Isaiah 17:11
11 In the day [yowm] shalt thou
make thy plant [neta`] to grow [suwg], and in the morning [boqer]
shalt thou make thy seed [zera`] to flourish [parach]: but the harvest [qatsiyr]
shall be a heap [ned] in the day [yowm] of grief [chalah] and of
desperate ['anash] sorrow [ka'eb]. KJV-Interlinear
11 In the day that you plant it
you carefully fence it in, And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom; But
the harvest will be a heap In a day of sickliness and incurable pain. NASB
The mindset of a people
living in delusion, is described here. This
verse shows the hopes and expectations of a people who have applied their
efforts with great care and diligence, expecting a great harvest or return on their
efforts or investments. But to what end?
If you have read the
Revelation study, then you know the frame of mind that will exist during those
terrible and final days of history.
John refers to the end
times as our current dispensation. This
is the last dispensation prior to the final days of history. We are currently 2,014 years into the ‘end
times’ period of history.
The end days or final
days of history, is the Tribulation, and that will last only seven years.
Our dispensation ends
with the Rapture, and then the Tribulation begins immediately. At its end, will be the Second Advent of
Christ, wherein the whole world of evil will be destroyed, Christ will rescue
and deliver the remnant of believers that will survive the Tribulation, and
then He will bring in His millennial reign, or the Kingdom of God on the
earth. Christ will then rule for 1000
years, and when that reign ends, all of history will come to an end, the final
judgments will occur, the universe will be destroyed, and a new universe will be
created, and then eternity will begin and continue forever.
The Tribulation, will
last seven years, and will be the absolute worst period of time in all of human
history.
The Tribulation begins
with all unbelievers, since all believers in Christ will have been removed at
the Rapture.
During the first half
of that period, or three-and-a-half years, literally half of the worlds population
will die.
For most normal people,
this would seem to be very unusual!!!
During the last half of
the Tribulation, or the last three-and-a-half years, things will get even
worse. The final assault or genocide of
the Jews will occur, many and greater storms and disasters will occur, and the
final battle of Armageddon will be the culmination of the Tribulation, ending
with the Second Advent.
But you see here in
this verse, people will still be busy hustling and bustling, as it were, in
their day to day efforts to have and to accumulate things or wealth or
whatever. This in the midst of history’s
greatest series of disaster events ever.
Rather than turning to
Christ, most will be living in the delusion of their day to day routines. And for what?
Their harvest, or the
results of all their hard work and effort, will end up in a heap. Heap here means a pile of desperate sorrow or
inexpressible sorrow. Their efforts will
be for nothing.
People should be
looking desperately toward Christ, but instead they will look desperately to
their daily routines.
