Isaiah 28:1-29; 2 Kings 17:5; 2 Kings 18:9-12; 2 Kings 17:6-41; Isaiah 1:1-20

Why does God hate drunkenness so much? Because it lowers our inhibitions, makes us more likely to sin, and more likely to make poor decisions. It’s particularly reprehensible when a leader engages in it.

Proverbs 23:29-33 (WEB) “Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaints? Who has needless bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? Those who stay long at the wine; those who go to seek out mixed wine. Don’t look at the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly. In the end, it bites like a snake, and poisons like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will imagine confusing things.”

Israel continually looks to other nations for strength rather than to God. There is a warning for us there! But the other issue is that the help they were getting was from ungodly nations. They also continue to practice idolatry, refuse to follow God’s law, and reject the prophets that God sends them. As a result, God is going to use Assyria to punish them! Assyria ends up resettling the land with foreigners, but they experience hardship and attribute it to wrong worship. The king of Assyria sends Jewish priests back to teach the inhabitants, but what ends up happening is an amalgamation of religious beliefs.

In the midst of the Northern kingdom’s judgment Isaiah warns that Judah is next! God doesn’t want their sacrifices without their hearts. And if their hearts are right they will do right things. God pleads with them to turn to Him to have their sins forgiven. He hasn’t changed much since then!

Acts 3:18-21 (WEB) “But the things which God announced by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Christ Jesus, who was ordained for you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets.”