Sermon Tone Analysis

Over the last several decades dozens of movies and hundreds of books have been produced and written about the end of the world.

Many doomsday scenarios exist as to how the world may cease to be: errant meteors, nuclear annihilation, pandemic mutant viruses, global warming, another ice age, a series of huge natural disasters, robots from the future, and last-but-not-least, malevolent aliens.

Over the course of the centuries thousands of individuals—some of them outright crackpots, others highly esteemed—have stepped up and prophesied about the end of the world.

Because of the over-abundance of messages about the end of the world the Bible’s message about impending “final judgment of the world” is being drowned out, scoffed at, and foolishly ignored.

It’s not a new problem:

/“Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you.

I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.

I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

They will say, “Where is this ‘coming’ he promised?

Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation.”

But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.

By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.”/

(2 Peter 3:1–6, NIV)

The Bible has a very clear message as it pertains to the end of this world: a Day of Judgment for Sin Is Coming.

If you are not reconciled to God, they will be difficult days to survive.

In Isaiah 13 through 23 God’s judgment is announced upon a number of nations and cities: Tyre, Babylon, Arabia, Edom, Egypt, Cush, Damascus, Moab, the Philistines, and Syria.

In Isaiah 24, the prophet concludes his oracles of judgment notices by proclaiming that not only will these nations be judged for their sins but the whole world will be judged because of her rebellion against God.

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I. THE COMING GREAT TRIBULATION (24:1–13, 16b–22)

#. while the immediate context here most likely refers to the devastation of Judah following the Babylonian captivity, it would seem to have its ultimate fulfillment during the Great Tribulation

#. the description here is simply too terrible and to all-encompassing to only be considering Babylon’s attack of Israel

#. here in Isaiah chapter 24, then, is an Old Testament portrait of the end of days beginning with a period of great tribulation

#. in stark, prophetic language, Isaiah reveals four essential truths about this period of earth’s history

!! A. IT IS A PERIOD OF UNIVERSAL JUDGMENT (24:1–6)

* /“Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor.

The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.

The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish.

The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.”/

(Isaiah 24:1–6, ESV)

#.

Isaiah made a shocking announcement—behold!

#. behold is a demonstrative verb and calls for our explicit attention—God is about to reveal something really important, and for our own sake we had better listen!

#.

Yahweh is going to one day cleanse the earth as a man might clean a dirty vessel

#. six time in six verses Isaiah refers to the earth

#. it’s hard to believe that he is referring merely to a localized judgment of Israel’s enemies

#. literally, he will empty the earth and make it desolate

* ILLUS.

The picture is of a vineyard where every vine is shriveling and dying due to a lack of moisture.

#. here is a prophetic picture of the end of days for mankind

#. the earth’s population will be devastated by the righteous judgment of God

#. this picture corresponds with the picture painted by the Apostle John as the Trumpet Judgments are unleashed upon the earth, the Great Tribulation begins, and men begin dying in amazingly large numbers

* /“The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water— the name of the star is Wormwood.

A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.”/

(Revelation 8:10–11, NIV)

* /“And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind.”/

(Revelation 9:15, NIV)

* /“I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one “like a son of man” with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.

Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”

So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested.

Another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.

Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.”

The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.

They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.”/

(Revelation 14:14–20, NIV)

* ILLUS.

Most of you are familiar with the Mediaeval historical event called “The Black Death.”

It was one of the deadliest pandemics in world history, peaking in Europe between the years 1348 and 1350.

In a mere four years the plague killed an estimated 50% of Europe’s inhabitants.

It took 150 years for Europe’s population to recover.

#. now, imagine that within days or weeks, God’s wrath will empty the earth and made it desolate

#. in His wrath, Yahweh will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants

#. literally, God /will turn the world upside down/

#. those peoples who are left will scatter

#. the natural earth will be as a city that has been plundered by an enemy, left in ruins, and its citizens carried off into captivity v. 3

#.

what inhabitants are left will languish—they will bemoan their hopeless condition

#. that all of this will take place is certain—for the LORD has spoken this word

#. all classes and ranks of people throughout the world will be affected by the judgment

#. it will be the same ...

#. ... for priest as for people

#. ... for master as for servant

#. ... for mistress as for maid

#. ... for seller as for buyer

#. ... for borrower as for lender

#. ... for debtor as for creditor (Isaiah 24:2, NIV)

#. there will be no escape

#. regardless of how much money, education, what job you have, what color you are, where you live; all who are on the Earth will be affected

#. why has God poured out such wrath and unmitigated suffering upon the peoples of the Earth?

* /“The earth is defiled by its people; they have disobeyed the laws, violated the statutes and broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore a curse consumes the earth; its people must bear their guilt.

Therefore earth’s inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.”/

(Isaiah 24:5–6, NIV)

#. we have defiled the Earth (v. 5)

#. it is rather curious that there are many who would agree with this statement, but with a major twist

#. most environmentalists would agree that we have defiled the Earth, but what they mean is that we have wrecked it by not being environmentally responsible

#. this is not what the text has in mind

#. it is by our vileness, by our wickedness, by our selfishness, by our hearts given over to rebellion, that we have defiled this world and polluted it with our sinfulness

#. this is why God is going to judge the inhabitants of the earth—not because we haven’t hugged a tree today!

#. the prophet lists three crimes that the inhabitants of Earth’s are guilty of

#. we have transgressed God’s laws

#. we have violated God’s statutes

#. we have broken the everlasting covenant

#. this is the prophet’s way of saying that we have transgressed against and sinned against God in every way possible

#.

according to the Word of God we are all lawbreakers—we are all guilty of breaking his Commandments

* /“There is not a righteous man on earth who does what is right and never sins.”/

(Ecclesiastes 7:20, NIV)

* /“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”/ (Romans 3:23, NIV)

* /“But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, ... ”/ (Galatians 3:22, NIV)

#. the inhabitants of earth stand condemned—they live under the curse of God—and few will survive the fire of God’s judgment (24:5f)

!! B. IT IS A PERIOD OF DEVASTATING JUDGMENT (24:7–13)