Staggering Like a Drunk

Good morning!

Today I'm reading in Isaiah 24-27.  Some have called these chapter "the little Revelation" or "the little apocalypse", because Isaiah is describing here a judgment of God upon the whole earth.  It's a doozy.  Here are some of the key elements of this judgment:

• Everyone on earth will be affected by this devastation.  The majority of the inhabitants will die. Few will be left alive.  (24:2, 13, 18)
• The earth will be judged because its inhabitants have broken God's laws (24:5-6).  The Message version phrases it like this:  "...violated the sacred and eternal covenant."  
• Isaiah says that the earth will be rocked with massive, worldwide earthquakes so that she "staggers like a drunk" (24:19-20)  This description reminds me of the world-wide earthquakes described in Revelation 6, which occurs when the 6th seal is opened in Heaven, and also in Joel 2.  I am not sure if these descriptions in Isaiah describe the same event or not; the end-times feature many earthquakes and much devastation.
• The devastation on the earth from this event in Isaiah 24 will be so massive that the earth will never recover its former state.  (24:20)
• A remnant of people will be left.  A picture analogy is used in 24:13 - - it will be like when an olive tree is shaked so that its ripe olives fall, with just a few being left on the tree.  That remnant will turn to God and will praise Him.  Their song is recorded in 24:14-16 and 25:1-5.
• 24:21-13 and 25:5-12 tell us that at the end of this apocalyptic devastation the LORD will set up His earthly kingdom (in Jerusalem, we are told elsewhere in the Word.  Here the location is referred to as "His holy mountain" 27:13).
• Chapter 24:21-22 describes how God will chain up the powerful spiritual rulers of darkness for the time of His 1000-year rule on the earth (the Millennial rule).  This is also spoken of in Revelation 20:2.
• Chapter 26:1-6 tells of how God's people will celebrate the establishment of His earthly kingdom in that day. 
• It is interesting to note in chapter 26:7-9 that the righteous are looking for and anticipating the day of God's judgment.  "We desire your fame and reputation to grow." (26:8)  They are speaking as if they will be kept safe during the time of judgment, and that the judgment will be happening only to those who have forsaken God.  (See 26:20-21.)

"Go my people, enter your inner rooms.

Close your doors behind you, 

hide for a little while,

until His angry judgment is over.

For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where He lives

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

So, this judgment happens at the end of days.  Some Bible scholars who hold the pre-Tribulation Rapture view believe that 26:20-21 indicate that the believers alive at the time of this judgment will be Raptured and therefore spared.  There are also references in this passage (26:19) about the dead being raised to life, which is also a feature of the Rapture view.  (I've written about this recently in other blog posts.)  Again, I'm not being dogmatic here.

There's only been one time in my life when I was staggering like a drunk.  A friend had fixed me (a non-drinker) a "hot toddy" to help cure a bad cold.   After drinking that nasty concoction, I got up to walk to bed, and literally careened from wall to wall down the hallway.  It was an odd feeling, which I never desired to repeat.  

I've never experienced an earthquake, personally, nor can I say I'm eager to do so.  The description here in the Bible is terrifying.  One thing that I am confident of is that I belong to the One who is in charge of these events.  Whether or not as part of His Bride I will escape fully the tribulation to come is in His Hands.  When you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that your eternal destiny is secure, then you can rest in that assurance ... and say with the apostle Paul, "So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it." (2 Corinthians 5:9).

My LORD, you are a righteous God!  You will bring judgment on the earth one day, on a massive scale, because You cannot abide injustice, nor even the tiniest bit of unholiness in Your presence.  I thank you that my holiness is bestowed on me by the merits of my Savior, not through my own work, and because of His perfect, complete sacrifice, my punishment was taken by, paid by, Him.  Refine me, O Lord.  Purify me and re-shape me in His lovely image as I wait for You to do your wondrous, terrible works in the earth.  In Jesus' name, amen.