Isaiah 1:27-31 - Repentance, Judgment, and the Fall of False Worship - 284

A promise with teeth—Isaiah 1:27–31 offers redemption rooted in justice while exposing where false worship leads. We open with the hope that Zion will be redeemed and the repentant restored, then follow Isaiah’s images as they unmask Judah’s idols: sacred oaks, alluring gardens, and the illusion of strength that dries into tinder. What looks sturdy without God—status, alliances, rituals—turns brittle fast, and the very works people trust become the spark that lights the fire.

We share how Isaiah’s critique lands today. Modern “oaks and gardens” are subtle, even respectable: wealth as identity, sexuality unmoored from covenant, platforms without character, power without service. These promises feel practical until they leave us empty and ashamed. Repentance is not about polishing behavior but reordering the heart, turning from counterfeit refuge to the God who makes people just and whole. That inward return shows up outwardly as integrity, neighbor-love, and courage in the places where compromise once felt smart.

Along the way, we explore the communal nature of judgment and mercy in Isaiah’s vision. Rebels are broken together, but a remnant returns—and that return is open to anyone willing to lay down their idols. Strength built on self-sufficiency can’t withstand a spark; strength rooted in God becomes a well-watered garden. If you’ve felt the withering—fatigue, cynicism, the ache of chasing more—this conversation offers a clear path back: repent, realign, and recover the joy of living in step with God’s character.

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Transcript

Snarky Setup And Stakes In Isaiah

Daniel Moore 0:05

So did Judah really think trusting in idols and shady alliances was going to work out? I mean, how's that wooden god treating you now? Is it absorbing the fire nicely? When Isaiah said the rebels and sinners would be broken together, did any of them stop to wonder if maybe, just maybe this was a good time to rethink their life choices? And another quick question, did they seriously believe that their sacred trees were going to save them? Because God seems pretty clear that they're about to go up in smoke, and I'm guessing that wasn't the worst of experience that they were planning. Well, welcome back to Connecting the Gap, the podcast where we walk through scripture one passage at a time, kind of like Israel should have done, instead of sprinting straight into bad decisions like it was an Olympic sport. Today we're diving into Isaiah 1, verse 27 to 31, where God gives both a hope-filled promise and a serious reality check. In this section, God says Zion will be redeemed with justice, and repentance will bring restoration. That's the encouraging part, the God's got you moment. But right after that, he turns to the rebels and says, By the way, everything you're worshiping, yeah, that's all going to burn. Not exactly the inspirational quote people stitch on pillows, but it gets the point across. Isaiah basically tells them if you cling to idols, you'll end up like idols, dry, weak, and ready to catch fire. So imagine God saying, Repent, return to me, and I'll redeem you. Stick with the idols, and well, hope you brought the marshmallows. So grab your Bible, your coffee, and maybe your spiritual fire extinguisher, and let's dig into how God offers redemption to the repentant while giving a very warm, or okay, a blazing hot warning to those who insist on chasing everything but him. Let's get to it. Welcome to Connecting the Gap. This is a podcast about marriage, Bible, and book studies, and we interview people that have a story. I'm Daniel Moore, your host. Thank you guys for joining us this week. If not familiar with our show, check out our website at connectingthegap.net for our platforms. Our YouTube and Rumble links are there. We're also on the Christian podcasting app, Edifi, and we're also on your Alexa and Google Smart devices. You can also visit us on social on Facebook, Instagram, and X at CTGapOnline. If you're a fan of our show, please subscribe. Feel free to leave a comment on our platforms, give us a thumbs up or a five-star Apple review, and we'd be eternally grateful to you for doing that. Also, our new book is out, Marriage is a Mission, Living Out God's Design for Marriage. You can pick up your copy of the paperback, hardback, or ebook at Amazon.com. It's also on Apple Books and Google Playbooks as well. In addition, we also have a six-session study guide that you can purchase exclusively on Amazon as well. And we also just released our newest book, 42 Days to a Stronger Marriage, a Christ-centered devotional for couples. That one's also available in all three formats: Hardback, Paperback, and ebook on Amazon as well. And you can also get it on Google Play. So go pick yours up today. Those will make some great Christmas presents for later this week. So go grab those now. Well, this week, as I said, we're going to continue chapter one in Isaiah. And we're just going to go ahead, no matter how long it takes us, to finish out this chapter this week. So we're going to go all the way to verse 31. I think we're still probably going to be able to keep it close to that 30-minute time frame. So go ahead and grab your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter 1. And let's go ahead and get back into this verse-by-verse Bible study in Isaiah. Well, first of all, as we get started here, I do want to wish you all a Merry Christmas from us here at Connecting the Gap Ministries. It's been an awesome year as we are actually wrapping