-Isaiah 1:17 “Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”

As we dig into Isaiah 1 the word hypocrisy came to mind as I read these verses. It wasn’t the use but the abuse of spiritual practices that brought such a strong reaction from God. The people were going through the motions of spiritual worship without a personal connection to the Lord and His laws. God called out the contradiction in their lives of uniting spiritual practices with unrepentant sin. In God’s words, they lifted their hands in prayer, but those same hands were “covered with blood” (Isa. 1:15, CSB). God invites His people into relationship, and He expects repentance and obedience to follow.

Isaiah is a book of the Bible written more than twenty-seven hundred years ago by a man who obeyed God’s call to be His prophet, God’s mouthpiece to His people. Isaiah spoke to his original audience regarding current events, but also prophesied happenings that have since been fulfilled, like the birth of the Messiah, and some that have yet to come to fruition as they speak of the future return of Christ.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. Isaiah 1:18

Not only feel sorrow for the sin committed but break off the practice. We must be doing, not stand idle. We must be doing the good the Lord our God requires. It is plain that the sacrifices of the law could not atone, even for outward national crimes. But, blessed be God, there is a Fountain opened, in which sinners of every age and rank may be cleansed. Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, a deep dye, a double dye, first in the wool of original corruption, and afterwards in the many threads of actual transgression; though we have often dipped into sin, by many backslidings; yet pardoning mercy will take out the stain, Ps 51:7. They should have all the happiness and comfort they could desire. Life and death, good and evil, are set before us. O Lord, incline all of us to live to thy glory. Bible Hub

Learn To do well

In Isaiah 1:17, we are told to ‘do justice’, to ‘do what is right,’ or ‘do what is fair’. The overriding message is to ensure that we are responding to injustice by living and acting justly. That is God’s heart and perspective on the matter. In addition to doing the right thing, we are to also love kindness and walk humbly with our God. Lack of kindness is at the root of injustice and pride is the opposite of humility. Without these behaviors, we will continue to see injustice in our world, and will fail to respond as the Lord did throughout Scripture. Let our perspective be in line with the Lord’s as we seek to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

Isaiah 1:16-17. Learn to do well -, To learn here is to become accustomed to, to practice it. To do well stands opposed to all kinds of evil. “Seek judgment.” The word “judgment” – משׁפט mishpâṭ – here means justice. The direction refers particularly to magistrates, and it is evident that the prophet had them particularly in his view in all this discourse. Execute justice between man and man with impartiality. The word “seek” – דרשׁוּ dı̂reshû – means to pursue, to search for, as an object to be gained; to regard, or care for it, as the main thing. Instead of seeking gain, and bribes, and public favor, they were to make it an object of intense interest to do justice. Bible Hub

If God had hope for the stubborn, rebellious people of Judah, we know there is hope for us as well! No matter how far we’ve sunk in our depravity and sin, God remains committed to us, and He invites us to turn from our sin and turn toward Him. Only with repentant hearts are we able to live as the people God created us to be—those who love Him and love others.

Both Isaiah’s name in Hebrew and Jesus’s name in Greek mean “Yahweh is salvation.” We never want to forget God’s power and authority, but we also don’t want to lose sight of His goodness to deliver us from sin.