Sermon Central
Isaiah 24-27
The LORD’s Devastation of the Earth 1See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants—
2it will be the same for priest as for people, for the master as for his servant, for the mistress as for her servant, for seller as for buyer, for borrower as for lender, for debtor as for creditor.
3The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The LORD has spoken this word.
4The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers, the heavens languish with the earth.
5The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.
6Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt. Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
7The new wine dries up and the vine withers; all the merrymakers groan.
8The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.
9No longer do they drink wine with a song; the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10The ruined city lies desolate; the entrance to every house is barred.
11In the streets they cry out for wine; all joy turns to gloom, all joyful sounds are banished from the earth.
12The city is left in ruins, its gate is battered to pieces.
13So will it be on the earth and among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
14They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they acclaim the LORD ’s majesty.
15Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD ; exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea.
16From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I waste away, I waste away! Woe to me! The treacherous betray! With treachery the treacherous betray!”
17Terror and pit and snare await you, people of the earth.
18Whoever flees at the sound of terror will fall into a pit; whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, the foundations of the earth shake.
19The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is violently shaken.
20The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls—never to rise again.
21In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below.
22They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished
Praise to the LORD 1LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago.
2You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin, the foreigners’ stronghold a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.
3Therefore strong peoples will honor you; cities of ruthless nations will revere you.
4You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall
5and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled.
6On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine— the best of meats and the finest of wines.
7On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
8he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
9In that day they will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
10The hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure.
11They will stretch out their hands in it, as swimmers stretch out their hands to swim. God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness
A Song of Praise 1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
2Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.
3You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.
5He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.
6Feet trample it down— the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.
7The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
8Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws,
9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.
10But when grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and do not regard the majesty of the LORD .
11LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.
12LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.
13LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.
14They are now dead, they live no more; their spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.
15You have enlarged the nation, LORD ; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.
16LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.
17As a pregnant woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, LORD .
18We were with child, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth, and the people of the world have not come to life.
19But your dead will live, LORD ; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.
20Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by. 21See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
Deliverance of Israel 1In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword— his fierce, great and powerful sword— Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.
2In that day— “Sing about a fruitful vineyard:
3I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.
4I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire.
5Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me.”
6In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.
7Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?
8By warfare
9By this, then, will Jacob’s guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles
10The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the wilderness; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.
11When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor. 12In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, Israel, will be gathered up one by one. 13And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.