up pretty close to our sixth, getting into our sixth year, I guess I should say, of our podcast. I think we made it through five years now since this podcast began. And of course, over time we've added marriage life and more to the platform as well. That's the side of it that my wife joins me, Michelle, and we do marriage podcasts. Those land on Thursdays. And of course, if you follow our podcast, you'll see that because we release them both on this same platform every week. But we just want to say a Merry Christmas to all of you, and we hope that you have a great holiday here with your family and friends, and that you get everything that you wanted for Christmas. So we're going to go ahead right now, though, and get started into our Bible study this week, as we're going to be starting with Isaiah chapter 1, verse 27, and we're going to finish out this chapter today. Verse 27 says, Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those and her who repent by righteousness. So this verse here, and it as we look at last week, first of all, if you remember right, as we went through all of those scriptures, Isaiah was relaying message from God through the vision that he was very upset with Judah and especially their leadership because there was so much corruption. They had actually kind of joined the forces with the criminals, and they had let corruption and impurities get inside of them, and it pretty much created a wall between them and God. And God was talking to them, you know, pretty heavily about how he was going to uh purify them, you know, like silver with the the dross and the fire, and how he was going to come in and try to restore all of them by doing that process. And so we're continuing that discussion here in Isaiah chapter 1 with verse 27. Here this verse reiterates that redemption is only possible through ethical and moral realignment. Zion here in this verse is synonymous with Jerusalem. It will not be saved by national pride or ritual observance, but through justice and righteousness, qualities that reflect God's own character. Earlier in this chapter, when we studied through, we found out that Israel and you know Judah here, Jerusalem, they were being fake. They were coming to the tabernacle, they were doing their sacrifices, they were, you know, doing all the rituals according to the way that they thought they were supposed to be doing them, but they were faking it out. They weren't really being serious with what they were doing. And in essence, a lot of them probably thought they were still saved doing that. But here in this scripture, it's saying that, you know, you're not going to be saved by that ritual observance or even the national pride that you may have being a part of Judah. That's not going to save you. The only way that you're going to find salvation is through justice and righteousness. And as we talked a little bit last week as well, you know, we have God inside of us, then we should reflect his character. You know, Jesus Christ should come out of us when we give our lives to him and become that servant. So the phrase those who repent in this verse points to a remnant theology that's commonly found in Isaiah. Only those in Zion who turn from their sin will be part of that restoration. So basically, with this whole thought process that's being relayed here in verse 27, the keystone to that is repentance. They're going to have to repent. According to the commentaries from Kill and Dilech, this verse makes a direct theological connection. Divine redemption is not arbitrary. You can't trade it out. You can't go and bribe for it. It's only based on God's justice and human repentance. That's the only way you're going to get that repentance and that forgiveness. It's a call to moral transformation, not just an external reform. So whatever happens on the outside, you can fake it all you want to, but you have to change your heart. We have to make this change when we repent from the inside out. And that way we reflect God. He comes back inside of us, and then we give our lives back over to Him to lead and guide us every day through that path that He set before us and what He has called us to. So here, you know, Isaiah was trying to get through to the people of Judah that, you know, you're going to have to change your way of thinking. You're going to have to change your processes and the way that you do things if you're going to expect to ever get any blessing from God. So in verse 28, as we move on, it says, But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed. So here a contrast is drawn with the repentant. Those who continue in rebellion, which that's those that are called rebels and sinners, will not partake in the restoration. Broken together implies a communal extent of judgment. None of the unrepentant are going to escape. The verb in this verse here, consumed, that alludes to total destruction, often linked with fire in prophetic literature. If you set a fire to a stack of logs, and you allow that stack of logs to burn, and we actually tell someone that that fire consumed that stack of logs, that means that there's no logs left. Whenever that fire's done, it consumed it all. It's now just a pile of ash laying there on the ground. And so what God is saying here in essence to Judah is that anybody who does not want to be repentant, anybody that does not want to allow God to come in and transform them from the inside out, if you're going to hang out with the rebels and the sinners, then you're all going to be broken together. You're not going to receive that forgiveness from God, and you will be consumed into