Dear John and all of the beloved doves.
I have frequented 5 doves for many years and have been edified and encouraged by so many of your posts throughout the years. I have even written in a few times under a pen name but this is the first time I’ve really put myself out there by just using my real name.
I used to pastor a church many years ago and have suffered much heartbreak in that church and in some others that I just attended, so I suppose that is why I wouldn’t use my real name because I had been hurt so badly that I wanted to retreat into myself and limit my interactions as much as possible as to not suffer any more hurt or disappointment.
But enough about that, my hope is we will all meet very soon anyway in the fellowship that will be perfect as I believe our time is very short.
Isaiah 24 study.
It has been a long time since I have done such an exhaustive Bible study.
I wanted to take the opportunity to write a Bible study on things that I have been meditating on over the course of the last week and things I feel the Lord has been revealing to me.
Like any devout Christian or religious person, I have been seeking answers from the Lord as to what is coming upon our world vis-a-vis the Covid19 coronavirus, and if it fits into any prophecy predicted for the end times.
Let me state from the outset that I am either one of two things, and you should take this into careful consideration as you read this study, or if you continue to read this study. I am either greatly gifted by the Holy Spirit with insight and wisdom to understand this chapter of Isaiah or, maybe I am insane.
What I mean to say is I am a true believer and I make life decisions based upon it, and I would submit to you that it is time for you to do the same. It is no time to be lukewarm, it is time to go all in. You either believe it or you don’t.
I believe that as the Bible teaches, this is a sinful world, inhabited by sinful people and manipulated by an evil force called satan that seeks to cause us to obey our sinful nature and war against God.
I believe we live in the last days where men and women think it’s ok to not only tolerate, but promote all manner of sexual deviancy, murder of unborn infants and constantly spit in the face of God by denying His existence and or authority. These same people who reject God openly or deny Him by their actions mock His promise to send His Son a second time to judge the unbelieving world and rescue those who are saved solely by His grace, because they have accepted the gift of His Son.
I also believe that this cannot go on forever without a day of reckoning coming. Even though Donald Trump was elected here in the good ol US and it seemed like smooth sailing for a while, (the economy was booming, the stock market was doing well) - this was only a brief reprieve and did not cure the cancer. It was a mere bandage on a festering sore. Our moral corruption has not been improved by one little bit.
This is where you will have to make the choice and judge me and also check yourself.
Am I insane in thinking that the Bible might actually be true and that God will actually do all the things He said He would? And check yourself, if you say you believe the Bible, do you really believe it means what it says?
So many say they believe that the Lord will return and that judgement is indeed due, but to confess it with your mouth and believe it in your heart also, I am convinced is not nearly as common.
Because if the Lord doesn’t come as promised and if judgment is not meted out than to live one’s life as if this all is true, makes one a little insane, and that might be me- but I don’t think so. I think we are on the event horizon. You judge for yourself.
Sorry for the long introduction but you need to know where my heart is at.
So as this coronavirus panic started to ensue, I found myself wondering if this was indeed a judgement from God or at least a foreshadowing of it. I prayed and asked God to reveal to me what He wanted me to know.
In the early hours of the morning a few days ago, I heard a voice of sorts, not sure if it was in a dream, or just my groggy head waking up, but the voice seemed to be directing me to research the scriptures where God would strike a people with, fear or confusion as a tool of judgement. So I did.
God uses many tools to judge a rebellious people. One such tool is the removal of the hedge of protection and allowing an enemy to breach the wall of protection as Jonathan Cahn so accurately explained in his book the Harbinger following the September 11 attacks.
Another tool God uses against His opponents is fear and confusion.
If you are a Christian, God does not give you a Spirit of fear or confusion (2 Timothy 1:7) - if you feel like you are overcome with fear and confusion it is not because the Lord has given it to you.
But God does use this as a tool of judgement against the unbeliever and unbelieving nations. So as I heard from the voice, I began to research scripture to confirm or deny this.
In Exodus 14:24 God used fear and confusion to trouble Pharaoh’s army that was pursuing Israel through the Red Sea.
Reference Joshua chapters 2 and 6 and we see fear and confusion played a big role in the defeat of Jericho.
I was also led to the book of Isaiah to see if fear and confusion had anything to do with the defeat of Sennacherib as he came against Jerusalem. (I was actually thinking about another scripture referencing this where God sent a spirit of fear and confusion on His enemies- check out 2 Kings 7:6 for that one). But while in Isaiah, the Lord sort of randomly led me to Isaiah 24 and a different fear reference and that’s where I think we might be getting close to right now- so let’s dig in.
I am going to hope that at this point you will get your Bible and turn to Isaiah 24, I don’t really want to copy the whole text here as it will make this study much longer and probably harder to follow. So if you have a copy of Isaiah 24 here are my observations and what I hope you can take away from it.
First of all to understand Isaiah 24, consider that this chapter describes the entirety of the tribulation period more than once. (Assuming that the reader knows what the tribulation period is and if not for the sake of brevity I will assume that if the reader does not know that they will do a little research.)
Here is the breakdown/outline that I want you to consider when studying Isaiah 24.
Verses 1-13 are an overview of the entire tribulation period and judgement of God upon man given to Isaiah.
Verse 14-16a are an interlude, a flashback given to Isaiah because of the greatness of the grief that he had to witness in verses 1-13.
Then the rest of the chapter, picking up in the second part of verse 16 and through the end of the chapter is another description of the tribulation period.
To understand the rest of this study you must first understand the flashback interlude in verses 14-16a.
