Isaiah 24:7-16

2. JUDGMENT IS BITTER

TEXT: Isaiah 24:7-16

7

The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.

8

The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

9

They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.

10

The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in.

11

There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.

12

In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.

13

For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

14

These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea.

15

Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea.

16

From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous. But I said, I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! the treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.

QUERIES

a.

Why so much emphasis on wine?

b.

Why are houses shut up within the city?

c.

Who is going to glorify Jehovah?

PARAPHRASE

The juice of the grape will be sorry, the grape vine will lose its vitality, and all those who were glad and merry will be turned to mournful sighing. The gay music of tambourines and harps will cease when the people are turned to weeping. Singing while drinking wine will no longer be going on; drinking for the mere sake of intoxication will grow, but it will only bring bitterness to the drunkards. Cities shall become moral wastelandsjungles of crimewhere every house has to be locked against thieves and murderers. The streets of the cities shall echo with the cries of wantonness and debauchery. They shall be filled with pessimism, gloom and despair. The great centers of population are filled with desolation and their bulwarks crumble into ruin. This is the way it shall be among all the nations of mankind. Man in rebellion will destroy himself until very little of real value can be found in himjust like an olive tree shaken until few olives are left. But that valuable little that is left of every nation will lift its voice in loud shouting, giving praise to the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel. From east to west, from the uttermost part of the earth, a remnant of believers will sing, Glory to the righteous. But my heart is still heavy with grief, for evil still prevails and treachery is everywhere. Multitudes remain impenitent and positive reactions to God's judgments are hasty, superficial, and soon erased.

COMMENTS

Isaiah 24:7-12 SORROW IN THE CITIES: The Hebrew word translated new wine in Isaiah 24:7 is theeroush and means literally, the juice of the grape. The prophet is apparently trying to portray the idea that the very means by which men had falsely sought for joy would become occasions of despair and bitterness. There would be no more happiness when the juice of the grape was harvested. All the festivities associated with harvesting the grape, pressing it into juice, singing and drinking, would end among the enemies of God, for He is going to demonstrate once and for all the folly of all that. All the tambourines and harps of the world will play mournful music. Merryhearted singing while drinking wine will cease. Strong drink, shaikhor in Hebrew, will be consumed bitterly and in despair. This is a graphic description of unbelieving man's predicament in every generation. The things of the world hold no hope. Ever since God demonstrated in history through Jesus Christ the sharp distinction between spiritual things and carnal things, the line of demarkation has been drawn vividly (John 9:39-41). The folly of sin and carnality is much more in evidence and the blessing of faith and righteousness is much more in evidence since the work of Christ has been accomplished (John 16:7-11). And it is interesting, in the light of this passage from Isaiah, that the songs of unbelieving man graphically portray his despair and disillusionment while the songs of believing man are exceedingly happy and filled with hope.

In the great cities of the nations arrayed against God there is moral, spiritual and economic confusion. They become vast wastelands of human decadence. People must shut their doors and bolt and lock them against thieves, murderers and other lawless men. In the streets echo the cries of wantonness and debauchery. The streets of the cities are filled with cynical, pessimistic, frustrated people rushing to and fro like sheep without a shepherd. These huge cities, monuments to man's vain illusion that he can create his own utopia, are really concrete jungles of desolation. This prophetic picture of Isaiah applies not only to God's enemies of the prophet's day, Assyria and Babylon, but to all of man's rebellious attempts to structure his own benevolent society and create his own heaven. It could apply to Greece and Rome; to England and Germany and America and Russia; to monarchies, dictatorships and republics. All of man's attempts to govern himself are inadequate at best and destructive at worst. They all are to be supplanted by the just, holy, righteous kingdom of God, the church. That is a bitter pill for rebellious and unbelieving man to swallow! In his pride, man does not want to acknowledge that he is unable to transform himself and his society and save himself. So the judgment of God upon man's schemes brings about all the bitterness Isaiah has described here. The surrender of man to God's way is never easy and gentle. Man must struggle violently with his own pride and selfishness if he is to surrender to the will of God and enter God's kingdom.

Isaiah 24:13-16 SHOUTING IN THE COAST-LANDS: As Isaiah takes in this universal scene of chaos he sees a gleam of light and hears a song of hope coming from the uttermost parts of the earth. It is the Remnant. This Remnant is from among the peoples, that is, the gentile nations which God has judged. This is probably one of those veiled Messianic prophecies concerning the defeat of God's enemies and the institution of His kingdom which originated at the cross of Christ and the day of Pentecost (cf. John 12:31; John 16:11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-15; Luke 1:67-75, etc.). A very small remnant, a tiny minority of righteous and faithful believers will survive God's judgments and form the nucleus of the church. They will be so few they will be like that which is left when the olive tree is shaken and like the left-overs when the grapes are harvested.

The Hebrew word meyom is translated sea in Isaiah 24:14. It usually means toward the west. The Great Sea was always west in Palestine. The glorification of Jehovah which Isaiah foresees is from east to west, in the isles of the sea and to the uttermost part of the earth. When Jehovah is glorified, so is His righteous remnant. The prophet sees in this remnant salvation brought out of judgment to the isles of the sea and the coasts of the nations.

But this note of hope gives way immediately to a declaration of sorrow and caution. It is as though the prophet says, Do not soon become too optimistic about how men react. Many of the seemingly positive reactions to God's redemptive works are hasty, superficial, and soon erased. It is as though the prophet sees sinners so deeply involved in wrong conduct they will go on, in spite of all the judgments and redemptions God manifests toward them (cf. Acts 13:44-47; Acts 28:23-28; Revelation 9:20-21, etc.). Jesus faced the world realistically. He insisted that discipleship was costly (Luke 14:25-33). Many are called but few are chosen, said Jesus. Isaiah was the same kind of realist. Many of the covenant people in his day fell away from faith. They rejected God's signs; Ahaz had gone on in his stubborn sullen way; they were still looking to alliances with heathen nations. They dealt in treachery. God had warned Isaiah of almost total lack of success from his preaching (Isaiah 6:9-13). He would preserve only a small remnant by his preaching. Christians may as well face realitythe Bible teaches they will be a minority until the Lord comes again. The Lord is interested in a faithful minority more than He is in a lukewarm, half-hearted and doubleminded majority. The Lord's standards of success and the world's standards of success are very much different.

QUIZ

1.

What is new wine?

2.

Why has all mirth ceased?

3.

What predicament of sinful man does Isaiah portray here?

4.

How does Isaiah pictorialize the great centers of population, the cities?

5.

What does the shaking of the olive tree symbolize?

6.

Where will Jehovah be glorified?

7.

Why does Isaiah pine away?