14 Therefore, hear the word of the Lord, O scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with [k]Sheol we have made a [l]pact.
The overwhelming [m]scourge will not reach us when it passes by,
For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”16 Therefore thus says the Lord [n]God,
“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,
A costly cornerstone for the foundation, [o]firmly placed.
He who believes in it will not be [p]disturbed.
17 “I will make justice the measuring line
And righteousness the level;
Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies
And the waters will overflow the secret place.
18 “Your covenant with death will be [q]canceled,
And your pact with Sheol will not stand;
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
Then you become its trampling place.
19 “As often as it passes through, it will [r]seize you;
For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,
And it will be [s]sheer terror to understand [t]what it means.”
20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,
And the blanket is too [u]small to wrap oneself in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as at Mount Perazim,
He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,
To do His task, His [v]unusual task,
And to work His work, His [w]extraordinary work.
22 And now do not carry on as scoffers,
Or your fetters will be made stronger;
For I have heard from the Lord [x]God of hosts
Of decisive destruction on all the earth.
God turns his attention next to Jerusalem, to the leaders of His people, both political and spiritual. As we read the first few verses, one has to wonder, who says these kinds of things?! “Yeah, we’re going to go make a deal with death, and a pact with Hell…” Well, some do, but you wouldn’t expect it of rulers, would you?
In that light, it sounds awful familiar, and again, though folks might be loath to say such things, it doesn’t mean they haven’t done it. If we turn our noses up at God, and ignore His offer of life and love, we are unwittingly choosing the opposite, death and hate. It my not be intentional to choose those things, but there’s no getting around it.
But the message here wasn’t for the foreigners, the pagan peoples who didn’t know God. No, this message was for God’s chosen people, the king, his advisors, the priests, and all of those who should have known better. Instead, they trusted in their own strength, or that of foreign nations who did not serve God. And what they were really choosing was the way of death and destruction.
Much of this seems pointed toward the coming Messiah, though it was 600-700 years away. The leaders of that day made a pact with Rome, so that the temple and their religious way of life would not be altered. Still, about 40 years later, it all ended with the destruction of that temple, and they ignored the very Cornerstone that God put in place.
Jesus was to be a refuge and anchor for those that would listen, but God warned them not to scoff, or their bonds would be made stronger. That’s exactly what happened, as many scoffed and ignored God’s message. There are plenty of scoffers today, and sadly even in the church. Many come to church without any thought of surrendering their life.
They only come to do their religious duty, which is empty and hollow, and void of real life. That’s not to say you can’t have both, there is tremendous value in some of those things, and sometimes we dismiss them too easily. But they do not bring life, God does. We need to make sure we are not just going through the motions, doing our duty, and ignoring true righteousness.
Jesus didn’t come to leave us in our filth, but to “cleanse us and purify us from all unrighteousness.” He is indeed “a tested stone, a costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed. He who believes in it will not be disturbed.” Or as John wrote more clearly, the one who believes in Him will not die, but have everlasting life (3:15-17).