The book of Isaiah is the first book in the section of the Old Testament that we call the "prophets". It is the Old Testament book that has the clearest picture of the coming Messiah. The New Testament quotes from Isaiah more than from any other prophet.

Isaiah begins with God's indictment against the nation for its sins. God spoke about how much He hated even their religiousness, their sacrifices and holidays. The people had become so numbed to their sin that they felt that as long as they were religious, then everything was just fine. God didn't want them being religious. He wanted them to change their ways and turn from their sins.

As hard as it can be to talk about sin, and to be reminded of our own sin, God doesn't want to leave us in a place of condemnation. He wants us to turn from our sins and to receive His cleansing.

We talked last week about the word translated here as "scarlet" (towla’), which was the actual name for a worm in Hebrew. This particular worm was used in the making of red dye, and so it’s often translated "scarlet". The worm would attach itself to a tree as it prepared to lay its eggs, and in the process, the mother would die, leaving a red stain on the wood. Later, after the babies would hatch and leave, the red stain would dry up, turn white, and flake off the wood. Interestingly enough, in Psalm 22:6 the Messiah is claiming, "I am a worm" (towla’). The picture of the Messiah as a towla’ is amazingly parallel to Jesus dying on a cross of wood in the process of giving birth to us, leaving a bloody stain that turns our sins from scarlet to be white as snow.

Jerusalem is described as a wife that once was faithful to her husband, but has now become a prostitute.

Some of you know what it’s like to be betrayed by a spouse. You have a good sense of what God goes through with us when we walk away from Him and don’t trust Him.

dross – the impurities that are found in raw metal. Israel, rather than becoming more pure, has become more polluted.

Wine isn’t always looked on in the Bible as a negative thing. Drunkenness is. At times, wine was looked on as something special, something precious.

The point Isaiah is making is that they’ve become "watered down". They’ve lost their effectiveness.

loveth gifts – or, "loves bribes". Those sitting in the place of judgment would look more favorably on those who gave them gifts.

The orphans and widows were the most poor and helpless individuals in society. Without money to bribe a judge, they couldn’t even make it into court, let alone expect a good judgment.

tin – b@diyl – alloy, tin, dross. This is not just the impurity of dross (as in NIV), but a metal consisting of a mixture of another metal. "Tin", or the alloy, is actually a useful metal, but not near as valuable as pure silver.

A partial fulfillment of this came through Judah’s judgment during the Babylonian captivity. Before the Babylonians came and wiped out the city of Jerusalem in 586 BC, the Jews were followers of just about every god that was ever thought of. But after the Babylonian captivity, they were very strongly followers of God alone.

This will be nothing compared to what Israel will be like after the tribulation period when Jesus comes back to rule and reign in Israel, on earth.

the oaks – referring to the sensuous pagan idolatry that Israel practiced.

oak – different word than that used in verse 29. Here the idea is that of a tree that has lost all its leaves, a tree that’s dying.

tow – a strand of flax, tow; Those that considered themselves so strong would simply go up in a puff of smoke.

Judgment is often compared to fire. Fire can either be something to harden you (like steel) or it can burn you up (like dry tinder).