Old Testament: Isa 1.21–23

To read the Bible in a year, read Isaiah 1–3 on September 24, In the year of our Lord Christ 2023

By Don Ruhl 

While the rest of the earth worshiped false and dead gods, the city of Jerusalem stood out as the God-loyal city of the earth. 

However, something happened. The city changed. It changed so much, that it became the opposite of what it once was: “ How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them” (Isaiah 1.21–23). 

How do things like that happen? It happens with individual churches also. You might find a congregation that at one time, stood for truth and righteousness, but decades later, it does not resemble its old self. 

The people loved the world and they did not like the things that God said or required, but they found the world pleasurable, and brought those things into something that was formerly a righteous thing. 

Questions: 

• Are you personally still faithful to the Lord? 
• Have you prayed to God about the temptations of the world that you might not give in to them? 

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Don preaches with the Savage Street Church of Christ in Grants Pass, Oregon. 

Listen to his sermons here: GrantsPassChurchOfChrist.com