Isaiah 24:1 says, Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. Matthew Henry says it is agreed that this begins a new sermon, which concludes in chapter twenty-seven. When reading the Bible, we must understand what we are reading in context, or we might come up with some wrong ideas about what it actually says. He also points out that as is many times the case with Isaiah that he concludes by saying it will be well with them and to the wicked he pronounces woe on them. If we are a follower of Christ, everything is going to end well with us, and if we aren’t we will be sent away to everlasting woe. This prophecy is not against a particular city or country but is a prophecy against the whole world. Some people think this is what happened when Sennacherib defeated so many nations, some think it refers to when Nebuchadnezzar did the same, but we can be certain this is what will one day happen throughout the world when Jesus Christ returns in judgment. The whole world will then be shaken and turned upside down. We need to also know that it will be God Who brings these calamities to the earth. We often think about the devastating power that mankind now possesses, but it is God Who will bring it all to an end, and He doesn’t need mankind's power to do so.
Verse two adds, 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. This prophecy applied to all people. It wasn’t just for the rich or the poor or for the religious or non-religious. One day, God is going to judge everyone based on their relationship to Jesus Christ.
Verse three continues, The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. This has not happened at any point in history, so it has to be referring to the coming day of judgment in my opinion. There have been many times when parts of the world were basically destroyed in war, but never a time when the whole earth has been. After the fall of Adam and Eve into sin, and everyone since as well, the earth has become something that God did not intend for it to be, and He is going to destroy the sin that has entered into the world one day.
Verse four concludes, The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. When God’s judgment comes, the whole earth will mourn and fade away. I am not sure exactly how this will happen, but we are told that there will be a new heaven and earth when Jesus Christ returns, and those who relied on their wealth or anything else other than Jesus Christ for forgiveness and everlasting life in heaven will fade away into everlasting punishment.
Verse five states, The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Isaiah said that God had pronounced the whole earth to be defiled because of the sins of mankind. When God created the earth, He proclaimed it good, and the same is true of mankind. Still, He gave Adam and Eve freewill and only a couple of rules to live by, and even in a perfect environment, they disobeyed God’s commandments and sin and death entered the world. Every person since then, except for Jesus Christ, has disobeyed God’s commandments and the world has grown to be less and less the way God created it.
Verse six adds, Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left. The earth was created as a paradise for mankind to enjoy and tend, but because of sin, it has become a place that is often full of devastation. We might say that far from there being few people left that there are now too many, but we will never know what the earth could be like today without the sin of mankind corrupting it.
Verse seven continues, The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. Isaiah said that the vines for making new wine were going to languish, and then the people who had been using wine to make themselves happy were going to sigh in disappointment. I am not saying that we should use alcoholic beverages to make life seem better, but I will say that anything we look to outside the will of God to do so will fail us and leave us sighing in disappointment.
Verse eight says, The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. Isaiah also said that the music that brought the people happiness, possibly at the same time that they were drinking the new wine, was going to cease as well. There are many ads and movies today that show drinking and listening to music and dancing as what it means to be happy, but outside of God’s will, anything we look to for happiness is one day going to be gone. Nothing in this world will ever bring lasting happiness except living under the lordship of Jesus Christ after we accept His gift of salvation.
Verse nine adds, They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. Isaiah said that when God’s judgment came on them, they would find strong drink to be bitter and not a way to joy and pleasure. Matthew Henry said it would be bitter because it was mingled with their tears or through sickness they had lost their relish of it. If we try to find happiness in alcohol or drugs today, there will come a time when they simply leave us with bitterness in our heart since we will never find lasting joy in them.
No comments:
Post a Comment