Isaiah 24: 1-6

Judgment on the Earth

¹ Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface 

and scatters its inhabitants.

² And the people will be like the priest, 

the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, 

the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor.

³ The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴ The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, 

the exalted of the people of the earth fade away.

⁵ The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant.

⁶ Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. 

Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

Isaiah takes a very different turn with the beginning of Chapter 24. We have spent several chapters looking at several judgments brought across different nations--prophecies indicating future destruction. What we have with Chapter 24 is the beginning of a four-chapter judgment upon the whole earth. (Yes, think Revelation.) But, it is not wholly about judgment--not for those who believe in a holy and righteous God. As my study Bible says, "These 4 chapters give praise to God for His future victory over all enemies and the final deliverance of Israel in the Day of the Lord." Let's try to keep that fact in our minds as we work through these tough chapters.

With verse 1, we immediately receive the strong images of the Lord's plans for the earth--to completely lay it waste. Now, the Lord has brought destruction upon the whole earth before. (Remember Noah?) This would be a destruction more severe than even that, if you can imagine [which we really don't like to!].

"Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
And the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of hosts
In the day of His burning anger."

--Isaiah 13:13

We have seen pictures of what it looks like when the landscape of the earth has changed, due to things like flooding, mudslides, wildfires, earthquakes and the like. What does a "surface distortion" look like? What does a "despoiled" (vs. 3) earth look like? By dictionary definition, the earth will be "stripped of possessions, robbed and pillaged" (Dictionary.com) by God's hand. On top of physical changes, God will also "scatter its inhabitants," which is something He did in the time of the Tower of Babel--distorting communications of the people, so to speak. This is a scene that will be nothing like anything witnessed before, in reality or fantasy.

In his poetic way, in verse 2, Isaiah is saying that where there were huge differences between people, such as servants and masters, there will be no differences. In this destruction of the world, all are treated equally: God's judgment will not be stopped in the wake of anyone's wealth, or stature, or occupation, or supposed closeness to God.

"The priests had been as corrupt and wicked as the people; and, if their character served not to restrain them from sin, how can they expect it should serve to secure them from judgments?"

--Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'
They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds;
There is no one who does good.
The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men
To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.
They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt;
There is no one who does good, not even one."

--Psalm 14: 1-3

Putting these verses together, we can say that even before Isaiah's pronouncement, by their turning aside and not seeking after God, all of the people, "together they have become corrupt." "...The exalted of the people of the earth fade away." (vs. 4) How many times in 23 chapters has Isaiah brought people's pride to mention in his prophecies? Pride meaning not only boasting of self, but not relying much less acknowledging the existence of God, yet claiming to retain all of the benefits of that purported relationship. Again, we are reminded that God hates pride (Proverbs 8:13) and that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5) who will not stand for taking second place. The prideful will "fade away."

"For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased."

--Isaiah 2:12

The earth itself will also fade away--mourn and wither and fade away. (vs. 4) If you stop with that thought--the earth will fade away--you might think it is part of God's doing, as in, "I'm taking the people away; I'm going to take their home away, too." But, when you read verse 5, it becomes clear. What did the earth ever do? The earth is part of God's creation--a creation that worships Him, that groans in anticipation for the day in which the Lord will take back the earth for His own!

No, we read in verse 5, "...The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants." The King James Version uses 'defiled'. The Hebrew word means "soiled, profaned." (Strong's) Did the earth become tainted on its own? 

"Such is the filthy nature of sin that it defiles the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants thereof, and it is rendered unpleasant in the eyes of God and good men."

--Matthew Henry

No! Earth is polluted by every unclean thought and impure action taken by those who walk upon it! The "everlasting covenant" had been broken. Recall what God had established between Himself and Abraham, and the generations to follow under His chosen servant:

"I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you."

--Genesis 17:7

"It is God’s wonderful condescension that he is pleased to deal with men in a covenant-way, to do them good, and thereby oblige them to do him service."

--Matthew Henry

The obliged service was not fulfilled by men! God, out of immeasurable grace and mercy, withstood the lack of returned service, but even He has His limits.

"Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;

Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life."

--Genesis 3:17

Also, so here, in verse 6, "Therefore a curse devours the earth...," and those who live in it are held guilty. The ground yielding the tree did nothing. The sin of Adam and Eve left the ground of that idyllic Garden cursed. Likewise, it is the sin of mankind that defiles the earth to the point in which God brings upon it a curse, which will consume the earth and man alike.

"Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble
And dry grass collapses into the flame,
So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust;
For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel."

--Isaiah 5:24

That is, except for "few," (vs. 6) which translates from Hebrew to mean "a remnant." (Strong's) Even as a curse had been placed upon Eden's ground and the earth's ground, God had plan to undo the curse, for some:

"No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found."

--Verse 3 of "Joy to the World," lyrics by Isaac Watts

"The coming heavenly Adam, who bears the curse of toil, sweat, thorns, conflict, death on a tree, and descent into dust, will regain the garden, tearing apart the veil of the temple."

--Reformation Study Bible

Then, there will be joy to the world!

But, we'll have to wait for that. "All joy turns to gloom...." ...'Til next time!

Photo: memolition.com

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Next time:  Isaiah 24: 7-12
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 16: 10-14

¹⁰ Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,
No treader treads out wine in the presses,
For I have made the shouting to cease.
¹¹ Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab
And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.
¹² So it will come about when Moab presents himself,
When he wearies himself upon his high place
And comes to his sanctuary to pray,
That he will not prevail.

¹³ This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab.
¹⁴ But now the Lord speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.”

Closing out Isaiah Chapter 16 today. Take note of the prophet's deep compassion (vs. 11), as well as the unveiling of God's words of action and His timing (vs. 14). Character-revealing passage!

Verse 10 finishes the thoughts of last week, as we recall Moab's devastation depicted through the loss of its vineyards and grape harvest--a chief industry and source of pride for the nation. What should have been a time of rejoicing has become a time of mourning. Shouts of joy turned into wails of lamentation.

“There is wailing in all the plazas,
And in all the streets they say, 'Alas! Alas!'
They also call the farmer to mourning
And professional mourners to lamentation.

'And in all the vineyards there is wailing,
Because I will pass through the midst of you,' says the Lord.

--Amos 5: 16 and 17 

(Remember, Amos prophesied to Israel before Assyria destroyed it)

"I have made the shouting to cease," God says at the end of verse 10. Interesting in both this verse and verse 17 of the Amos passage that the prophets' words contain that 'I', reminding the hearers of Whom is in control. It is not the passing of a poor season and its consequences, but God Almighty who passes through, wielding justice and judgment at His hand. Had the nation faith in the Lord, the outcome of its judgment and its response to its circumstances might have looked quite different.

"'But a gracious soul can rejoice in the Lord as the God of its salvation even when the fig-tree does not blossom and there is no fruit in the vine,' Hab. 3:17, 18. In God therefore let us always rejoice with a holy triumph, and in other things let us always rejoice with a holy trembling, rejoice as though we rejoiced not."

--Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible

The prophet's heart--and God's, too--"intones like a harp for Moab" (vs. 12) Although we would commonly use 'heart', in the language of the day, one might have used 'entrails' to refer to the place of one's deep inner being. As the strings of a harp are plucked, they vibrate, resonating tones. Poetically, Isaiah trembles and quivers in his innermost places over the loss and coming grief to face Moab. The New Testament cross-reference verse adds a dynamic spin:

"Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion...."

--Philippians 2: 1

Talk about a man of character! Though he was given a Godly charge and the words of the Almighty to say, Isaiah never lorded over his hearers that he was in any way above anyone else. Sure, Moab had been an enemy to God's people and the truth he relayed through his prophesies spelled out a future of judgment. But at his core, Isaiah offered his fellowship as another man, as a brother of earthly brothers. He let his compassion rule--what Jesus would do if he were on the scene at the time. [And that's only one verse of Philippians in a chapter that is extremely convicting!] It's this kind of revelation that inspires me, as I see how God works in the minds and hearts of those He calls.

