Thoughts on Isaiah 56:9-12... by John W. Ritenbaugh
"All you beasts of the field, come to devour, All you beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind, They are all ignorant; They are all dumb dogs, They cannot bark; Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are greedy dogs Which never have enough.
And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. Come, one says, I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today,
And much more abundant."
And they are shepherds Who cannot understand; They all look to their own way, Every one for his own gain, From his own territory. Come, one says, I will bring wine, And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink; Tomorrow will be as today,
And much more abundant."
...and Jeremiah 6:9-13
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days. And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.
Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely.
"Thus says the LORD of hosts: They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel; As a grape-gatherer, put your hand back into the branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning,
That they may hear? Indeed their ear is uncircumcised, And they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the LORD is a reproach to them; They have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days. And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD.
Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them,
Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely.
Do these two prophecies describe America?
"Everyone is given to covetousness, greedy dogs which never have enough."
One is saying is that "the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever." An anonymous wit paralleled this, saying the U.S. motto should be, "The chief end of man is to glorify prosperity and enjoy it forever."
A European observer wrote that "desire is enthroned in the mind of the American consumer."
We are immersed in a constant barrage of advertisement and many of us shape our desires around what we are told we should have instead of around the will of the Lord for our lives.
Our whole economy works to stimulate our desire for food, clothing, automobiles, furniture, jewelry, and travel, filling our minds with the "gimmies." It is difficult to resist unless our focus is disciplined toward going in the right direction.
Because of these sins, God calls upon the nations to devour His people. The wise among us are just as blind to the nation's real needs because, instead of speaking out and acting upon moral issues, they, too, are often embroiled in their own lusts. While America sinks into the quicksand of this self-oriented way of life, they proclaim an even better and brighter tomorrow!
Another reason why coveting has the power to destroy the coveter is revealed in the credit purchasing system that dominates the American economy. Buying on credit is based upon the idea of possessing something before one can afford it. Advertising usually accompanies credit, and the two of them together seductively lure the unwary and weak. Yet because of the charges collected by the lender, credit actually makes things even more expensive, causing greater debt!
But, God asks in Jeremiah 6:9-13, who will listen? They do not listen because their minds are on their desire for more consumption. The cycle continues onto every desire their covetousness motivates.
As a nation, we are living way over our heads and because of this we will have to learn to pay in adversity. When covetousness will have boomeranged and caught us in a way we never dreamed we will find ourselves with a debt beyond our ability to pay.
This parallels our spiritual condition, for in the spiritual realm, we owe a debt we cannot pay, but unlike the temporal debt our nation has incurred, this spiritual debt has been paid in full!
If we will accept the free gift Jesus holds out to us, our spiritual debt can be washed away in the shed blood of Calvary.
We can be set free to live and reign with the Christ who died to transform us from eternal debtors to co-heirs with Him of His glorious Kingdom.
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