You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
13 When
thus it shall be in the midst [qereb] of the land ['erets] among [tavek] the people [`am], there
shall be as the shaking [noqeph] of an olive
tree [zayith], and as the gleaning grapes [`olelah] when the vintage [batsiyr]
is done [kalah]. KJV-Interlinear
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is
done. ESV
Two things are revealed within these metaphors that Isaiah employs.
The first is that the previous verses which have been describing the destruction and chaos of the city, namely Jerusalem, is also applied to the nations. The word for people, ‘am,’ refers to the collections of peoples as referring to collections of multiple groups or nations. The word for earth or land, ‘erets,’ can often times refer to a single place, but here it is referring to many lands, or to the whole world.
And so, in the midst of the world, this destruction will be wide spread and thorough and complete and extremely bad.
But there is one more thing being mentioned here.
As in a harvest, and the vines of trees are shaken, and most of the fruit falls to the ground, there is still left on the tree or vine, and few, a remnant, of fruits remaining on the branches or vine.
And so, even though in the final days of history, the whole world will be literally turned upside down and the destruction will leave virtually nothing, there will still be a few, as in the gleanings, a very few, that will survive the end of the world scenario.
It is not the fruits that save themselves, but God who will protect and deliver them.
The fruits are merely hanging on and happen to remain on the branches, while all of the rest fall to the ground.
And so too, when the end of the world occurs, there will be a remnant that survive. And if you could count the fruits in a given tree and then compare that count to the count of those that fall and those that remain in the branches, then you would know that the remaining number in the branches will be very small, perhaps less than one percent of the total.
That alone makes a dramatic statement as to just how severe the final judgments on humanity, will be.
Also, all who are delivered, will be in a totally helpless state. Their only hope is Christ. And when the world is falling apart all around, then faith alone becomes a frightful yet powerful thing.
To rely on a mere belief is difficult. And when you do not know if your belief is correct, then that too, makes for a scary ordeal. But faith in the Bible is not unsupported, but based on the substance of Bible doctrine.
Therefore, to have true faith and correct faith, you have to learn doctrine so that you will know with certainty and confidence.
Those who do not pursue a daily study, cannot have the quality of faith that God intends, because they will not have the inner resources to formulate their faith.
