Isa. 24 The Little Apocalypse (Isa. 24-27)

Isaiah prophesied against various nations (Isa. 13-23).  Then the LORD gives him a message of judgment for the whole world (Isa. 24-27).  It is often called the “Little Apocalypse” because in some ways it encapsulates the judgments of Revelation.  Today’s post is an introduction to this part of Isaiah.

First, how do we know this is judgment on the world and not Israel.  After all, the terms translated in English as “land” and “earth” (24:1,3,4,11,13 etc) are the Hebrew eretz which can refer to the land of Israel or to all the earth.  The answer to this is found in 24:4 where “earth” is eretz and “world” is tebel which is a more definitive word referring to the whole earth or the inhabitable globe.  Since the terms are used in a synonymous parallelism, we understand that eretz in this context is meant to refer to all the earth.  Gesenius says it refers to Israel, but I believe he is driven by his theology rather than his generally excellent understanding of Hebrew.  The word appears 36 times in the OT and Gesenius makes two exceptions to the idea that it refers to all the earth.  Brown-Driver-Briggs is consistent, saying that it is always used of the world.

In addition, we will remind you that “coastlands” (24:13-16) refers to the nations, and in Isaiah’s day, those nations around the Mediterranean Sea.  Thus, the message of judgment is to the nations who were most immediate to Israel (24:13-16) but also to the ends of the earth (24:17-23).

There are several uses of the phrase “in that day” (24:21; 25:9; 26:1; 27:1,2,12-13).  I believe you will see that the “day” is the still future “Day of the LORD.”  It is tied not only to worldwide judgment but to the Messiah and the salvation of the nation of Israel.

Here is a brief overview of this sermon from Isaiah.

·       24:1-12: God’s judgment will extend to all the earth.

·       24:13-16: It will be a time for joy for those of Israel who have been dispersed to the nations, but who have waited for this.

·       24:17-23: It is a judgment on all the earth, but then also on “the host of exalted ones,” referring to the spiritual hosts who are the real enemy of Israel (as in Revelation where it is the nations but also Satan and his cohorts that are judged.) 

·       25:1-12: This song of praise should be seen as for the joys of Messiah’s reign.  Tears are wiped away (Rev. 21:4), and death is swallowed up (Rev. 20:14).  This is the “day” for which righteous Israel has waited.

·       26:1-21: The Song of Salvation, in that day, will be sung by Judah.  Again, finally, the long-awaited day for Israel.

·       27:1-13: IN THAT DAY the serpent will be slain (v1), God’s vineyard (a term for Israel) will be productive (v2), no longer the object of God’s fury but now regathered (v12) and the nations will worship in Zion (v13).

While the “little apocalypse” has some similarities to The Apocalypse (Revelation), we do remember that the message of the last book of the Bible could not be opened until the Lamb who was slain arrived to break it’s seals.