Today’s reading: Isaiah 13:1-17:14
My selection: Isaiah 14:12-15
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
My reflections: Here Isaiah gives us a vivid and poetic description of the attitude which lies at the heart of all human sin, the desire to be lifted up above the stars of God and to be like the Most High. It was what made the serpent’s appeal to Eve so attractive. “You will be like God…” he told her. She thought about it. She took the forbidden fruit. She ate it. She gave it to her husband. He ate it. [Genesis 3:4-6]
Do you think of sins as merely mistakes? “No one is perfect” and “Boys will be boys”, they say. No, it is not essential and natural to humanity in its original state to seek to become like God nor to seek to supplant God. It is essential to humanity, as originally created, to worship, serve, and enjoy God. But we are fallen, sinful, not in our original state. At the heart of sin is a desire to be lifted up above God, to be God. Isaiah prophesies of the utter destruction that will come to the one who lifts himself up. He will be brought down to Sheol. He sought to sit in the far reaches of the north, but he will be brought down to the far reaches of the pit. And so will you and I, unless we are re-created by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
My challenge: Learn from Isaiah. He has unmasked the truth about sin. Do not dismiss sin as simple, human error. It is far worse than that. Pray that you may grasp how truly ugly and rebellious sin is. Flee, like a fatal disease, from every thought of pride and self-exaltation. Call upon God through His Son to grant you His Spirit so that you may believe in Him and repent of your rejection of Him as God. Walk before God, contented to be what He has made you in Christ, a new creature after His image to reflect His glory (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Tomorrow’s reading: Isaiah 18:1-22:25
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