"Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins." Isa 40:2The other we see here is a message bringing conviction of sin and fear of the impending judgment.
While Jesus brought a message of grace let's not forget that much of what he said was for the purpose of bringing conviction of sin. This was particularly the case in his interaction with the religious elite. One is reminded of Matthew chapter 23 in his "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!" and going on much as this chapter in Isaiah does to point out the hypocrisy of the "religious" service.
Now at the risk of being labeled an "antisemite" or "religious bigot" let me shout aloud some of the sins of the religious elite of today in obedience to the command God has given here. For there are many who are religiously zealous, who give the appearace of being eager to seek God and know his ways, but who in fact reject God.
Jews:
To the religious elite of his day Jesus said, "I
told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I
am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." John
8:24 and so also he says to them, "You belong
to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire.
He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there
is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he
is a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44 The hostility
of the Jews today towards Christ hasn't changed much considering for example
their unjustified reaction to the "Passion of the Christ" film. Their rejection
of Christ is a rejection of God. While they reckon themselves "special"
or "holy" in God's sight just because they're Jewish, Jesus says, "He
who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that
you do not belong to God." John 8:47 and "If
you were Abraham’s children, then you would do the things Abraham did."
John
8:39 While Jews today aren't generally violent people yet touch upon
their Jewishness or try to speak to them as Jesus had and you will experience
what Jesus experienced from them.
Muslims:
But we can thank the Muslims for providing the most obvious and contemptible
examples of religious hypocrisy today. For in the name of their god and
with religious zeal they have committed all kinds of acts of atrocity.
Even many of those "moderate" types join hands with the Islamic terrorists
by affirming and defending their unjustified acts of terrorism. When kindness
and generosity is done to them they react with murder. And they forbid
the gospel to be spread among them. They respond to it with hatred, murder
and mayhem. But what is most astounding about these savages, these liars,
these bloodthirsty murders is how religiously elite they seem to think
of themselves - how superior and special in their god's sight over everyone
else. Oh they fast and pray five times a day and go about their religious
duties as if righteous, but they are children of the devil, offspring of
serpents, and destined for eternal damnation if they don't turn to Christ.
Considering the Lord's particular contempt for religious hypocrites I think
today He would reckon the Muslims among the most contemptible.
Christians:
There were times in the past when the Christian community was characterized
with religious hypocrisy as the Muslims are today. The dark ages were rightly
named. Catholicism has had it's atrocities, but from which they've come
a long way presently. So also the Protestants have come a long way from
their own atrocities in the past where they would put people to death for
not agreeing with them in the matter infant baptism, for example. For with
religious zeal in the name of cleansing the church from "heresies" Christians
had been involved in lying, slander and murder. But while there are issues
in the Christian community today as I've pointed out in A
Critique of Modern Evangelicalism, I would not characterize Christians
today as zealously hypocritical as it speaks of here. In fact Christianity
today I would say has the opposite problem of being generally non-zealous.
Yes there are areas in which the Christian community comes off as zealous
- primarily concerning non-application oriented dogma concerning interpretations
of Genesis and Revelation, but in terms of actually living the Christian
life there's really not much zeal at all. The heresy of Free Grace Theology
with its treatment of the Lordship of Christ as merely optional has produce
a field of nominal "Christians", still slaves to sin, who have "prayed
the prayer" or "made the decision", but who live the Christian life apathetically.
They continue on in living a lifestyle of sin and they live for themselves
and for their own pleasures. But it is written that, "he
died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves
but for him who died for them and was raised again."2Cor 5:15
They may be among those whom Jesus says, "Not everyone
who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only
he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Mt 7:21
And
they may find themselves ending up with the Jewish and Muslim unbelievers.