Bart Ehrman, New Testament scholar, shares,
“As a Christian – from the time I was able to think, through my teenage and early-twenties fundamentalist period, up to my more mature adult liberal phase – I had believed in some form of the traditional, biblical God. This was a God who was not some kind of remote designer of the universe who had gotten the ball rolling and then stood aloof from everything he had created. This was a God who was active in the world. He loved people and was intent on showering his love on them. He helped them when they were in need. He answered their prayers. He intervened in this world when it was necessary and important to do so.
But I had come very much to doubt that any such God existed. And it was the problem of suffering that had created these doubts and that eventually led me to doubt it so much that I simply no longer believed it. If God helps his people – why doesn’t he help his people? If he answers prayer, why doesn’t he answer prayer? If he intervenes, why doesn’t he intervene?”
What do you have in your arsenal when deep questions arise within you? Do you have any defences at all? Do you have a confidence of faith that enables you to deal with the questions of suffering? What is the difference that faith makes to your life, right here and now?
In Isaiah 24, Isaiah is grappling with the challenges of life but he has a different approach from Bart Ehrman. As we work through this chapter together, perhaps, we may be challenged to reevaluate our view of faith and also think about the things we need to do and deal with God to mature our faith past a point of fragility to confidence.
(A) On the groaning earth: God’s curse and judgment (Is 24:1-12)
At the start of this chapter, we see that God empty the earth (Isa 24:1). God’s judgment will befall everything in it (c.f. Isa 24:2). We also know that this will happen, "for the LORD has spoken this word” (Isa 24:3). What God says will come to pass!
Has it occured to you that Christianity is a faith of words, a faith about a God who speaks words? How would you describe a God who speaks? This is a God who wants to communicate His intention, desires and will. There is someone behind this communication and what He says communicates something about Himself. And we can respond to Him! Do we treat Him as though He has never said anything? Why does God speak? He speaks so that we might know with certainty what He is about to do, and to who.
So what does God want us to know? He will judge everyone, regardless of religious, social, economic and debt status. If we believed that, we would look at the world differently. For many of us, our foundations are wrong. God begins by speaking not about grace but judgment. We do not approach God to have Him dispense grace like a vending machine.
See how God will empty the earth, implying that the earth is full (Isa 24:1a), will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants (Isa 24:1b). This is similar to what we have seen before in Genesis 6:11-13 with Noah, the flood and the ark.
Do we have a problem recognising the fundamental state of this world? How much time have you spent this week wondering violence and corruption? Where in your life this week have you seen violence and corruption on this earth? If we are so far removed from it, it will not be a surprise if we do not see it in the passage and the God of this passage. This is not just mentioned here, but is also present in other parts of the Bible. Isaiah 13:9-13 reflects the common theme that God in His righteousness will judge the earth. From Romans 8:20-21. we also see how our world is groaning and crying out for liberation from the futility that it has been subject to. Do you sense this futility?
These opening verses in Isaiah challenge us to begin by recognising that all is not well in this world. In our natural state, we are not well with God.
The Bible doesn’t just tell us the condition of the world, but also the reason for this condition. The world is in bad shape because there is no desire to acknowledge God. The peoples have transgressed God’s laws, violated His statutes and broken His everlasting covenant (Isaiah 24:5-6). Do you believe that this earth, in its default state, is opposed to God and has God opposed to it?
In Isaiah 24:7-12, we go on to read of activities that have ceased in both the homes and in the city as a result. There are no songs and cheer, and no more celebration. Wine also appears repeatedly and is missing. It emphasises the lack of celebration and cause for joy. The houses seem to be shut up so there are no visits. The city is in ruins (Isa 24:12). The gates, which typically are closed to protect the city, are now battered into ruins. When the olive tree is beaten, there is nothing left and the city is made desolate (Isa 24:13).
What has led to this? This is a result of the curse (Isa 24:6), God’s judgment. When God judges, there is no wine, singing and celebration. Not having God and having His judgment on us will never lead to true and lasting joy (c.f. Isa 25:6) . This is a groaning earth where God’s judgment weighs heavily on us. This is where we live. But we should not deny this! The God of the Bible is a God of judgment, and His wrath is on those who sin.
