Isaiah 29:13 states: “And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”” This verse comes in the context of Isaiah pronouncing woes and judgements upon Jerusalem and Judah for their lack of faithfulness to God. The key phrase we want to focus on is “their hearts are far from me.” What does this mean?
At its core, this phrase is accusing the people of external religious observance without any genuine love or commitment to God in their hearts. Though they continued going through the motions of worship and sacrifice, their inner spiritual condition was far from what God desired. Their outward profession of faith was meaningless because it did not align with the true condition of their hearts.
There are a few important things we can learn from this verse:
- God cares about our heart attitude, not just external religious rituals. Going to church, singing songs, and participating in Christian traditions does not necessarily mean someone loves God and honors Him with their life. It is possible to do all the right outward things but still have a heart that is far from Him (see also Matthew 15:8).
- Hypocrisy and false religion are roundly condemned in Scripture. God desires truth in the inward parts (Psalm 51:6). Pretending to be godly on the outside while harboring sin and rebellion on the inside is abhorrent to God.
- A far heart is often revealed by a disobedient life. Isaiah 29:13 says their hearts were far even as they continued the rituals and sacrifices commanded by God. But other prophets make clear their everyday lives were full of injustice, idolatry, and sin. Their outward devotion was a facade covering a heart in rebellion.
- Knowledge and fear of God are meant to permeate the heart. These people had a merely external, cerebral knowledge about God (“commandment taught by men”). True wisdom starts in a heart submitted to God in love and awe.
- Religion without relationship leads to dead ritual and hypocrisy. Going through the motions while refusing genuine repentance and faith leads to a heart growing ever colder to God’s truth. We must guard our hearts against just “playing church.”
- God wants our whole hearts, not just mechanical service. Jesus affirmed the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). Going through religious rituals without love and surrendered obedience is useless.
This verse serves as a sobering reminder that God sees beyond all our religious activities and traditions into the true condition of our hearts. We may fool everyone else, but we can never fool God. He desires sincere love and devotion from a heart transformed by His grace. The danger of hypocrisy and empty ritual is a constant temptation, especially for those raised in a religious environment. We must constantly examine our own hearts and motivations (Psalm 139:23-24). Do we serve and worship God out of genuine love or just empty habit? Does our daily life demonstrate a heart eager to obey and honor Him?
Some indicators our heart may be growing distant from God include:
- A lack of joy in spiritual things
- Mechanical repetition of religious habits without feeling
- Selective obedience to God’s commands
- A lack of concern for injustice, sin or the lostness of others
- Going through spiritual motions while clinging to secret sin or rebellion
- Pride, selfishness, greed, anger and other fruits of the flesh
- Preoccupation with self and worldly pursuits over eternal things
The good news is that Scripture provides the remedy for a far heart – repentance and revival! God graciously promises in Jeremiah 24:7, “I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” He is ready and waiting to lavish His grace on any who come to Him with honesty about the true condition of their heart and sincerity of desire to return to Him. We must constantly pray along with David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
In summary, Isaiah 29:13 provides a stark warning against empty external religion without wholehearted love for God. The answer is humility, repentance and revival. By submitting our hearts to the refining fire of the Holy Spirit, He will create in us a clean heart to know, love and obey God from the inside out. Then our worship will be true and pleasing to Him.
1. The Context of Isaiah 29:13
To properly understand Isaiah 29:13, we first need to see it in its larger context. Isaiah ministered in the southern kingdom of Judah in the 8th century BC. At that time, both Judah and its northern counterpart, Israel, were characterized by widespread idolatry, social injustice, and religious hypocrisy. The people gave lip service to Yahweh, but their daily lives showed little fruit of true faith.
Isaiah 29 opens with “Woe to Ariel” (v.1). Ariel refers to Jerusalem, where David had established worship of Yahweh. Verses 3-8 pronounce judgment on Jerusalem for her empty religion and dead orthodoxy. Though Jerusalem appeared quite religious on the outside, God would come suddenly in judgement, leaving her hypocritical religion exposed (v.7).
It’s in this context of pronouncing woes on Jerusalem’s false religion that 29:13 appears. God directly addresses the emptiness of their worship. Though they continue to speak about God and perform religious rituals, their hearts are completely disconnected from Him in love and obedience. It’s mere external performance without internal reality.
The broader context of Isaiah makes clear this was no mere blind spot but a chronic condition of God’s people. Chapters 1-5, for example, contain Isaiah’s furious denunciation of Judah’s religious hypocrisy and social injustice. “I have had enough of burnt offerings…” God says in 1:11. Even their solemn assemblies and prayers He cannot endure (1:13-15). Why? Because they carried on religious rituals without true repentance in their hearts.
Isaiah 29:13, then, exemplifies a major theme of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry. The people maintained external religion without sincere love for God. They must turn back to Him with their whole hearts or face judgment.
2. A Contrast of External Performance and Internal Reality
Isaiah 29:13 highlights the stark contrast between the people’s external religious performance and the true condition of their hearts. Let’s examine the verse phrase by phrase:
And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips…
On the surface, the people’s worship appeared exemplary. They “drew near” to the temple and sacrifices. Their “mouth” and “lips” were full of praise and prayers to Yahweh. But though it looked good externally, God was not pleased.
while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”
Their polished religious service masked a corrupt heart condition. Their “hearts” were distant, not intimately close with God. Any external “fear” or reverence was just superficial obedience to ritual and tradition, not arising from inward devotion. It was only a “commandment taught by men,” not genuine relationship.
Jesus highlights the same indictment against merely external religion in Mark 7:6-7, quoting Isaiah 29:13 to condemn the Pharisees’ hypocrisy.
Clearly then, Isaiah 29:13 sets up a contrast between impressive public worship rituals and a heart that is actually far from loving God and seeking Him wholeheartedly in private life.
