22:4 - I think it is appropriate for church leaders and Christians in general to mourn and weep at the state of the Church today - as Isaiah weeps for Jerusalem, the daughter of God. There is much beauty in the Church and there are many faithful people in the world, but look at the Body of Christ...the Bride...the Church is fractured, disjointed, prideful, disconnected...this is not the vision of the unified Body of Christ. What needs to change?
22:8-11 - The Promised Land that was given to the Hebrew people by God, came t them only through His power and intervention...that is why the have the land. Yet they try to hold on to it, not by relying on God, but through their own strength. They are destined to fail as is anyone who seeks to save themselves through their own power.
23:9 - Again and again we see the judgment of God coming against the prideful. Pride is the root of all sins, from the very beginning. People arrogantly try to make themselves gods...desperately try to save themselves...yet they only succeed in bringing God's wrath at their rejection of Him.
23:17ff - The overall point of this last paragraph is simple...why would you trust or fear Tyre? Isaiah does not understand why God's people continue to put their trust in other human sources of strength when God is in control of everything! Isaiah prophecies that Tyre will be broken and destitute for seventy years, but then God will allow them to resume their trade with the world and the profits will be used to serve God. Never trust in human ingenuity, strength, plans - trust that God's will is going to be done.
*Chapters 24-27 are described by some scholars as Isaiah's Apocalypse. While he does not have quite the symbolic imagery of Daniel or Revelation, these chapters paint a picture of God's sovereignty and His control of all universal events.
24:5 - It seems unfair that the whole earth would be judged by the Laws of Israel when many of them have never even heard God's covenantal laws. That would be a bit unfair, but that is not what this passage is talking about. The whole earth falls under the judgment of God because they have broken the innate covenant relationship that exists between the Creator and all His created. God has written laws on the hearts of every human being...we inherently know good and evil...we know that we are not made to love only ourselves and destroy others and the earth - this knowledge is burned into our DNA as beings created in the image of God. Whether people have ever read a bible or not have little to do with the fact that God has written a natural law inside us and all people of the earth are called into judgment because we have rejected this law.
24:14-16 - What is up with these three verses thrown smack-dab in the middle of this chapter on destruction? Th world is being destroyed and there are people celebrating? What? This is most likely a picture of joy from the remnant of God-fearers that are living on the earth. They have been oppressed by the evil machinations of the "earth-city" and they sing with joy that God is finally going to make things right.
24:21 - All the heavens and the earth are subject to the rule of God. With a word God turned on the lights - created the sun, the moon the stars...and with a word He can turn them off as well. Never forget the awesome power of our creator God.
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