The Totality of Judgement

The Little Apocalypse of Isaiah as a Summary of Judgment

If you go ahead and turn there to Isaiah 24, so if you remember Isaiah 13 all the way through 23, it's about these different oracles against the nations. What we have here in Isaiah 24 through 27 is what's commonly called the Little Apocalypse of Isaiah, because it has a lot of apocalyptic language.

Apocalypse just means revelation, a lot of revelatory language about what God is doing in the future. Now what I think the right way of understanding these chapters is, is as a summary of everything that came before, those different oracles were revealing what God is going to do among the nations.

And chapters 24 through 27 are really just summarizing these things in a big picture way, as opposed to nation by nation going through what God is doing, speaking of all of it at once in summary form.

The Reading of Isaiah 24:1–13

So if you're there at Isaiah 24, please stand for the reading of God's word and we'll read verses one all the way down through 13. Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

And it shall be as with the people, so with the priest, as with the slave, so with his master, as with the maid, so with her mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

The earth shall be utterly emptied and utterly plundered for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers. The world languishes and withers. The highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore, a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left. The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh.

The mirth of the tambourines is stilled. The noise of the jubilant has ceased. The mirth of the lyre is stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The wasted city is broken down.

Every house is shut up so that none can enter. There's an outcry in the streets for lack of wine. All joy has grown dark. The gladness of the earth is banished. Desolation is left in the city. The gates are battered into ruins for thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

Prayer for Illumination

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for your revelation. You have many secret things that belong only to you, but you have revealed much of which we have no inherent right to, and you have given generously from your treasure store of wisdom.

We thank you for your word. We thank you for this particular passage, and we ask that you would open our eyes to understand, that you would soften our hearts to be receptive to your word, that you would transform us by the washing of the water of the word.

In Jesus' name, amen. So as we've looked at these different passages about judgment, the way the summary begins is by talking about the totality of judgment. It's not something that can be avoided. It is something that reaches to the far ends of the earth.

It reaches all different aspects of creation. It reaches even joy itself. All the sources of joy languish in this passage. And so it's a message to those who would think that they can somehow escape the issue of judgment just by virtue of their status, by virtue that they belong into a particular class of people they're either poor or rich or lender or creditor, that they could somehow escape these things.

But God is saying, there is no means for escaping what he has declared. This will reach all the earth. And the only way of escape is what he says elsewhere in this book of Isaiah and elsewhere in scripture, which is through Jesus Christ, is the only way of escape.

Otherwise, there is no way of escape. The only way is through Jesus Christ. It says in verse one, behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate. He will twist its surfaces and scatter its inhabitants.

Imagine that, twisting the earth and scattering its inhabitants. The idea is almost as if God had turned the world upside down and shaken it. So the people are scattered. People are destroyed as the earth is twisted.

He says, and it shall be as with the people, so with the priest. As with the people, so with the priest. Doesn't matter if you are layman or clergy. Doesn't matter. This is a truth for everyone. There are many people who think that by virtue of their religious status, they will escape judgment.

By virtue of being a priest or a pastor or some other kind of religious authority, that they are therefore right with God because of these things. That's not the case. And there are a lot of people who think that because, well, all that clergy is just so corrupt and I'm one of the solid people of the earth, one of the salt of the earth kind of person, this will avoid me because God's just coming after those corrupt authorities.

You see how often people read the gospels and they see the issues Jesus picks with the Pharisees and they take the wrong impression from that, that God only has an issue with these religious hypocrites and the other people of the world God has no issue with.

No, it's the case with both, that no one can escape judgment just by some status of either being a layman or being clergy. As with the slave, so with his master. As with the maid, so with her mistress.

As with the buyer, so with the seller. As with the lender, so with the borrower. As with the creditor, so with the debtor. This extends to everyone. Doesn't matter if you're rich or if you're poor. Those people who are rich spend so much time in their affluence, so much time having no need, they don't think they have any need for God.

They think they will stand in the final day because they don't think about the final day. And the poor of the earth might think that, well, I am fine because I haven't wronged people as many of the rich have.

I've not gained from oppression, so I'm in the right. No, everyone has sinned before God. And then he goes on. You see, this is broken down, maybe not with the paragraphs that you see in the ESV, but the way I see this being broken down is he talks about this totality of judgment and it extends to all people, all classes.

And then he talks about it extending to all the earth, like the physical earth creation that's underneath man. And then he talks about joy in the last part. So moving on from the people to talking about earth creation.