3. What it Means for the Heart to be Far from God
For the people’s hearts to be “far” from God meant several things:
- They lacked true love for God. Their hearts did not cherish intimacy with Him or seek after Him above all else.
- Sin and idols had captured their hearts. Scripture speaks of those far from God as having hearts of stone, blind to truth (Eph 4:18).
- They were not walking in God’s ways from the heart. Though externally compliant, inward obedience was missing.
- Pride and self-sufficiency marked their hearts. Trusting in themselves and their religious rituals, their hearts were not humble and dependent.
- Their hearts did not genuinely know or comprehend God’s majesty, holiness and grace. He was always before them externally but not within their hearts by faith.
A heart far from God is essentially disconnected from genuine love, intimacy, allegiance, obedience, humility, faith, and comprehension of who God really is. Though maintaining outward religion, such a heart remains unchanged at its core.
4. A Wrong View of Fearing God
The verse also condemns their superficial “fear of me.” Fearing God should be profound awe and reverence arising from seeing His majesty and glory. But their fear was merely an external “commandment taught by men.”
Several things were likely wrong with their view of fearing God:
- It was not rooted in relationship, only rules. They saw God’s commands as a religious system rather than flowing from knowing Him intimately.
- Their fear was only of punishment, not awe of God’s grandeur. They “feared” penalties for disobedience more than they revered His supreme worth.
- Their fear was taught by tradition, not Spirit illumination. Rather than the Spirit, scribes “taught” them rote obedience to religious commandments.
- It produced no life change or obedience. Their fear did not translate to changed priorities, ethics, or devotion.
- It was partial, not wholehearted. They compartmentalized God rather than fearing Him in all of life.
True fear of God must go beyond keeping religious rules to complete awe of Him leading to joyful obedience from the heart in all areas of life.
5. Heart Religion vs. External Ritual
A key lesson is the vast difference between heart religion and empty ritual:
- Heart religion involves intimacy with God through faith resulting in obedience, whereas ritual focuses just on correct external performance.
- Heart religion flows from relationship; ritual from tradition and rules.
- Heart religion transforms from the inside out; ritual merely conforms externally.
- God cares far more that we truly know, love and revere Him than that we execute ceremonies flawlessly.
- Any external acts of righteousness must arise from inward renewal by God’s Spirit, or they are worthless religion.
This passage reminds us we cannot simply equate church attendance, public prayers, or musical worship with true Christianity. Many with seemingly vibrant external Christian lives tragically lack any real personal relationship with Jesus Christ in their hearts. We must guard against assuming ritual equals relationship or religion equals regeneration.
At the same time, true heart religion will produce external acts of righteousness. Love for God must manifest in a life of joyful obedience and service to His glory. As Jesus taught, a good tree is known by its fruit (Luke 6:43-45).
6. Indicators of a Heart Far from God
Besides contrasting surface-level religion with wholehearted devotion, this passage soberly warns us to examine our own hearts. What signs indicate a heart drifting from God?
- Lack of spiritual appetite – little hunger for God’s Word, prayer, worship, etc.
- Resentment of God’s commands and standards versus joyful obedience
- Selective, self-serving obedience to God’s commands we prefer
- Loving worldly pleasures and priorities over eternal things
- Bored, distracted or critical during times of spiritual instruction
- Lack of concern for sin, injustice, the lost, and the poor
- Pride – self-righteousness, lack of repentance, religious arrogance
- Religious knowledge in the head without genuine heart impact
Any of these symptoms may indicate a heart drifting from intimacy with God and needful of revival through repentance and renewed love.
7. Prevention – How to Keep Our Hearts Close to God
Recognizing the danger of drifting, how can we actively keep our hearts close to God?
- Nurture personal time in God’s Word and prayer beyond any religious duty – desire Him.
- Make loving God with our entire being the priority over external performance.
- Invite the Holy Spirit’s searching of our hearts to expose any wrong motives.
- Refuse rationalizing disobedience to God’s commands and standards.
- Pursue awe of God over rote rule-keeping and ritual.
- Cultivate loving God’s Law as an expression of His heart versus mere obligation.
- Embrace voluntary self-denial and sacrifice as preventative against self-reliance.
- Maintain childlike faith versus reliance on religious heritage or knowledge.
Through these actions we can, by God’s grace, keep our hearts tender and loyal to Him above all else.
8. Cure – Repentance and Revival
When we become aware our hearts are distant, the remedy is simple yet profound – repentance and revival. We must humbly admit our drifting and renew our love for God through:
- Confessing and repenting of known sins – returning to God
- Asking God to reveal any unknown sins or wrong motives
- Praying for spiritual revival and renewed hunger for God
- Recommitting to nurture intimacy and obedience by God’s strength
- Reconciling any broken relationships caused by sin
- Studying God’s Word afresh to rekindle awe of Him
As we turn from sin and turn back to God, He promises to draw near to us in grace, fellowship and restoration (James 4:8). By sincerely repenting of a distant heart and seeking God’s face, our relationship with Him will be revived.
9. A Healthy Heart Stays Near God
In describing a heart far from God, Isaiah 29:13 also implicitly reveals what a healthy heart looks like:
- A heart understanding and standing in awe of God’s glory and might
- A heart knowing and loving His Word
- A heart embracing Christ as Savior and Lord
- A heart renouncing all idolatry and sin
- A heart belonging fully to God
- A heart loving and fearing God above all else
- A heart seeking intimate fellowship with God
- A heart filled with gratitude and praise
- A heart overflowing with love and compassion for others
By God’s amazing grace, may our hearts always remain tender and close to Him! Let us frequently examine our hearts and be quick to repent when we recognize distance creeping in. May our deepest desire be loving and glorifying God with our entire being all our days.