The terror of the day of the Lord and the ensuing reign of blessedness.
In 24.1-27.13: Chapters 24-27 contain no clear indications of their time of origin and therefore are difficult to relate to known events. They contrast a time of fearful judgment upon the city of chaos (24.10) with a new era of blessedness, a spectacular feast on the mountain of God (25.6-10). These chapters may have been a separate prophetic book, but clear references to earlier themes and pronouncements, most notably the "New Song of the Vineyard" (27.2-6; compare 5.1-7), make it more likely that they are a sequel to the prophecies against foreign cities and nations in ch. 13-23. The great empires will be over taken by a fearful day of God's judgment, followed by a time of peace and justice. The evocative word pictures of doom and disaster, intermixed with hymns of praise and promises of a new age of great peace and blessedness, lift human history into the realm of a great spiritual "super-history" in which evil is overthrown and the faithful are vindicated.
Read Isaiah 24.1- 23. In 24.1-23: The day of terror for the city of chaos. This remarkable picture of a tortured and pain-wracked earth view the sufferings of its inhabitants (vv.17-20) as a consequence of the curse-ridden state of the earth itself (v. 6). The very order of the world, disturbed and in turmoil, can only be put right by divine punishment of the evil in anew era of divine rule (vv. 22-23). Despair for the earth combines with trust that untimely God will prevail, which explains the praise of God in vv. 14-16. Judgment, as proof of divine justice, is itself a necessary part of God's created order. The city of chaos (v. 10) is a symbolic city, like Bunyan's Vanity Fair in Pilgrim Progress. Even though the host of heaven rebels against God (v. 21), this prophet believes God will prevail. Comments or Questions..
No comments:
Post a Comment