Monday, November 16, 2020

Scott R. Petersen on Isaiah 24:5-6 as a Prophecy of the Apostasy in the Post-Apostolic Age

 Under the section "Old Testament Prophecies of Apostasy after the Apostolic Age," Scott R. Petersen noted the following about Isa 24:5-6: 


Isaiah may have foretold the apostasy of Christ’s Church when he wrote: “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isaiah 24:5-6; emphasis added). This chapter is sometimes referred to as the Apocalypse of Isaiah. The word apocalypse, meaning “from hiding,” is synonymous with eschatology, a word originating in Greek and denoting “teachings about last things.” A clue regarding the time of the events prophesied in verses 5-6 is the image of a harvest symbolized by the “shaking of the olive tree, and as the gleanings grapes when the vintage is done” (Isaiah 24:13). The language of verse 6 describes the future event of desolation and destruction of the wicked associated with Christ’s second coming. It seems Isaiah was describing apostasy after the Lord’s ascension.

 

The term everlasting covenant is first used by God with Noah after the Flood (Genesis 9:16). The ancient writings of the Dead Sea Scrolls occasionally also refer to the everlasting covenant between God and Adam, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham. The Israelites were subjected to the law of Moses as a schoolmaster until the law should be fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Although the term everlasting covenant is mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament, it is never used in the same sense as with Noah and Abraham (Leviticus 24:7-8 refers to a specific rite within the law of Moses, not the everlasting covenant; Leviticus 16:34 refers to the annual day of atonement; 2 Samuel 23:5 refers to God’s covenant with David, evidently that Jesus would be born through the Davidic line; 2 Chronicles 13:5 and 21:7 refer to this same covenant; 1 Chronicles 16:17 does refer to the “everlasting covenant” made with Abraham and Israel; however, a covenant is a two-way agreement that Israel often broke with God. Clearly, this covenant was already severed at the time of Isaiah’s prophecy through the likes of Ahaz and, while later reestablished briefly with a portion of Judah through righteous King Hezekiah, others during his reign “laughed them to scorn, and mocked them” [2 Chronicles 30:10]. Gross wickedness quickly returned with Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, ultimately resulting in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy that Israel would be scattered and slain). The Mosaic covenant was understood to be a temporary (not everlasting) law that would ultimately be superseded by the New Covenant introduced by Jesus Christ. Isaiah was likely speaking of the everlasting covenant that God had made with the ancient Patriarchs, to be renewed in Jesus Christ, and not the law of Moses. This everlasting covenant was probably not on the earth during all or large portions of the Mosaic dispensation. In his instructions to the Hebrews, Paul reminds believers that only through the “blood of the everlasting covenant” would they be “perfect in every good work to do his will” (Hebrews 13:20-21). Since Isaiah’s language points toward the last days (see v. 23) and the Old Testament supports prevailing apostasy during this period, Isaiah’s prophecy appears to refer to a period after the apostolic ministry. (Scott R. Petersen, Where Have All the Prophets Gone? Revelation and-Rebellion in the Old Testament and the Christian World [Springville, Utah: CFI, 2005], 70-71)