I'm reading Isaiah now. I realized after an intense foray into eschatology (study of end-time prophecy) that having an increased understanding of prophecy is an open door for me to re-read the prophets and discern more of God's word.
As a matter of fact, I feel a desperate need to read and understand as quickly as possible because the time is short and there is much to do.
Today I was reading Isaiah 8: Then the LORD said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.
Isaiah was so impressed by these words that they became the name of his next son - Maher Shalal Hash Baz. (Talk about opening the door for witnessing! Try naming your kid Maher Shalal Hash Baz and let me know how it works out. I guess the poor boy would get a lot of chances to explain the prophecy right before he got beat up.)
I can imagine the prophet and prophetess telling people about their cute baby - "his name is swift the booty speedy the prey" - with their fiery prophet gaze.
Whoa where is this conversation headed? Well I'll tell you where.
"...for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
(Isaiah 8:11-15 NASB)
One principle in the Bible is the testimony of two witnesses, which are required to pronounce judgement. In this case the two witnesses are Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the prophet. The law and the prophet - this might sound familiar if you read my earlier post (Two Witnesses at the End of Days). The wrath of God is immediately preceded by the testimony of two witnesses.
The testimony also serves as a sort of contract to prove that God is faithful and His judgments are true. God's judgment is conditioned upon the people's response to the testimony. Repentance will always turn away God's wrath. This is why the LORD has delayed His final judgment on creation. This is why the "apostacy must come first" - the people must become so hardened that repentance is impossible. Notice the response in Isaiah 8:
They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness. (Isaiah 8:21-22 NASB)
This is a prophetic reference to the final judgment, as in Revelation 9:
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts. (Rev 9:21-22 NASB)
Finally...
Satan has had plenty of antichrists ready for the final conflict, but God has always had a people who would repent and pray for God's mercy; thus the final wrath has been withheld even until now. It is when God's people are finally "taken out of the way" then "...that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." (II Thessalonians 2:7-8 NASB)
There may yet be time to delay God's wrath, but the answer won't come through politics or economic genius or military might. It will come only
"...if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways" (II Chronicles 7:14 NASB).
Remember,
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (II Peter 2:9 NASB)
