Goodbye, Scoffer

A while back I felt led to write about what was happening during the Judge Kavanaugh hearings. I was somewhere in the reading for Isaiah in my One Year when all that was happening, and I was annoyed to see people once again trying to hurl unreasonable and impossible accusations his way, once more intentionally ignorant of the facts. I was in a similar passage of the book of Isaiah, where God is promising judgement, restoration, and cleansing of all injustice from Judah and Israel.

But this time, I felt as if the passage I was reading wasn’t “just” about that topic happening again. I feel like God’s passage of final judgement against the arrogant and cruel forces that mean to destroy the lives of the innocent by any means necessary is meant for any person who is suffering by unfair accusations by man and by the devil. Before laying down the law, Isaiah paints a picture of the needy, low, and innocent seeing clearly what God wanted and rejoicing in what He was going to do next. After that, God speaks out against the corrupt and the arrogant, calling them to account:

In that day, the deaf will hear words read from a book,

and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.

The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.

The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

The scoffer will be gone,

the arrogant will disappear,

and those who plot evil will be killed.

Those who convict the innocent

by their false testimony will disappear.

A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice

and those who tell lies to destroy the innocent. (Isaiah 29:18–21)

First of all, God promises a time and a future for Israel and the rest of the world where people will turn to God and be able to understand the words He has spoken and written — and because of that, the humble will be filled with fresh joy, and the poor will rejoice in the Holy One.

But that’s not all; God also promises that the evil, those who reject God and partner with the foul, lying words of the devil will be removed from the picture — they will be 100% gone from our lives and the world.

“The scoffer will be gone”

“The arrogant will disappear”

“Those who plot evil will be killed”

“Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear”

“The same fate awaits those who pervert justice…and tell lies to destroy the innocent”

The reputation of the innocent and the godliness of those who serve Him is something that I am convinced is extremely important to God. The voice of the accuser, wherever it comes from, whatever mouth spews that nonsense, you can tell it who’s boss.

You can tell that voice to get on out, to die, to disappear. Those arrogant lies that are meant to destroy and pervert? Those attempts to gain false power and influence? Those petty spits at the spotless reputation of a child of God? They all await the same fate — and they are doomed. You, on the other hand, reap the benefits, filled with a fresh joy from the Lord and rejoicing in the Holy One of Israel.

So take a deep breath; you are free to say this, no matter how silly it feels, to shut down any and every voice of the accuser, from every source:

“Goodbye, Scoffer!”