Was Isaiah peering through the mists of history to read from our modern headlines? No, the truth is even more chilling – that throughout history, godly societies tend, over time, to become less godly. Why is that?
Well, people who are grateful to God for their salvation also tend to follow God’s law of love for Him and for others. That means that they tend to live honest, sober, hard-working lives of selfless service. Groups of such people generally find it easy to trust one another, and thus to inaugurate business ventures that are productive, as well as to construct societies marked by peace. Moreover, godly people tend to make godly laws for themselves, and they tend to follow those laws, contributing to greater social stability and justice.
No, it’s no wonder that societies that have experienced revivals of religion tend to prosper in other ways as well – that was certainly true of northwest Europe after the Protestant Reformation and the United States after the First and Second Great Awakenings. The same thing was true of the generation that built the Temple in Jerusalem – in Solomon’s days, Israel was at the peak of its wealth and power.
But that’s where the problem comes in. For it’s all too easy for succeeding generations to focus on the side-effects of religion, the by-products of faith rather than on the faith itself. Solomon’s kingdom did not survive him, with the northern kingdom of Israel declaring its independence from his son Rehoboam, and soon thereafter establishing its own places of worship. By Isaiah’s time, the Israelites had gone down the slippery slope from worshipping the true God in wrong ways to worshipping all sorts of false gods. Indeed, they had gone so far as to reverse Biblical notions of right and wrong, calling evil things good and good things evil (Isaiah 5:20).
Are we Americans so very different? The last nationwide revival in the United States swept through the armies that fought the Civil War. Over the succeeding century, the culture declined from faith to idealism to moralism, maintaining the institutions built by Christians, even as their purpose was gradually abandoned. More recently we have embraced all sorts of immorality – perhaps seen most clearly in the murder of 60 million unborn Americans in the name of sexual freedom. Many people now even reject the concepts of right and wrong, asserting instead that whatever they feel is true must be good. Surely, Isaiah’s warnings apply to us as much as they did to the Ancient Israelites.
Writing in 1702, Cotton Mather observed the declining state of religion in New England before the First Great Awakening and said, “Religion brought forth Prosperity, and the daughter destroyed the mother.” Will the same thing be said of our generation? Or will we heed listen to Isaiah, and turn from our pride and wealth back to God?
Isaiah 5:18-24 (NASB)
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes;
19 Who say, “Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it; And let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near And come to pass, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And clever in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, And valiant men in mixing strong drink;
23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!
24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble, And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
