Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
The word “Woe” is the antonym of the word blessed. The word is found no less than six times in the fifth chapter of Isaiah and is declaring unto us the disobedience of the unprofitable vineyard of Israel. The Lord had blessed this people with light and understanding while other nations dwelt in darkness. The Lord gave them His commandments and they failed to walk in them.
In our study verse, we read the indictment of the Lord against the guilty. They had fallen to a place of moral confusion. Those things that were good, they called evil. Those things that were wrong, they called good. How quickly they fell from the place of the Lord’s fellowship that they previously enjoyed.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, the words of this verse find a strong application with the world we live in today. The United States of America has enjoyed the blessings of our Almighty Creator. Yet we live in a time when people celebrate behavior that is completely contrary to the principals of marriage that God gave us in His word. We live in a time when people are more concerned with the lives of animals than the lives of infants in the womb. We live in a time when a government makes decisions about gender that deny the principals of creation. It is impossible to read the first chapter of the Bible and not understand that some are males and some are females and that’s the way God made them. How foolish it is to say that the creation will decide what they shall be? Paul asked in Romans 9:21, “Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” Paul’s argument? If we admit that the clay has no power to speak and command the potter to be made something specific, what right or ability does man have to command God our creator, the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe?
In the end, the conclusion of the whole matter, is that what we are witnessing is man’s denial of the Lord. A denial that the Lord is the King and we are His subjects. Isaiah, by inspiration of the Spirit says, “Woe” unto them that do such. Yet this should not affect the faithful children of God from living a life of obedience to Him. It makes no difference what the world or governments of the world say, we should take the words of Joshua and hide them in our hearts and minds, Joshua 24:15, “…but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Amen!