Will You Stand Up in the Presence of Murder?

By Jodi Adrian

Before I begin to wade through the slough of articles on how Canada is killing it’s own by M.A.I.D., I begin to read Isaiah. I was greatly looking forward to moving beyond the daily discouragement of reading how God’s people followed kings who continually and horrifically “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD,”¹ however, as I begin to read Isaiah the familiar heaviness of 1 and 2 Kings washes over me.

See the Pervasive Sickness

In the first chapter of Isaiah God is asking His children—the ones he “reared and brought up”— “Why?”² Why the repeated rebellion? Why the willing allegiance to kings who rule corruptly? God in His wisdom and love for his children, asks them to consider why their lives are characterized by evil. He implores the Israelites to see, and to acknowledge, that they are thoroughly and devastatingly sick:

“The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil.”
Isaiah 1:5b-6

God’s children are sick! This picture of disorder which compromises every part of the individual—mind, heart, and body—powerfully communicates the destructive power of sin against the mental, spiritual, and physical capacities of man. God’s children, whom He has given wisdom and discernment, forsake His gifts for foolish delusions. They live as though they have no Father, defender or friend. Every crevice of the heart is revealed to disintegrate, from courage to cowardice, and from faith to unbelief. The bodies of God’s people bear the marks of sickness as well, with “bruises and sores and raw wounds,”³ which are left carelessly exposed and at risk of infection.

How sad, how tragic, to imagine this scene. Children lovingly reared and brought up by a faithful Father, turn away, and forsake all He has done for them. Instead of love and gratitude, their hearts despise Him, and instead of remaining where they are cared for and protected, they choose to live “utterly estranged”⁴ from Him, where sickness is free to ravage every aspect of their being.

See Where you Sit

God continues with his piercing observation of the ones he loves:

“Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.”
Isaiah 1:7

“In your very presence” evil thrives and destroys. As I write this, pangs of grief grip my heart: “in your very presence.” God’s people, who could have and should have stood up and proclaimed the truth, sat down in the very presence of evil. As children were sacrificed, and foreign gods worshipped, God’s people sat down and were complicit.⁵

These verses strike my heart deeply, because this observation sounds hauntingly familiar. Our country is not only sacrificing babies (to the god of comfort by abortion), but the terminally ill, the elderly, the mentally ill, and soon the youth to M.A.I.D.. The country of Canada is killing image bearers of God, “in your very presence.” It is with a very heavy heart that I see and acknowledge how we, as God’s children, often sit in the presence of evil, and thereby apathetically contribute to it’s growth.

See the Duplicitous Offerings

Passages such as Isaiah 1 should move us to ask, “Are we, like the Israelites, bringing offerings to God with one hand, while with the other affirming (whether by word or silence) the bills and policies which perpetuate the murder of His image bearers?”

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? Bring no more vain offerings …”
Isaiah 1:11-13a

What God desires from His people is abundantly clear: humble authentic worship. He beseeches those who appear before Him with tangible and various offerings, to seek the heart behind the gift. The multitude of gifts you bring, the quality of gifts you bring, the cost of the gifts you bring—if offered without a heart of worship or life seeking to honour the Lord—is meaningless.

This passage ought to make us pause. As we offer our lives, resources, and time to the Lord on a Sunday, we need to honestly ask, do we bring these offerings with one hand, while fear or apathy which compels us to sit in the face of evil, is held in the other? Are we ever guilty of extending a duplicitous offering, and in doing so, arrogantly trampling God’s grace?

See the Blood on Your Hands

God continues to confront His people through Isaiah as he writes,

“When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
Isaiah 1:15-17

Blood, the staining evidence of sin covers the hands of God’s people. Stop and think about this. The very means by which we are united to God as His children, is what has the potential to separate us from Him. The hideous staining blood of murder and corruption opposes the pure cleansing blood of Jesus. In the face of this opposition God calls his children to something tremendous: make yourselves clean, cease to do evil, learn to do good, correct oppression, seek out and bring justice to the needy. In love, God implores His children: “See the blood on your hands and cleanse yourselves!”

As if in anticipation of the hopeless response of sinful humans desperate yet unsuccessful at cleansing themselves, God continues,

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
Isaiah 1:18

Amazing grace! God, the Father who “reared and brought up” children who turned from Him and stained themselves with sinful blood, offers grace. The call to God’s people to cleanse themselves, is really a call to accept the cleansing blood of Jesus, who would come to earth, die in their place, and rise again.⁶

While amazing, this call to live free of staining sin, soaked in justice and righteousness, would also have been daunting in the face of political and cultural opposition in Isaiah’s time. This call to live free of staining sin, soaked in justice and righteousness remains daunting today. However, this call is not offered independently, it is offered by the One who is willing and able to help. God’s people are exhorted to live holy lives in the midst of evil, with the God of justice and righteousness by their side. He is the One who assures us,

“fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Isaiah 41:10

See the Way Forward

With this hope and assurance, we can clearly see the way forward: confess, be cleansed, courageously stand up. Confess your fear, apathy or outright rebellion for sitting in the very presence of evil, be cleansed by the blood of Jesus, stand up in the forgiveness that is yours, and with love and confidence commit to uphold justice and righteousness, even in the face of opposition. The way forward is as children who confidently rely on their Father in heaven who goes with them in power and compassion.

For further contemplation:

Friend, will you lovingly, patiently, help those you love understand the evil in their midst, as topics of abortion and MAID come into view?

Will you show reverence to God and love for your family member by speaking truth in love, regardless of the repercussions?

Will you risk being misunderstood and likely even hated by standing up in the presence of evil with voices and lives which proclaim the justice and righteousness of the Bible?

I pray that we as God’s children, whom he “reared and brought up,”⁷ invite into our lives, the work of the “Mighty One of Israel”⁸ who declares,

“Zion shall be redeemed by justice, and those in her who repent, by righteousness.”
Isaiah 1:27

*For more information on M.A.I.D. in Canada, see the following resources:

To express your support of Bill C-218, which will amend the Criminal Code to prevent those whose sole diagnosis is mental illness from being able to access M.A.I.D., please email your local MLA and MP.

Jodi is also speaking out about this on instagram @biblicalcounsellinggroup

1 Kings 11:6, 14:22, 15:26, 15:34, 16:25, 22:52; 2 Kings 3:2, 8:18, 27, 13:2, 11, 14:24, 15:9, 18, 24, 28, 17:2, 21:2, 16, 20, 23:32, 37, 24:9, 19 ↩︎
Isaiah 1:2, 5 ↩︎
Isaiah 1:6 ↩︎
Isaiah 1:4 ↩︎
2 Kings 17:16-17 is one such example ↩︎
Romans 3:21-26 ↩︎
Isaiah 1:1 ↩︎
Isaiah 1:24 ↩︎

Jodi Adrian is a biblical counsellor at The Biblical Counselling Group in North Vancouver, British Columbia. She is the mother of three daughters, a son, and a daughter-in-law; and she is grandmother to two adorable little ones. Jodi works with children, youth and adults, and counts it a privilege to help individuals navigate relationships, including abuse.