December 2, 2025 • 30 mins
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What if God isn’t impressed by your most polished moments of worship, your best calendar of devotions, or your longest prayers? We walk through Isaiah 1:13–16 and face a hard truth: rituals without righteousness don’t soften God’s heart; they grieve it. From weekly Sabbaths to monthly new moons to annual convocations, Isaiah sweeps the entire religious year to show how devotion turns empty when it’s used to mask injustice. The shock isn’t that God dislikes worship, but that he rejects performance that props up hypocrisy.
We dig into the language that makes listeners pause—God “hates” corrupted feasts—and explain how Scripture uses strong moral terms to reveal his holy opposition to sin, not volatile emotion. Then we move from posture to practice: spread hands in prayer don’t move heaven when those hands are stained with harm. We connect Solomon’s posture of prayer to Isaiah’s indictment, and explore why ethics, not theatrics, determine whether worship rings true. Prayer is not noise; it’s the echo of a life aligned with mercy, honesty, and justice.
Finally, we turn the rebuke into an invitation. “Wash yourselves” is not a call to better optics; it’s a summons to real repentance—ending harmful patterns, restoring what was broken, and letting worship flow from a clean heart. We talk practical steps for modern life: rethinking how we handle power, money, and speech; refusing to let tradition outrun transformation; and building church cultures where integrity carries the liturgy. If you’ve ever felt the tug between ritual and relationship, this conversation offers clarity, conviction, and hope for a faith that God actually delights in.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Moore (00:05):
So, when exactly did you all decide that God was
more interested in your potlucksand burnt offerings than in
your obedience?
Was there a memo we missed?
Do you really think that Godwouldn't notice the worship on
the outside, chaos on the insideroutine?
Was the plan to distract himwith incense?
And just curious, how manytimes did you think you could
(00:29):
show up to worship with dirtyhands and expect God to say, oh
nice, you brought sacrifices?
Never mind the hypocrisy.
Well this week we're gonnabegin unpacking Isaiah 1 again
starting with verse 13, whereGod pretty much calls out his
people for showing up with allthe right rituals, but with
hearts that were nowhere to befound.
(00:49):
It's like the spiritual versionof saying you're on a diet
while hiding a donut behind yourback.
The outside looks disciplined,but inside it's yelling,
surprise! Well in this passage,God doesn't mince words.
He's basically saying, keepyour offerings.
What I really want is a cleanheart, a changed life, an
(01:11):
obedience that means something.
It's a wake-up call for anyonewho's ever gone through the
motions, which, let's be honest,that's all of us at some point.
So today, we're gonna jump intowhat God really desires from
us, why empty worship is noworship at all, and how
repentance isn't just a churchword, it's a lifestyle.
(01:32):
So grab your Bible, settle in,and let's connect the gap
between ritual and relationship.
Let's get to it.
Welcome to Connecting the Gap.
This is a podcast aboutmarriage, Bible, and book
studies.
And we interview people thathave stories.
I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
(01:52):
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(02:13):
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(02:33):
And in addition, we also have asix-session study guide that
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And we also just released oursecond book.
It's a devotional, 42 Days to aStronger Marriage, a
Christ-centered devotional forcouples.
That one is also on Amazon, andit's also available in all
three formats (02:52):
paperback, hardback, and ebook.
So go pick yours up today.
Well, thank you guys forjoining us this week.
And as I said here in theintro, we're going to be getting
back into our verse-by-versestudy in Isaiah.
We've made it to verse 12 sofar in chapter 1.
This week, we're going to pickit up in verse 13 in the chapter
(03:14):
1 of Isaiah.
So this week, as we getstarted, I'm going to go ahead
here, we're going to read thenext four verses, and then we'll
come back and discuss those.
(03:34):
And if we get through those,we'll go ahead and continue.
So we'll see how far we gettoday here in this study.
We're also using the ESVversion of the Bible.
And as we start here in Isaiahchapter 1, verses 13 through 16,
it says, Bring no more vainofferings.
Incense is an abomination tome.
New moon and Sabbath and thecalling of convocations, I
(03:58):
cannot endure iniquity andsolemn assembly.
Your new moons and yourappointed feast my soul hates.
They have become a burden tome.
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,I will hide my eyes from you,
even though you make manyprayers.
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood.
(04:19):
Wash yourselves, makeyourselves clean, remove the
evil of your deeds from beforemy eyes.
Cease to do evil.
So as we get started here todaywith verse thirteen, that's a
very interesting group ofscriptures there.
We're going to try to breakthese apart here for you this
(04:40):
week.
The first verse here, verse 13.
As we get started, the termvain offerings, that's also
translated as futile or empty,refers to rituals lacking
sincerity and righteousness.
Incense is an abomination thatbuilds on Levitical imagery,
which you can see more aboutthat in Exodus chapter 30,
(05:02):
verses 34 to 38, where incenseofferings were to be holy, but
when paired with sin, even thesebecome detestable.
The reference to the new moonand Sabbath and convocations is
mentioned here in thisscripture.
And what God is trying to dohere is He is trying to cover
(05:25):
the entire religious calendar.
God says that he cannot endureiniquity and solemn assembly.
In other words, that's theirmixing of holy festivals with
sinful living.
What Judah is doing here,they're simultaneously engaging
in sin and ceremony, which Godfinds intolerable.
We kind of got into that lastweek in the last section of
(05:49):
verses that we covered.
So here in verse 13, God usesthe terms new moon, Sabbath, and
convocations to represent thefull span of the religious
calendar in Israel.
So let's take a look at thatfor a moment and see exactly
what he means by that.
So first of all, he talked ofthe new moon.
(06:09):
The new moon that marks thebeginning of each month in the
Hebrew calendar and was oftenobserved with offerings and
special gatherings.
It represented the monthlyrhythm of worship.
The next word he mentioned wasSabbath.