This judgment that we have read about in these two chapters shall come to Moab in a time when the nation "wearies himself upon his high place." When a nation is in trouble, it turns to its higher powers for guidance. [Alas, who is that higher power?] In this case, Moab turns to its national god, Chemosh (pictured above) for direction. The people will literally tire themselves in their prayers and sacrifice, seeking answers. Yet, there is no reward, gain or knowledge in their devotion, for the One who makes the "shouting to cease" controls the destinies of all. He (Chemosh) "will not prevail." (vs. 12)

Moab will not prevail as the self-gloried nation it was either. Here is where God drops some specifics of timing, which is, generally, rare in prophecy. In verse 13, Isaiah qualifies that God has known this was the judgment to come to Moab since the earliest days of its excessive pride. God would not let that stand, yet, He did not immediately execute a sentence upon the nation. How often is this the case, even today? But how many prophesies have been brought to fulfillment? The truth is clear, as we have already seen in our reading! Do we trust God to be true to His Word?

"BUT...," verse 14 (caps mine), "now the Lord speaks, saying, "Within three years...." A timetable has been given! As surely as Isaiah spoke the words, there would be three years--a contract length for which a servant might be hired--before Moab would be invaded. In 715 B.C., King Sargon of Assyria took over the country.

Bruce Springsteen said the glory days will "pass you by...in the wink of a young girl's eye." Sure thing. Moab would be reduced to a "remnant" of migrants (vs. 14), which, though a better fate than Babylon, was not something of which to boast. No more chants of "We are the Moabites--the mighty, mighty Moabites!" Might would not prevail either, not under the will of God.

So why did God give Moab a three-year timeframe? Given what we have read over these two chapters about Isaiah's heart, and the Lord's heart, suggests that there might have been room offered for a change of Moab's heart. We mentioned earlier in the study of Chapter 15 that this was Ruth's home country. Might there have been others of her character that God would shape and mold to be His followers? There are times in Scripture when judgments are withheld for a time (as was the case with Nineveh in the wake of Jonah's prophecy there).

But, even as I ponder this, I am reminded by Matthew Henry that God's gift of timing is solely His, and what He chooses to reveal and when are also His. In facilitating a class on Revelation, I had more questions (and no answers) than I knew what to do with regarding when a judgment was supposed to happen. It is human curiosity to question, but not for us to obsess over or for which to demand answers. But, when God does reveal something, it is, indeed, noteworthy:

"It is not for us to know, or covet to know, the times and the seasons, any further than God has thought fit to make them known, and so far we may and must take notice of them. See how God makes known his mind by degrees; the light of divine revelation shone more and more, and so does the light of divine grace in the heart."

--Matthew Henry

It is sad for the prophet to reveal the light of divine grace only to see that light doused out by the pride of man. There's a lesson for everyone in that!

Prophecy about Damascus (of its 732 B.C. destruction, lest you think we're dealing with current events. But, who am I to talk about timing!). ...'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: averdadeirahistoriadahumanidade.blogspot.com

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Next week:  Isaiah 17: 1-3
 
Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 6: 11-13

¹¹ Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
Houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,
¹² “The Lord has removed men far away,
And the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
¹³ “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it,
And it will again be subject to burning,
Like a terebinth or an oak
Whose stump remains when it is felled.
The holy seed is its stump.”

Closing on another chapter of Isaiah with today's passage, which begins with one of those timeless questions said by child and grown up alike: "Are we there yet?" HA! OK, that's not what verse 11 actually says, but isn't that the idea? Don't we all want to know, "Lord, how long?" When do we "arrive"? When are we through with this phase? How long will we have to receive treatment? When will the car be ready? Can I go home, now? Add your own variation, because you are likely pondering one, even as you are reading this!

What's interesting about Isaiah's quote is that he asks the question within the timeframe of receiving his calling to be a prophet. I can't imagine most folks ask the question, "How long will I be working here?" at their job interviews. But given what God has told him about the nature of his calling--"Render the hearts of this people insensitive...." (vs. 10)--he is not unlike us in taking on a task that we're not looking forward to facing. He could have said, "How long will I have to put up with being abused and rejected?" Note, he's not saying, "No," he's just preparing himself for what is to come.

