As God judged Jerusalem, will He eventually judge the wrongs of the whole world? Let’s look at Isaiah 3.
What did the Lord say He would do to Jerusalem? Did the people rely upon many things but not God? Do our people?
The Lord, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, will take away from Jerusalem and Judah everything they depend on: every bit of bread and every drop of water, all their heroes and soldiers, judges and prophets, fortune-tellers and elders, army officers and high officials, advisers, skilled sorcerers, and astrologers. (Isa 3:1-3 NLT)
What happens when the young and foolish dominate a culture?
I will give boys to be their princes, and children shall rule over them. The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the wicked against the honorable. (Isa 3:4-5 WEB)
Can times get so bad that mature and wise leadership is totally lacking and nobody wants the responsibility?
Someone will seize a family member, saying, “You have clothing! You be our leader! This mess will be your responsibility!” Someone else will cry out on that day, “I’m no healer! I have neither food nor clothing in my house! Don’t make me the leader of the people!” (Isa 3:6-7 CEB)
What was the cause of Jerusalem’s troubles? Did they bring it on themselves?
Jerusalem and Judah, you rebelled against your glorious Lord—your words and your actions, made you stumble and fall. The look on your faces shows that you are sinful as Sodom, and you don't try to hide it. You are in for trouble, and you have brought it all on yourselves. (Isa 3:8-9 CEV)
Can the wrong kind of leaders come to power? What about our national leadership?
Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths. (Isa 3:10-12 ESV)
Could God charge our world with similar wrongs, plundering the poor and crushing people?
The Lord rises to argue the case and stands to judge the people. The Lord brings this charge against the elders and leaders of His people: “You have devastated the vineyard. The plunder from the poor is in your houses. Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” This is the declaration of the Lord God of Hosts. (Isa 3:13-15 HCSB)
Are some of our women vain and self-centered? What did God say about the women of Zion?
The Lord says, “The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, strutting along with swaying hips, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.” (Isa 3:16-17 NIV)
What would God say about arrogant and self-indulgent women?
In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, The chains, and the bracelets, and the mufflers, The bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, The rings, and nose jewels, The changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, The glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails. (Isa 3:18-23 KJV)
Is God’s way of teaching people to love their neighbor, sometimes for them to experience the suffering they ignored in others?
Now it will be that instead of sweet perfume there will be the smell of rot; Instead of a belt, a rope; Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp; Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth; And branding instead of beauty. Your men will fall by the sword And your mighty ones in battle. And her gates will lament and mourn, And deserted she will sit on the ground. (Isa 3:24-26 LSB)
Will a similar thing happen to this world’s Babylonian system, built on the excesses of capitalist greed, obnoxious wealth for some and deplorable slavery for others?
And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any more—cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; every kind of citron wood, every article of ivory, and every article made from very valuable wood, bronze, iron, and marble; cinnamon, spice, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, and cargo of horses, carriages, slaves, and human lives. (Rev 18:11-13 NASB)
As God judged Jerusalem, will He eventually judge the wrongs of the whole world? You decide!
