14/05/17 Isaiah 5:24-30 “God’s judgment is always inevitable”

 

Isaiah 5:24Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, [so] their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

 

We have two very similar phrases: “the fire devoureth the stubble”; “the flame consumeth the chaff”.

fire – or figuratively God’s anger, see vs 25. flame – tongue of fire.

devoureth – devour or consume by fire, sword or oppression; devour, consume or destroy through pestilence or drought etc.

consumeth – sink down; drop (I assume it can mean to drop in level or quantity)

stubble – or chaff, probably stubble here.

chaff –usually separated from the grain by winnowing.

 

Jeremiah 15:6-76 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting. 7 And I will fan (winnow; scatter) them with a fan (pitchfork) in the gates of the land; I will bereave [them] of children, I will destroy my people, [since] they return not from their ways.

Note “fan” becomes “winnowed” in Isaiah 30:24The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan (pitchfork).

 

There is a New Testament parallel as spoken of Jesus by John the Baptist.

Luke 3:17Whose fan [is] in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

 

Those idle rich who lived to drink and party on in previous verses now have their judgment pronounced upon them. They will be burned up like stubble and chaff; their strength (root) shall be decayed, and their productiveness (blossom; bud; sprout; flower) gone up like a cloud of dust. That is, their past is rotten to the core, and there is no future for them either. (See Hebrews 6:8But that which beareth thorns and briers [is] rejected, and [is] nigh unto cursing; whose end [is] to be burned.)

Why? Because they have cast away (rejected; despised) the law of the Lord Sabaoth, and they have despised (spurned) the word (utterance) of the Holy One of Israel. See from last week:

Isaiah 5:19That say, Let him make speed, [and] hasten his work, that we may see [it]: and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know [it]!

 

They have sown a crop that has ignored or rejected the instructions of God, and now God is telling them that they will be consumed in His wrath. They have built empires of chaff and stubble, upon rotten foundations, with nothing to offer for the future.

Malachi 4:1For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

1 Corinthians 3:11-1511 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

 

Isaiah 5:25Therefore is the anger of the Lord kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them: and the hills did tremble, and their carcases [were] torn in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.

 

kindled – or burned; set on fire. As a result of their rejection and despising of His word, God’s anger is kindled (set on fire) against those whom He called His people (nation). He has stretched forth His hand (of judgment) against them in order to smite (attack with intention of destroying; chastise; send judgment upon; punish) them. God’s judgment causes the hills to tremble (quake) and the carcasses (bodies) of the people were as refuse (offal) in the middle of the streets. But even this extreme judgment does not satisfy His anger; He continues to hold out His hand of judgment against them.

Isaiah 14:27For the Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul [it]? and his hand [is] stretched out, and who shall turn it back?

 

Some possibilities include: earthquake; famine; pestilence. Or even all three perhaps. Amos, who died not long before Isaiah began his ministry, wrote:

Amos 4:9-139 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured [them]: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 11 I have overthrown [some] of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord. 12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: [and] because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel. 13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what [is] his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The Lord, The God of hosts, [is] his name.

Keep in mind that Isaiah commenced prophecy about 5 years after Amos died.

 

Isaiah 5:26And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly:

 

ensign – a standard; banner; a rallying point. A place to where all the fighting men would gather for war.

nationsgowy (usually associated with non-Hebrew nations; cf goy or goyim)

hiss – hiss; whistle; pipe. Usually as a signal.

Pulpit Commentary – And will hiss. "Hissing" is said to have been practiced by bee-keepers to draw their bees out of the hives in the morning, and bring them home again from the fields at nightfall (Cyril, ad loc.).

 

A great army is being summoned to a gathering place from all the nations of earth, and they will come in haste swiftly. This is probably the immense army brought by Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem in 605 BC.  But Vs 30 below suggests a strong similarity with that battle called Armageddon. This prophecy also suggests a time when the Lord God will fight again for His people to bring them back to Himself, when the nations of earth will be destroyed in favour of His redeemed people Israel.

