"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:6-7

Additional readings: Isaiah 25; Luke 17:20-37

Our text is taken from the Book of Isaiah, the first of the major prophets. He lived in the time of the divided kingdom, when national corruption was growing worse and worse, and when the people were neglecting and profaning their worship. Israel was losing its power and prestige; a process of decay had set in; religious principles and moral precepts were defied and ignored. Yet it was not too late for the people to repent and to return to the Lord. So Isaiah commands, "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found….Let the wicked forsake his way."

The books of the prophets have their particular place in the Bible. They contain visions and allegories sometimes difficult to understand. They abound in metaphors, symbols, and parables, but they also contain clear statements of truth which everyone can understand. It was the mission of the prophets to call the attention of the peoples to their sins, to call them to repentance, and to promise the restoration of happiness and peace if only they would turn again to the Source of happiness and peace.

The book of Isaiah gives us a clear picture of the times in which it was written. It is not a history of the outward life of the people, but of their inward life, of their affections and thoughts. There is no history which so graphically describes the rise and fall of a nation. Isaiah and the prophets take us to the very roots of all the disasters which overtake nations and individuals. If we study and understand the prophets, we go to the very sources of history making and can understand our own times better, for the same forces are ever at work. The life that leads to heaven and the life that leads to earthly happiness are the same life. The life that leads to hell and the life that leads to misery and destruction here are one and the same life.

In our text Isaiah is calling the people to turn again to the Lord, to cease from their evils and their wicked deeds, to turn from their impieties and idolatries, that the Lord may again bless them. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him."

The first commandment tells us that we should not worship idols, that we should not worship other gods, but should worship the Lord alone.

Times change; outward conditions change. But love to the Lord and to the neighbor and its opposite, love of self and the world, are constants. Good affections and thoughts appear in one age in a certain dress, and in another age in a different dress. Outward forms of sin may vary, but the inward quality of evil is ever the same in the souls of men.

Isaiah and the other prophets show us the sources of evil in all times. Whenever and wherever impiety and idolatry exist in human hearts there will be found corruption, national decay, confusion, oppression, and misery in all the affairs of common life. Men cannot expect happiness and prosperity if they turn from the Source of happiness and prosperity.

Impiety and idolatry—what are they? Are they prevalent in the world today? What is the cause of the world-wide national and international confusion and unrest?

We know very well what impiety is. It is ungodliness. It is a lack of reverence for things Divine, the lack of a feeling of dependence upon the Lord, of the feeling of obligation to learn His laws and to do His will. It is the devotion to some form of love of self and the world, to some form of mammon or worldliness, instead of devotion to the Lord.

We are guilty of impiety whenever we permit our affections and thoughts to neglect God, to ignore Divine Truth, to overlook our duty to the Lord. And whenever a person or a nation is guilty of impiety, it is certain that he will also become guilty of some form of idolatry. Some idol will govern his feelings and thoughts; some passion, some ambition, some selfish desire will command his allegiance. Impiety inevitably leads to idolatry, and idolatry leads to all manner of sin and sorrow, and is fraught with ruinous consequences on the earthly plane of life.

"Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him."

Not to worship the Lord is impiety. Not to think about the Lord and His Word is impiety. To be indifferent to the Advent of the Lord, to His work of redemption, to His providence, to immortality, to the eternal truths which relate to our destiny is impiety. We ought more and more to turn our thoughts to the Lord, that He may come ever more deeply into our hearts and lives. If we fail to prepare ourselves for this closer conjunction with the Lord by meditation upon the truths of the Word, we are guilty of impiety. In its most prevalent form impiety is a state of lazy apathy and indifference regarding our relation to the Lord and regarding the fundamental forces which govern our existence. If we are indifferent to the Lord and His Word, the soul lies waste, and the weeds of wrong thoughts and the wild beasts of evil desires inhabit it.

"Seek ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is near."

It is time to seek the Lord. In many men today the finer and larger areas of the soul are undeveloped because the spiritual life is not cultivated. The fruits of the spiritual harvest are not so abundant as they should be. There is sensuality, self-indulgence, pleasure-seeking in excessive measure, but spiritual famine. And because of this famine there is unrest, distress, and conflict.

It is time to turn to the Lord, to live day by day in the obedience to Divine truths because they are Divine truths, to do one's duty day by day as a service to the Lord. It is time to learn about the Lord, to meditate upon His work of redemption, the purpose of His coming into the world, to seek to understand the laws of His providence, to live as spiritual beings preparing for life eternal. This is seeking the Lord.

"Let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

This is the promise to those who will turn from evil and falsity and seek Him. It is the promise that if men will look to the Lord, if they will seek Him with all their hearts, He will come in the power of His Holy Spirit, remove the evil, and restore righteousness and peace upon the earth.

Sometimes we hear it said, "I will make the best of life here while I am here, and when I get to the other world, if there is another world, I will make the best I can of that." But only as we live in accord with the Divine laws can me make the best of this world and attain that love of mankind which will lead us to peace. It is because so many look to themselves, to their own desires and interests, that the world is so full of perplexity, difficulty, anxiety, and strife.

But there is a way out: "Seek ye the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."

This is the Lord's promise. He cannot fail.