So the Sabbath was a weekly dayof rest and worship, forming
(06:29):
the foundational recurring pointin Israel's religious
observance.
It symbolized regular, weeklydevotion to God.
The third word there,convocations, this term refers
to solemn assemblies, especiallythe major gatherings during
annual feasts such as thePassover, Pentecost, and the
(06:50):
Feast of Tabernacles.
These were the high points ofthe yearly religious calendar.
So by listing all of thesetogether in verse 13, there here
in Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah,who of course is speaking on
behalf of God, he is indictingthe entire system of religious
observances from weekly events,which are the Sabbath, to
(07:13):
monthly, which are the newmoons, and to the annual
festivals, which areconvocations.
This comprehensive mentionsignifies that all of the
religious activity covering thewhole calendar year had become
corrupt because it was practicedwithout genuine faith,
obedience, or righteousness.
A lot of the members of Judahhere, they were probably at this
(07:37):
point thinking that, you know,if I can maybe just taint one of
these points of time on thecalendar and I'm doing okay on
the rest of them, then thatshould be able to slide by,
right?
You know, God's not going toworry about that.
But no, here in this scripture,God covers all of it.
He's just wanting Judah to knowthat, you know, you guys, you
(07:57):
think you're doing okay in onespot and not the other.
You know, you think that youcan mess it up here and I'll
turn my eye over there.
But in all reality, I'm sick ofall of it.
You know, the whole calendaryear, everything that comes up,
all the festivals, uh, the newmoons, the convocations, all the
events that you guys take placeand all participate in, you've
(08:18):
tainted it all.
You're not doing right in anyof it.
So the point is that God is notcriticizing specific dates or
rituals themselves.
He's okay with the festivalsand the symbolized uh meetings
and the different things thatthey have throughout the year.
That's not what the problem is.
It's the hypocrisy of observingthe full religious calendar
(08:39):
while failing to live justly andfaithful.
Their worship was external andempty, and therefore that was
very offensive to a holy God.
So, you know, he was okay thatthey were trying to keep the
festivals and the rituals, andthat and Judah thought they were
doing fine by doing that.
But God was just letting themknow, you guys, you know, you're
(09:03):
really sinful in the way thatyou're doing all of this, and
you're not staying holy with it.
And I'm not gonna let you getby with that.
I see what you're doing.
Scholar Albert Barnes commentsthat this mixture creates a
religious hypocrisy, outwardformality with no heart
transformation.
You know, it was the same issuethat Jesus later confronted
(09:24):
among the Pharisees in Matthewchapter 23.
Pharisees walked around lookinglike they were all holy, they
knew the scriptures.
Anytime somebody, you know, hadsome type of an issue that had
to do with religious things, youknow, the the Pharisees had an
answer for all of that.
But the problem was, no matterwhat they knew, or whatever they
studied and kept inside, youknow, in their their memories,
(09:48):
they were not living that life.
They were actually faking itand making everybody look like
that they were so righteous andso holy.
And that's exactly what God'scalling out Judah here for in
verse 13 of chapter one.
Verse 14 says, Your new moonsand your appointed feast my soul
(10:08):
hates.
They have become a burden tome.
I am weary of bearing them.
So here God continues throughIsaiah to intensify the language
from not just displeasure, he'snot just upset with what
they're doing, it's an activehatred.
These were festivals originallyordained by God, and we saw
(10:31):
that in Leviticus chapter 23.
Yet his soul hates them becauseof the spiritual corruption of
the people.
The phrase here that says, Theyhave become a burden to me
personifies God's patience beingexhausted.
The idea that God is wearyimplies grief and holy
revulsion.
The religious festivals meantto draw people closer to God,
(10:54):
now all they do is only multiplyhis sorrow.
So as we look at this versehere, I know something that you
might be thinking right now iswell, you know, God tells us not
to hate.
So, what exactly is meant hereby when it says God hates the
new moons, the appointed feast,all of these things that have
(11:17):
become a burden to him?
If he's allowed to hate, thenshouldn't we be allowed to hate?
Well, let's take a look atthat.
So, as we look at the Bible,how many times does it say that
God hates something in theBible?
And we're going to look at theESV here since that's what uh we
are currently studying out of.
So in the ESV version of theBible, the word hate or
(11:39):
variations like hates with an Sare used to reference to God
several times.
Specifically, when Godexplicitly says that he hates
something, it occurs aroundtwelve to fifteen times
depending on the context andinterpretation of the Scripture.
So here's some key verses whereGod says that he hates
(11:59):
something.
In Proverbs chapter six, versesixteen to nineteen, it says,
There are six things that theLord hates, seven that are an
abomination to him.
In Malachi chapter two, versesixteen, it says, For the man
who does not love his wife butdivorces her, says the Lord, the
God of Israel, covers hisgarment with violence, for I
(12:22):
hate divorce.
In Amos five twenty one itsays, I hate, I despise your
feast, and I take no delight inyour solemn assemblies.
In Zechariah eight seventeen,do not devise evil in your
hearts against one another, andlove no false oath, for all
these things I hate, declaresthe Lord.
(12:43):
Isaiah sixty one eight.
For I the Lord love justice.
I hate robbery and wrong.
Psalm five five, the boastfulshall not stand before your
eyes.
You hate all evildoers.
And one final one here, Hoseanine fifteen.
Every evil of theirs is inGilgal.
(13:06):
There I begin to hate them.
So here in these verses, as welook at these in the ESV
version, they show that Godexpresses hatred, and what's he
showing it towards?
Well he's showing it towardssin, hypocrisy, injustice,
falsehood, unfaithfulness.
So the exact count may varyslightly depending on how one
(13:28):
interprets indirect referencesor poetic language, but direct
statements of God hatingsomething does occur about us
probably about a dozen times inthe ESV.
So does that mean that Godhates like we do, since he tells
us not to hate?
