What is the meaning of Isaiah 24:13? So will it be on the earth and among the nations Isaiah has just described the Lord “laying waste the earth” (Isaiah 24:1). Here he affirms that what God declares for Judah will reach every corner of the globe. • God’s judgments are never limited to one tribe or territory. Compare Genesis 6:11-13, where corruption across the entire earth provokes the Flood, and Acts 17:31, which promises that God “has set a day to judge the world with justice.” • The phrase “among the nations” underscores the universal reach of this prophecy, echoing Jeremiah 25:15-17 and Revelation 14:8. • The certainty of the declaration—“So will it be”—reminds us of Numbers 23:19: “God is not a man, that He should lie.” Every word here is both sober fact and certain future. like a harvested olive tree After the main crop is taken, only a few olives remain clinging to the highest branches (Isaiah 17:6). That sparse remnant pictures the small number of survivors who remain faithful after judgment. • Deuteronomy 24:20 instructs landowners not to beat the branches twice, leaving some olives “for the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.” In Isaiah’s vision, what is left serves God’s gracious purposes for a humble remnant. • Paul later uses the olive tree image for God’s covenant people in Romans 11:17-24, reminding us that God can prune severely yet still preserve life in the root. • The harvest metaphor shows that the loss is deliberate and measured; the Lord of the harvest knows exactly how much fruit He will keep (John 15:1-2). like a gleaning after a grape harvest Gleanings are the few grapes left for the poor once pickers finish their work (Leviticus 19:10; Ruth 2:2). Isaiah pictures the earth stripped of its abundance, yet not utterly empty. • The image anticipates Revelation 14:18-20, where a final grape harvest represents divine wrath. Afterward, only remnants remain to inhabit a purified world (Isaiah 24:6). • God’s pattern is consistent: judgment reduces, but a remnant remains—Noah’s family after the Flood (Genesis 8:1), the 7,000 who refused to bow to Baal (1 Kings 19:18), and the sealed servants in Revelation 7:3-4. • This small group becomes the seedbed of future restoration (Isaiah 10:20-22; Micah 5:7-8). summary Isaiah 24:13 pictures worldwide judgment that strips humanity down to a remnant, just as harvesters leave only a few olives and grapes. The verse reassures believers that God’s actions are purposeful: He judges sin thoroughly yet preserves a faithful nucleus through whom He will renew the earth. |
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