Isaiah 24 V 1 TO 12
The prophet, according to the directions he had received, does, in many precious promises, "say to the righteous, It shall be well with them;" and, in many dreadful threatening’s, he says,
"Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them"
In this chapter we have,
1 A threatening of desolating judgments for sin (ver. 1-12), to which is added an assurance that in the midst of them good people should be comforted, ver. 13-15.
2. A further threatening of the like desolations (ver. 16-22),.
THE YEAR B.C. 718
It is a very dark and miserable scene that this prophecy presents to us; turn our eyes which ever way we want, everything looks dismal. ….The threatened desolations are here described in a great variety of terms to the same meaning ….The earth is stripped of all its ornaments and looks as if it were taken off its foundation; it is made empty and waste (v. 1), as if it were reduced to its first chaos,
Nothing but confusion and emptiness again (Gen. 1.v 2), without form and void.
v. 3 We often see numerous families, and plentiful estates, utterly emptied and utterly spoiled, by one judgment or other, or perhaps only by a gradual and unaware decay. …Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth has become quite a different thing to man from what it was when God made it to be his place to live. Sin has also scattered abroad the inhabitants of the earth.
The rebellion at Babel was the occasion of the dispersion there.
DOES THIS REMIND YOU OF OUR WORLD TODAY?
How many ways are there in which the inhabitants both of towns and of private houses are scattered abroad, so that near relations and old neighbours know nothing of one another?
The same meaning is in v. 4. The earth mourns, and fadeth away; it disappoints those that placed their happiness in it and raised their expectations high from it, and proves not what they promised themselves it would be. …And now, as the earth itself grows old, so those that dwell there are desolate; men carry crazy sickly bodies along with them, are often lonely, and confined by affliction, v. 6.
If we look abroad, and see in how many places plagues and burning fevers rage, and what multitudes are swept away by them in a little time, so that sometimes the living scarcely do bury the dead, perhaps we shall understand what the prophet means when he says, The inhabitants of the earth are burned, or consumed, some by one disease, others by another, and there are but few men left, in comparison.
It is God that brings all these disasters upon the earth.
The Lord that made the earth, and made it fruitful and beautiful, for the comfort of man, now makes it empty and waste (v. 1), for earths Creator is and will be its Judge;
He has the right to pass sentence upon it and a required power to execute that sentence.
It is the Lord that has spoken this word, and He will do the work (v. 3);it is His curse that has devoured the earth (v. 6), the general curse which sin brought upon the ground for man's sake (Gen. 3 v17),Adams sin brought on us. And all the particular curses which families and countries bring upon themselves by their massivewickedness.
We see the power of God's curse, how it makes all empty and lays all waste; those who He curses are cursed indeed. People of all ranks and conditions will share in these tragedies
v. 2 It shall be as with the people, so with the priest, etc.
This is true of many of the common calamities of human life; all are subject to the same diseases of body, sorrows of mind, afflictions in relations, and things like these. It is in a special manner true of the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful nations, when He pleases, He can make them universal, so that none shall escape them or be exempt from them, whether men have little or much, they shall lose it all.
It shall be all alike, With high and low: As with the people, so with the priest, or prince.
The dignity of magistrates and ministers, and the respect and reverence due to both, shall not secure them.
The faces of elders are not honoured, Lam. v. 12.
The priests had been as corrupt and wicked as the people, and, if their lives did not restrain them from sin, how can they expect it should serve to secure them from judgments?
In both it is like people, like priest, Hosea 4.v 8, 9.
With bond and free: As with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress.
They have all corrupted their way, and therefore will all be made miserable when the earth is made waste.
With rich and poor. Those that have money before hand, that are purchasing, and letting out money to interest, will fare no better than those that are so poor that they are forced to sell their estates and take up money at interest. There are judgments short of the great day of judgment in which rich and poor meet together.
It is sin that brings these calamities upon the earth. …The earth is made empty, and fades away, because it is defiled under the inhabitants there (v. 5) ..it is polluted by the sins of men, and therefore it is made desolate by the judgments of God. Such is the filthy nature of sin that it defiles the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants, and it is rendered unpleasant in the eyes of God and good men. See Lev. 18 v 25, 27, 28. ….Why, what have they done?
1. They have transgressed the laws of their creation, not answered the ends of it.
The bonds of the law of nature have been broken by them, and they have cast from them the duty of their responsibilities to the God of nature.
2. They have changed the regulations of true religion, those of them that have had the benefit of that.
They have neglected the regulations, and have no conscience of observing them.
They have overlooked the laws, in the charge of sin, and have passed by the regulation, in the blunder of duty.
3. they have broken the everlasting covenant, which is an everlasting bond and will be to those that keep it an everlasting blessing.
It is God's wonderful Grace that He is pleased to deal with men in a covenant way, to do them good,
News from the Church New dates
6th May..…..Friendship Group, (this covers all ages and the lonely people)
20th May…. Knit and natter is a time to finish old projects or learn new skills
if you just want to talk well that’s OK too
ANSWERS TO 12th April QUESTIONS
1) Their thoughts continually evil 2) By being Just and Upright 3)Shem, Ham and Japheth
4) Gopher wood 5) One door, one window 6) Eight 7) Seven of each of the clean animals and two of each unclean animals 8) 7 days 9) 40 days 10) God did 11) 150 days 12) A raven and a dove
13) A rainbow 14) 950 15) A mighty hunter 16) The tower of Babel
Bible Quiz this week’s Quiz is about Genesis
1 What does the word “Babel” mean?
2 Who was Terah?
3 Who were Abram’s brothers?
4 Who was Abram’s first wife?
5 Where did Abram live?
6 What was the promise God made to Abram?
7 What was the name of Abraham’s famous nephew?
8 Why did Abraham and his nephew separate?
9 In what city did Lot live?
10 Which King captured Lot?
11 Who was Melchizedek?
12 When is tithing first mentioned?
13 Who id Hagar.?
14 Who is Ishmael?
15 Where in Genesis do we find recorded the name change of Abram and Sarai?
16 When was circumcision first introduced?
God Bless