The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers. The world languishes and withers. The highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore, a curse devours the earth and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are scorched and few men are left. See, the earth itself is pictured as mourning and withering, languishing.

And this is something that frequently appears in scripture. We imagine God just caring about creatures or just caring about people who are moral actors and not necessarily having some sort of similar relationship with the whole earth.

But God created man to have dominion over the earth. God created man over the earth and as man sinned, so all those under him suffer this curse. You read the curse in Genesis 3 and it applies to the earth itself.

The ground struggles to yield its fruit. The world languishes and withers. Now, the reason why there are animals that destroy things, why there are animals who attack humans, why is that except that the earth is under a curse?

The Bible speaks often of our sin as bringing a judgment on the land, on the land. Now, there's a particular phrase in here. They have broken the everlasting covenant. This has many, many interpretations and it's not just many over the scope of people of all kinds of theologies.

Really, even if you look at people just within the narrowest branch of Reformed theology, there are all kinds of interpretations of this. Some people think that because this is talking about universal judgment that it must be talking about the Noahic covenant, but really, in what sense could the Noahic covenant be broken?

It certainly says that murder is evil, but the Noahic covenant is not something that can be broken. It's a promise from God. And then others take this to be the new covenant, that it's speaking of what the Antichrist will do as he profanes the covenant that God has made with his church.

There are people who take this as referring to the covenant of works made with Adam in the garden because it's talking about the curse coming upon the earth. But the thing is, you have a lot of these phrases used for other covenants.

You have a curse being brought on the earth by virtue of other covenants that are broken, like the Mosaic covenant. You have other covenants being called everlasting covenants, not just the Noahic covenant.

You have the new covenant being called the everlasting covenant and the old covenant made with Moses being called the everlasting covenant. So I think the best way to understand this is that Isaiah is turning particularly to address God's people.

And the reason why is because, for they have transgressed the laws and violated the statutes. So that implies that there's some particular set of rules and regulations that have been set up. So this is something beyond the covenant of works.

It's something beyond the Noahic covenant. It's something beyond just the general covenant that God has with humanity, that they ought to serve him as creator. But that Isaiah brings into view, in particular, those people which have the most obligation to serve God as he has provided much for them.

And so while this passage overall is about all of creation and all people, he brings in mind this particular covenant, this Mosaic covenant that the people had broken repeatedly. And it's because of this that everything under people languishes.

The moving on beyond the earth itself speaks of joy. He says, the wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourines is still, the noise of the jubilant has ceased.

The mirth of lyre is stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing. Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. The wasted city is broken down, every house is shut up so that none can enter. There's an outcry in the streets for lack of wine.

All joy has grown dark. The gladness of the earth is banished. So it's not just man and earth underneath, but this abstract notion of joy is also taken away. God speaks of wine and of music. These things that people go to for joy, to make their joy more complete.

Wine is frequently in the Bible, a symbol of joy. Music is frequently in the Bible, a symbol of celebration. And God is taking these things away so that there is none, no more, no joy. And to what does this refer?

What, to what time does this refer? If this is truly a summary of all those chapters that have gone before and we've seen what they apply to, they really apply to all times. To all times, as it says in Romans 1 .18, the wrath of God is revealed against man's unrighteousness.

It suppresses the truth in unrighteousness. It is in all times that this is true. There's a particular way it's true at Christ's first coming. There's going to be a great and glorious way that this is true at Jesus' second coming.

But this is something that is always true. It is always true that the earth is under a curse. It is always true that judgment comes to all people as man in every age has had to suffer all kinds of calamities, as all kinds of men have gone to face God and death.

As all kinds of men have had their joy taken away when they have ignored God, when they have ignored the Lord. So it ends in verse 12 and 13 in this particular section. Desolation is left in the city.

The gates are battered into ruins for thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done. We had this picture of an olive tree being beaten back in Isaiah 17 .6.

The olive tree is beaten and only a small remnant remains. This is the picture of destruction. It reaches everywhere. What does it leave behind? Only a remnant, only very little. And so the question is, how?

How does one be a part of that remnant? How does one be a part of the few olives that are left at the time of the gleaning? The gleaning being when people are able to come by after the main harvest and take whatever is left.

The answer is only through Jesus Christ. You see this passage, speaking of this totality of judgment, describing how no man, how no man can escape God's law. Just like an earthquake, when an earthquake comes, it doesn't care if you're rich or poor, if you're clergy or layman.

