The Real Meaning of Life

Forgive me if I sound like a broken record, but I have no other choice. When we read Isaiah, we have to take into consideration that Isaiah is a prophet, who prophesies about the future. While most consider it a threat of the punishment God will inflict, I rather interpret it as a warning, a warning of what will happen if they continue to separate themselves from God. God is love, and to stay close to Him, means you have a life of love. If you separate yourself from that love, well, what is the opposite of love?

Again, I know the end as I’ve studied the Bible before. Eventually Babylon invades Israel and takes its inhabitants captive for 70 years. However, I don’t know if this is the event Isaiah is warning about, or whether he is prophesying about the end of the earth. One is devastating to Israel, the other to the entire earth.

Not to jump ahead, but God said He would never destroy the earth by water again. He gave us the rainbow as a sign of this promise. Then again, I’ve come to believe that God didn’t cause the great flood, it was just a natural consequence of man separating himself from God. But what I do believe, is that the earth will be destroyed by the brightness of the Glory of God, that same Glory that made Moses’ face shine, the same Glory that consumed Nadab and Abihu. The same Glory that gave light before God created the sun and moon. And the same Glory Jesus referred to when He said, “I am the light.”

And if you follow me, you’ll know that I believe that if we are have separated ourselves from God, we will not be able to withstand that light. Just like the Hebrews who forced Moses to wear a veil because his face was so bright, it hurt them.

In the end, Jesus will return. The righteous will be able to withstand His Glory, and will return with Him to Heaven. At the same time, the righteous that are sleeping in their grave will be resurrected, the same resurrection that will happen to Lazarus, and they too will ascend to Heaven with Jesus.

The wicked however will remain on earth, and it won’t be pleasant. As Isaiah describes, it will be desolate, because all of the good people that keep this world together will be gone. No good physicians to care for your illnesses. No surgeons to save your life. No police officers to keep the peace. And those that remain won’t be good people. So the life of the wicked will live here for 1,000 years until the New Jerusalem is completed, at which time God will descend from Heaven with the new city, a city without sin, a city that is perfect.

At that time, the wicked will be resurrected from their grave, and along with the living wicked, they will be consumed by the Glory of God. It will be perceived as fire, just like the “burning bush” was perceived to be afire, but it will simply be the Glory of God. And the earth will be cleansed again, this time with God’s Glory. Everything will grow back anew, it will be a new earth, and it will be like the Garden of Eden, like God originally intended for the earth to be like.

So, regardless of what Isaiah is referring to, he is telling us the natural consequences of separating from God. Adam and Eve separated from God when they caved to the temptation of Satan, the serpent; instead of living forever in the Garden, they committed spiritual suicide. Yes, Adam lived to be over 900 years old, but as sin expanded on the earth, life was cut shorter and shorter.

Scripture doesn’t say, but I would venture to guess that Abraham’s family separated from God somewhere, which caused them to be taken captive and turned into slaves in Egypt. We know that Joseph’s brothers were full of envy and hate.

So again, I urge you to read scripture, to ask for guidance from the Holy Spirit, then you decide based on that what you perceive Isaiah is warning about.

And remember, we live in a world that isn’t much different than the world Israel was in at that time. We’ve separated from God, and the consequences for many will not turn out very good.