To put another spin on Isaiah's question, looking at the cross-reference verse (Psalm 79:5), "How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever?" The prophet may well be asking if God's state of mind will change for the eternal sake of Judah. The answer to this question would certainly weigh on Isaiah, as that might have meant an about-face from what he understood to be the Word and promises of God.

Of course, as we already know from reading the first five chapters, there is an end coming to Judah as they knew it. Decimation of the city and captivity to another was in the works. This was the judgment facing Judah for disobedience. God gives Isaiah the full picture before the prophet speaks a word to the people. "Forsakenness will be great," is an alternate translation of verse 12, meaning that not only will there be a visible picture of desertedness, but that there will be a palpable feeling and understanding of abandonment by God. True helplessness. Quite the opposite of what God had told the people when they were first called to be His:

"The Lord is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you."

--Deuteronomy 31:8 

We need to realize, again, the great depths to which His people had fallen. From great is Thy faithfulness to great is Thy forsakeness! This prophecy does not reflect a one-time judgment, either, which is not uncommon with the Bible's revelations. Consider this thought by Matthew Henry:

"Note, Spiritual judgments often bring temporal judgments along with them upon persons and places. This was in part fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, when the land, being left desolate, enjoyed her sabbaths seventy years; but, the foregoing predictions being so expressly applied in the New Testament to the Jews in our Saviour’s time, doubtless this points at the final destruction of that people by the Romans, in which it had a complete accomplishment, and the effects of it that people and that land remain under to this day."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Now, lest you think God has forever forsaken His people and His prophet, don't miss the last verse of the chapter, which begins with one of those great transition words, 'Yet'.... God's promise to never fail nor forsake His people is kept intact, but by "a tenth portion," which is in other passages of Scripture is referred to as "a remnant." God creates the picture of the oak or terebinth tree, that though it is destroyed will rise up again from its stump. [Per the Reformation Study Bible: "The Middle Eastern terebinth and oak trees can produce new shoots even when they appear to have been cut or damaged beyond all hope."] Can you see Jesus' death and resurrection through this visual picture, too?

God's people would continue to be cut down and overrun, time and time again. The unbelief that came to this boiling point, that brought God to a place of forsaking His people for a time, continues into this day. And though Isaiah is long gone, God's promise to reach His people with His Word and the hope of eternity that rests in the knowledge of Jesus continues to exist. A time will come when the last of the remnant will be secured--through evangelizing Jews, like Isaiah, in the days of the End Times--and the long-held promise completely fulfilled.

"For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth."

--Deuteronomy 7:6

 Until then, "Lord, how long?"....

"Until the whole world hears,
Lord, we are calling out,

Lifting up Your name for all to hear the sound.
Like voices in the wilderness we're crying out
As the day draws near,
We'll sing until the whole world hears."

--from Casting Crowns' Sing Until the Whole World Hears

Beginning Chapter 7, "War against Jerusalem".... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: werc.usgs.gov

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Next week: Isaiah 7: 1-4

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 6: 4-7

⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.  

⁵ Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”

⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, 
which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
⁷ He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; 
and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”

So much is packed into our short passage today. If you really start digging into the point of what is being relayed, you may well find yourself as Isaiah did--amazed yet terrified at the awesomeness of God and full of angst over being in this presence, knowing what he knew about himself.

Verse 4 probably should have been tucked into last week's passage, as it completes the picture we left--the Lord, sitting on His throne, surrounded by the Seraphim, praising His Name and His holiness. As I was struck with creation responding to God's presence a few weeks back, I am struck with the same thought of mighty power here. The heavenly door sockets ("foundations"), as is inferred in some translations, tremble in His presence! Smoke, representing a combination of His holy judgment and His holy wrath, fills the temple.

It is not odd, then, that Isaiah would respond out of fear. But, as we continue to read in verse 5, there is more than tangible fear being expressed here. "Woe is me, for I am undone," reads the King James Version. In Hebrew, 'undone' means not only to be struck dumb to the point of silence, but to fail or perish [Strong's]. He has "unclean lips," referring not only to things said but from where those things come--an unclean heart.

