Isaiah's Mini Apocalypse...pt 1

https://billrandles.wordpress.com/2020/04/15/isaiahs-mini-apocalypse-pt-1/ ^ | 04-15-20 | Bill Randles

[pastorbillrandles]

Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word.( Isaiah 24:1-3)

Isaiah is one of the most quoted of all of the Hebrew Prophets, in the New Testament. His is not a chronologically written book, it is rather several compilations of sermons, prophecies, and a narrative account which are topical.

The second of these compilations, ( Isaiah 13-27) is eschatological. Isaiah is given burdens for the nations which surround Israel; Babylon, Moab, Syria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Edom, Arabia, “The Valley of Vision”, and Tyre. The predictions of these burdens came to pass in History, but only in part. Thus they are ‘double reference ” prophecies which have yet to be fully fulfilled.

The modern names of these nations are; (Babylon), Iraq, (Moab) ,Jordan, (Syria), Syria, (Egypt), Egypt, Ethiopia, (Somalia,Sudan) (Edom), Southern Jordan, Northern Saudi Arabia, (Arabia), Saudi Arabia, Emirates, Yemen, (Tyre), Southern Lebanon. The (Valley of Vision” ) refers to Jerusalem.

In Isaiah’s time, Judgment was coming to the world, and it revolved at first around the nations of the Levant. Israel would be punished for her sins, and so would all of those around her, who had also sinned grievously and were ripe for judgment. By Isaiah 24-27, the entire known world becomes embroiled in Judgment.

Once again, the end-times conflict begins in the Middle East, with the resurrection of Israel, after two thousand years of exile, and the fact that all of Israel’s near neighbors have Islam as their national religion. In my lifetime, one after another of the above mentioned nations has been punished to varying degrees for trying to make war on Israel. In spite of the element of surprise, incredibly overwhelming advantages in numbers, weaponry, equipment, and the support of the United nations, the entire Arab world has failed to prevail over the reborn State of Israel.

The whole world is going to be caught up into the vortex of judgment again, but on a level Isaiah prophesied but couldn’t possibly imagine. The LORD is angry at the nations of the World. Just judgment is coming upon this world of idolaters, God rejectors, persecutors of Christians and Jews. The blood of the millions of innocents, aborted for the sake of a “Sexual revolution”, cries out against our modern societies from the ground. The LORD has seen and will soon judge the “inhabitants of the earth”.

Look at the violence of the language Isaiah employs,

Th LORD will “turn the earth upside down” and shake it, to empty it! He uses the word “utterly”, over and over again, to emphasize the thorough purging coming to this world.

The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. ( Isaiah 24:20)

The earth shall stagger, and reel, and shall collapse like a “cottage”, ( a basic temporary ‘lean to’ for field workers to rest at night, during harvest).

The Transgression lies “Heavy upon it”. We are told here that the earth has a moral sensitivity to it, it groans under outrages such as abortion, homosexuality, sexual exploitation of children and he host o other obscenities the modern world now seems to prefer over the old Judeo Christian ethos. Paul also agrees in Romans 8 when he warns us that Creation is groaning for the day of deliverance from the curse.

The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. ( Isaiah 24:4)

The earth is exhausted, we are told by the Prophet. It has lost strength, and is entering a kind of twilight. The earth is withering like a dead or dying plant.

So also are the “Haughty ” of the earth. The opinion makers, leaders, the super wealthy, the ones in control, who call the tune for culture, the so called “Kings of the Earth and their rulers”. Godlessness has exhausted them as well, they are Nihilists, they no longer love their own culture or people, they see no future, and culturally, they want to die, and want to impose their Nihilism on others.

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.( Isaiah 24:5)

The crimes that bring Judgment as indicted by God are these,

*Transgressing the LAWS,- This has to do with ignoring and defying revealed Truth. Think of the deliberate and thorough removing of the Ten Commandments, which once graced public monuments across America. This is a public statement of rejection of the idea that Truth comes from above us, from God.

* Changing the Ordinances- An Ordinance is something which is to remain in the same form , forever. To Alter an ordinance, is a serious sin. Marriage is a good example; “For this cause shall a man lave his Father and mother and shall cleave to His wife and they shall be one flesh…”. Marriage was never supposed to be redefined or altered, it is an eternal covenant with serious sanctions on those who dare try to alter it.

* Breaking the Everlasting Covenant-This doesn’t refer to the specific covenants God made with Abraham and his seed, the Nation of Israel, and the house of David. Rather it refers to a general covenant which God enacted with all f mankind, Gentile and Jew. What part of the Bible refers gives the basic covenant between all of mankind and God? Genesis 1-11.

I have noted that nearly everything recorded in Genesis 1-11 is the basic agreement for all of humanity. Creation, Male and Female, Marriage, the family, Be fruitful and multiply, Subdue the earth, seed bearing after its own kind, eating meat, the Rainbow , Capitol punishment for murderers, 4 seasons till the end. All of it is basic teaching and agreement for all of humanity. But in my lifetime I have witnessed the ongoing and complete cultural repudiation of every bit of it, down even to the confusion of sexual roles, and the attempt to indoctrinate little children into it.

Isaiah warns a group ,called “The inhabitants of the earth”;

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. ( Isaiah 24:17-18)

This is a technical term to refer to those who do not believe in God or who have cast off faith in God, and whose entire frame of reference, is this earth, and this Life. These are the inhabitants of the earth, as opposed to those who seek a higher purer place, “Heaven” and the “City not made with human hands”. The New testament has a similar term, “Those who dwell on the face of the earth”.

And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.( Luke 21:34-36)

There is still time to repent, and to let God show you that there is something much more ultimate and satisfying than the fading joys of this life. God has prepared a home in Glory for those who hunger and thirst for something better and more lasting. You can b forgiven of your sins and reconciled to God, by simply putting your trust and faith in Jesus, who loved you and died for your sins.