GOD WILL CUT SHORT THE MORAL COLLAPSE AND DECLINE OF HIS PEOPLE
Paul talked about cutting the work short. We are going to look into this obscure and usually unnoticed scripture for a deeper understanding. Paul when talking about Israel mentions that God will cut short His work on Earth to stop the moral slide of His people. If God had not CUT SHORT the time what would have happened? Paul writes
Romans 9:26-29 NKJV 26 "And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There they shall be called sons of the living God." 27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. 28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth."
Paul is predicting that God must take action to stop the spiritual spoiling of his people. God's punishment normally of his people was to force them to repent and live a more righteous, moral life. However when the people get so corrupted that they no longer have any shame, the people then no longer could feel any guilt. They wouldn't hear any warning from God. They were beyond moving toward repentance.
29 And as Isaiah said before: "Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah."
The problem with Sodom was the sins were totally accepted in that society. They couldn't or wouldn't repent because they knew no shame. The entire city was accepting the forcible rape of the two angelic men sent to rescue Lot. It was not a forced rape in a back alley it was in full view in public. God abhors sins, and worse having it to be totally acceptable to all. We all should feel some shame when we slip and sin. They existed in a society of near total corruption. However God will not allow Israel to completely rot away morally. God said to repent while you still can turn around.
Isaiah 1:16-17 NKJV 16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes. Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow.
However God warns them that corruption is starting to infect all parts of Jerusalem's society the princes the business leaders and judges. All seek bribes and are greedy and the people suffer accordingly.
Isaiah 1:23 NKJV 23 Your princes are rebellious, And companions of thieves; Everyone loves bribes, And follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.
Therefore God will prevent them all from becoming totally rotten and without shame.
THE HISTORICAL EXAMPLES OF CUTTING ISRAEL SHORT TO SAVE A REMNANT
Paul quoted the prophets regarding this cutting short. Therefore he was aware of the historical examples. Paul is paraphrasing Isaiah 10:22-23. This warning from God through the prophet was regarding saving a remnant of Judah from becoming totally corrupted. God cut short that nation's freedom for 70 years to punish them and save them for later repentance.
Isaiah 10:22-23 NKJV 22 For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, A remnant of them will return; The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness. 23 For the Lord GOD of hosts Will make a determined end In the midst of all the land.
God warned that he was about to end that kingdom and take them into captivity unless they repented. Paul also referenced the prophet Jeremiah's warnings.
Jeremiah 7:16-19 NKJV 16 "Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. 17 "Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 "The children gather wood,...to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.. 19 "Do they provoke Me to anger?" says the LORD. "Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?"
God is saying to the prophet that the people have gone too far into idolatry. They have no shame. They have reached the point of NO RETURN where they will not or cannot repent. Therefore to save a remnant before they are also morally poisoned God is going to send them into tough captivity.
Jeremiah 8:12 NKJV 12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed, Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; In the time of their punishment They shall be cast down," says the LORD.
Sin had become totally acceptable by a vast majority in society. How could they then repent? God requires us to feel shame when we sin. All mankind sins and we all need to feel shame and guilt and then repent. Historically the northern ten tribes of Israel known as Ephraim had been cut short and went into captivity.
2 Kings 10:32 NKJV 32 In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel; and Hazael conquered them in all the territory of Israel
The northern ten started the process of reaching the point of NO RETURN long before the southern kingdom of Judah. Both were warned by prophets but the downward drift continued. God called Judah to sweet repentance but only a remnant would remain faithful. Israel went into captivity in 722 BC and Judah was taken in 586 BC to Babylon. Note what God told the prophet Elijah.
1Ki 19:18 Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
God always left a remnant by cutting short the days of corruption. After these chapters of warning of the growing moral corruption needing to be cut short, the prophets told of the Messiah's wonderful rescue. We see this after both chapter one and ten in Isaiah. Judah returned from captivity and then remained steadfast regarding idolatry and Sabbath keeping and preserving the word of God. Hard times can strengthen PEOPLE. Remember that the great depression and WWII did that for America after roaring twenties prosperity led moral decline.
THE MESSIAH'S WONDERFUL RESCUE OF THE REMNANT
These are some of the most encouraging words in all the Bible. We will all be in paradise where repentance will be abundant.
Isaiah 2:3-4 NKJV 3 Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.
Isaiah 11:6-9 NKJV 6 "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, The leopard shall lie down with the young goat, The calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little child shall lead them. 7 The cow and the bear shall graze; Their young ones shall lie down together; And the lion shall eat straw like the ox. 8 The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den. 9 They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.
THE CUT SHORT WARNING IS FOR BELIEVERS IN OUR TIME AS WELL
All the world will be cut short to save a remnant of Israel in the end times. This world would go so astray that left alone the world would poison the planet. Jesus warned of this:
Matthew 24:21-22 NKJV 21 "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.
We are warned to stay in a repentant and ready spirit because the days will be suddenly cut short.
Matthew 24:42-44 NKJV 42 "Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. 43 "But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 44 "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
God is saving the planet for us the spiritual remnant by cutting evils days short. Stay focused! A SOFT HEART AND A RESPONSIVE CONSCIENCE ARE PRIZED BY GOD.