destruction and into judgment. The historical context here, this also involved leaders and people who pursued idolatry, political alliances, and injustice despite God's warnings. Does not matter who you are. And it doesn't matter if you're in leadership or if you're just the orphan or the widow, you know, the ones that were considered at the bottom of the barrel at that time. It does not matter from the top to the bottom, if you do not accept Christ and accept the uh or ask for the forgiveness to get that repentance to God, then you're not going to be able to receive that forgiveness from Him. So it does not matter what you try to do, you can't gain this by works. So the pulpit commentary here notes this juxtaposition of judgment and mercy as regularly found in prophetic literature, especially Isaiah. There's a clear ethical dualism at play here. Repentance leads to life. And what that means, of course, if we repent of our sins, it is pretty much across the table from the beginning to the end of the Bible. If we repent, where do we go? We get an eternity with Christ. If you rebel, then you're not going to get that eternity with Christ. At that time, we're actually giving in to what Satan wants us to do, and that's going to lead to destruction. And of course, we formally know that if we allow our lives to stay in that destructive path and we follow Satan and do what he wants us to do, then there's a very hot place waiting for us because that's a choice we make. And you know, you hear people talk about sometimes, well, if he's a loving God, then why would he send you to hell? Why would he create this place to put you in and burn you forever? Well, the news flash here is God does not send us to hell. And hell was not necessarily created for us. Hell was created for Satan and all of his demons. But when we choose not to accept Christ into our heart, when we make that choice to not follow him and to put the truths and the actions into play that he has set before us, then we ourselves send ourselves to hell because we have that choice. So this is talking about us today as well, as well as it was talking to Judah back then. If we repent, we're going to get eternal life. God has a mansion built for us in heaven, we're going to spend an eternity with him. But if we do not choose that path, and we choose the life of sin, then we choose to go to hell. That's where that's just the way that works. So as we move on to verse 29, it says, For they shall be ashamed of the oaks that you desired, and you shall blush for the gardens that you have chosen. And this is an interesting little verse, and it was really fun for me to go through and and to tear apart. We're going to go ahead and get into this and explain a little bit of this this week and see what this means. So this verse here addresses specific idolatrous practices. The oaks and gardens, they were often sites for pagan worship, such as fertility cults. And if you look in in Hosea chapter 4, verse 13, you will see a reference to this where it says there they sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is good. Therefore, your daughters play the whore, and your brides commit adultery. So as we look at these oaks and gardens, the desire and choice that it talks of here in this scripture, that denotes how the people willfully turn to these forms of worship in defiance of the true God. So here we're starting to get into the nuts and bolts of exactly why God was so angry with Judah and what was going on at this time because of the blatant disobedience and the fact that they weren't really worshiping God. In this verse here it also says that you shall blush for the gardens. So ashamed and blush are terms that connote deep regret or disgrace, especially when the false promises of idols are exposed. Historically, Israel's synocratism with Canaanite religious practices was one of the reasons that God brought judgment. This verse refers to pagan worship practices that had infiltrated Judah. The oaks and gardens, they were commonly associated with Canaanite religious ceremonies, and with those religious ceremonies that the Canaanites were doing, those were particularly the worship of fertility gods like Baal and Asherah. These rituals often took place in lush, natural settings, such as groves of oak trees or specially planted sacred gardens. Those were believed to be sanctified places where deities could be encountered. One thing that I take from this scripture, what is so amazing to me, is if you look in society today, what is one of the biggest sins that actually seems to take place, and one of the biggest addictions that's hard to get over in society, it's our sexual perversions. A lot of our sins that take place today, you see more and more of people being, you know, arrested and put in jail for sexual exploitation or for trafficking, uh, sexual molestation. If you get on X, especially any day of the week, you're going to see all kinds of stories, just story after story after story, where people have gotten in trouble for sexual sin. And a lot of it is adults versus children. It's very disgusting. And we still fight that as a site, society today. You know, as Michelle and I, we have marriage ministry. As we deal with marriage couples and talk to even premarital couples, we come across this quite often with the pornography. There's a lot of pornography issues that are out there today in what used to be the man's world, the women have crossed over into that as well. We're seeing so much pornography use, even from the female side. And this is just a big sin that for some reason the human instinct that we have, that