Isaiah Was born into an Influential, Upper class family He rubbed shoulders with royalty and gave advice on foreign affairs of the nation. He has often been called the evangelical prophet because he says so much about the redemptive work of the Messiah. The 24th chapter of Isaiah is sometimes called Isaiah’s apocalypse. I’m only going to read the first 6 verses today but I hope you’ll go home and read the whole chapter. (Read scripture)
Does this sound anything like what’s going on today? Devastating wildfires burning out of control in the west, destroying whole towns and communities, stronger hurricanes hitting our coastlines, murder and crimes are on the rise, devastating floods, the list could go on and on but I think you get the picture.
The scripture basically tells us in verse 2 that we are all going to be in the same boat, no one is going to be immune from the problems that are coming. All of us have to deal with environmental problems, natural disasters, financial crises and many other things in life. Just because we are Christian doesn’t mean we are immune to the problems it just means that we have been forgiven and we have Jesus to help us through and that should give us hope for the future and reason to rejoice because we know “this world is not my home I’m just a passing through!”
People seem to have lost their moral compass, even our churches are beginning to use what I think should be called an “It’s all good theology” but let me tell you something, it aint all good a lot of stuff going on today is bad. The problem is people need Jesus and the church is giving them religion and I don’t think that’s gonna cut it in the long run. The world is wasting away, the ozone layer is breaking down, icecaps are melting, flooding, earthquakes, volcanos, devastating floods and storms.
Prophecy or coincidence? You tell me.
Why is the world in the shape it’s in? Isaiah’s prophecy says that it’s because of us. We have polluted the earth, we have transgressed the laws, and we have violated the statutes.
Is it Prophecy or coincidence?
Does it seem like most folks in the world violate and ignore the laws that God has already laid out for us? Sure it does, in today’s world we seem to be going by the Ten Suggestions instead of the Ten Commandments!!!
In verse 6 it says that those that live on the earth are held Guilty & that few will live. Let’s take a look Lets see if we are Guilty, have we been transgressing the laws and violating the statutes.
? You shall have no other Gods before me; you shall not make for yourself an Idol.
? You shall not take the name of the Lord you God in vain!
? Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
How are we doing in this department? Do we put things above God do we make Idols? It happens all the time we put Work, Popularity, status all of these seem to go before God. And we have Idols today that we worship, they may not be Wood or gold, but we have them, we worship Money, fame, and power.
Do we take the Lords name in vain? We do it all the time and don’t even realize it. We use the Lord’s name so frivolously that it’s become second nature to us. Am I wrong? How many people do you know that use the phrase “O MY GOD!!”? That is using Gods name in vain, what about when we get angry or hit our thumb with a hammer and say JESUS CHRIST or GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY, people use Gods name in vain so often they don’t even realize they are doing it is so common in today’s world we don’t even think about it.
What about a Sabbath? I know that we have to work on Sundays and can’t be off but can’t we pick another day to rest when we have to work on Sundays? We need to have one day a week for rest to just think and reflect about God. It’s sad to say but we have become a nation that hardly ever thinks of God unless we need something, let alone setting a day aside for holy reflection.
? Honor your Father and Mother
Do Children today really honor their parents like they should if you notice we don’t hear Yes ma’am, no ma’am, yes sir or no sir, please and thank you near as much as we used to. Children have begun to tell their parents what to do and where to go, when it should be the other way around.
? You shall not Murder
Hopefully most Christians can steer clear on this one,
But Worldwide today there are people being murder every single day.
? You shall not commit Adultery
Statistics show that more than 50% of married people have committed adultery and around 39% of Clergy have been unfaithful in their marriages. Care to guess one of the most common reasons for divorces today? Yep, infidelity by one of the spouses.
? You shall not steal.
People do this today on a regular basis and don’t even bat an eye. Some folks have become so comfortable with stealing that it aint funny and they don’t even realize it. Cheating on your taxes is stealing, not tithing is stealing.
Malachi 3:8-10 says “Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, ‘In what way have we robbed You? ‘In tithes and offerings.
You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, Even this whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
When we don’t tithe are not we just taking Gods money and using it for ourselves
? You shall not bear false witness.
Do people lie and slander other people? You bet they do!!!!
? You shall not covet. (Yearn or wish for)
Your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s husband, their truck or car, their tractors or anything else that belongs to them. (Tell how as a kid we got around this one). We always seem to want what someone else has.
So how are you doing? Most of us would find ourselves a little guilty I think. We have missed the mark and according to Isaiah a lot of our problems we just bring on ourselves because we aren’t living as God would have us to.
Some people will say Preacher I was reading Matthew the other day and I thought Jesus talked about some new commandments that He was giving us, He did and I think they are harder to maintain than the ten that God sent down the mountain with Moses. The standard Jesus set for murder says that if you are angry with your brother you are guilty before the court. And the law of adultery he set states that if you look at a woman with lust for her you have already committed adultery with her.
So yes he did set some new standards actually higher than what we already had. It seems to me they are harder to keep than the ones we were already failing at.
So what are we to do, what can we do? We are all guilty as charged.
Well we can’t stop the world from fading away and we can’t control the rest of the world and what they do. But we can make changes in our lives, we can take the steps necessary for our salvation with a heart of repentance.
We can start following those new commandments that Jesus gave us and we can get back to putting God first in our life. In order for us to remain calm in the chaos we must get our priorities in line with God’s will, and we can do that by being in a right relationship with Jesus. Folks we have got to start putting God first in every aspect of our lives. When we put our relationship with God first then all our other relationships begin to fall into place and our lives begin to change.
We are all guilty by the standard of the law but we can all find leniency and pardon in the grace that we have been afforded through Jesus Christ.
When we stand accused on judgement day and the gavel begins to fall if Jesus is your advocate there will be no need to worry he has already paid the fine and set you free. My friends if you have Jesus as your savior pardon has already been granted.
Isaiah’s apocalypse, prophesy or coincidence? Read it and decide for yourself. But Jesus dying on the cross for you is Truth and that’s what really matters.
