Isaiah
27:10
10 Yet the defenced [batsar] city [`iyr] shall be
desolate [badad], and the habitation [naveh] forsaken [shalach], and
left [`azab] like a wilderness [midbar]: there shall the calf [`egel] feed [ra`ah], and there shall he lie
down [rabats], and consume [kalah] the branches [ca`iyph]
thereof. KJV-Interlinear
10 For the fortified city is
solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness; there the
calf grazes; there it lies down and strips its branches. ESV
Now Isaiah leads us to two conclusions. The first is that we are not to become
disheartened when bad things occur, because inevitably good will triumph, and
the bad will eventually and always, go away. And second, bad things are going
to happen, this is the devils world and bad is inevitable.
Therefore, when the city, and this could refer to any
city, but typically when in the context is the descendants of Jacob, or the
Jewish people, then Jerusalem is generally in view.
So, when Jerusalem becomes destroyed and becomes a
wasteland, a place only good for animals, do not be dismayed.
For, the desolation of the city, will be replaced with
lush grass and trees with branches, from which animals will graze and
live. But also, that city will again
return.
So, the promise is also a bit of counsel.
Bad things are going to happen. That is the future. But live in doctrine, grow up in your
spiritual life, advance in your faith, and in so doing, you will not only see
the destructions that are destined to occur, but you will know, and perhaps
see, the recovery.
In Isaiah’s day, the destruction was going happen to
Jerusalem and to all of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians.
But, that will not be the end of the Jewish people,
nor their lands.
In our day, we will see atrocities of one sort or
another, and evil will seem to be in the winners seat. But, that will not be the case. Evil will be defeated and good will arise the
victor.
And in the Tribulation, when all of the world is going
to fall into its lowest pit ever, the destructions and hardships and sufferings
will be beyond imagination and worldwide.
But again, that will not be the end of good.
In the Tribulation, as a result of the sufferings,
millions will believe in Christ, where they otherwise would not have
believed. Evil will be defeated and
incarcerated for a thousand years, and good will triumph.
So, bad has its place, but you have to know how to
look at it and know how to handle it when it pays your life a visit. No one is exempt. And that is a good thing. For because of evil, we might not otherwise
want Christ, or even come to know Him, and being lost to the Lake of Fire is a
bad thing to the extreme forever.
