“They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.” (Isaiah 59:5)
The imagery is so repulsive but to God that is what the sin of Israel was like and that is what our sin looks like to Him. In Isaiah 58:1, the prophecy begins, “The LORD says, "Shout as loud as you can! Tell my people Israel about their sins!” (Isaiah 58:1) Then in the next chapter God says, “Don't think that the LORD is too weak to save you or too deaf to hear your call for help! It is because of your sins that He doesn't hear you. It is your sins that separate you from God when you try to worship Him.” (Isaiah 59:1-2)
This is not directed to the heathen or to the unbeliever, but to those who believe, but remain in sin and remain in disobedience but still pray that God will deliver them from the consequences of their sin. This applies to all of mankind. It’s so hypocritical to expect God Whom they have rejected, Whom they have rebelled against and Whom they have disobeyed to answer their prayers. They have no intentions of repenting but presume God will hear them and answer them. The deceitfulness of sin has warped their reasoning. “Instead, in order that none of you be deceived by sin and become stubborn, you must help one another every day, as long as the word "Today" in the scripture applies to us.” (Heb 3:13) But there is a remedy. James tells us, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” (James 1:22) We can have knowledge of His word in our minds, yet if we don’t obey it and do it, we deceive ourselves and continue in our old man, the sinful man. I truly believe in my heart that someone who has the Holy Spirit cannot sin according to the Word of God. “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” (1John 3:9) There are some who think they are saved and are not. Sin has deceived them.
Isaiah’s imagery is right on target. Sin is repulsive. And God hates it. When we have surrendered all to Jesus and have made Him the Lord of our lives, the Holy Spirit comes immediately to indwell. He is God. He is holy and will lead us and help us to live a holy life. He allows sin to be revealed to us so that we can repent and get rid of it and as Scripture says go from glory to glory as He step by step changes us into the image of Christ. “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2Corinthians 3:18)
This surrender to the Lord is what the Scripture calls dying to self. It is the surrender of all that we hold dear, for the love of Christ. “And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?” (Luke 9:23-25) Nothing in this world is worth losing our life over, not any treasure, not any gain, not any fame. The pitiful measly prizes of this world are nothing compared to an eternity of God’s presence and God’s goodness and favor in our lives here on earth.
The choice is simple, yet there are those who choose to be in bed with the cockroach, deceived by a web of lies they have fabricated to justify their sin, eat the poison of their sin and be crushed spirit, soul and body by their sin and their rebellion. And with Isaiah, I say, “Repent.” Turn from your sin, your selfish flesh desires and be blessed.
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