is a huge desire. God has created us with that desire, but it can be very tainted, and Satan plays on that. And so here we see that Judah was going through this exact thing as they were picking up some of the idolatrous practices and the sexual perversions from the Canaanites. Now, these these practices, they weren't necessarily started by the Israelites themselves, they originated with the Canaanite people who lived in the land before Israel's conquest. God had repeatedly, over and over and over, warned Israel through the law of Moses not to adopt the religious customs of the surrounding nations. However, over time Israel did just that, blending pagan practices with their worship of Yahweh, which is known as syncretism. And if you remember, they were in Canaan because that was the quote unquote promised land. That was the land that God promised them when they were out there wandering around in the desert for 40 years because they couldn't decide if they really wanted to obey God or not. So a whole lot of the uh a big generation there died before they were actually even allowed to go into Canaan because of the sins of the people. But that was a land that God had promised them. And what's crazy is this whole time, you know, God knew what was going to happen when they got there. Instead of being thankful for this land as they conquered it and thanking God for the blessings, they eventually, here as you see, took over the immoralities and the bad practices of the actual people that they conquered when they went into the land of Canaan and took it upon their own and made it their own ways of worship. So in these sacred groves and gardens, what are some of the things that happened there? Why was these such why was it such a bad thing that God was talking against this through Isaiah? Well, here the people practiced idolatry, as we spoke of earlier. And here's a few of the things that actually took place in those groves and gardens. First of all, they were offering sacrifices to false gods. They no longer was keeping the one true God as their savior. They now had false gods, which, as we will see here, they were made out of wood. They would chisel them out and carve them out and claim that these little gods had all this power and would attribute power to them, and then they would offer sacrifices to those false gods. Another thing, as we were just talking about a while ago, there was ritual prostitution. And along with that, these were part of fertility cults. There was actually cults set up where they would take babies, they would do baby sacrifices to these fertility gods, and they were having prostitutions with uh with prostitutes as a symbol of worship to certain gods. It was just a disgusting civilization that was taking place at that time, and God was very angry about this for obvious reasons. They were also making cars. Images like the asherol poles, for example. You'll see those mentioned in many places, especially during the times of the judges, they would go and you know tear those down and destroy those places of that bail worship. And one other thing that was taking place in these groves, they were engaging in ceremonies aimed at manipulating fertility and agricultural productivity. So they felt like, you know, in a lot of these different ways that they were worshiping these idols and doing this idol worship and the ceremonies that they were doing, they thought it was helping their crops to grow. They thought that it was helping them have more children. They thought that it was creating blessings upon them and their families because of all this worship that was taking place. But these acts, they represented a direct violation of the covenant that God had made with Israel, and they were spiritually corrupting. They were destroying Judah from the inside out. And that is exactly why Isaiah here was speaking of the people eventually being ashamed of these places. You know, they had sought pleasure and security through idolatry rather than faithfulness to God. And judgment, it was going to expose the futility and the shamefulness of their actions before it was all said and done. So here in Isaiah chapter 1, verse 29, we see the oaks and gardens, they symbolize the people's idolatrous rebellion, and their shame and disgrace reflects God's coming judgment on those unfaithful practices. They were going to pay for those sins that they were committing in those gardens. The New American Commentary points out that this emotional language anticipates a future realization of guilt when these objects of devotion are shown to be powerless. It's also prophetic of the day when spiritual conviction brings about repentance, albeit sometimes it's just a little bit too late. But here in this passage it moves from justice to purification to restoration, drawing a sharp divide between the repentant and the rebellious. The historical context of these scriptures includes widespread idolatry, corrupt leadership, and injustice in Judah before the exile. Through poetic and vivid imagery, Isaiah here is trying to present God's desire not just to judge. We sometimes feel like God's just this taskmaster standing there with the whip, you know, just trying to get us to move along like a donkey or something. That's not what God's doing. He's his whole goal is to restore us. He wants us to be have a restoration process in our life that brings us back to him and that love that we have for him. And that is provided, though, that the people of Judah would repent and return to righteousness. Again, it comes back to that choice. If they were not going to decide to repent and