See, the Lord is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants— it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor. The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word. The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth. The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left. (Isaiah 24:1-6 NIV) How and when will God devastate the earth? To this point, Isaiah’s warnings have been about God’s judgment on specific nations. But here he broadens the word of doom to encompass the entire world: destruction will come to all who sin. The picture he paints is of devastation so complete that it will rival the flood God sent in the time of Noah. Ruin its face (v. 1) suggests a disaster that will change the contours of the planet, much like the flood did. Natural disasters such as earthquakes, droughts and crashing meteorites have the potential to do that. This much is clear: God, not human beings, will lay waste to the planet in judgment for sin. We don’t know when this destruction will happen. But Isaiah seems to say that after the earth is laid waste (v. 3), God will make a new creation (26:1). Perhaps this will be in the last days of human history, when God defeats evil once and for all. Because many scholars have interpreted the message this way, chapters 24 – 27 are known as the “Apocalypse of Isaiah.”
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:58:09 +0000
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