Well, let's take a look atthat.
When God says he hatessomething in the Bible, it is
(13:50):
important to understand thatthis language is often
anthropomorphic, which inmeaning it uses human terms to
help us understand God'scharacter and moral standards.
So the word hate in Scripture,when applied to God, it usually
expresses strong divinedisapproval, rejection, or moral
opposition to sin, injustice orevil.
(14:13):
It does not really imply thatGod experiences hate in the same
flawed emotional or vengefulway that humans often do.
God's hatred is not aboutemotional volatility or personal
offense, instead, it reflectshis perfect holiness and
justice.
For example, when God says hehates lying, pride, or
(14:35):
injustice, like he does inProverbs 6, verses 16 to 19, he
is revealing that these thingsare completely contrary to his
nature and to his will.
So no, when we look at this andwe ask, okay, so if God can
hate, why can't we hate?
Is it the same kind of hatethat we have?
God really does not have quoteunquote hate in his heart in the
(14:59):
human sense.
God's hatred is a righteous andholy response to evil, it's not
a sinful emotion.
It is consistent with his love,justice, and desire for what is
good and right.
Whenever we hate something, wehave a tendency to retaliate.
So if we hate somebody, wechoose not to talk to them, or
(15:22):
we will treat them badly.
You know, we might even throwthem under the bus and make them
look really bad in front ofother people.
We can be very, very, as youwould say, hateful in our nature
towards other people.
But God does not do that, He isnot hateful towards us, He just
hates the things and theactions that take place
(15:44):
sometimes, um, the immoralities,the sins, uh, the things that
He has instructed us not to doto live holy.
God has a desire against that,and therefore it's worded that
He hates those things.
In fact, because God is love,as it says in 1 John chapter 4,
verse 8, his hatred of sin flowsfrom his love for
(16:07):
righteousness, truth, and hisdesire to protect and bless his
creation.
So anything that's going tocome up against what he has
created within us and the lifethat he has given to us, uh, you
know, Satan likes to bring alot of those things uh as
stumbling blocks.
He'll throw those out there infront of us and try to trip us
(16:28):
up.
And so God does not like that.
He hates those things that getin front of us and causes us to
fail and for us to make badchoices and bad decisions.
Of course, that does come backon us, but there is a difference
there when it says that Godhates something versus whenever
we hate something.
So in the NIV applicationcommentary, one final note here
(16:52):
on verse 14, it notes that whenworship becomes disconnected
from justice, humility, andobedience, it becomes not only
empty, in essence, it becomesoffensive to God.
So not only was Judah, thethings that they were doing was
just empty worship, it was emptypractices, uh, they were going
(17:12):
through the motions, goingthrough the rituals, they were
stuck in that rut, and beingvery complacent, that was very
offensive to God because he hadcreated them to worship him.
And so that's why God wassaying here in verse 14 that all
of the new moons and the feastand all the things that they
were partaking in, he was nothappy with the way that they
(17:35):
were doing that.
As we move on to verse 15, itsays, When you spread out your
hands, I will hide my eyes fromyou, even though you make many
prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood.
So here in verse four in verse15, where we're at, this verse
shows God refusing even to lookat or hear the people's prayers
(17:58):
due to the presence of sin, andin particular, violence and
injustice.
Those are some of the majorsins that was taking place at
that time within Judah.
Spread out your hands here wasa posture of prayer, and you can
see that in 1 Kings chapter 8,verse 22, which we're going to
look at here in just a minute.
Yet God declares that he willhide his eyes and refuse to
(18:22):
listen, indicating divinerejection.
So as we look at that littlephrase there, spread your hands,
as I said, first Kings verse 822, it says there, Then Solomon
stood before the altar of theLord in the presence of all the
assembly of Israel and spreadout his hands toward heaven.
(18:42):
So God was calling them outhere for spreading out their
hands, and here's why he wasdoing that.
So this verse here in FirstKings, as we're looking at Song
of Solomon, this verse takesplace during the dedication of
the temple that King Solomonbuilt in Jerusalem.
And here, after completing theconstruction of the temple,
(19:03):
Solomon he gathered all theelders of Israel and the heads
of the tribes to bring the Arkof the Covenant into the temple.
So once the ark was placed inthe inner sanctuary, the glory
of the Lord filled the temple.
So in 1 Kings chapter 8, verse22, here this begins Solomon's
prayer of dedication.
By standing before the altarand spreading out his hands
(19:26):
toward heaven, Solomon ispublicly acknowledging God's
greatness and inviting hispresence and blessing upon the
temple and the people of Israel.
The prayer that follows is oneof the longest recorded prayers
in the Bible and includespraise, thanksgiving, and
petitions for forgiveness,justice, and God's continued
(19:47):
presence with his people.
So as we look at that, when wesee verse 15 here, it says, When
you spread out your hands, Ihide my eyes.
Spreading out your hands is aposture.
That's a posture of praise toour God.
That's us showing our reverenceto him.
That's us being in a posture ofhumility before him and being
(20:08):
humble before God.
Whenever we put our hands outlike that, we are inviting him
and to fill us with hispresence, to fill us with his
blessings and his goodness.
But again, Judah here, whenthey were going through these
festivals, these rituals,offering the incense, doing the
altar thing, all these thingsthat they were doing because
they were empty activities,because they weren't really
(20:31):
blessing God.
They were just going throughthe motions, trying to be, you
know, just be a good person, Iguess is the best way to put
that.
They were just trying to existon good works.
Uh they were spreading outtheir hands like they were
worshiping God in the way theywere supposed to when they did
all of this kind of thing, butGod was not accepting that
(20:52):
because he knew their heart.
He knew that inside that theywere not anywhere near where
they needed to be to bereverencing God in that way
because they really did not meanit.
So that's why here in verse 15,when you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you.