do what God called them to do, then they were going to be the part of the bad people, uh the criminals and the ones that were taking the bribes and all of those people that didn't did not want to follow God's law, they were going to be falling into that category, and that's where the destruction was going to take place. So they definitely had a choice that they had to make when it came down to if they were going to allow God to purify them or if they were going to stay in their old ways. So as we continue here to verse 30, it says, For you shall be like an oak whose leaf withers, and like a garden without water. So here this verse is continuing this rebuke against the rebellious Judah, rich in poetic imagery signifying judgment. The metaphor of an oak whose leaf withers refers to what is typically a strong, enduring tree becoming dry, lifeless, and dying, suggestive of the withered spiritual state of Judah. Oak trees are very, very strong. I used to work at a cabinet shop. And when I first started working there, the main wood that we sold the most at the very beginning when I first started was oak. It's a good solid wood that can take a beating. And you know, oak trees, when they stand tall and straight, very strong, they're very healthy, they are a very tough tree to take on. That is also how our relationship with God is. If we have a good solid relationship with our Lord and we allow him to come in and lead and guide us and live inside of us like we're supposed to, the Bible tells us that even the gates of hell cannot prevail against us. We are overcomers, we are winners, we work from a victorious position in our life because, of course, now since Jesus has come and died on the cross for our sins and gave us that salvation and that opportunity of repentance, Satan has no weapons that he can form against us. We will not falter. And so here, Isaiah is comparing this oak tree to what their spiritual state could be if they would just follow Christ and do what he's called them to do. You know, here in the Near Ancient East, the oak tree was symbolic of strength, longevity, and even a sacred grove in pagan worship. So to say that the oak dries up signifies that even what appears spiritually strong among the people has definitely lost its vitality. You know, the image here also of a garden without water intensifies this devastation. In Israel's semi-arid climate, a garden without water would wither quickly and die. Isaiah uses this metaphor to describe the condition of a people who's all turned away from God. So this garden which should be lush and should be full of life, well, it's now drying out due to lack of divine substance and care, which they have forfeited by forsaking the Lord. It's all their choice. The whole reason that this is happening is because of a choice that they've made. As the prophet earlier chastised them for superficial rituals devoid of righteousness, and we talked about that in verses eleven through fifteen here of Isaiah 1, this verse shows the results of such spiritual emptiness. According to the Kill and Dilech commentary, the Oaken Garden can also point to the idolatrous practice of worshiping in groves and sacred gardens. These places, once objects of illicit worship, are now portrayed as drying up, symbolizing the futility and decay of idol worship. The people who once turned to these practices for spiritual fulfillment now faced emptiness and judgment. John Calvin in his commentary emphasizes the point that Judah had lost its spiritual vitality because it abandoned God. He argues that the spiritual decay is not caused by outside forces, but is the result of internal corruption and the people's rebellion. Again, they created their own state of confusion, and because of them and the choices they've made, they are now sitting in uh this puddle that they've created, and they are now in the off the defense against God because of what He's going to have to do to them in judgment to bring them back to where they need to be. So as we finish up here with the last verse, which is verse 31, here in chapter one of Isaiah, it says, And the strong shall become tender, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together with none to quench them. So this verse here continues the theme of destruction in vivid and apocalyptic terms. The strong here in this verse refers to people in positions of power or presumed strength. So those would be like officials, warriors, or even kings. And those were the pride of Judah, the leadership. These seemingly strong ones, well, they're going to become tender, dry material that catches fire easily. Their work, perhaps referring to both their deeds and the objects of idolatry, those are going to be the spark that ignites that judgment. So we see the the leadership here that looks like it might be like the oak tree, for instance. They were this solid, you know, this solid position within the kingdom of Judah. Everybody looked to them for leadership. Everybody looked to them for guidance in everything that they do. Well, as God comes in and he starts to try to do this uh restoration process on this kingdom of Judah, they're going to become just dry tender. And if you put tender in a fire and you light it with a match, that stuff is very flammable. It just burns, you know, up immediately and catches fire very easily. And all of this is happening because of the things that they were actually doing, the works that they had in their life, the idolatry, the worship of idols that was taking place. That was the spark that was igniting this judgment that God was putting up against them. This verse here