"Watch over your heart with all diligence,
For from it flow the springs of life.
Put away from you a deceitful mouth
And put devious speech far from you."

--Proverbs 4: 23 and 24

Things HAPPEN when you are in the presence of the Lord. For Isaiah, there was an acute awareness--not of his being called to something incredible but of his own sinfulness. He recognized his failures to live by the Lord's way. He might have felt like perishing, to pull out that Hebrew meaning of 'undone' a little further. The prophet recognized that he was undeserving to be in the presence of the one and only, holy God! Peter found himself in a similar situation, encountering Jesus after an uneventful fishing trip that suddenly turned favorable.

"...their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, 'Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!' For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken...."

--Luke 5:6-9 (excerpts)

The view of God in His glory must have been so overwhelming. Yet, when Isaiah came to terms with that, the immediate thought was his unworthiness to have this view. Not only was he unclean, but his people were unclean, and he was living among them. This is how Matthew Henry rephrases and expounds on this: “I dwell in the midst of a people who by their impudent sinnings are pulling down desolating judgments upon the land, which I, who am a sinner too, may justly expect to be involved in.” How could Isaiah have expected to receive such a vision when his whole nation was under judgment by God? The overwhelming view of God against the overwhelming view of his sin against this incredible moment of grace in his glimpse of the heavenlies. [Whew!...Wow, right?!]


It tore Isaiah up, to the point that he needed an intervention. Verses 6 and 7 describe it. One of the Seraphim comes to him.

"Note, God has strong consolations ready for holy mourners. Those that humble themselves in penitential shame and fear shall soon be encouraged and exalted; those that are struck down with the visions of God’s glory shall soon be raised up again with the visits of his grace; he that tears will heal....   Here was one of the seraphim dismissed, for a time, from attending on the throne of God’s glory, to be a messenger of his grace to a good man; and so well pleased was he with the office that he came flying to him."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Not only does the angel come down from Heaven, but he brings a burning coal from its temple altar. Isaiah's "unclean lips" are touched by the hot coal, and he is cleansed of his iniquity, his sins forgiven. (vs. 7) I'm wondering which segment of these verses is more incredible: Being in the presence of God and recognizing His unparalleled holiness in the face of unworthiness, or being in the presence of one of God's most special angels to be personally purified, sin-purged and sanctified for His service.

More important than answering that question is to see that though Isaiah was chosen to receive this vision for God's unique purpose for him, I should not be that far away from Isaiah in witnessing the glory of God from the view in which He has blessed me; recognizing the deepness of my own unworthiness in His presence; pursuing repentance in light of being "undone"; and, seeking the cleansing and receiving the forgiveness made possible through the saving work of "the King, the Lord of hosts." (vs. 5)

"Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me....

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,
That my mouth may declare Your praise."

--Psalm 51: 10, 14 and 15

The commissioning.... 'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: dennisgabil.blogspot.com

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Next week: Isaiah 6: 8-10

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 5: 13-17

  

¹³ Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge;
And their honorable men are famished,
And their multitude is parched with thirst.
¹⁴ Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure;
And Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, 
her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it.
¹⁵ So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased,
The eyes of the proud also will be abased.
¹⁶ But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment,
And the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
¹⁷ Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture,
And strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy.

If God spoke through David Byrne, He might have said, "This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no fooling around." It's "Life During Woetime", and God is bringing the woes on His people. 

Two woes into Isaiah, Chapter 5, when He declares, "Therefore...." and the pronouncement of exile (vs 13). Why? "For their lack of knowledge." Because Judah didn't know it was in the wrong? Truly it knew. But, this is a nation that had so gone astray in all respects, because it was not living out the truth it had been given. Lack of knowing--being in relationship with God--led them to a state of spiritual blindness and confusion. They didn't recognize themselves much less who He was. To quote our theme song again: "We dress like students, we dress like housewives, or in a suit and a tie. I've changed my hairstyle so many times now, I don't know what I look like!"

