Wow! Here we are at the last Isaiah passage before Christmas! And I haven’t even gotten to the famous messianic passages like chapters 41 through 44, and chapter 53. But this one is really good too, so buckle up.

See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth and devastate it;

he will ruin its face and scatter its inhabitants —

it will be the same

for priest as for people,

for master as for servant,

for mistress as for maid,

for seller as for buyer,

for borrower as for lender,

for debtor as for creditor.

The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered.

The LORD has spoken this word.

The floodgates of the heavens are opened,

the foundations of the earth shake.

The earth is broken up,

the earth is split asunder,

the earth is thoroughly shaken.

The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind;

so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion

that it falls — never to rise again.

In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above

and the kings on the earth below.

They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon;

they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days.

The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed;

for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem

and before its elders, gloriously.

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare

a feast of rich food for all peoples,

a banquet of aged wine — the best of meals and the finest of wines.

On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples,

the sheet that covers all nations;

he will swallow up death forever.

The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces;

he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.

The LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 24:1-3, 18 – 23; 25:6 – 8