A Remnant Repents

Isaiah 17:6-9. “Yet gleaning grapes shall be left in it, as the shaking of an olive tree, two or three berries to the top of the uppermost bough, four or five in the outermost fruitful branches thereof, saith the Lord God of Israel. At that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel. And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.”

The gleaning is what was left after the harvesters had finished their work. Just a few grapes, just a few olives still clung to the vines and the branches.  They picture those who are left after Assyria destroys Syria and Ephraim. And that remnant, that gleaning, turns to God. They finally figured it out.  They turned away from the idols, the groves of trees where the altars to false gods were built. They forsook the worship of things they had made with their own hands, and turned instead to the One Who had made them.

How strange it is that mankind has always wanted to make things to worship. Those things can be tiny beads or miniature dolls all the way up to the giant statues of gods to which people bring food as a sacrifice. All this worship is directed at man-made objects, while the Maker of all mankind is ignored.

Here in America, we seem to want to worship other people. Entertainers, wealthy people, politicians. We hang on every word they say, no matter how vile or blasphemous, while we ignore the God Who made those people we like to worship.

It’s amazing.