North Korea is causing international consternation, Europe is covered in confusion and the outlook for the Middle East seems bleak. Can Isaiah 24 shed any light on the world this week?
In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. In the Far East North Korea has launched an intercontinental ballistic missile soon after testing what they claim to be a hydrogen bomb. Even China is expressing concern at their inability to restrain the renegade state thirsting for war.
In the Middle East the civil war in Syria has entered a new and highly dangerous stage with the Russian bombing of Aleppo. And the whole of Europe is covered in confusion through the mounting migration crisis triggering both economic and social instability.
Failed Peace Talks
The UN-brokered peace talks bringing together the warring parties in Syria broke down after only three days. This was seemingly the result of the Russian bombing of Aleppo which is said to have infringed UN Resolution 2254 mandating the talks, which required an end to air-strikes and the provision of humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones.
In every region of the world there is increasing tension and growing conflict. But what is God doing?
The Russians, in support of Bashar al-Assad's forces, are attacking the so-called 'moderate rebels' who have been trained by the USA and supplied with American arms to overthrow Assad. This is increasingly drawing the Western powers into conflict with Russia and the Iranian/Iraqi alliance which is supporting Assad. Also in the midst of this confused conflict there is the Islamic State which is against them all – pursuing its own radical Islamist objectives.
Migrants attempt to cross from Macedonia into Serbia.America and Europe
With America now fully involved in an internal battle for the White House between such unlikely contenders as Trump and Sanders (not the Colonel!) on opposite wings of the political chicken, there is unlikely to be any firm foreign policy initiative coming from Washington as Obama free-wheels through his final year.
Meanwhile, the crisis in Europe intensifies as the social backlash grows against the 1,000,000-plus migrants who poured into the EU last year as people react to incidents such as the Cologne sex attacks. Today some 400,000 Syrians are trying to get into Turkey after fleeing the bombing of Aleppo and the advance of the Syrian government army.
The migrant crisis in the Middle East is rapidly becoming a vast humanitarian disaster, with Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan all saying they cannot cope with any more refugees and the European Union desperately trying to organise its border defences and establish 'Fortress Europe'.
But God...
But what is God doing in all this mess? Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Isaiah claimed the opposite, saying that God holds the nations "in his hands as a drop in a bucket" and that he "brings princes to nought and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing" (Isa 40:15, 23). Did this just refer to a bygone era - has God now withdrawn his power over the nations, leaving them to work out their own salvation?
Is God no longer in control of the nations as the Lord of history? Far from it! He still holds the nations in his hands as a drop in a bucket.
The Bible actually prophesies a time of intense instability throughout the world. Whether God simply allows it or actually initiates an era of vast conflict between nations and instability in the world of nature with earthquakes, hurricanes and storms, is not made clear. But there are three passages in the Bible where a great shaking of everything – the natural order of creation and the nations – is foretold. Isaiah 2:12-22 speaks of God "humbling the arrogance and pride of human beings". It says "The Lord Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted and they will be humbled." That was probably written in the eighth century BC.
Haggai, writing two centuries later in 520 BC, was more specific in stating that God would "shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land". He would "shake all nations" (Hag 2:6-7). Written over 500 years later, about AD 90, Hebrews 12:26 says that the great shaking of everything will be a prelude to God establishing his kingdom on earth.
The Little Apocalypse
There is another passage of Scripture that is rarely read in church and is usually neglected by biblical scholars because its message is too difficult to handle. It is found in Isaiah 24, which scholars traditionally have referred to as 'The Little Apocalypse' because its language is extreme. It speaks of the whole earth being shaken and split asunder which former generations of biblical scholars have always classified as symbolic. It was never imagined that there ever could be a force capable of shaking the whole of the earth.
Today we know different. The splitting of the atom and the production of hydrogen bombs has caused us to revise our biblical theology. We now know that among the nations there are sufficient nuclear weapons to destroy the world if they were all detonated at the same time and in the same region in an international conflict.
Isaiah 24 speaks of the whole earth being split and shaken by human sin. Until modern advances in weaponry, there was never a force capable of such a thing - but there is now.
This could literally fulfil the prophecies of Isaiah 24:
The earth is broken up, the earth is split asunder, the earth is thoroughly shaken. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind; so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion that it falls – never to rise again.
The reason this will happen is given in Isaiah 24:5-6.
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 the earth's inhabitants are burned up, and very few are left.
But is this a warning of the inevitable – or of what COULD happen? Is there still time for human beings to heed the warning and change the course of history?
Hope for the Future
The Bible also speaks of a time of peace. Isaiah 2, which foretells a day of judgment quoted above, begins with a beautiful picture of the word of the Lord going out from Jerusalem. It foresees swords beaten into ploughshares and nations no longer training for war.
The New Testament is full of hope for the future – that hope is founded on the return of Jesus to judge the nations and to bring a time of peace and justice which is what Hebrews 12 refers to as "the kingdom of God". Jesus himself spoke of this in Matthew 24 saying that there would be a great conflict among the nations, followed by a cosmic shaking which will be a prelude to his Second Coming.
These eschatological passages of Scripture often draw vastly different interpretations – but they nevertheless show that God is still the Lord of history! He holds the nations in his hands. He has allowed us free will to run the affairs of the nations until the time he intervenes through the Second Coming of Jesus.
How near that is, nobody knows; but the Bible says that he will come when least expected. That may be much sooner than anyone anticipates!
