Word Live: Shaking The Earth
Consider what you might do if you heard today that a giant asteroid will soon strike the Earth.
Bible passage
Isaiah 2:6–22
The day of the Lord
6 You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practise divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold;
there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is full of horses;
there is no end to the chariots.
8 Their land is full of idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their fingers have made.
9 So people will be brought low
and everyone humbled –
do not forgive them.
10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendour of his majesty!
11 The eyes of the arrogant will be humbled
and human pride brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 The Lord Almighty has a day in store
for all the proud and lofty,
for all that is exalted
(and they will be humbled),
13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
and all the oaks of Bashan,
14 for all the towering mountains
and all the high hills,
15 for every lofty tower
and every fortified wall,
16 for every trading ship
and every stately vessel.
17 The arrogance of man will be brought low
and human pride humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
18 and the idols will totally disappear.
19 People will flee to caves in the rocks
and to holes in the ground
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendour of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
20 In that day people will throw away
to the moles and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.
21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks
and to the overhanging crags
from the fearful presence of the Lord
and the splendour of his majesty,
when he rises to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting in mere humans,
who have but a breath in their nostrils.
Why hold them in esteem?
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
Isaiah chapter 1 described a desolate land, a prophetic vision of the consequences of Judah’s continuing disobedience. Today’s passage is addressed, at a different time, to a materially affluent but corrupted people. The account here surely strikes a chord with our modern, western societies. Natural resources abound, including those to be spent on defence and security (v 7). Apparently, technological advances do nothing to discourage unwholesome spiritual practices. It can sometimes seem, in cultures through the ages, that ‘any god will do’ before the true God.
Into this scene, on his chosen day, comes God in all his power. It is a day when, to return humankind to our rightful place, the Lord shakes the earth (v 21). Some think Isaiah is alluding to an actual earthquake which took place during the reign of King Uzziah. At any rate, the passage compares God in all his terrifying majesty with humankind whom we find here grovelling in a hole in the ground (v 19). Of course, we all hope that no cataclysm strikes our own time and place, whether of natural or of man-made origin. Reasons for disasters are complex, but could it be that in the big picture of human disobedience, sometimes they are no more than we, together, deserve?
Author
Mike Hawthorne
Respond
Many today see climate change as a catastrophe caused by human ignorance and selfishness. Pray that the Lord does not abandon us to ruin even though, like ancient Israelites, our problems are of our own making.
Deeper Bible study
‘The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.’1
Isaiah’s masterly usage of dramatic imagery is well illustrated in this section, which vividly describes the alternative future for ‘all the proud and lofty’ (v 12). One can sense his anguish and anger as he describes the travesty of God’s covenant people that Israel have turned into; and the despair as he pictures the dreadful future that awaits them when, far from walking ‘in the light of the Lord’ (v 5), they flee from his presence in fear (v 21). One can’t help thinking that this description, from so many centuries ago, could easily be seen as reflecting our own societies – easy acceptance of fake news and of any religion that doesn’t involve commitment to the Lord (vs 6,8), the over-importance given to wealth, the over-dependence on military power (v 7) and the excessive influence given to big business (vs 12–16). There is no way that God is going to allow that kind of society to be described as his people. One can sense Isaiah’s incomprehension (v 22) that anyone should put their trust in human leaders who reflect these values rather than in the values reflected in God’s Word. Jesus’ words that ‘the last will be first, and the first will be last’2 can easily be seen as a reflection of this chapter.
These words would have been seen as horrifically offensive by Isaiah’s listeners and readers! They probably felt, ‘How could he possibly say things like that about us? Doesn’t he realise who we are? We are God’s own people!’ No modern nation is chosen by God in the way that Israel was, but surely this chapter remains a real challenge to the church to acknowledge the ungodly values reflected in our own societies and to separate ourselves from them rather than absorb them. Do these verses offend us, or inspire us to stop trusting in human powers (v 22)?
Try finding a believer who disagrees with you politically and discuss together what values in our society Christians might be being called to reject.
1Ps 145:13,14 2 Eg Matt 20:16
Author
Mary Evans