Opens up and it swallows all. The totality of judgment points to the need for an equally great savior. And if you contemplate what these passages say and what the Bible says about Jesus Christ, you will realize that this passage is setting us up to see the great and gloriousness, the greatness and the gloriousness of the gospel, the greatness and the gloriousness of Jesus Christ.

Consider what the Bible says about Jesus Christ in the scope of his salvation. When it talks about, as it will be with the people, so with the priest, as with the slave, so with the master. There are similar phrases in the New Testament about who Jesus saves.

There's no Jew nor Greek, free nor slave, right? That salvation extends to all. As it says in 1 Timothy 2 .1, God desires that all men come to repentance, not just the lowly, but even the high rulers.

God desires that all should come to repentance. And this gospel has gone out to the whole world, to all those nations that we've seen before in the slivers of promise of the gospel in those oracles. That salvation meets, that totality of salvation meets that totality of judgment.

That just as that judgment reaches the whole earth, God's salvation goes out to the whole earth. That gospel goes out to the whole world. And it speaks of the earth languishing and withering. Who brings joy to the earth but Jesus Christ?

Who has promised to make a new earth? This earth that has been destroyed by this curse that man has brought upon it, this curse of God due to the sin of man, Christ will make the earth all new. He will destroy all that is corrupted and he will bring a perfect new creation.

And it speaks of the covenant. Who made a new covenant, a new and everlasting covenant, one that can't be broken? That covenant has been made in Jesus' blood. See, he answers this as well. And then it goes on to speaking of wine and of music.

If you consider wine, what are the first and the last things that Jesus did in his ministry on earth? The first thing he did after his temptation was to turn water into wine, symbolizing the joy that he brings.

He corrects this lack of joy. And what was the last thing he did before he went to the cross, the Lord's Supper? He had us commemorate his death through something that symbolizes joy. Christ brings great joy to his people.

And then it speaks of music. Now, you may not think of Christ in music, but consider these things. There's a couple of verses in the Gospels where it talks about him leading his disciples in song. Not only that, but he is the great son of David.

Who is the most accomplished musician in the Old Testament? It's David. And Jesus follows after him as the greater son of David who leads his people in joyous song. And we have in the New Testament several passages that say the same.

Hebrews 2 verse 12 says, I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will sing you praise. And it says previously, that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.

So this is speaking of Jesus leading his brothers in song. And then Romans 15. Romans 15 says, for I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy.

So it's talking about this Gospel going out to the whole world, even the Gentiles. And then what does it say? As it is written, therefore, I will praise you among the Gentiles and sing to your name. And again, it says, rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.

And again, praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let the peoples extol him. See, this passage in Romans 15 .9 speaks of Christ singing and leading the Gentiles in song. As a lack of song is spreading, right, all the songs ending across the whole earth as God's judgment spread, who comes and leads the people in song, saving them so that they can be right with God and sing and celebrate?

It's Jesus Christ. Then he ends with speaking of desolation and only the few left. Even that is corrected, because even though it is a small remnant that is saved, God makes them a great and glorious people, because not only does the Gospel spread over all the earth, but he makes that bride of Christ, he makes them glorious.

It says in Galatians 4, for it is written, and this is quoting Isaiah, by the way, rejoice, O barren one who does not bear, break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate one will be more than those of the one who has a husband.

So here it talks about breaking forth into singing, crying aloud, why? Because the children of the desolate one will be more than of those of her who has a husband. The desolate one, speaking of this very small remnant, speaking of this very small Zion, God will make it a great and glorious people.

And how? Through Jesus Christ. You see, each one of these, each one of these curses, each one of these judgments is directly answered in Jesus Christ. And as the Old Testament speaks of this judgment, it speaks in a way, highlighting particular points, particular ideas, classes of people, the earth, wine, music, the covenant, all these things are vocabulary that the Holy Spirit is inspiring and using in order to paint the picture so that as we come to the New Testament, we see what Christ has done, we can understand that it is a precise answer to the problem given to us in our sin and in God's judgment.

It's a great salvation that's available in Jesus Christ. And it's to him we come to and we pray to, knowing that he mediates our prayers, knowing that he intercedes for us, and that all these things are acceptable to the Father, that we can come before our Father knowing that he will grant our requests because we have a great and glorious Savior.