That's a bad place to be.
When I open my hands up and Iraise my hands up to God, I want
(21:15):
to get those blessings fromHim.
And I think as Christians, youguys probably feel that same
way.
And I would feel very convictedin my soul and in my heart if I
was doing this as a fakereverence to God.
So as we continue there, itsays, Your hands are full of
blood.
That directly confronts moralcorruption and injustice.
(21:37):
And during this time framehere, when all of this bad stuff
was going on in Judah, theywere murdering the innocent,
oppressing the poor, pervertingjustice.
You can read more about that inIsaiah 59, 2 through 3, and
we'll eventually get there inthis study.
Prayer and ritual cannotsubstitute for righteousness.
(21:58):
Proverbs 15 8 says, Thesacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord.
And James 4.8 says, Cleanseyour hands, you sinners, purify
your hearts.
You know, here Judah, they weretrying to offer incense to God
and opening their hands up andlifting their arms to the Lord
to receive blessing and all thethings that they were doing.
(22:19):
But at this time, as we'll aswe study and we get further into
this, you're going to see thatthey were doing child sacrifice.
Um they were having, you know,murders and things between each
other.
There was just a lot of thingsthat injustice, lots of lots of
things that were going on inJudah at that time.
And it was very difficult forGod to even look at them at this
(22:41):
point because of all the sinand everything that was going on
in their lives.
And he was not happy with thatat all.
So here, as we are looking atthese verses, it's critiquing a
hollow, formalistic religion.
Although the people of Judahmaintain external ritual
(23:01):
practices, they're still goingthrough everything that they
think they're supposed to begoing through, the festivals and
all of that, but they aremorally and spiritually corrupt.
You know, God finds theirsacrifices, their festivals,
their incense, and theirprayers.
He finds all of that detestablebecause they are disconnected
from true repentance andjustice.
So these scriptures here, theyprepare the way for God's appeal
(23:24):
that we're going to see insubsequent verses for authentic
repentance and covenantalfaithfulness.
So commentators across theboard, John Calvin, Oswald, Alec
Mutcher, Albert Barnes, everyone of them, they all agree that
ritual without righteousness isan abomination in God's sight.
Here Isaiah is remindingbelievers of every age that God
(23:47):
desires not performance, butpurity, not repetition, but
relationship.
God wants our hearts.
That's where the blessings flowfrom.
As we move into the final versehere, verse 16, uh, it starts
(24:11):
talking about the purificationof Jerusalem.
Verse 16 says, Wash yourselves,make yourselves clean, remove
the evil of your deeds frombefore my eyes, cease to do
evil.
So here as we close this week,this verse begins one of the
most well-known calls torepentance in Isaiah.
(24:32):
After condemning ritualisticworship in verses eleven through
fifteen, God now givespractical instruction.
The command is imperative, washyourselves.
With that you make yourselvesclean.
These indicate a spiritualcleansing, not merely external
purification through ritual.
(24:52):
God is calling for moral andethical reform as the foundation
for acceptable worship.
Now historically, as we're inthis time frame here, Judah,
they were steeped in formalreligiosity while tolerating
rampant injustice.
This purification metaphor herein the scripture would have
resonated with the peoplefamiliar with temple washings,
(25:16):
yet Isaiah shifts the focus fromceremonial to moral cleansing.
Here, scholar Albert Barnescomments that this verse
initiates God's threefold appealremove sin, stop doing evil,
and begin doing good.
The cleansing, it's notautomatic.
(25:36):
It requires deliberate actionand it also requires repentance.
These verses are part of alarger prophetic rebuke where
(26:14):
God expresses his displeasurewith empty religious rituals
that are not accompanied byrighteous living.
As we started out in verse 13,God tells the people to stop
bringing meaningless offerings.
He calls their incensedetestable and says that their
religious gatherings, such asnew moon festivals and appointed
feast, they become a burden tohim.
(26:36):
This shows that while thepeople were continuing their
religious practices, theirhearts were not in the right
place.
Their worship had becomeroutine and insincere.
In verse 14, it continued thatsentiment, stating that God
hates their festivals and feast.
These were originallyinstituted by God Himself, but
(26:56):
because the people were livingin sin and using these rituals
as a cover for theirunrighteousness, God was no
longer accepting them.
The strong language that wasused in this verse emphasizes
how deeply God detestshypocrisy.
In verse 15, God said that evenwhen the people pray, he was
(27:17):
not going to listen.
Even though to lift up theirhands in prayer, he was going to
hide his eyes from them.
This is because their handswere full of blood, which was
symbolic of injustice, violence,and sin.
This shows that spiritualpractices are meaningless when
they're not accompanied by moralintegrity.
And then as we wrapped it upwith verse sixteen, God was
(27:40):
calling the people torepentance.
He was telling them to washthemselves, make themselves
clean, and remove their evildeeds from His sight.
He was urging them to stopdoing wrong.
That verse shifted fromcondemnation to a call for
transformation.
God is not interested in ritualalone, he desires a change of
(28:02):
heart and a change of behavior.
So as we leave this week, howcan we apply these scriptures to
us today?
You know, these verses they'rehighly relevant in a modern
context as they can be appliedto our situations in the day
here that we live.
They serve as a reminder thatoutward religious practices,
(28:24):
such as attending church,praying, or giving offerings,
they are not enough if they arenot backed by a sincere heart
and righteous living.
God is not impressed by ritualfor its own sake.
God wants authenticity out ofus, humility, and a life that
reflects his justice and mercy.
For us today, this passagechallenges us to examine our own
(28:48):
spiritual lives.
Are we going through themotions or are we genuinely
seeking to live in a way thathonors God?
It calls us to align ouractions with our faith, to
repent of hypocrisy, and topursue a life of integrity.
In communities and churches,this passage here also serves as
(29:10):
a warning against becominginstitutions that prioritize
tradition over transformation.
