I will utterly consume all things from off the land, saith the LORD.
The verse declares that the Lord Himself will completely remove and utterly destroy everything from off the land. The consuming covers man and beast, together with the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, together with stumblingblocks and the wicked, so that man is cut off from the land. The destruction is specified judgment upon evildoers for determined wickedness and widespread rejection of divine law.
The verse opens the punishments belonging to the day of the Lord's sacrifice, the nearness of the great day of the Lord and the day of His wrath. The prophecy applies to a time of great spiritual light and opportunity when people persist in disobedience, and it is being literally fulfilled and has been fulfilled for years in the lives of some who know the right way. The verse is a word for the last day foretelling a literal scene of destruction and desolation that will soon come, will be universal, and will be witnessed just as described.
Its last-day fulfillment is as certain as the desolation of San Francisco, showing that divine judgments are coming upon cities amid the increasing wickedness of the present day, especially in great cities. Therefore the verse warns to seek the Lord before the day of judgment and to be always ready, because the Son of man will come in an hour that is not expected.
The verse declares that the Lord Himself will completely remove and utterly destroy everything from off the land. The consuming covers man and beast, together with the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, together with stumblingblocks and the wicked, so that man is cut off from the land. The destruction is specified judgment upon evildoers for determined wickedness and widespread rejection of divine law.
The verse opens the punishments belonging to the day of the Lord's sacrifice, the nearness of the great day of the Lord and the day of His wrath. The prophecy applies to a time of great spiritual light and opportunity when people persist in disobedience, and it is being literally fulfilled and has been fulfilled for years in the lives of some who know the right way. The verse is a word for the last day foretelling a literal scene of destruction and desolation that will soon come, will be universal, and will be witnessed just as described.
Its last-day fulfillment is as certain as the desolation of San Francisco, showing that divine judgments are coming upon cities amid the increasing wickedness of the present day, especially in great cities. Therefore the verse warns to seek the Lord before the day of judgment and to be always ready, because the Son of man will come in an hour that is not expected.