Evil’s Hold


Isaiah 5:18-23
18Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”
20Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!
21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
22Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!

All of us are painfully aware of the presence of evil in the world. Adam and Eve were unfortunate enough to have to speak with Satan personally. And that was a verbal battle they lost, much to our dismay even today. So it is only fitting that we should take a look at evil through the eyes of the Cross. Paul succinctly wraps up our sin problem in Ephesians 2:1-3.

Ephesians 2:1-3
1And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

We battle against our flesh, the ways of the world, and against the devil. Chief among those three being the devil. If we remain ignorant of Satan, we do so at our own peril.

The prophet Isaiah speaks words of warning and woe as he addresses those who allow evil to be their leader and source of strength. In these six verses, he shines light on the evil actions that fall from the hands of those deceived by Satan.

·     First, he draws a verbal picture of a cart being drawn by ropes made of falsehood. Just imagine your life, contained in that cart and it is being pulled along by falsehood.
·     Second, the evil one encourages us to call evil good and good evil.
·     Third, the evil are wise in their own eyes.
·     Fourth, the evil are drunkards.
·     Fifth, the evil will happily accept a bribe to acquit the guilty
·     Sixth, the evil deprive the innocent of justice

Such a short passage that so vividly describes the evil life. When I read these words, it is not difficult to see these sins abound in our culture. We’re surrounded on every side by Satan’s influence. The rest of the week, we will look at how Satan is a defeated foe – already. He continues to abuse us and attempts to deceive us at every turn. But when seen through the lens of the Cross, we know that he has no power over us. Jesus blood denies him the right to accuse us. We are free.

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