"Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants....The earth mourns and fades away,...because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant....Fear and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth." (Isaiah 24:1, 4, 5, 17)
When I first read this passage almost 50 years ago, I realized that there was something here which was beyond the thinking of most of us. This Word is beyond Israel's sin, beyond individual sin. This is a warning to all the nations of the Earth. Do we realize that there were laws, ordinances, and an, "everlasting covenant," before the time of Abraham and Moses?
Too often individualism overshadows the "Word of the Lord" to nations. The prophet has been addressing Israel and Judah. Now he turns to what, in essence, is everyone on the planet. And what does He say? "You have broken the everlasting covenant." This covenant predates Israel. It goes back to Genesis 9, the covenant which the Living Triune God made with Noah and his three sons, "....I establish My covenant with you and with your descendants after you, and...."
Our Lord Jesus tells us in Matthew 25 that all nations will be judged by two categories, the "sheep nations" and the "goat nations." Yes, individuals will be judged, but there is something of national judgment, accountability which much of modern Christendom has overlooked. This is a reason I pray for the nations. No, I don't fully understand "national judgment" or "global judgment," but Isaiah 24 declares that it is coming.
So now what? As we go about our daily lives, notice humanity around us. They, like us, are of those who, "....have broken the everlasting covenant." Everyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity, national origin, everyone is in need of The Savior, Jesus. Those sad people at America's Southern Border, the Gaza demonstrators, political leaders, Church leaders, "Third World" nations, rich, poor, etc.,?-- "....have broken the everlasting covenant"; therefore, regardless of who each one of us is, regardless of our "state in life," regardless of "national origin," there is only, "I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father (literally) if not through Me." Jesus Christ Alone, is the King and Savior of the nations. In Jesus' Blood, "the everlasting covenant," is defined, fulfilled, and sealed.
Father, in Jesus' Name, help me to know how to pray for all nations who, "have broken the everlasting covenant." Amen.
When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
