• Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About
Sunny Slope Church of Christ
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About

When Evil Becomes Good

3/20/2016

 
   The prophet wrote, “Woe 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” (Isa. 5:20).  These are actually God’s words.  He is talking specifically about the nation of Israel.  Earlier in the chapter He refers to them as a vineyard that He planted and cultivated, only to have it produce “wild grapes” instead of “good grapes” (vs. 1-7).  The allusion is clear.  God raised up Israel to be His own people, the people through whom the Savior would come into the world.  He gave them His law, taught them, guided them, fought their battles for them, blessed them richly, made them a great nation.  Instead of Israel remaining the righteous, faithful people of God, they turned away from God and worshipped idols.  They rejected His law and made up their own, followed  their own will instead of submitting to His.  Ultimately, God allowed their enemies to conquer them and take them into captivity.  As a result of their sin they suffered disgrace as a nation.
   The key is the profound truth in the warning above.  A nation wherein evil is commonly called good, and good evil, is a nation in serious danger of self destruction.  Israel had reached that point.  They accepted wrong as being right.  They saw darkness as light and light as darkness.  The bitter of life became sweet to them and the sweet bitter.  Israel was not a nation where some people did some wrong things.  She became a nation where evil was preferred over good. 
   “Light” is used by the apostle John to symbolically represent God and godliness (1 Jn. 1:5).  Sin is represented by the figure “darkness” in that context.  John states, “God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”  Darkness is literally the absence of light.  Where there is light darkness cannot abide. Just so, sin cannot abide in the light of godliness.  Godliness exposes sin to be sin.  Godliness is such a contrast to sinfulness that it is like a brilliant spot light being turned on in a dark room.  The darkness flees.  Darkness can only prevail by expelling all light. 
   Isa. 5:20 describes a nation where the darkness of evil became victorious, a nation in which evil became so totally victorious that it was pronounced as being good.  Good was seen as being evil.  Such a scenario means total victory for evil.  It is a situation where things are turned absolutely on their heads, everything is upside down!
   But the tragic truth is that people in that kind of situation often do not recognize what has taken place.  Everything looks normal to them.  They do not see things as being out of kilter.  They have so totally accepted the abnormal, the subnormal, that it looks normal to them. 
   Our nation is coming to pretty well fits Isaiah’s description of things.  Increasingly our society is accepting the message they are steadily being told- that evil is good, and good is evil!  Any who call attention to wrong are shouted into submission, their voices are silenced.  Standing firm on righteous principles is portrayed as extreme, even eccentric.  And most of the righteous among us seem to contribute to the problem by simply saying nothing in opposition to what is happening.  We sit on the sidelines watching, but doing nothing to stop the digression.  When we believe we can do nothing to stop what is happening, we’ve already given up, and we’ve already been beaten by our sworn enemy, the devil.  Pray God it will not be so in our land.  Pray God that we wake up and speak up before what the prophet wrote of Israel totally becomes our reality…

Comments are closed.

    Author

    Gary L. Hutchens

    Categories

    All
    Dennis Stackhouse
    Gary Hutchens

    Archive

    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    March 2008
    February 2008
    January 2008
    January 2007

Member Login
SUBMIT PRAYER REQUEST
© 2019 Sunny Slope Church of Christ | All Rights Reserved
3606 N. 108th St., Omaha, NE 68164 | (402) 498-8397 | Contact Us
  • Watch
  • Listen
  • Study
  • Articles
  • Links
  • About