Do we have a category for judgment? What will change in our churches if we believe that God will judge?
(B) Also upon the groaning earth: the mixed joy and sorrow of believers (Isa 24:13-20)
In contrast, in Isaiah 24:13-16, God’s people lift up their voices and sing for joy. How is this possible? Because they know the things of God that God has revealed. They have heard His revelation and know God according to His own terms! The Bible keeps telling us to sing, not because we are good singers, but based on what we know of the Lord! Do we not sing to God because we think He is not worthy of our singing? If we knew Him as the one who is righteous and majestic, we will sing!
All the earth, from wherever they are, in both the west and east, are to sing to God (Isa 24:14-15). There is no praise that can come without joyful delight in God. This praise can arise, even for judgment.
Isaiah interrupts this praise by saying “But I say” and declaring that he “waste(s)” away” (Isa 24:16b). This is not the first time he declares “woe is me”. He has previously said it in Isaiah 6. We see how the prophet has compassion for the nations! Their loyalty is supposed to be for the LORD but they have left Him, just like in Noah’s day, in the Tower of Babel. See the heart of the prophet and feel His grief. God has put His image on every human being and they have all betrayed Him.
Yes we praise and worship Him, and even rejoice in His righteous judgment. Yet, the prophet also shows how we should have a broken heart too. Do you feel both? Or is it one or the other for you? Would we rather God be a God of simple grace, so that we can manage Him and also know what to do to get what we want? In Romans 9:1-3, Paul shows how we can speak of God’s judgment and also hold a broken heart and sorrow for the people.
Does this describe you, one who recognises that the believer has a mixed joy and sorrow? How does this kind of Christian pray and worship God? And also trust God? This kind of Christian is able to say:
Who holds our faith when fears arise?
Who stands above the stormy trial?
Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
Unto the shore, the rock of Christ?
Do you hear that? Jesus is not just the shore and the rock, but He also sends the waves, so that we might run to Him and trust Him.
(C) Beyond the groaning earth: the cosmic scale of God’s agenda (Isa 24:21-23)
Taking a step back still, we read that God will judge not only earth, but also heaven (Isa 24:21). It will be a complete, cosmic judgment.
Now, those of us that are familiar with our Bibles may read Isaiah 24:21-23 and immediately think of parts of Revelation, such as Revelation 20:1-3 or Revelation 20:11-13. But let us not read Revelation in Isaiah. Do not forget that that Isaiah came first! John , as he writes Revelation, is in fact, is referring to the Old Testament. Revelation 20 does speak of the final judgment of Satan and all that follows him. But here, God is laying out the connection between spiritual rebellion and the rebellion against Him.
The description in Isaiah 24 is similar to the language and picture given in Genesis 1. It is the opposite of what God does in Genesis 1, where He fashions the world out of chaos and nothing. In Isaiah 24, however, God is uncreating the world! Judgment is de-creation!
Isaiah is clear about Scripture! He knows what was in Genesis, in creation and in the judgment via the flood. Isaiah wanted to convey how judgment affects all of life — physical, material and also spiritual. Paul expresses a similar idea in Ephesians 6:10-12, where he exhorts the Ephesians to put on the whole armour not because they (and us) are fighting a political or intellectual battle. Rather, Christians are fighting a spiritual war. What does it look like? As we stand in judgement, in this world under judgment, we need to know what our salvation is and is not. We need to know who we are and how we have no other hope apart from Christ. Our hope is not in becoming better people or getting our act together.
God’s agenda is full and complete cosmic judgment. Only those who have placed their faith in Christ and know the safety and security of His finished work will be saved. This reality should drive us to the cross and strip any sense of self-reliance. We have no other hope. This is why we sing and also mourn, and cry out for the world that is lost.
As we work through Isaiah 24 to 35, we will hear the theme of faith again and again. When we say faith, it means faith in Jesus, a desperate faith in Him, that recognises that all we have is Him.
And as we end, we truly recognise that this world lives under the groaning weight of Romans 1:18. How have you been troubled by life in a fallen world and how should we respond to that truth? Today’s passage also models the mixed response believers ought to have – joy in Christ and lament for the world. Which response speaks to you more and why? How does the cosmic, final truth of God’s agenda comfort and challenge you today?