Understanding the World

"Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. 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. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord hath spoken this word. The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 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 new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth... There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done. They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the Lord, they shall cry aloud from the sea... From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously. Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.

And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake. The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously" (From Isa. 24). What we see here is the bulk of a terrifying vision of the prophet Isaiah regarding the time of the Lord's second coming, ending with the mention of the thousand year reign of Christ on earth. If you needed sobering up any, you should have what you needed by the time you have read this vision. All I can say is that with all of the upheaval in the world today, we're all still in a paradise of sorts when compared to what this vision shows us about the end of this age and the Lord's eminent coming. The first thing that stands out to me, beside the obvious devastation coming on the earth, is that there will be no respect of persons from God in this age-ending, all time cataclysmic event. There will be no political correctness regarded by God, nor will anyone's money, or position among men, or state in this life be able to deliver them from the absolute, unmixed wrath of God coming to this world for it's stubborn, ongoing wickedness against him (Rev. 14:10).

There will be one way, and one way only to escape this soon coming vengeance from heaven, and we have a proverb that gives it to us simple and straight: "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death" (Prov. 11:4). The next evident human element of the vision is the reality that anything that anyone is happy about now, that is contrary to godliness, will quickly be turned to a sorrow never before imagined when as the scripture declares; "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ" (II Thess. 1:7,8). Those who love righteousness have to love the fact that in the middle of this vision of utter horror, there is very good news for those who love and trust "the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom [he] has sent" (Jn. 17:3). God who is just will not judge the righteous with the wicked, but as the prophet Habbakuk noted in a similar vision, "in wrath [God will] remember mercy" (Gen. 18:25; Hab. 3:2). Nahum, who had another vision like this, spoke of the lot of the faithful at that time as such: "The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him" (Nah. 1:7). The next outstanding part of the vision tells us that Satan and his angels will by punished at that time along with the kings and leaders of the earth, who will all be cast into hell together (Rev. 20:2,3). We also see the reference to the fact that Satan and his evil horde will be released from hell for a short season at the end of the millennial reign, as the scriptures also confirm (Rev. 20:7-9). Finally we see the reference to the moon being turned to blood and the sun being darkened at the time of the Lord's coming to destroy the wicked and to reign with his people in the earth (Joel 2:31; Acts 2:20; Rev. 2:12). All I can add to any of this is that these things are more certain to come to pass than it is that you or I will draw our next breath. Amen.