It reminds us that God valuesjustice, mercy, and
righteousness over merereligious performance.
So these scriptures today are apowerful call to sincere
worship and ethical living.
(29:30):
It teaches that God desireshearts and lives that reflect
his holiness, not just religiousactivity.
Well, that's gonna do it forthis week.
Tune in next week as wecontinue our verse by verse
study here in Isaiah as wecontinue with chapter one.
And as we go, we believe thatGod's word never fails us.
(29:51):
God's word has stood the testof time, and through Jesus'
death on the cross, he hasconnected the gap.
This is an extension ofconnecting the gap ministry.
And we pray that you have ablessed week.
So, when exactly did you all decide that God was
more interested in your potlucksand burnt offerings than in
your obedience?
Was there a memo we missed?
Do you really think that Godwouldn't notice the worship on
the outside, chaos on the insideroutine?
Was the plan to distract himwith incense?
And just curious, how manytimes did you think you could
(00:29):
show up to worship with dirtyhands and expect God to say, oh
nice, you brought sacrifices?
Never mind the hypocrisy.
Well this week we're gonnabegin unpacking Isaiah 1 again
starting with verse 13, whereGod pretty much calls out his
people for showing up with allthe right rituals, but with
hearts that were nowhere to befound.
(00:49):
It's like the spiritual versionof saying you're on a diet
while hiding a donut behind yourback.
The outside looks disciplined,but inside it's yelling,
surprise! Well in this passage,God doesn't mince words.
He's basically saying, keepyour offerings.
What I really want is a cleanheart, a changed life, an
(01:11):
obedience that means something.
It's a wake-up call for anyonewho's ever gone through the
motions, which, let's be honest,that's all of us at some point.
So today, we're gonna jump intowhat God really desires from
us, why empty worship is noworship at all, and how
repentance isn't just a churchword, it's a lifestyle.
(01:32):
So grab your Bible, settle in,and let's connect the gap
between ritual and relationship.
Let's get to it.
Welcome to Connecting the Gap.
This is a podcast aboutmarriage, Bible, and book
studies.
And we interview people thathave stories.
I'm Daniel Moore, your host.
(01:52):
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(02:13):
Feel free to leave a comment onour platforms, give us the
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Also, our new book is outMarriage is a Mission, Living
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You can pick up a copy of yourown on paperback, hardback, or
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(02:33):
And in addition, we also have asix-session study guide that
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That one is also on Amazon, andit's also available in all
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paperback, hardback, and ebook.
So go pick yours up today.
Well, thank you guys forjoining us this week.
And as I said here in theintro, we're going to be getting
back into our verse-by-versestudy in Isaiah.
We've made it to verse 12 sofar in chapter 1.
This week, we're going to pickit up in verse 13 in the chapter
(03:14):
1 of Isaiah.
So this week, as we getstarted, I'm going to go ahead
here, we're going to read thenext four verses, and then we'll
come back and discuss those.
(03:34):
And if we get through those,we'll go ahead and continue.
So we'll see how far we gettoday here in this study.
We're also using the ESVversion of the Bible.
And as we start here in Isaiahchapter 1, verses 13 through 16,
it says, Bring no more vainofferings.
Incense is an abomination tome.
New moon and Sabbath and thecalling of convocations, I
(03:58):
cannot endure iniquity andsolemn assembly.
Your new moons and yourappointed feast my soul hates.
They have become a burden tome.
I am weary of bearing them.
When you spread out your hands,I will hide my eyes from you,
even though you make manyprayers.
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood.
(04:19):
Wash yourselves, makeyourselves clean, remove the
evil of your deeds from beforemy eyes.
Cease to do evil.
So as we get started here todaywith verse thirteen, that's a
very interesting group ofscriptures there.
We're going to try to breakthese apart here for you this
(04:40):
week.
The first verse here, verse 13.
As we get started, the termvain offerings, that's also
translated as futile or empty,refers to rituals lacking
sincerity and righteousness.
Incense is an abomination thatbuilds on Levitical imagery,
which you can see more aboutthat in Exodus chapter 30,
(05:02):
verses 34 to 38, where incenseofferings were to be holy, but
when paired with sin, even thesebecome detestable.
The reference to the new moonand Sabbath and convocations is
mentioned here in thisscripture.
And what God is trying to dohere is He is trying to cover
(05:25):
the entire religious calendar.
God says that he cannot endureiniquity and solemn assembly.
In other words, that's theirmixing of holy festivals with
sinful living.
What Judah is doing here,they're simultaneously engaging
in sin and ceremony, which Godfinds intolerable.
We kind of got into that lastweek in the last section of
(05:49):
verses that we covered.
So here in verse 13, God usesthe terms new moon, Sabbath, and
convocations to represent thefull span of the religious
calendar in Israel.
So let's take a look at thatfor a moment and see exactly
what he means by that.
So first of all, he talked ofthe new moon.
(06:09):
The new moon that marks thebeginning of each month in the
Hebrew calendar and was oftenobserved with offerings and
special gatherings.
It represented the monthlyrhythm of worship.
The next word he mentioned wasSabbath.
So the Sabbath was a weekly dayof rest and worship, forming
(06:29):
the foundational recurring pointin Israel's religious
observance.
It symbolized regular, weeklydevotion to God.
The third word there,convocations, this term refers
to solemn assemblies, especiallythe major gatherings during
annual feasts such as thePassover, Pentecost, and the
(06:50):
Feast of Tabernacles.
These were the high points ofthe yearly religious calendar.
So by listing all of thesetogether in verse 13, there here
in Isaiah chapter 1, Isaiah,who of course is speaking on
behalf of God, he is indictingthe entire system of religious
observances from weekly events,which are the Sabbath, to
(07:13):
monthly, which are the newmoons, and to the annual
festivals, which areconvocations.
