Bad News - Good News - Isaiah 1-6

Isaiah 1:10-18 (ESV)
THE BAD NEWS:

10 Hear the word of the LORD,

you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.

16 Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,

THE GOOD NEWS

17 learn to do good;
seek justice,
correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless,
plead the widow's cause.
18 “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.

If you have ever seen a beautiful lilly pad in the middle of a dirty swam you would be able to understand the book of Isaiah.   God sent the prophet to proclaim His good news to the kings of Judah, the southern tribe of Israel, (Isaiah 1:1) and to the people of Judah, in the backdrop of their rebellion.  The above passage is a good summary of the entire book.   God was so tired of their pathetic offerings and worship that He commanded them to STOP brining them before Him.  Imagine in our church services today, if right in the middle of the worship, someone stood up and just yelled, “STOP!”   Imagine that this person, this prophet, suddenly began to tell us that God was no longer pleased with our worship and just wanted us to stop it.   Put this in the context of a wife who’s husband continues to buy her flowers and gifts, while at the same time she well knows he is sleeping with other women ... and he knows she knows.   This is what Judah (Israel) was doing to God.   They were having an affair with the world, while at the same time feigning love for God.   That is the entire book of Isaiah.  If we think we can bring gifts and offerings and worship to honor God, while at the same time in love with the world and all its trinkets, we are fooling no one.   God is highly aware of our duplicity.   This book was written and covered the years of 740-680 BC.  That is almost 3,000 years from today.  Yet, man has not learned the lessons of the book.  In the above passage verses 17 and 18 are the good news.  Isaiah is one of the most quoted Old Testament books in the New Testament.   The good news is that Christ came to cleanse our hearts and to make us holy before God.   Though our sins are as red as blood, Christ blood will make us white as snow.   What a contrast between evil and good.   The book of Isaiah is bad news to those who refuse to hear the message.  It is good news to those who hear and obey in faith.  That is why Isaiah was commission by God to preach this message: 

Isaiah 6:8-10 (ESV)
Isaiah's Commission from the Lord
And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”