"My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also will reject you from being My priest.
Since you have forgotten the law of your God,
I also will forget your children."

--Hosea 4:6

No one is excluded from God's judgment, as both "the honorable man" and "the multitude" (vs 13), "the common man" and the "man of importance" (vs 15) are mentioned as lacking life's sustenance and having their worldly reputations abased. I have said this before, and I say it carefully again: God does not have a ranking scale for sin. Sin is sin, no matter what it is. But when you study the Bible and see the references, the stories, the guidance, the discipline related to pride, you get the urge to push that one up a little higher in your own mind. Isaiah 2, verses 11 and 17, basically use the same words and speak the same thought as Chapter 5, verse 15b: "The pride of man will be humbled and the loftiness of men will be abased...." The wisdom of Solomon was not heeded:

"The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;
He who watches his way preserves his life.
Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before stumbling.
It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly
Than to divide the spoil with the proud."

--Proverbs 16: 17-19

The consequence of exile before Judah should not have been unexpected. The freewill which could have allowed them to enjoy the blessings of the Father instead led them to life apart from Him. These verses not only allude to the here-and-now punishment of exile to Babylon but to the later ultimate judgment for all people. Isaiah uses sensory imagery in his description of Judah's sin: "...Jerusalem’s splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her...." This is the party, the Vegas, the self-celebration, the open bar, where the fun never ends, _________________ .... [Add your metaphor here.]

"Did they glory in the figure they made? Their pomp shall be at an end; their shouts with which they triumphed, and were attended. Did they glory in their mirth? Death will turn it into mourning; he that rejoices and revels, and never knows what it is to be serious, shall go thither where there are weeping and wailing. Thus the mean man and the mighty man meet together in the grave and under mortifying judgments."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

There is a cost to living what the world considers the high life. There is a cost to not being serious about some things, namely God and His Word. Not perfection in Him and His Word, that's not possible. But, how serious are we in our commitment to being knowledgeable about Him? Knowing Him!? Sheol--the Hebrew word for the grave, which the poets use to mean death, which the Biblical commentators say means anything from an unseen abode of the dead to Hell itself; Hell, for my understanding, meaning separation from God--opened up itself "without measure" to take in Judah's joys of living the high life and all those who partook of it. What sized gaping-mouthed "monster" do we find ourselves looking at in today's unsatisfied, self-glorified world?

As we reach the end of today's verses, we are clearly reminded that all things--blessing and exile; grace and judgment--come under the arm of God.

"Power is not exalted but in judgment. It is the honour of God that, though he has a mighty arm, yet judgment and justice are always the habitation of his throne."

--Matthew Henry

"You have a strong arm;
Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne;
Lovingkindness and truth go before You."

--Psalm 89: 13-14

Matthew Henry referenced Psalm 89 when he wrote his statement. What is at the basis of the extension of God's arm? Righteousness and justice. The hand that brings forth powerful judgment does so with the intent of bringing people into right relationship with the God from whom lovingkindness and truth also flow forth. Even under this period of separation, which lasts into this very day for those who do not believe in Jesus Christ, God has grace yet to give and truth yet to fulfill to completion.

"'I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold...'"

--Micah 2:12 (excerpt)

"Transmit the message, to the receiver, hope for an answer some day...."

--Life During Wartime, Talking Heads

Do you know the way to Babylon? Woe, woe, woe-woe, woe, woe, woe-woe, woe. More woes! ....'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: whotalking.com

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Next week: Isaiah 5: 18-23

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).

Isaiah 4: 4-6

⁴ When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion 
and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, 
by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning,
⁵ then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion 
and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, 
and the brightness of a flaming fire by night;  
for over all the glory will be a canopy.
⁶ There will be a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, 
and refuge and protection from the storm and the rain.

With the close of Chapter 4 comes the return of a picture of God that should have spoken volumes to His people, as Isaiah speaks of what the Jews coined the "Shekinah"--a visible presence of the glory of God in their midst. More on this shortly, because His holy glory cannot be present in the presence of sin, which is where we begin with verse 4.

