Isaiah 7:24
24 With arrows [chets] and with
bows [qesheth] shall men come [bow'] thither; because all the land ['erets] shall become briers [shamiyr] and thorns. [shayith] KJV-Interlinear
24
People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars
and thorns. NASB
In an agriculture society,
the emphasis is on the plowing, planting, cultivation, and harvesting of the
various and many crops.
However this activity is
also applied to many types of manufacturing and production activities in a
prosperous economy.
But, when the big one
hits, then all of these activities will virtually cease and be replaced with
hunters with bows and arrows, or with adventurers or with predators that do not
intend to work the land or for making it productive, but for their own
individual gains and satisfactions.
The hunter seeks out the
prey and kills it and takes what he wants, and then leaves.
No one is moving in, to
an abandoned area and taking possession of the land, for homesteading or
development.
The people moving in are
there only for the plundering of whatever remains and then they leave
So, when Assyria and
Babylon and Persia and Greece and Rome all took their individual turns at invading
the land, they all left some remainder of a population that continued in the
productivity of the land.
However, remember that
this destruction indicates a phenomenal destruction such that weeds and such will
take over leaving nothing of a once prosperous economy.
When the Tribulation
eventually arrives in our future, remember too that it will last only seven
years, so in order for weeds, or inactivity, to overtake a region it has to be
hammered with extreme violence and with extreme rapidness in order to subdue
the area quickly.
So, this description is
one that is beyond our imagination and certainly has never left even an example
in history for our study. Lesser
destructions have occurred in the Middle East, but the big one is yet to be.
These verses lead us to
understand that the destruction in the future, when it occurs, will be horrific
and beyond our current comprehension.
And just so we all know
that these horrifying judgments will occur to some future generation, it is not
limited to the future only. Into each
individuals life may come disasters, and certainly if you disregard doctrine,
you will face disasters either in life or in death.
Note, that once you have
died, then the fertile ground of your soul and life in this world, will cease
to exist.
So there are many
applications of this principle of negative volition toward ones spiritual life.
For an unbeliever the
destruction after death will be beyond imagination.
For a believer, the destruction
will be reflected in the loss of reward.
And for all of eternity, a little loss will grow to be an infinite loss.
