For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious presence. Isaiah 3:8
Rebellion has deep roots and really it is a worship problem. That's what God says about His people when they turned from Him. And they were going to suffer the consequences with intense societal pain. Their world would be ripped apart in judgment. The city would fall and the nation would be conquered. But the reason Judah rebelled was not because of just outward sinful behavior. Judah fell when the people defied the presence of God. They no longer worshipped the God Who dwelt among them.
In the case of Judah, God's presence was literally with them; His glory manifested in the Most Holy Place in the temple in Jerusalem. But as they declined in their reverence for the God Who lived among them, the lure of other idols, of wealth, personal pleasure, and the pursuit of sinful pre-occupations began to define a people who were meant to be defined as God's unique people. Instead of the world flooding to Jerusalem to find the God of Israel, Israel instead gushed over the world and neglected God.
The point of this analysis by God is to show us that sin is always rooted in the heart. And the human heart worships something. We always have to hold something... a person, place, thing, or idea... as a ruling passion in our hearts. We were created for God to be our worship. When we replace His worship with any other worship, our lives degenerate. And we overlook the glorious presence of God.
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