Read Is 9:8—10:11
Isa 9:13-18 The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of the LORD of hosts. (14) So the LORD cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day— (15) the elder and honored man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail; (16) for those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. (17) Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men, and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still. (18) For wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns; it kindles the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

Hear this prophecy against Israel, God’s chosen people. Pay attention! These disasters which overtook Israel, these armies of the Assyrians which are about to overtake the land of Syria, Lebanon and Israel were warnings from the Lord of Hosts to repent. The Lord struck his own people to wake them up from their sins but they preferred their slumber. So in one day he would take away both elders and priests, church and state. These two institutions took away the people of the Lord and caused them to believe a lie. The people not only turned to false gods and to a false faith but in doing so their hearts turned cold and sought out their own benefit over their neighbor, the widow, the orphan, the poor and foreigner at the gate. They did not recognize the signs and turn to the Lord or inquire of them.
See the fierce anger and wrath of the Lord. These people whom he has chosen, he will not rejoice in their young men and have no pity on the fatherless and widow. All had sinned and turned away from the Lord their God to follow and perform wickedness. So he finally let their wickedness burn them up and the Assyrians came who destroyed house and home. They killed women and children. They had no mercy on the Israelites and the survivors were taken away as slaves.
What the Lord did to the Israelites is to be a lesson for us and the world. Many false pastors and Christians think the Lord does not hold the nations of the world to account. They dismiss natural disasters and foreign and native born attacks as nothing but the course in life of an evil world. While it is true that these things happen to us because we are in an evil world, we are not to dismiss them out of hand and have self-righteous indignation. When we do, we are acting like the ancient Israelites. Know this, the sins of the world are piling up and our own wickedness will bring the whole cosmos into ruin through flames of judgment. The Church is not the instrument of God’s judgment but the voice calling out to repent of false gods, false doctrine and a wicked life and turn to God’s mercy, love, kindness and forgiveness found only in Christ Jesus.
When evil befalls us and our nation then we need to repent. We need to inquire of the Lord, examine ourselves and our city, county, state and nation. We need to decry our and our nation’s sins. We need to point out the false teachers and depose (through the appointed means) those leaders of our government who increase wickedness in our land. Not only for things such as legalizing abortion, homosexual marriages, easy divorces and the like but also to make sure the poor, the elderly, the orphan are not oppressed and are cared for. Let us confess our and our nations sin and turn to Jesus for mercy and guidance in both Church and State.

Lord Jesus Christ, grant us and our nation repentance. Give us your Spirit to trust in you, to love our neighbor and for leaders who will govern us with wisdom, justice, equity with righteousness