This comprehensive mentionsignifies that all of the
religious activity covering thewhole calendar year had become
corrupt because it was practicedwithout genuine faith,
obedience, or righteousness.
A lot of the members of Judahhere, they were probably at this
(07:37):
point thinking that, you know,if I can maybe just taint one of
these points of time on thecalendar and I'm doing okay on
the rest of them, then thatshould be able to slide by,
right?
You know, God's not going toworry about that.
But no, here in this scripture,God covers all of it.
He's just wanting Judah to knowthat, you know, you guys, you
(07:57):
think you're doing okay in onespot and not the other.
You know, you think that youcan mess it up here and I'll
turn my eye over there.
But in all reality, I'm sick ofall of it.
You know, the whole calendaryear, everything that comes up,
all the festivals, uh, the newmoons, the convocations, all the
events that you guys take placeand all participate in, you've
(08:18):
tainted it all.
You're not doing right in anyof it.
So the point is that God is notcriticizing specific dates or
rituals themselves.
He's okay with the festivalsand the symbolized uh meetings
and the different things thatthey have throughout the year.
That's not what the problem is.
It's the hypocrisy of observingthe full religious calendar
(08:39):
while failing to live justly andfaithful.
Their worship was external andempty, and therefore that was
very offensive to a holy God.
So, you know, he was okay thatthey were trying to keep the
festivals and the rituals, andthat and Judah thought they were
doing fine by doing that.
But God was just letting themknow, you guys, you know, you're
(09:03):
really sinful in the way thatyou're doing all of this, and
you're not staying holy with it.
And I'm not gonna let you getby with that.
I see what you're doing.
Scholar Albert Barnes commentsthat this mixture creates a
religious hypocrisy, outwardformality with no heart
transformation.
You know, it was the same issuethat Jesus later confronted
(09:24):
among the Pharisees in Matthewchapter 23.
Pharisees walked around lookinglike they were all holy, they
knew the scriptures.
Anytime somebody, you know, hadsome type of an issue that had
to do with religious things, youknow, the the Pharisees had an
answer for all of that.
But the problem was, no matterwhat they knew, or whatever they
studied and kept inside, youknow, in their their memories,
(09:48):
they were not living that life.
They were actually faking itand making everybody look like
that they were so righteous andso holy.
And that's exactly what God'scalling out Judah here for in
verse 13 of chapter one.
Verse 14 says, Your new moonsand your appointed feast my soul
(10:08):
hates.
They have become a burden tome.
I am weary of bearing them.
So here God continues throughIsaiah to intensify the language
from not just displeasure, he'snot just upset with what
they're doing, it's an activehatred.
These were festivals originallyordained by God, and we saw
(10:31):
that in Leviticus chapter 23.
Yet his soul hates them becauseof the spiritual corruption of
the people.
The phrase here that says, Theyhave become a burden to me
personifies God's patience beingexhausted.
The idea that God is wearyimplies grief and holy
revulsion.
The religious festivals meantto draw people closer to God,
(10:54):
now all they do is only multiplyhis sorrow.
So as we look at this versehere, I know something that you
might be thinking right now iswell, you know, God tells us not
to hate.
So, what exactly is meant hereby when it says God hates the
new moons, the appointed feast,all of these things that have
(11:17):
become a burden to him?
If he's allowed to hate, thenshouldn't we be allowed to hate?
Well, let's take a look atthat.
So, as we look at the Bible,how many times does it say that
God hates something in theBible?
And we're going to look at theESV here since that's what uh we
are currently studying out of.
So in the ESV version of theBible, the word hate or
(11:39):
variations like hates with an Sare used to reference to God
several times.
Specifically, when Godexplicitly says that he hates
something, it occurs aroundtwelve to fifteen times
depending on the context andinterpretation of the Scripture.
So here's some key verses whereGod says that he hates
(11:59):
something.
In Proverbs chapter six, versesixteen to nineteen, it says,
There are six things that theLord hates, seven that are an
abomination to him.
In Malachi chapter two, versesixteen, it says, For the man
who does not love his wife butdivorces her, says the Lord, the
God of Israel, covers hisgarment with violence, for I
(12:22):
hate divorce.
In Amos five twenty one itsays, I hate, I despise your
feast, and I take no delight inyour solemn assemblies.
In Zechariah eight seventeen,do not devise evil in your
hearts against one another, andlove no false oath, for all
these things I hate, declaresthe Lord.
(12:43):
Isaiah sixty one eight.
For I the Lord love justice.
I hate robbery and wrong.
Psalm five five, the boastfulshall not stand before your
eyes.
You hate all evildoers.
And one final one here, Hoseanine fifteen.
Every evil of theirs is inGilgal.
(13:06):
There I begin to hate them.
So here in these verses, as welook at these in the ESV
version, they show that Godexpresses hatred, and what's he
showing it towards?
Well he's showing it towardssin, hypocrisy, injustice,
falsehood, unfaithfulness.
So the exact count may varyslightly depending on how one
(13:28):
interprets indirect referencesor poetic language, but direct
statements of God hatingsomething does occur about us
probably about a dozen times inthe ESV.
So does that mean that Godhates like we do, since he tells
us not to hate?
Well, let's take a look atthat.
When God says he hatessomething in the Bible, it is
(13:50):
important to understand thatthis language is often
anthropomorphic, which inmeaning it uses human terms to
help us understand God'scharacter and moral standards.
So the word hate in Scripture,when applied to God, it usually
expresses strong divinedisapproval, rejection, or moral
opposition to sin, injustice orevil.
(14:13):
It does not really imply thatGod experiences hate in the same
flawed emotional or vengefulway that humans often do.
God's hatred is not aboutemotional volatility or personal
offense, instead, it reflectshis perfect holiness and
justice.
