If he is a man, he will stand up for what he knows is right.”
–Samuel Ben White (Guthrie’s Cowboy)
“Every day brings God’s salvation nearer. The night is nearly over, the day has almost dawned. Let us therefore fling away the things that men do in the dark, let us arm ourselves for the fight of the day! Let us live cleanly, as in the daylight…”
–Romans 13:11-13(Phillips)
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To review, the first woe was against materialism, the second against the lust for pleasure. Now we come to the third woe of Isaiah 5:
“Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as if with a cart rope; that they say, ‘Let Him make speed and hasten His work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it.'” (5:18-19, NKJV)
“Destruction is certain for those who drag their sins behind them, tied with cords of falsehood. They even mock the Holy One of Israel and say, ‘Hurry up and do something! Quick, show us what you can do. We want to see what you have planned.'” (5:18-19, NLT)
Woe to those who willfully sin. They sin purposefully; it is a deliberate action, one of defiance against God. They do not sin because they were tempted, but because they delight in sin. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “They were going out of their way to sin, they were making provision for it, preparing themselves for sin and going out deliberately in order to find it.” The flesh is bad enough to fight against, but these “stalk sin” as I put it. They want sin, they produce it, they encourage it. We even hear it from the media and from leaders in government. Paul tells us, “to make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.” (Romans 13:14, NKJV), but we see that these purposely are making provision for the flesh, in fact, even encouraging it.
The term “draw” or “drag” indicates an out of deliberateness. Israel had the law, the teachings of God, but their desire to sin was bad enough to overcome any law, moral code, or teaching. They put aside any resistance to sin. Know this, they were not ignorant of the truth, but “they were defying the great moral teaching of which they were heirs” (Lloyd-Jones). Progressivism, cancel culture, WOKE — what are they but blatant, laughing, and mocking of the great heritage or moral righteousness that our country was founded upon. We have a great heritage, but “we are drawing iniquity to ourselves.” (Lloyd-Jones) The time in which we live we see the purposeful disregard of this heritage and the deliberate flaunting of sin.
Note also, the cord are vanity–worthless, hopeless, or as the NLT puts it “falsehood.” No argument can hold up against the Word of God. All they have is false and deceitful and delusional arguments. Woe unto those people, for they are drawing sin with “cords that really are worthless.” (Lloyd-Jones) We are warned in regard to this in Hebrews, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called ‘Today,’ lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” (3:13, NKJV) Look at those on the news or social media–they actually believe they have the truth, their hearts being darkened to the truth of God’s Word. Look at them as they goad others on and blatantly mock the Christian view. “Sin never tells us a word about what we are to lose… It takes from us the most precious things, and eventually leave us with the swine and the husks.” (Lloyd-Jones)
These individuals grin and mock. There is a complete absence of shame. Ravi Zacharias tells us, “To remove shame is to perpetuate evil… The loss of shame in a society is ultimately an attack upon all of civilization.” We read the words of Jeremiah, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed;
Nor did they know how to blush…” (6:15, NKJV) As the woe continues, we see them urging one another along. They begin to mock God and His Word. They are saying, “Let God do what He has to do,” not in repentance, but spoken in contempt. Verse 19, in the TLB, “They even mock the Holy One of Israel and dare the Lord to punish them. ‘Hurry up and punish us, O Lord,’ they say. ‘We want to see what you can do!'” They are brazenly mocking the warning of God. One writer calls it “defiant bravado.” Can you imagine–challenging God to do His worst? Lloyd-Jones cries out, “Oh the blasphemy and the arrogance and the madness of men and women in sin!” The day is coming when God’s judgment will be poured out. When He has removed the dear saints of His Church, His wrath and judgment will be poured out on the earth, upon those who willfully mocked Him. It will be so bad that they will pray for the rocks to fall upon them to hide them from His fierce countenance and judgment. While, now–today–they could run to the Rock of their salvation. Accepting Jesus and putting aside their sin. Repent of their blasphemy and arrogance and fall at the feet of the One who shed His blood for their salvation. Do it so that the “woe” of Isaiah is not yours.