Growing with God: A daily devotional with Tonia Slimm.
Isaiah 48:7-8(NIV)
“They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot say, ‘Yes, I knew of them.’ You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open. Well do I know how treacherous you are; you were called a rebel from birth.”
Isaiah 48:7-8 (MSG)
“This isn’t a variation on the same old thing. This is new, brand-new, something you’d never guess or dream up. When you hear this you won’t be able to say, ‘I knew that all along.’ You’ve never been good listeners to me. You have a history of ignoring me, a sorry track record of fickle attachments—rebels from the womb.”
***********************************
“They are created now [called into being by the prophetic word] and not long ago; and before today you have not heard of them, so that you will not say, ‘Oh yes! I knew them.’ You have not heard, you have not known; even from long ago your ear has not been open. For I [the Lord] knew that you [Israel] would act very treacherously; you have been called a transgressor and a rebel from birth.” -AMPLIFIED
“Original sin may be defined as the hereditary corruption and depravity of our nature. This reaches every part of the soul, makes us abhorrent to God’s wrath and produces in us what Scripture calls works of the flesh.” ~John Calvin
Adonai–Tzva’ot, God Almighty, has focused His attention on Judah’s unbelief, saying to them:
“You have heard what I foretold and have seen it all unfold, so admit that it happened and I was right!
From now on I will tell you about new things never seen before, hidden things, well-guarded secrets you know nothing about.” -Isaiah 48:6 (The Passion Translation)
In today’s text, we find God announcing that He is about to do something new, something that they could not claim that they already knew would happen, something that was never foretold. Why? Because God knew their depraved hearts. He understood that they had been born into sin and were rebels from birth.
“They are created now—brand new, never before announced, never before heard. So you can’t claim, “Look, I already knew them.” There’s no way you could have heard or known because, even from long ago, you have never listened. For I’ve always known that you are a conniving lot; you’ve been a troublesome rebel from birth.” -(VOICE)
God announces to Judah that new things are about to happen, things that they are entirely clueless about. No longer will they be able to claim that they knew what the outcome would be before it happened, for God knew their treacherous hearts, and He did not reveal to them the whole mystery of salvation. There were certain things that He kept hidden. There were well guarded secrets that their rebel hearts would/could not accept, so He kept them undisclosed until the time was right.
“Then you can’t say, “We knew that all the time!” Yes, I’ll tell you things entirely new, for I know so well what traitors you are, rebels from earliest childhood, rotten through and through.” -(TLB)
“For I knew that you would deal very treacherously, and were called a transgressor from the womb: The LORD stated the reason why His people were so deeply sinful. They were sinners from the womb, so their sinfulness was deeply rooted.” ~David Guzik
It can be difficult to understand this concept of being born into sin, but the Bible does teach us that this is the case. David understood that this was the case, we find evidence of this in Psalm 51, where he writes:
“Lord, I have been a sinner from birth,
from the moment my mother conceived me.” -Psalm 51:5 (The Passion Translation)
Every person ever born, except Jesus, has been born into sin. But God offers us a gift of grace that is greater than all our sin. Paul explained it to the Romans this way:
“You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death. That sin disturbed relations with God in everything and everyone, but the extent of the disturbance was not clear until God spelled it out in detail to Moses. So death, this huge abyss separating us from God, dominated the landscape from Adam to Moses. Even those who didn’t sin precisely as Adam did by disobeying a specific command of God still had to experience this termination of life, this separation from God. But Adam, who got us into this, also points ahead to the One who will get us out of it. Yet the rescuing gift is not exactly parallel to the death-dealing sin. If one man’s sin put crowds of people at the dead-end abyss of separation from God, just think what God’s gift poured through one man, Jesus Christ, will do! There’s no comparison between that death-dealing sin and this generous, life-giving gift. The verdict on that one sin was the death sentence; the verdict on the many sins that followed was this wonderful life sentence. If death got the upper hand through one man’s wrongdoing, can you imagine the breathtaking recovery life makes, absolute life, in those who grasp with both hands this wildly extravagant life-gift, this grand setting-everything-right, that the one man Jesus Christ provides?” -Romans 5:12-17 (MSG)
Paul also told the Romans that it was God who sets things right for man. Man deserved death, but if he will accept God’s gift, given through the death and resurrection of Jesus, then God looks upon that man as no longer guilty. No longer is that man a rebel. Paul wrote:
“But now God has shown us a different way to heaven—not by “being good enough” and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us “not guilty”—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious ideal; yet now God declares us “not guilty” of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins.” -Romans 3:21-24 (TLB)
As the salt flavors every drop in the Atlantic, so does sin affect every atom of our nature. It is so sadly there, so abundantly there, that if you cannot detect it, you are deceived. ~Charles H. Spurgeon
My friend, each and every one of us has been born into sin, a by-product of the first sin committed by our forefather Adam. We are rebels from birth, insisting on having our own way. But God….God saw our hopeless state. He knew that we could not save ourselves. So, He gave up His one and only Son to pay the price of our sin. If we choose to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, God looks at us no longer as a rebel, but as “not guilty”, as a son or daughter. Hallelujah!
Through the death of Christ on the cross making atonement for sin, we get a perfect standing before God. That is justification, and it puts us, in God’s sight, back in Eden before sin entered. God looks upon us and treats us as if we had never sinned. ~A.C. Dixon
My Prayer:
Adonai–Tzva’ot, God Almighty, I am a sinner saved by your grace. I was born into sin; I have been a rebel since birth. But, your Son paid the price that I could never pay. I have accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I am so grateful that He has removed my “guilty” status. I surrender my rebel heart to you, dear Lord. Thank you, for making a way for me to come out from under that burden of sin. Thank you, Jesus for paying the price that I could not pay. The hidden secrets are no longer hidden. God has revealed to all of us the way of salvation.
Growing with God 