For example, when God says hehates lying, pride, or
(14:35):
injustice, like he does inProverbs 6, verses 16 to 19, he
is revealing that these thingsare completely contrary to his
nature and to his will.
So no, when we look at this andwe ask, okay, so if God can
hate, why can't we hate?
Is it the same kind of hatethat we have?
God really does not have quoteunquote hate in his heart in the
(14:59):
human sense.
God's hatred is a righteous andholy response to evil, it's not
a sinful emotion.
It is consistent with his love,justice, and desire for what is
good and right.
Whenever we hate something, wehave a tendency to retaliate.
So if we hate somebody, wechoose not to talk to them, or
(15:22):
we will treat them badly.
You know, we might even throwthem under the bus and make them
look really bad in front ofother people.
We can be very, very, as youwould say, hateful in our nature
towards other people.
But God does not do that, He isnot hateful towards us, He just
hates the things and theactions that take place
(15:44):
sometimes, um, the immoralities,the sins, uh, the things that
He has instructed us not to doto live holy.
God has a desire against that,and therefore it's worded that
He hates those things.
In fact, because God is love,as it says in 1 John chapter 4,
verse 8, his hatred of sin flowsfrom his love for
(16:07):
righteousness, truth, and hisdesire to protect and bless his
creation.
So anything that's going tocome up against what he has
created within us and the lifethat he has given to us, uh, you
know, Satan likes to bring alot of those things uh as
stumbling blocks.
He'll throw those out there infront of us and try to trip us
(16:28):
up.
And so God does not like that.
He hates those things that getin front of us and causes us to
fail and for us to make badchoices and bad decisions.
Of course, that does come backon us, but there is a difference
there when it says that Godhates something versus whenever
we hate something.
So in the NIV applicationcommentary, one final note here
(16:52):
on verse 14, it notes that whenworship becomes disconnected
from justice, humility, andobedience, it becomes not only
empty, in essence, it becomesoffensive to God.
So not only was Judah, thethings that they were doing was
just empty worship, it was emptypractices, uh, they were going
(17:12):
through the motions, goingthrough the rituals, they were
stuck in that rut, and beingvery complacent, that was very
offensive to God because he hadcreated them to worship him.
And so that's why God wassaying here in verse 14 that all
of the new moons and the feastand all the things that they
were partaking in, he was nothappy with the way that they
(17:35):
were doing that.
As we move on to verse 15, itsays, When you spread out your
hands, I will hide my eyes fromyou, even though you make many
prayers, I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood.
So here in verse four in verse15, where we're at, this verse
shows God refusing even to lookat or hear the people's prayers
(17:58):
due to the presence of sin, andin particular, violence and
injustice.
Those are some of the majorsins that was taking place at
that time within Judah.
Spread out your hands here wasa posture of prayer, and you can
see that in 1 Kings chapter 8,verse 22, which we're going to
look at here in just a minute.
Yet God declares that he willhide his eyes and refuse to
(18:22):
listen, indicating divinerejection.
So as we look at that littlephrase there, spread your hands,
as I said, first Kings verse 822, it says there, Then Solomon
stood before the altar of theLord in the presence of all the
assembly of Israel and spreadout his hands toward heaven.
(18:42):
So God was calling them outhere for spreading out their
hands, and here's why he wasdoing that.
So this verse here in FirstKings, as we're looking at Song
of Solomon, this verse takesplace during the dedication of
the temple that King Solomonbuilt in Jerusalem.
And here, after completing theconstruction of the temple,
(19:03):
Solomon he gathered all theelders of Israel and the heads
of the tribes to bring the Arkof the Covenant into the temple.
So once the ark was placed inthe inner sanctuary, the glory
of the Lord filled the temple.
So in 1 Kings chapter 8, verse22, here this begins Solomon's
prayer of dedication.
By standing before the altarand spreading out his hands
(19:26):
toward heaven, Solomon ispublicly acknowledging God's
greatness and inviting hispresence and blessing upon the
temple and the people of Israel.
The prayer that follows is oneof the longest recorded prayers
in the Bible and includespraise, thanksgiving, and
petitions for forgiveness,justice, and God's continued
(19:47):
presence with his people.
So as we look at that, when wesee verse 15 here, it says, When
you spread out your hands, Ihide my eyes.
Spreading out your hands is aposture.
That's a posture of praise toour God.
That's us showing our reverenceto him.
That's us being in a posture ofhumility before him and being
(20:08):
humble before God.
Whenever we put our hands outlike that, we are inviting him
and to fill us with hispresence, to fill us with his
blessings and his goodness.
But again, Judah here, whenthey were going through these
festivals, these rituals,offering the incense, doing the
altar thing, all these thingsthat they were doing because
they were empty activities,because they weren't really
(20:31):
blessing God.
They were just going throughthe motions, trying to be, you
know, just be a good person, Iguess is the best way to put
that.
They were just trying to existon good works.
Uh they were spreading outtheir hands like they were
worshiping God in the way theywere supposed to when they did
all of this kind of thing, butGod was not accepting that
(20:52):
because he knew their heart.
He knew that inside that theywere not anywhere near where
they needed to be to bereverencing God in that way
because they really did not meanit.
So that's why here in verse 15,when you spread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you.
That's a bad place to be.
When I open my hands up and Iraise my hands up to God, I want
(21:15):
to get those blessings fromHim.
And I think as Christians, youguys probably feel that same
way.
And I would feel very convictedin my soul and in my heart if I
was doing this as a fakereverence to God.
So as we continue there, itsays, Your hands are full of
blood.
That directly confronts moralcorruption and injustice.
(21:37):
And during this time framehere, when all of this bad stuff
was going on in Judah, theywere murdering the innocent,
oppressing the poor, pervertingjustice.
You can read more about that inIsaiah 59, 2 through 3, and
we'll eventually get there inthis study.
Prayer and ritual cannotsubstitute for righteousness.