Verses 4 and 5 are a "when...then" construction, as opposed to an "if...then." There will be a time when the Lord will clean up, if you will. As we discussed here last week, sin cannot exist with true holiness. This is why we will always be sinners in our fallen world. Our steps toward true holiness will never be enough to fulfill what God has established as holy. That should not stop us from trying to be Christlike. We just need to realize that every step He brings us in that direction will be accompanied by time on our knees in humility, recognizing, as did Christ, that equality with God is not something to be grasped. (Philippians 2:6)

The Lord will cleanse Judah of its filth (moral and otherwise) as well as its penchant for violence. Bloodshed was common in Judah under its evil kings, notably--and just prior to the nation's Babylonian captivity--under the rule of King Manasseh, who reinstated all of the evil ways his father, "good" King Hezekiah, had abolished. The Day of the Lord will bring bloodshed as well. But, in the time of a revived Zion, in the days of the remnant that would be eternally saved, God would take all of that away through judgment and burning. "Through the process of refining fire, consuming the faithless and purifying the faithful, God will produce a holy Zion." (Reformation Study Bible)

Note the dichotomy, looking at verse 5, as Isaiah moves from speaking of fire as a destructive, yet purifying force to fire as the protective, guiding presence of God Himself. Once the table has been set, God may come to it. Isaiah says He will return to His people in the form He took as in the days of old, leading them out of bondage in Egypt through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

"The Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people."

--Exodus 13: 21 and 22

As I said up top, the Jews would come to refer to this presence of the glory of God with them as the Shekinah. ("That which dwells," in the Hebrew. --International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) Ezekiel, in Chapter 43, reveals his own encounter with the Shekinah, through a vision. "And His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth shone with His glory." (43: 2b) Through the wilderness adventure, as recounted in Numbers, the cloud and pillar would appear over the tabernacle--home of the very word of God. When the cloud or pillar moved, so would the people. Whether days or weeks, the people watched and honored the God who led them. These are the days that are coming back! 

"...all the glory will be a canopy," (vs. 5) and, "There will be a shelter...." (vs. 6) The King James Version uses 'defence' for canopy, meaning "chamber or closet," and 'tabernacle' for shelter, meaning "hope, refuge, place of refuge, shelter, trust." [all references, Strong's] That word shelter also more literally means "hiding place," a metaphor Isaiah will use more than once in his prophecy.

"You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance."

--Psalm 32:7

Not only will the presence of God be literal, but His presence of safety and protection will be also. For a nation on the verge of captivity, there remains hope. For souls in the last days on the verge of being lost, there is a "hiding place" and a hope from which there is deliverance.

"That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (Isa. 4:5, 6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a guard."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

Concluding today with a theme that we can pick up in a word in verse 5: create. It is important to note, also, the subject that goes with that verb: the Lord. The Lord creates. As has been said before, Judah was not in a position to save itself from itself. God is going to save His people from their sins. To do that, He has to bring about renewal and refinement to create holiness. The Lord washes away and purges that which makes people unholy. He causes His presence to be made known once conditions are right for Him to appear. He brings the shelter, the refuge, the protection, the hope and the glory. "Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves...." (from Psalm 100:3)


We can pray for His presence. We can pray for His protection. We can pray for hope. We can pray for revival. We can pray for the return of His glory. What we need to accept is that we cannot make these things happen by our own will! We need to honor Him as the Creator of all, honoring His word as the Holy Bible, and the Holy Spirit as our Help and our "hiding place" in a fallen world. "For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting
and His faithfulness to all generations." (Psalm 100:5)

"Reformation-work is God’s work; if any thing be done to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (Zech. 4:6), working both upon the sinners themselves that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others that are to be employed as instruments of reformation."

--Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible

The "Parable of the Vineyard" ....'Til next Wednesday!

Photo: oneyearbibleblog.com

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Next week: Isaiah 5: 1 and 2

Note: I read from the New American Standard Bible translation,
specifically, The MacArthur Study Bible (NASB).
I will quote other sources if used in a post.
I also use Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible
(with notes from the King James Version).