. 
B.  A widespread darkness (Isaiah 29:11-12). 
1.  (vs. 11).  To show that no one was exempt from spiritual blindness, Isaiah said “And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.”  The phrase “the vision of all” refers to the entire prophecy that Isaiah had brought to the people.  Everything that he had said regarding Judah’s disobedience, God’s coming judgment and even God’s promised blessings still remained to them “as the words of a book that is sealed.”  Isaiah likened his messages from God to a scroll whose seal had not yet been broken.  These messages were not literally sealed for they were open for all to hear and read.  However, the messages remained as incomprehensible to the Judeans as if they were still sealed.  This was the spiritual condition that God had given these rebels up to (see Matthew 11:25; 13:10-17; John 12:37-40).  Even the “learned” or literate Judeans couldn’t understand Isaiah’s prophecies.  He said that even if the prophecies were actually sealed, the “learned” person was like a man who when asked to read from the sealed scroll would reply “I cannot; for it is sealed.”  Since that person is “learned” or literate he can read, but in order to hide his spiritual blindness he claims that he doesn’t have the authority to break the seal and unroll the scroll to read it.  Even today, God denies the most learned person in the world access to the truths of the Holy Spirit if he does not have saving faith (see I Corinthians 1:18-24).  
2. (vs. 12).  In this verse Isaiah continued to discuss the spiritual blindness of the people.  He said “And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.”  In the previous verse, Isaiah said that God’s message was hidden from the learned men or those with understanding as if the message was a sealed book.  Here he says that when that same scroll or “the book is delivered to him that is not learned (or illiterate)” and he is asked to read it because the message is hidden from him, he replies that he can’t because “I am not learned” which   literally means “I don’t know books.”  Even if the seal was broken and the scroll was opened to the unlearned person, he would only see marks on a page because he can’t read.  This indicates that the spiritual ignorance of the people in Isaiah’s day included every class of people.  Whether they were learned or ignorant, rich or poor, powerful or powerless, they were all in spiritual darkness.         
III. SPIRITUAL DARKNESS EXPLAINED (Isaiah 29:13-16).  The rest of our text explains that the people of Judah could not blame anyone but themselves for their spiritual darkness.  Yes, God had given them over to it, but they brought it on themselves; it was really their choice not to understand and obey God’s Word.  In other words, if we don’t having saving faith, God will not allow us to understand the teachings of the Holy Spirit. The remaining verses present God’s indictment against the nation.
A.  A judgment on hypocrisy (Isaiah 29:13-14). 
1. (vs. 13).  In this verse, Isaiah tells the people that God’s indictment against them had to do with their meaningless worship.  He said “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.”  The nation of Judah was worshipping in blatant hypocrisy.  They honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. Their actions simply didn’t match their words.  In essence, they were only trying to fake God out by saying things in worship that they thought He wanted hear.  But this wasn’t new, even during the wilderness wanderings; the people were guilty of empty professions of faith and loyalty (see Psalms 78:36-37).  By the time Jeremiah prophesied, the people were using the temple like a good luck charm to protect them while they continued to practice wickedness (see Jeremiah 7:4-11).  The phrase “their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men” means that “their fear” or reverence for God that the people professed in worship was only for an outward show; it didn’t come from the heart.  It came from “precepts” or teachings of men.  In other words they were following advice regarding worship from men rather than from the Lord. The people were simply going through the motions of worship.  Note: Worship for Israel had become routine instead of real.  Jesus quoted this verse from Isaiah’s condemnation of Israel’s hypocrisy when He spoke to the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day (see Matthew 15:7-9; Mark 6:6-7).  The Pharisees had added numerous traditions to the Mosaic Law and in every generation wicked hearts come up with ways that seem to be religious but are actually far from God. We are all capable of hypocrisy.  We often slip into routine patterns when we worship and neglect to give God our love and devotion.  If we are to be the people of God, we must worship Him in sincerity and truth, because those are the ones who the Lord seeks to worship Him (see John 4:23-24).
2. (vs. 14).  Since the nation was giving God meaningless worship and were spiritually blind, God said “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”  The Lord said that He would do “a marvellous work among this people even a marvellous work and a wonder.”  Many times “marvelous works and wonders” were performed by God to bring blessings and deliverance (see Psalms 17:7; 98:1-3; Zechariah 8:4-6).  However, there are other times when God’s “marvelous works and wonders” include judgment (see I Samuel 3:11-13; Habakkuk 1:5-11).  Since the Judeans had been hypocritical, they would marvel at the judgment God would bring upon them.  We must remember that whatever God does, it’s always meant to restore His people to a right relationship with Him.  God said that this would be His judgment: “wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.”  The “wise” and “prudent” men were the political rulers, the prophets and the priests.  God’s judgment would be that their wisdom and understanding would be meaningless. 
B. A judgment on arrogance (Isaiah 29:15-16). 
1. (vs. 15).  Here the Lord continues to speak through Isaiah saying “Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?”  The people of Judah were so spiritually depraved that they made a concerted effort to hide their thoughts and who they trusted for help from the Lord.  We see how arrogant they were as they asked the questions “Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?”  This is probably a reference to what they thought were secret attempts to get help from Egypt thinking that the Assyrians would not know it.  They even assumed that God didn’t know their plans to seek help from Egypt instead of from Him.  This is what Isaiah meant when he said that they “seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord.”  Note:  Believe it or not, it is possible for sinful men to try to cover up their thoughts and actions in secrecy and deception for so long that they actually believe that they have hidden them from God.  Either they rule Him out, or they deceive themselves into thinking He doesn’t see.
2. (vs. 16).  Finally Isaiah says “Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?”  The attitude of the nation didn’t make sense to Isaiah.  To say that God does not know what someone is doing is turning the order of creation “upside down”or around.  The prophet said that this was like the potter and his clay.  Can the potter’s creation say to his creator “He made me not?”  Of course not!  Isaiah also asked does the “thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?”  Of course not!  This is like a created thing telling the one who created it that he didn’t have the know-how to create what he created (see Romans 9:20-21).  What incredible arrogance must be behind this kind of thinking and reversal of roles!

Conclusion.  Worship that is no more than just going through the motions will not only lose a sense of what is real; it will also lead to the point that God is not taken seriously.  Worship from the heart is what God wants.  When a person engages in ritual worship, his sense of heart relationship with God is soon lost.  People become more concerned with rules and routines.  A clear indication of ritual worship is that people have lost a sense of wonder and awe of God.  For sure, we look lost and confused to God when we engage in meaningless, heartless worship.