Isaiah 65:3

The people are not content merely to leave God out of their lives. They are boldly insulting God on purpose. They say that they do not need God. They are self-sufficient (in other words, they depend only on themselves).

• They *worship their home-made *idols. The people know that their action is against God’s law (see Exodus 20:4-5). The people do not realise that they are in fact giving *worship to devils (see Leviticus 17:7; 1 Corinthians 10:19-21). Such people are therefore allowing evil spirits to control them. The result of such behaviour can only be a terrible end for these people.

Verse 4a (that is, the first part of verse 4)

God does not allow human efforts to contact the spirit world or to contact people that have died (see Deuteronomy 18:9-11). It is a very dangerous practice.

Verse 4b (the second part of verse 4)

The meat of pigs was in the list of foods that God’s people were not to eat (see Deuteronomy 14:8). God’s command about pig’s meat could have been for reasons of health. Pig’s meat contains toxic (poisonous) substances. If people do not cook the meat sufficiently, it can cause illness or even death.

• But God’s order about pig’s meat had a more serious reason. To eat pig’s meat was not only a *Gentile practice (see Matthew 8:30). It was part of *idol *worship.

• Only when God’s special Servant (*Messiah) came to offer his life as the one perfect *sacrifice, did the situation change. The death of Jesus the Christ (*Messiah) on the Cross opened heaven to the *Gentiles. So God cancelled the limit on what his people could eat (see Mark 7:19b; Acts 10:10-15).