Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Isaiah 23:6

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Isaiah 23:6

6 Pass ye over [`abar] to Tarshish [Tarshiysh]; howl [yalal], ye inhabitants [yashab] of the isle ['iy].  KJV-Interlinear

6 Cross over to Tarshish;  wail, O inhabitants of the coast!  ESV

And so what is the current harbor?  Who is told to make a change?  Why? 

This advice is given to the inhabitants of Tyre, to get out, to go and find new and different harbors, because their current harbor is going to be destroyed.

Jesus Christ controls history.

In contrast, Satan and then man, try to control their own destinies, apart from God.  Neither angel nor man has the sovereignty, authority, power, or knowledge with which to control tomorrow let alone the entire universe.

And this and the next several verses will pose questions as to who has the power, who has the authority, who has the wherewithal to comand the elements of nature as well as the entirety of the future of everything and everyone.

Tarshish, as we saw from the other day, is a reference to the many islands of the Mediterranean Sea.  The islands and coastal regions, back then, were the center of commerce and activity.  Tyre was a focal point and crossroads of much of the activity that came out of Africa, from across Arabia, from Persia, and from across the entire region of the Mediterranean and beyond.

But Tyre also represents the entirety of the controlled trade of humanity.  As power evolves in man, then the controls and abuse of those controls likewise grow.  When one single place controls all, then when it collapses, then all suffer.

One of the fundamental principles of Christianity and of the Laws of Establishment, is the decentralization of power and control and authority, so that freedoms are not abused.  That is why many nations provide more security than one single nation.  Many languages, many cultures, many colors, many races and so forth, provide for greater freedoms and individuality, than only a single of any of them.

When the Tribulation does finally occur, then the effort for a single government, a single money source, a single language, a single justice system, and so forth, will become abusive to the maximum and the entirety of all world systems will collapse with mind-boggling surprise.

And now we have our verse.

Get out, change your ways, find new and better trade resources and sources, is the warning.

The bad source will be the anti-christ and the one world systems that will be installed.  Many of which will probably already exist prior to the Rapture.  Just look around the world now.

The new and better and changes needed, are the old systems of free enterprise, of many governments, of many cultures and so forth.  But the single greatest warning and advice is to change away from all things false, to all things true, from evil to good, from all things bad to Christ.


But who will listen?