alludes to the idea that the punishment of Judah is self-inflicted. Their own actions produce the spark that lights the fire of God's wrath. The burning together denotes collective judgment. What does that mean? Well, if it's a collective judgment on the kingdom of Judah, then no one's going to escape and there's going to be no deliverance. It's going to affect everybody. The imagery of unquenchable fire is a common biblical metaphor for God's irreversible judgment. You will see this repeated over and over as you go through the Bible. Echoes of this can be seen in other texts, such as Isaiah 66, 24, which we're going to get into eventually. And Jesus references to Gehenna in the Gospels. We're going to talk about that also here soon as we get into, I believe it's chapter 14. We're going to have a big study that we're going to go through once we hit that chapter. So here as we wrap up this one, commentator Matthew Henry asserts that this verse portrays the certainty and thoroughness of God's judgment against those who trust in their own strength rather than God's righteousness. Judah's leaders had turned to political alliances and idolatry, believing that such practices would preserve sovereignty. Instead, the works they relied on became the cause of their downfall. Choices, choices, choices. The pulpit commentary notes the parallel between the strong being reduced to tender and the idea that no human ability or authority can stand in opposition to God's work. The work becoming a spark, well, that underscores that human endeavor apart from God, it's inevitably going to lead to ruin. They serve as a concluding section to this chapter, obviously, and they summarize both the hope of redemption and the certainty of judgment. It presents a contrast between those who repent and are restored and those who persist in rebellion and face destruction. I believe Isaiah made that very clear in what was going to happen based on whichever choice they made. So as we started there with verse 27, that verse offered a message of hope. Though Zion or Jerusalem has become corrupt, God promises redemption through justice and righteousness, and importantly, this redemption is not automatic. It doesn't just come, it's only for those who repent. God's desire is to restore his people, but it requires a turning away from sin and a return to him. It's a cause and effect. You have to take the action, and then you get to reap the reward. In verse 28, the tone shifts to warning in that verse. Those who continue in rebellion and sin, who forsake the Lord, they will not share in that redemption. They will be broken and consumed. So this here is a sobering reminder that God's justice includes both mercy and it also includes judgment. Verses twenty-nine to thirty, those verses refer to idolatrous practices, particularly worship in sacred groves and gardens, which were common in pagan religions. The people had turned to false gods and unholy pleasures, but those would ultimately bring them shame. The imagery of those withering oaks that used to be strong and secure, and the dry gardens that used to be luscious, green, and full of life, that symbolizes spiritual barrenness and the inevitable decay that results when we turn our hearts and our lives away from God. And in that final verse there of chapter one in Isaiah, it emphasizes that even the strong, even those who rely on their own power or accomplishments, they are not going to escape judgment. Their strength and works will become the fuel that actually creates their own destruction. Without God, there is no protection from the consuming fire of judgment. So how do we apply these scriptures to us today as we close this episode here of Connecting the Gap? Well, first of all, there's a call to repentance. Just as in Isaiah's time, God calls individuals and communities today, that's us, to repent and to return to Him. Redemption is available, but it requires humility and a willingness to turn from sin. Also, for today, justice and righteousness still matters. God's plan for redemption is rooted in justice and righteousness. So what does this do? Well, it should challenge us to live ethically, pursue justice for others, and reflect God's character in our actions in all areas of our life. We should be able to put our lives out there where people see Christ in us because He is in us. And so we should be reflecting that in the way that we live. Also, false idols, unfortunately, they still exist. While we ourselves, and it may still happen, actually, but we may not worship under trees or in sacred gardens. I know in I don't know anybody here in myself that does anyway, but it might happen today somewhere. Modern idols, though, such as wealth, power, pleasure, and status, they can still draw our hearts away from God. And these idols ultimately leave us empty and ashamed. And I can also think of some other idols that we put and start in in our lives in front of God, such as money. That's a big one. There's a lot of people that strive to gain wealth as they live here on this earth, and that's how they define themselves. They define themselves by how much wealth they have and what power they have with that money. Another thing that we can apply today is strength without God is futile. You know, if we rely on our own strength, our own achievements or resources apart from God, that's going to lead to spiritual ruin. True security and purpose only comes if we have an actual one-on-one relationship with our Lord. And the fifth thing here is God offers both mercy and judgment. This passage of scripture reminds us that God is both merciful and just.