The Lord’s Indictment Against Hypocrisy

Commentary

In the previous verses, we were told how dead works are judged. Now we are told how wickedness is judged (v. 16). The inadequacy of the old sacrificial system is especially shown by the list of sins given in these verses:
1. Hateful attitudes – (v. 17)
2. Sharing with thieves and adulterers – (v. 18)
3. Lying – (v. 19)
4. Slander – (v. 20)
God’s longsuffering grace must never be looked on as laxity (II Peter 3:3-10) nor abused (v. 21). His reckoning for rebellion will be carried out. Before destruction comes there will be an opportunity for deliberation and repentance (v. 22), Some of the greatest blessings ever to come to mankind have come through the Jew who was acting in the will of God. To the Jew, we owe our Bible, our Savior, and our faith. However, the Jew out of the will of God can do more to neutralize, dynamic, evangelical Christianity than anything else the world has to offer. Any missionary caught trying to share the gospel with the Jew in Israel today will probably be expelled from the country. A few years ago, a missionary, we know, in Word of Life was kicked out of Israel for sharing the Gospel.
The crowning sin of Israel in the Old Testament, up to the Babylonian captivity, was idolatry. After the captivity idolatry was not the big problem but instead it was formalism and hypocrisy. In the future, during the tribulation, many Jews will revert back to idolatry and worship the image of the beast. In the meantime, God pledges to reveal Himself to those who want to know the truth (v. 23).

Application

Idolatry is still a big sin in the world today. In many religions, like Roman Catholicism, people carry a crucifix and bow down to statues of the Virgin Mary etc. In Protestantism it may be things like a car, a boat or other objects.