Thursday, February 4
Following oracles against individual nations in Isaiah 13-23, Isaiah 24-27 describes on a worldwide scale the climactic defeat of God’s enemies and the deliverance of His people.
Why does Isaiah’s description of the desolation of the earth (Isaiah 24) look like John’s description of events connected with 1,000 years that follow Christ’s second coming (Revelation 20)?
As in Isaiah 13-14, aspects of literal Babylon apply to later powers, and the “king of Babylon” represents fusion of human rulers with the mastermind behind them, Satan himself. So, a message that Babylon is fallen (Isaiah 21:9) can be repeated at a later time (Revelation 14:8, 18:2), and Satan is finally destroyed after Christ’s second coming (Revelation 20:10). While the destruction of literal Babylon was a judgment “day of the LORD” (Isaiah 13:6, 9), another “great and terrible day of the LORD” (Joel 2:31, Malachi 4:5, compare Zephaniah 1:7) is on the way.
Similarly, in Isaiah 24 the prophet’s vision reaches through conditions with which he is familiar to the time when “the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, When the Lord of hosts shall reignIn mount Zion, and in Jerusalem” (Isaiah 24:23). Isaiah undoubtedly thought the vision applied to the Jerusalem he knew, but the book of Revelation explains that it will actually be fulfilled in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” (Revelation 21:23).
Does God really destroy the wicked?
Look at Isaiah 28:21, where God’s work of destruction is His “strange act”. It is strange for Him, because He doesn’t want to do it, but it is, nevertheless, a deed, or an act. It is true that sin carries the seeds of self-destruction (James 1:15). But because God has ultimate power over life and death, and He determines the time, place, and manner of final destruction (Revelation 20), it is pointless to argue that He ultimately terminates the curse of sin in a passive way, by simply allowing cause and effect to take its natural course.
What we see in Isaiah 24-27 is what we see reflected in the entire Bible, which is that no matter the suffering, pain, and desolation now, in the end God and goodness will triumph over evil. What, then, is the only thing we can do if we ourselves want to be part of that final victory? Proverbs 3:5-7, Romans 10:9.
