Nations collapse when they slide into sin. God turns His Face. As we become more like Sodom and Gomorrah, we are reminded what Is 1:10-17 tells us:
“Hear the word of the LORD, princes of Sodom! Listen to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah! What care I for the number of your sacrifices? says the LORD. I have had enough of whole-burnt rams and fat of fatlings; In the blood of calves, lambs and goats I find no pleasure.”
Those sacrifices were how some taxes were paid. God hated the destruction of assets that could have been used to help poor families. In every age, God hates greedy taxing authorities who enrich themselves by destroying poor families.
God hates them. “When you come in to visit me, who asks these things of you? Trample my courts no more! Bring no more worthless offerings; your incense is loathsome to me. New moon and sabbath, calling of assemblies, octaves with wickedness: these I cannot bear. Your new moons and festivals I detest; they weigh me down, I tire of the load. When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen.”
In every generation, those who enrich themselves with governmental authority pretend to do good while they open the gates to the Assyrians. They hate self, God, and neighbor.
Isaiah tells us what God thinks of such people: “Your hands are full of blood! Wash yourselves clean! Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes; cease doing evil; learn to do good. Make justice your aim: redress the wronged, hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.”
Those who are saved will turn from confusion to The Only Church Jesus Founded. The lost are driven by shallow desires that drive them from God and God from them.
