Isaiah 21:17
17 And the residue [sha'ar] of the number [micpar] of
archers [qesheth], the mighty men [gibbowr] of the children [ben] of
Kedar [Qedar], shall be diminished [ma`at]: for the LORD [Yahovah] God
['elohiym] of Israel [Yisra'el] hath spoken [dabar] it. KJV-Interlinear
17 and the remainder of the number of
bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord God of
Israel has spoken." NASB
As we have
already seen, the people of Kedar, is a reference to a nomadic people of ambiguous
residence, of general character, and a very vague description. And yet here they consider themselves to have
archers, mighty men, and so forth. This
is from their own eyes of course.
An arrogant
people always thinks highly of themselves, over-rating themselves.
And what is to
become of them?
In that future
and final generation, in those final days of history, days meaning the last
months or years in the Tribulation, they will be diminished, eradicated,
destroyed, gone as though they were never there.
Arrogance over
rates itself, believing it is the best of the best, the can’t be without it,
the top shelf, the indestructible.
And just as
easily as these words were committed to print through Isaiah, so those people
will be easily destroyed.
Arrogance has no
muscle, no strength, no fighting power, no staying power. It will drift away in a light breeze, with
little effort.
And this is what
the word for diminished, means. They
will fade just as the morning fog fades, almost without notice, until it is
already gone of course. And then, they
will be no more.
And, so Isaiah
ends this chapter, with one final thought.
God has spoken,
and therefore it will be.
Nothing in
history, nothing in this world, can change what is to come. Nothing can alter what is to come. Nothing can stop what is to come. And the sad thing is, that all of these
future events will be brought on by man himself, despite all of these warnings.
History is
humanity running toward a cliff.
And God says you
are running toward a cliff, and man keeps running toward the cliff.
And God says
there is a cliff ahead, and man keeps running toward the cliff.
And God says
that cliff will be your destruction, stop, turn toward me and have a better
life, and man keeps running toward the cliff.
And finally at
the end of the run, there is the cliff and man sees the cliff and runs right
off of it.
And as for your
life, there are ample warnings regarding you and your life.
You have an opportunity
that nearly everyone in the world ignores.
You have an opportunity to be numbered within the greatest and yet
smallest group in all of human history.
The minority of minorities, namely spiritually mature believers in
Christ.
After coming
into this world as an incomplete infant, your life's process for completion
begins with your physical growth, your mental growth, which entails your
temporal side of life, and then your spiritual side beginning with salvation,
and continuing with your daily growth through a daily study, for learning, understanding,
production, and finally wisdom and faith.
Faith being the muscle of your spiritual life.
But faith comes
not from blind hope or wishes or fancy religious words, it comes from the
substance, the nuts and bolts, the adult food of meat and potatoes of Bible
doctrine, learned and assimilated into your soul.
This process
builds up a spiritual structure in your soul. That soul structure often times
is referred to as your temple, your fortress, your palace. And then that structure is enhanced and
improved with the finishing work of your usage of Bible doctrine which you have
learned and know.
Your ultimate
completion, will come at the Judgment Seat of Christ, wherein we will find
ourselves standing before Christ, after our resurrection, and there receive our
evaluation and reward, based on our spiritual growth and production from this
life.
Spiritual
maturity qualifies for phenomenal reward.
Little or no
growth, which comes with little or no interest, or failure to follow Gods
process, means little or no reward.
And since we are
talking about eternity, then any reward gained is a huge infinite gain, and any
reward lost is a huge infinite loss.
And then
finally, all of this will be totally complete when the new universe is created
and life continues on forever.
So, there is a
lot at stake.
Your eternity is
based totally on your attitude toward Bible doctrine.
Disregard it or
think little of it or try to do things your own way, and you will end up with
nothing, as blessings go.
But, knowing all
of this, and looking around at the many examples of the good and bad things in life,
then would you rather be a peon in heaven, or a multi-gazillionaire?
Before you were
born into this world, you had no say as to your circumstances or the life set
before you.
But now, in your
spiritual life, you have every opportunity to define, lay legitimate claim to,
and take possession of, and greatest and most phenomenal life for yourself for
all of eternity. And, you have Gods
promise and guarantee.
Will you waste
that opportunity?
God has spoken
with regard to this prophecy and it will come to pass.
God has spoken
to us all with regard to our opportunity, or its loss. What or when will you take it all seriously?
