24 Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants. 2 And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. 3 The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. 4 The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the people of the earth fade away. 5 The earth is also polluted [a]by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.
7 The new wine mourns,
The vine decays,
All the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The gaiety of tambourines ceases,
The noise of revelers stops,
The gaiety of the harp ceases.
9 They do not drink wine with song;
Strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of chaos is broken down;
Every house is shut up so that none may enter.
11 There is an outcry in the streets concerning the wine;
All joy [b]turns to gloom.
The gaiety of the earth is banished.
12 Desolation is left in the city
And the gate is battered to ruins.
13 For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples,
As the [c]shaking of an olive tree,
As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
This chapter skips ahead a bit, and speaks to a judgment that is still in the future even for us at this time. No doubt it draws nearer as v. 5 describes the state of our world quite well. Though it has not come, we see some important reminders.
Most notably, in v. 2, we see this contrast between the common people and the priest, servant and master, and so on. Or perhaps we should say, a lack of contrast. For we would often distinguish between the high positions and the lowly, but “God is no respecter of persons” and whatever their sin, all will fare alike in that day.
Once more in v. 4 God reminds us that the exalted will fade away. Too often we are “respecters of persons” and positions, when we ought to be sharing God’s truth with everyone, high or low, creditor or debtor, buyer or seller. All have “transgressed laws, violated statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.”
However, there is good news in spite of this judgment, or at least before it. “God is not willing that any should perish…” and so He has given all of us time and grace and the gift of His love. The judgment is coming, but there is no reason for anyone to suffer it when His gift of new life is freely available. That is, unless no one tells them, and so it falls to us to share the good news, to not be quiet, lest those around us suffer the fate of this passage. And that is something none of us ought to wish upon even our worst enemies.
No wonder Jesus told us to “love our enemies, and pray for those who persecute us…” for their fate, if unrepented, is (far) worse than anything we might suffer at their hands. Share His love, without respect to the receiver, but with all the grace we can muster, and God’s own added on top, that all might hear, and that many would listen and learn of His good, even amazing, news.