AIN’T SEEN NOTHING YET
Opening Prayer
Mighty God, help me to remember always, that while all of creation is yours and is held together by your power, you are mindful of me, you draw me to yourself, and lovingly sustain me.
Read ISAIAH 24
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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—
2 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.
3 The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
The Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
the heavens languish with the earth.
5 The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up,
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 The joyful timbrels are stilled,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful harp is silent.
9 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[a] 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.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 24:22 Or released
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
In what ways do you see different parts of the world suffering? In what ways do you pray for them?A prophet’s job is to speak the mind of God. We must not be surprised, then, if in Isaiah we read words that 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 had 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 14–16a 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 judgment, but also glory in which we may share.
Apply
As you survey the world’s current problems, what response is God calling you to offer?
Closing prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for sending your Son, for offering redemption through him, and for offering hope regardless of what I see in the world around me.
Book and Author Intros
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