This week we will cover verses that jump to the future. The following section is sometimes called the Apocalypse because of the description of God's judgment but it has other features. If you look at it in context then it has much more to say.
Isaiah's poetry, as inspired by the Holy Spirit, has nested levels of concepts. It is more a rhythm of ideas and concepts that are organized on multiple levels. Here is Motyer's analysis of the portion of Scripture we are about to move through.
- A1 – The Lord's harvest from a destroyed world (24:1-13); Destruction (1-12); Gleanings (13)
- B1 – The song of the world remnant (24:14-16a)
- C1 – The sinful world overthrown (24:16b-20)
- D1 – The waiting world (24:21-23)
- E1 – The song of the ruined city (25:1-5)
- F – MOUNT ZION (25:6-12)
- E2 – The song of the strong city (26:1-6)
- D2 – The waiting people of God (26:7-21)
- C2 – Spiritual forces of evil overthrown (27:1)
- B2 – The song of the remnant of the people (27:2-6)
- A2 – The Lord's harvest from a destroyed people (27:7-13); Destruction (7-11); Gleanings 12-13)
So A1 to E1 look outward at the world and A2 to E2 look at God's people with Mount Zion central to the teaching. We have 5 fundamental truths that we've seen before but that we'll see again. They are:
1) The Lord preserves His people as the world crashes (24:1-20; esp. 13-16a),
2) His promises are certain even when we see delays (24:21-23),
3) All the world will find its satisfaction in Mount Zion (25:1-12),
4) We are in the world turmoil but secure within the city of God (26:1-20), and
5) There will be a final gathering (27:1-13)
I mentioned that Isaiah “nests” poems within poems and I'll use Motyer's outline to look at the following nested section that fits within A1 to C1 of the outline above.
A1 – The earth devastated: divine action
Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, 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 creditor, so with the debtor. The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the Lord has spoken this word.
Isaiah 24:1-3
This is a divine action and no one in the world will be exempted from God's judgment. There are parallels here to Noah as a vine-dresser and the sin of his day (Genesis 6-9). The earth suffers along with men for sin in the world. Humans in sin are a great environmental threat. The justification for the judgment isn't given here and the rest of the poem is needed for understanding. But the use of the word “scatter” looks back to the original Babel and the search to build a world without God. The use of the words doesn't indicate that all the earth will be utterly empty but that the portion of the earth under judgment will be utterly empty and utterly plundered. That is everything of worth will be carried away. The Lord is the adversary here and He is the victor.
B1 – The withering of the world: sin and the curse
The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.
Isaiah 24:4-6
The earth itself is seen as defiled by the inhabitants. We move in this section from the military and earthquake imagery to withering and mourning. In my mind it is a logical transition in view to a post conquest seen after the inhabitants and land have been scorched by military actions. The land is blighted and even the leadership is subject to the blight and languish. It is also designed to draw our attention to the sin and the actions of sin in a heart. When we cling to sin then we defile our hearts. I think also we see the teaching of the law here that there are Holy things, clean things, and unclean things. Clean things separate the Holy from the unclean. The picture in these verses shows us a land defiled so that it is all unclean and there is nothing clean or Holy left in the land. It is fit for nothing but judgment. The word is polluted and rather than the stewardship of Adam they show sin full grown. Don't limit this verse to the land but don't forget that the Law taught land stewardship. God gave the law through revelation to teach fundamental truths for us to obey. These truths are not subject to modification by men. Even worse we foolishly break covenant with a gracious God. The use of “scorched” is likely a word that means to burn in anger. Notice that, as in the days of Noah, a remnant is saved.
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