After seeing a vision of the total desolation of mankind in verses 1-13, Isaiah must have been beside himself with grief, so I believe the Holy Spirit gave him this interlude to give him some relief - so what does Isaiah see?
Verses 14-16a say “They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing; For the majesty of the LORD They shall cry aloud from the sea. Therefore glorify the LORD in the dawning light, The name of the LORD God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. “From the ends of the earth we have heard songs: “Glory to the righteous!”
Who are these people singing such praises to God in these verses? This was the first clue to me that these verses must be a flashback and not an event that occurs chronologically in the chapter.
We know from Revelation that by the time God’s judgements begin in full force during the tribulation that most men will be cursing God not praising Him.
We even see that earlier in this chapter of Isaiah it says in verse 8 “The mirth of the tambourine ceases, The noise of the jubilant ends, The joy of the harp ceases.”
So if this were a chronological addition to the events of the chapter it would present a clear contradiction in that verse 8 clearly describes a misery that causes all joyful music and song to cease and then verses 14-16 speak of joyful praise. So it continues to beg the question, who are these people in verses 14-16?
I believe that due to the misery that Isaiah had to witness in verses 1-13 that God gave him a flashback to witness the rapture, the redeemed spared from the time of tribulation that were praising God for the salvation and deliverance that He gave them through His grace.
There may be some reading this that do not believe in the pre-tribulation rapture, and I am not about to defend or expound upon it as that is not really the purpose of this study, but it does fit well with what is going on in the vision given in this chapter and I will reference the words of the Lord which also dovetail with what is going on in this chapter.
He said “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.””
Luke 21:34-36
Two takeaways from the Lord’s words - there is an escape from the trouble which will come upon the world otherwise He would not have said to pray that we be a part of that. That is the pre tribulation rapture.
Second takeaway the tribulation will come upon the whole world as a snare. We will also see this in Isaiah in a moment.
So let’s return to Isaiah 24.
We see the redeemed praising the Lord but Isaiah continues in part b of verse 16 “ But I said, “I am ruined, ruined! Woe to me! The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously, Indeed, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.”
Isaiah now has the perspective of someone left behind to face the tribulation, in particular the perspective of the Jewish people who have not recognized Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah- this is why he describes the dealers of treachery- the national leaders promising peace and safety to Israel, but in deceit and treachery only making a covenant with death administered by the Antichrist, the false prophet and their government.
Verses 17 through the end of the chapter then go on to give another overview of the tribulation giving details that were not presented earlier in the chapter, however let’s focus in on right now verses 17-18 which arguably presents the very beginning of the tribulation again for the second time in the chapter after the flashback/interlude describing the rapture.
Verses 17-18 says “Fear and the pit and the snare Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be That he who flees from the noise of the fear Shall fall into the pit, And he who comes up from the midst of the pit Shall be caught in the snare; For the windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the earth are shaken.”
Fear, pit, snare.
Agrees with what the Lord said in Luke 21:26 that “men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.” And as we already saw in Luke 21 that the tribulation will come as a “snare”
Fear, pit, snare.
What are they? What do they mean?
Fear should be obvious, that is what we are seeing today with Coronavirus and what caused me to consider all of this.
I cannot ever recall such a fear and panic gripping not just a nation, or a region, but if you are honest with yourself this fear is gripping the entire world right now. People here in America hoarding Clorox wipes and toilet paper over the fear of this thing.
Let me be clear, I do not believe we are in the tribulation and I don’t know if this is “the fear” of Isaiah 24 but if it is not, it is surely a foreshadowing of it.
What comes after fear? The pit. What is the pit specifically?
I believe the pit represents debt and economic collapse.
When you get in debt, what do you say? “I’m in the hole or I’ve got to dig out of the hole”
I think that’s the pit.
The fear will lead only to debt and economic collapse. We are already heading in that direction and as far as our nation and most of the nations of the world are in debt, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out what direction this is going.
This Coronavirus and the fear it is generating is causing debt and financial damage and could lead to economic collapse - and then what?
What comes next?
The snare. The snare that will come upon the whole earth and what is that snare?
The snare is the Antichrist, the beast system that has been proclaimed to be the solution to the world’s problems and bring peace to Israel and the Middle East as promoted by the “treacherous dealers”.
The “snare” is also the first seal of Revelation. The rider on the white horse.
His peace will be short lived however as the rider on the red horse, seal 2 brings world war.
His financial solutions will also be short lived as the rider on the black horse, seal 3 brings full financial collapse at which time the Antichrist will have to implement the mark of the beast. And by the way, the next rider, the pale horse, seal 4, will make this Coronavirus look like the sniffles. But that is a whole other study.
We are approaching rapidly Passover and Easter.
Passover was a time when God’s people were quarantined in their homes while a great plague passed over the land of Egypt and of course turned it into a time of great deliverance.
And of course Resurrection day, the feast of Firstfruits (Easter) was the day that God really showed His power and ability to save!
Ecclesiastes 3:15 says
“That which is has already been, And what is to be has already been...”
We are facing a worldwide fear like never before. Our nation and world are over due for Divine judgement and a time known twice in history for great deliverance is upon us in a few weeks.
Perhaps it’s all a big nothing burger and I’m insane.
If anyone wants to mock me go ahead fulfill more prophecy, that’s ok with me.
“knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.””
II Peter 3:3-4
But as for me I will keep watching for His coming and that “Blessed Hope” (Titus 2:13)
“Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
II Timothy 4:8
I hope that this has given anyone reading this something to think about. Feel free to share this study as long as you share it in its entirety.
Maranatha!
Derrick Drew
McEwen TN