 

Revelation 16:14; 1614 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Zephaniah 1:14-1814 The great day of the Lord [is] near, [it is] near, and hasteth greatly, [even] the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. 15 That day [is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, 16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers. 17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. 18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.

Zechariah 14:2-32 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

 

But here in Isaiah it appears that before they can be redeemed, they have to hit rock-bottom in order to recognise their desperate need for God, and that won’t happen for most of the remnant of Israel until the last days of the great tribulation. Here their problems are closer to home, although they still consider them to come from afar off!

Isaiah 39:3Then came Isaiah the prophet unto king Hezekiah, and said unto him, What said these men? and from whence came they unto thee? And Hezekiah said, They are come from a far country unto me, [even] from Babylon.

 

Isaiah 5:27None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

 

This huge army that has been summoned from the ends of the earth (probably as they saw it anyway – and could have meant the Assyrians and surrounding nations). Such an army might get tired, weary of all the travel, especially all those who had to walk all the way! But none will get weary; they are hardened soldiers, not to be turned away by any hardship. They won’t stumble over any rocks or obstacles; they are experienced at long marches. They won’t get tired nor sleep on duty; they are trained to stay awake. The belt around their waists will stay done up; when heading for battle there is no slackening of pace, nor time for a break; even when stopped for a break they are always on duty. They won’t even take their shoes off; there’s no time for even a sleep anywhere; there’s no serious stopping until they reach their destination – that is, Jerusalem. This army will come quickly (“with speed swiftly” – Vs 26); their intended victims won’t know about it until it is too late.

 

This army is intent on serious business. They mean to win, or die in the process. No-one will turn and run; to do so would probably mean death if caught. God has called this army into action (see vs 26); it will be His instrument at this stage to judge and punish His people.

 

Of course, Babylon would be destroyed in her turn for the devastation she brought upon God’s people.

Isaiah 13:1; 5-6; 9-11; 15-201 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see.
5 They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, [even] the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. 6 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord [is] at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. 10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. 11 And I will punish the world for [their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
15 Every one that is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined [unto them] shall fall by the sword. 16 Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished. 17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and [as for] gold, they shall not delight in it. 18 [Their] bows also shall dash the young men to pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb; their eye shall not spare children. 19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there.

 

Isaiah 5:28Whose arrows [are] sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind:

 

Their weapons are deadly and ready for action. Those who ride horses will not have to stop because of damage to their horses’ feet. In those days there wasn’t much, if any, use of horse-shoes anyway. Horses’ feet then were hardened by much riding in training beforehand, and thus when battle called their hooves were hard as flint (a hard form of quartz, 7 or 8 on Mohs scale). Usually any horse that became lame on such a battle march was left behind; nothing would be allowed to hold up the army. The chariot wheels would also be spinning like a whirlwind; they, likewise, would be left behind if they couldn’t keep up with the pace because of breakdowns of any sort. This army will not be held up by anything other than utter disaster! And it is God who calls them, and God who uses them to judge His people.

 

Isaiah 5:29Their roaring [shall be] like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry [it] away safe, and none shall deliver [it].

 

The sound of their coming will be heard from a distance: the noise of marching feet, galloping horses and chariots, the shouting of soldiers as they come toward the enemy – the battle cries intended to cause panic and terror among their opponents. They will be like lions roaring as they take hold of their prey; they will take their prey to a place where they can maintain control (such as taking them into captivity where they can be better-controlled) and where they cannot be easily delivered from the hands of the enemy. That is, they will be taken into captivity in Babylon where escape is more or less impossible and where no-one will be able to break in to rescue them.

 

Isaiah 5:30And in that day they shall roar against them like the roaring of the sea: and if [one] look unto the land, behold darkness [and] sorrow, and the light is darkened in the heavens thereof.

