Destruction from the Almighty.

Isaiah

{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

Throughout history there have been many days the Lord has exacted punishment for the various and many sins of His people.

With Isaiah being a prophet it's not always easy to understand things, not for this ordinary layperson who has no background in theology or even history. Do I always interpret things correctly? I'd be the first to admit that I only do the best I can with the knowledgde I do have and pray that the Holy Spirit guide me into understanding.

Can a prophecy hold duel meanings? I'm not sure. I do know that prophecies can be given in more ways than one. Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 for instance. Some might expound more on what was at first given.

God's ways are mysterious and we have to seek to understand, to know, and to realize that God gives prophecies to us for our edification.

I read stuff like this...

{13:6} Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it
shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.

And it makes me think of the last days before Christ's return and the chaos that will be going on. Howl, cry out, and we know many will be doing just that when they realize that the day they never imagined would come is finally here. We know the Bible tells us many will be deceived--

Matthew {7:22} Many will say to
me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy
name done many wonderful works? {7:23} And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.

There will be plenty of howling when the deceived realized their deception, when instead of waiting and eagerly looking for Christ to redeem them they have gone after other ways, deceptive ways. Ways, so deceptive that just like Eve in the garden of Eden the only defense will be I was beguiled, only unlike Eve the people will realize that they allowed themselves to be deceived when they had didn't have to, they welcomed the deception, the heart will be revealed and unlike Eve's heart, people will know that they embraced sin rather than the truth because the price of the truth was too much for them to bear- they couldn't give up enough of themselves to God's will, they had to try and save themselves and the deception will be great.

Reading on...

{13:7}
Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart
shall melt: {13:8} And they shall be afraid: pangs and
sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a
woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another;
their faces shall be as flames.

The agony of realizing you've been deceived will be horrific won't it? How could it be otherwise? We see horror movies, even if we don't watch the movie itself we see advertisements for them, we know they exist, we know what they are and even the worst horror movie we've ever seen or know exists will not compare to the true pain described here. Even the worst tortures man has endure will not be as this. Eternal life lost. There can be no greater horror to endure.


{13:9} Behold, the day of
the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger,
to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners
thereof out of it.


Sin must be destroyed ultimately and of course sinners don't like to believe that can happen. Fairytale and yes, another horror story or movie to be told. End of the world stuff sells. Yet there is a reality here that people want to keep fictionalized. As long as it stays a mere story it's okay. Suspecting there might be truth to it is a bit frightening, and people will equate it with being lunatic, being freaks, being an oddity. Keep it fictional and all is well. Make it reality then either facing it or joking it away are options a person has. It's easier to make a joke of it. It is easier to not think about it because thinking about it will call your life into accountability and well, who wants that, it's no fun. We call sin fun and the majority of the world has made sin acceptable. Is it no wonder the world has to be destroyed, that God's wrath and fierce anger are coming? That when sin is wiped away the world will be desolate.



{13:10} For the stars of heaven and the
constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall
be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause
her light to shine. {13:11} And I will punish the world for
[their] evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will
cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low
the haughtiness of the terrible. {13:12} I will make a man
more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden
wedge of Ophir. {13:13} Therefore I will shake the
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the
wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce
anger.


The world will be punished for it's evil.
The wicked will be punished for their sins.
The arrogant, the proud will no longer exist, there will be no more haughtiness.

Those of God's left will be precious and pure through Jesus Christ.

God's wrath is real.

God's wrath is coming.

No one has ever seen the fierce anger that God possesses towards sin and the sinner.

People would much rather talk of love than hate.

Yet God's love for us, the greatest love of all brought His Only Son, Innocent of all sin to die for us sinners.

Love conquers sin.

God's love will defeat the hateful sin, not accept it, defeat it. Sin will be wiped away, not indulged, not overlooked.

There will come a day when there is no more sin.

God's love will reign because it is so much more powerful than sin.

May the day of the Lord's fierce wrath find us protected in love and by the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

May we look only to Jesus and know of ourselves we can do nothing, let alone save ourselves.

By the glory and will of our Lord now and always.

Amen.