No Escape From Jehovah's Judgment

For now, though, rejoicing is premature.  Isaiah brings his contemporaries back to the present, stating:  "But I say: 'For me there is leanness, for me there is leanness!  Woe to me!  the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously. Even with treachery the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously.'  Dread and the hollow and the trap are upon you, you inhabitant of the land. And it must occur that anyone fleeing from the sound of the dreaded thing will fall into the hollow, and anyone coming up  from inside the hollow will be caught in the trap.  For the very floodgates on high will actually be opened, and the foundations of the land will rock.  The land has absolutely   burst apart, the land has  absolutely been shaken up, the land has absolutely been sent staggering.  The land  absolutely  moves unsteadily like a drunken man, and it has swayed to and fro like a look-out hut.  And its transgression has become heavy upon it, and it must fall, so that it will not rise up again." -Isaiah 24:16b-20.

Isaiah is filled with grief over what will befall his people.  the state of affairs  around him causes feelings of sickness and woe.  Treacherous ones abound and cause dread to the inhabitants of the land.  When Jehovah withdraws his protection, unfaithful inhabitants of Judah will experience terror both day and night.  They will be uncertain of their lives.  There will be no escaping the disaster that will befall them for forsaking Jehovah's commandments and ignoring godly wisdom.  (Proverbs 1:24-27) Calamity will come even though treacherous ones in the land, trying to convince the people that everything will be all right, use falsehood an deceit to lead them on a course to destruction.  (Jeremiah 27:9-15)  Enemies from outside will come in and plunder them and carry them away captive. All of this is very distressing to Isaiah.

Yet the prophet is  bound to declare  that there will be no escape.  Wherever people try to flee, they will be caught. Some may escape  one calamity, but they will be caught in another-there will be no security.  It will be just as with a hunted animal that escapes  falling into a pit only to be caught in a snare.  (Compare Amos 5:18, 19)  Jehovah's judgment power will be released from the heavens and will shake the very foundation s of the land.  Like a drunken man, the land reels and falls, heavy with guilt and unable to rise again.  (Amos 5:2)  Jehovah's judgment is final.  Utter destruction and ruin will befall the land.

Next time: Jehovah Will Reign in Glory

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, 2000