LOVE-DRIVEN WORSHIP
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.
Meditate
‘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.
Think Further
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 recognizable 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 judgment (vv. 1–3).
We are now entering what commentators refer to as Isaiah’s Apocalypse (chpts. 24–27). The message shifts from judgment of specific nations to global judgment, 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’ (vv. 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.
Apply
Think of the most troubling trend in the world today and pray that where sin is increasing, grace may increase even more.4
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.
1 Ps 19:1 2 Matt 5:13–16 3 1 Cor 12:31 – 13:13 4 Rom 5:20
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