Ain’t seen nothing yet

Slices

Prepare

Pray for those parts of the world suffering the devastating effects of climate change.
 

Bible passage

Isaiah 24:1–23

The Lord’s devastation of the earth

24 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.
The new wine dries up and the vine withers;
    all the merrymakers groan.
The joyful tambourines are stilled,
    the noise of the revellers has stopped,
    the joyful harp is silent.
No longer do they drink wine with a song;
    the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate;
    the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine;
    all joy turns to gloom,
    all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,
    its gate is battered to pieces.
13 So will it be on the earth
    and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
    or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.

14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
    from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord;
    exalt the name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
    in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
    ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’

But I said, ‘I waste away, I waste away!
    Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
    With treachery the treacherous betray!’
17 Terror and pit and snare await you,
    people of the earth.
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
    will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
    will be caught in a snare.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
    the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken up,
    the earth is split asunder,
    the earth is violently shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
    it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
    that it falls – never to rise again.

21 In that day the Lord will punish
    the powers in the heavens above
    and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
    like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
    and be punished after many days.
23 The moon will be dismayed,
    the sun ashamed;
for the Lord Almighty will reign
    on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
    and before its elders – with great glory.

Word Live

Explore

A prophet’s job is to speak the mind of God. We must not be surprised, then, if in Isaiah we read words which seem to come both from and for eternity. These sections of scripture are sometimes called ‘The Isaiah Apocalypse’. This word means ‘unveiling of the end’. Isaiah has access to divine realities. These might be beyond our comprehension and we should not pretend otherwise. However, as image piles upon ghastly image, it is clear that the end will be terrible. 

I prayed before I began writing this note: how to find something helpful to say about the catastrophic destruction of the world?! My first sense as I prayed was of how tiny I am. This is true in terms of the time as well as the space I occupy. Mixed in with all the horror, without any signal to the reader, are verses 14 to 16a and verse 23. At first, this seems strange. Surely the idea is not of a group comprising you, me, our Christian chums and a few righteous Israelites, all celebrating while the rest of the world suffers anguish. If we think this, we are mistakenly reading the chapter like a modern, ordered narrative. Instead, here we are being given a glimpse of God’s intention through all time: righteous judgement but also glory in which we may share.

Author
Mike Hawthorne

Respond

List some of the world’s current problems and then pray (or sing), ‘Glory to the Righteous One.’

Deeper Bible study

‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.’1 Find a way to look into the sky and worship God.  

Have you seen that picture of planet earth taken from the space station? Our world looks so beautiful: blue oceans, misty white cloud cover and the faintly recognisable continents. All is calm, all is bright? If you zoom in, however, you see poverty, injustice and disobedience. It’s the same sense we get when reading this chapter: the street view of God’s world is marred by sin – everyone is facing God’s imminent judgement (vs 1–3).

We are now entering what commentators refer to as Isaiah’s Apocalypse (chs 24–27). The message shifts from judgement of specific nations to global judgement, mixed with songs of praise. No matter what age, the basic problem has always been what Isaiah described: ‘The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant’ (v 5).

That raises an interesting question for us to ponder: what should God’s people do about the sinful, corrupt world we live in? Some believe it’s so hopeless that, as with the Amish community 20 miles from where I live, the only option is to separate from the world. However, does that remove God’s preserving salt and guiding light from the world?2 Others believe that the answer is to impose God’s standards on society, an approach that has led to a rise in a contentious form of Christian nationalism in some countries – but is enforcement the best way to change hearts and minds? Followers of Jesus are called to the ‘most excellent way’.3 Isaiah signals what that is: ‘acclaim the Lord’s majesty … give glory to the Lord; exalt the name of the Lord’ (vs 14–16), a theme he’ll develop in the next few chapters. Neither rule-driven separation nor anger-driven enforcement can match the power of love-driven worship to change the human heart. 

Think of the most troubling trend in the world today and pray that where sin is increasing, grace may increase even more.4  

1  Ps 19:1  2 Matt 5:13–16  3 1 Cor 12:31 – 13:13  4 Rom 5:20

Author
Whitney T Kuniholm

Bible in a year

Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 36,37; Psalms 126–128

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Pray for the digital solutions and finance teams as they review the systems that underpin the effective management of the SU financial accounts. Pray for solutions that will make for smoother and more effective working.

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