Monday, November 19, 2012

Isaiah 7:24


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
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.