“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.” Isaiah 24:5-6 ESV
Reflection: who should we be grateful to for hearing the gospel message?
Victories and great successes always seem to come down to a few, who did something extraordinary beyond themselves. It is never the masses, the followers, who do this. It is always a few, who dared to take risk, who went against the “easy” route, but instead did what they knew was right and had to be done, even if it meant their own reputation and even their own lives. And, the interesting thing is that these giants in history were not necessarily giants at their time. They might have been a complete unknown, a nobody, in the eyes of the world. But they rose regardless, and did something amazing that they would be remembered for.
We have come to chapter 24 of Isaiah, which starts out with the following prophecy “Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.” Isaiah 24:1 ESV. At the first glance, this seems very grim, that the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, right? Is he talking about the end times here? This prophecy should be read as a beginning of a longer prophecy, which stretches from chapters 24-27. If you have time, it might be helpful to read through these three chapters. But we will focus on a couple of points in chapter 24 that is important that we don’t miss. To understand the context of Isaiah’s writing here, it is imperative that we get the English word “earth” here right, used many times, as in verse 1. It will change the entire understanding of this writing.
The English word “earth” is translated from Hebrew word “‘ereṣ” which is found 2,504 times in the Old Testament (KJV). It is most commonly translated into the English word “land”, meaning a specific area of landmass like a country. Here is a breakdown of the various ways and times how it is translated to English: land (1,543 times), earth (712 times), country (140 times), ground(98 times), world (4 times), way (3 times), common(1 time), field (1 time), nations (1 time), wilderness (with H4057) (1 time). So while we read the text in English as earth “Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.” Isaiah 24:1 ESV, he is not talking here about the whole “earth” as we think of it. It is very specifically the land of Judah, the southern kingdom; possibly including the land of Israel, the northern kingdom.. Now, how can we know that? Let’s read a bit further down, which is also our focus verses today. Replace “earth” with “land” when you read this.
“The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:5 ESV. If you remember, the only covenant that had been made by God was with Abraham, and the descendants of Abraham. Not with other nations and peoples. So this portion of the prophecy is not about the whole earth, but very specific to the land of Judah. God said the land would be left desolate because His people had “transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.” Isaiah 24:5b ESV. And, he continues saying “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.” Isaiah 24:6 ESV
There would be punishment, the wrath of the Lord, on the inhabitants, on the people of the land. But, did you notice the last part of v6? He says that “few men are left”, meaning a remnant would not violate the covenant with God. Would be faithful to the Lord God. And then we see this beautiful picture being painted, of how these few faithful would impact the whole earth, (this time read as earth, as he mentions “nations”), “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. They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.” Isaiah 24:13-16a ESV. And that is exactly what we see today, about 3000 years after this prophecy was spoken.
We are the recipients of these few men who were left, still faithful to their Lord God, through all the destruction and desolation of the land. We can think of the early followers of Jesus Christ, from his parents to the wise men, the disciples of Jesus, and after Jesus, Paul and even the early church in Jerusalem and beyond. It was through these few Jews who believed, and were faithful to God, who then faithfully carried the message out to the nations of the earth as Jesus instructed. Because of them, in chorus we can join the voices singing, “They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the Lord; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.” Isaiah 24:14-16a ESV.