In The Word
Read: Isaiah 24-25
Judgment on the Earth
24 Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, twists its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the female servant 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 plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth dries up and crumbles away, the mainland dries out and crumbles away, the exalted of the people of the earth dwindle. 5 The earth is also defiled by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live on it suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth decrease in number, and few people are left.
7 The new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the joyful-hearted sigh.
8 The joy of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
Intoxicating drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that no one may enter.
11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All joy turns to gloom.
The joy of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city
And the gate is battered to ruins.
13 For so it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
The name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “I am finished! I am finished! Woe to me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
17 Terror and pit and snare
Confront you, you inhabitant of the earth.
18 Then it will be that the one who flees the sound of terror will fall into the pit,
And the one who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken apart,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth trembles like a heavy drinker
And sways like a hut,
For its wrongdoing is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen on that day,
That the Lord will punish the rebellious angels of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be ashamed and the sun be put to shame,
For the Lord of armies will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
Song of Praise for God’s Favor
25 Lord, You are my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have worked wonders,
Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.
2 For You have turned a city into a heap,
A fortified city into a ruin;
A palace of strangers is no longer a city,
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore a strong people will glorify You;
Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
4 For You have been a stronghold for the helpless,
A stronghold for the poor in his distress,
A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.
5 Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the uproar of foreigners;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.
6 Now the Lord of armies will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,
And refined, aged wine.
7 And on this mountain He will destroy the covering which is over all peoples,
The veil which is stretched over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the Lord has spoken.
9 And it will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
Let’s rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
And Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the water of a manure pile.
11 And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.
12 The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and throw to the ground, to the dust.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
There are those who are really focused on saving the planet, the physical planet. However, we know that this earth will one day pass away. We should be focused on the spiritual (eternal), and not the physical that will one day be replaced. We, as its inhabitants, have all willingly broken its Creator’s covenant (Romans 3:23). But, His perfect plan was formed long ago to save us by sending His only begotten Son to take our place and pay our debt so that we can spend eternity with Him. We must repent and accept Yeshua the Messiah as not only our Savior, but also our Lord, or else we will suffer for all eternity. There is no other way to escape judgment and punishment.
The Lord reigns now and forever. One day His glory will be seen, not just in heaven, but everywhere. He is our defense and our refuge. He is our place of safety from the storm and our shade from the heat. Those who lay their life down before Him, just as He laid down His life for us, will enjoy that wedding feast, that lavish banquet, where death is swallowed up for all time, and where every tear is wiped away. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation. Sing a song of praise to the righteous One for sending the perfect One. Let us be faithful to live out the good news and share it as we do our part to save the planet.