 

And in that day – can mean end-times but here primarily the culmination of the current process: that is, the taking of Judah into captivity! In that day when Babylon comes to take Jerusalem into captivity there will be a roaring of battle like the roaring of the sea.

darkness  darkness; obscurity; secret place. Also noted in end-times prophecy.

Joel 2:31The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come.

Amos 5:18Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord! to what end [is] it for you? the day of the Lord [is] darkness, and not light.

 

sorrow – in straits, distress; narrow; adversary; enemy; oppressor; hard pebble; flint. In fact, this is the same word used for “flint” in Vs 28. Here it could mean “in distress” but could also mean “adversary” or “enemy”.

darkness and sorrow – could also mean “obscurity and the adversary or enemy”. Cambridge commentary suggests that it means “the darkness of distress”.

heavens – clouds; mist.

 

If anyone were to look at the land on that day they would see darkness (as of depression because of the oncoming battle and inevitable defeat; or as of obscurity as in losing their national identity, or even because of the massive dust-storm raised by the oncoming army) and sorrow (as of a people who is slaughtered in battle, and then enslaved to Babylon, or the oppression of the oppressor). The light in the sky will be darkened, as clouds of dust from the battle cause the sun’s light to be diminished as in a massive dust-storm.

 

Some of this verse is considered a bit obscure, but nevertheless the meaning is abundantly clear. Battle is coming against Jerusalem and the outcome has already been stated clearly by God.  It will be a time of judgment, of pain and sorrow, of despair and helplessness. This people who thought that they knew better than God, who considered themselves to be invincible (after all, God was with them, wasn’t He?) was now going to face reality for once. They had thought themselves to be great, when they were actually weak and helpless in the hands of God who could and would mould them like clay in the hands of the potter.

 

In the end-times God will still be in control. He will still cause all things to be according to His sovereign will, and the nations of the world likewise will find that it is God to whom they must give account; if that account be less than perfect, then without God they are nothing except rubbish to be thrown on the rubbish-heap. Prophecy will happen just as stated! And yet all too often we find wide variations in interpretations of prophecy, especially end-times. I realise that for prophecies yet in the future there will be some latitude in what we believe. However, that latitude cannot ever go beyond Biblical truth. For example, there are quite a few beliefs concerning the rapture, including some that discount it as an actual event. However, because the Bible clearly states that Israel will not come onto God’s prophetic timeline until after the times of the Gentile Church is fulfilled (Romans 11:24-27), any rapture belief that has both the Church and Israel as God’s people at the same time (Eg during the tribulation) has to be rejected as non-Scriptural. Likewise, any view that dismisses an actual rapture has to be rejected, for the rapture (that is, a snatching away) will occur (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

 

So, while prophetic Scripture can allow for some leeway in interpretation, it can never overrule Scriptural truth. Any who teach that the Church and Israel co-exist in any way, or that the Church even takes over the role of Israel completely, are wrong, for Israel will come back, on her own, in the end; God has spoken and it will happen!

Likewise, all doctrines must be measured up against Scripture. Any inconsistency must indicate a lie somewhere, for there is no inconsistency in the truth. Unfortunately, far too many church groups have taken too much liberty with the truth of the Bible, and that is why we have so many who teach heresies as if they are the only ones with the truth. But, only God’s word is truth! Anything else has to be a lie!

 

One last thought! Israel thought that because they were God’s people, they would be alright. After all, God had been on their side up until now! But God is sovereign and will not be dictated to by even those whom He has called His people. No-one has the right to demand that God be obligated by covenant to help them, not even Israel, nor the Church today. In Isaiah, Judah had been trying to dictate terms to God, even overruling His counsel, it seems, yet in the end God had to tell them that they would be defeated and taken into captivity. They would hear the massive army coming and would not be able to escape, nor would God help them; instead God will be calling the enemy to judge His people. Have God’s people learned anything from all this today?

 

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