(21:58):
Proverbs 15 8 says, Thesacrifice of the wicked is an
abomination to the Lord.
And James 4.8 says, Cleanseyour hands, you sinners, purify
your hearts.
You know, here Judah, they weretrying to offer incense to God
and opening their hands up andlifting their arms to the Lord
to receive blessing and all thethings that they were doing.
(22:19):
But at this time, as we'll aswe study and we get further into
this, you're going to see thatthey were doing child sacrifice.
Um they were having, you know,murders and things between each
other.
There was just a lot of thingsthat injustice, lots of lots of
things that were going on inJudah at that time.
And it was very difficult forGod to even look at them at this
(22:41):
point because of all the sinand everything that was going on
in their lives.
And he was not happy with thatat all.
So here, as we are looking atthese verses, it's critiquing a
hollow, formalistic religion.
Although the people of Judahmaintain external ritual
(23:01):
practices, they're still goingthrough everything that they
think they're supposed to begoing through, the festivals and
all of that, but they aremorally and spiritually corrupt.
You know, God finds theirsacrifices, their festivals,
their incense, and theirprayers.
He finds all of that detestablebecause they are disconnected
from true repentance andjustice.
So these scriptures here, theyprepare the way for God's appeal
(23:24):
that we're going to see insubsequent verses for authentic
repentance and covenantalfaithfulness.
So commentators across theboard, John Calvin, Oswald, Alec
Mutcher, Albert Barnes, everyone of them, they all agree that
ritual without righteousness isan abomination in God's sight.
Here Isaiah is remindingbelievers of every age that God
(23:47):
desires not performance, butpurity, not repetition, but
relationship.
God wants our hearts.
That's where the blessings flowfrom.
As we move into the final versehere, verse 16, uh, it starts
(24:11):
talking about the purificationof Jerusalem.
Verse 16 says, Wash yourselves,make yourselves clean, remove
the evil of your deeds frombefore my eyes, cease to do
evil.
So here as we close this week,this verse begins one of the
most well-known calls torepentance in Isaiah.
(24:32):
After condemning ritualisticworship in verses eleven through
fifteen, God now givespractical instruction.
The command is imperative, washyourselves.
With that you make yourselvesclean.
These indicate a spiritualcleansing, not merely external
purification through ritual.
(24:52):
God is calling for moral andethical reform as the foundation
for acceptable worship.
Now historically, as we're inthis time frame here, Judah,
they were steeped in formalreligiosity while tolerating
rampant injustice.
This purification metaphor herein the scripture would have
resonated with the peoplefamiliar with temple washings,
(25:16):
yet Isaiah shifts the focus fromceremonial to moral cleansing.
Here, scholar Albert Barnescomments that this verse
initiates God's threefold appealremove sin, stop doing evil,
and begin doing good.
The cleansing, it's notautomatic.
(25:36):
It requires deliberate actionand it also requires repentance.
These verses are part of alarger prophetic rebuke where
(26:14):
God expresses his displeasurewith empty religious rituals
that are not accompanied byrighteous living.
As we started out in verse 13,God tells the people to stop
bringing meaningless offerings.
He calls their incensedetestable and says that their
religious gatherings, such asnew moon festivals and appointed
feast, they become a burden tohim.
(26:36):
This shows that while thepeople were continuing their
religious practices, theirhearts were not in the right
place.
Their worship had becomeroutine and insincere.
In verse 14, it continued thatsentiment, stating that God
hates their festivals and feast.
These were originallyinstituted by God Himself, but
(26:56):
because the people were livingin sin and using these rituals
as a cover for theirunrighteousness, God was no
longer accepting them.
The strong language that wasused in this verse emphasizes
how deeply God detestshypocrisy.
In verse 15, God said that evenwhen the people pray, he was
(27:17):
not going to listen.
Even though to lift up theirhands in prayer, he was going to
hide his eyes from them.
This is because their handswere full of blood, which was
symbolic of injustice, violence,and sin.
This shows that spiritualpractices are meaningless when
they're not accompanied by moralintegrity.
And then as we wrapped it upwith verse sixteen, God was
(27:40):
calling the people torepentance.
He was telling them to washthemselves, make themselves
clean, and remove their evildeeds from His sight.
He was urging them to stopdoing wrong.
That verse shifted fromcondemnation to a call for
transformation.
God is not interested in ritualalone, he desires a change of
(28:02):
heart and a change of behavior.
So as we leave this week, howcan we apply these scriptures to
us today?
You know, these verses they'rehighly relevant in a modern
context as they can be appliedto our situations in the day
here that we live.
They serve as a reminder thatoutward religious practices,
(28:24):
such as attending church,praying, or giving offerings,
they are not enough if they arenot backed by a sincere heart
and righteous living.
God is not impressed by ritualfor its own sake.
God wants authenticity out ofus, humility, and a life that
reflects his justice and mercy.
For us today, this passagechallenges us to examine our own
(28:48):
spiritual lives.
Are we going through themotions or are we genuinely
seeking to live in a way thathonors God?
It calls us to align ouractions with our faith, to
repent of hypocrisy, and topursue a life of integrity.
In communities and churches,this passage here also serves as
(29:10):
a warning against becominginstitutions that prioritize
tradition over transformation.
It reminds us that God valuesjustice, mercy, and
righteousness over merereligious performance.
So these scriptures today are apowerful call to sincere
worship and ethical living.
(29:30):
It teaches that God desireshearts and lives that reflect
his holiness, not just religiousactivity.
Well, that's gonna do it forthis week.
Tune in next week as wecontinue our verse by verse
study here in Isaiah as wecontinue with chapter one.
And as we go, we believe thatGod's word never fails us.
(29:51):
God's word has stood the testof time, and through Jesus'
death on the cross, he hasconnected the gap.
This is an extension ofconnecting the gap ministry.
And we pray that you have ablessed week.
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