Bk – Therefore as Tongues of Fire Lick Up Straw Their Roots Will Decay 5: 24

Therefore, as Tongues of Fire Lick Up Straw
Their Roots Will Decay
5: 24

Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw their roots will decay DIG: What is the picture Isaiah gives us here? Why is he so harsh? Who was responsible for the predicament they found themselves in? Did they realize how far they had strayed from their heritage as a nation? From their responsibility to take care of God’s vineyard? How did this happen? Where do you see it happening today?

REFLECT: Not much has changed over the years. What happens to those who reject God’s Word? Many times it seems as though the arrogant prosper (Psalms 37 and 73). But what is their final destiny (Revelation 20:11-15)? What have been the choices in your life? How have they worked out for you so far? 

The third therefore is a picture of total destruction. Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw, and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust (5:24a). In vivid language the fearful penalty is described. There is nothing to be done with the vineyard except to destroy it. Their judgment will be like fire racing through straw. The bad grapes they have produced are only good for burning. The whole vine will be burned, both roots and flowers. No plant can survive if the conditions to sustain it are not present. Decay and destruction are always the result. The Jewish leadership pictured here had cut itself off from the One who sustained it. Specifically, they have rejected the Torah of ADONAI and spurned the word of the Holy One of Isra’el (5:24b). The root cause was rejection of revelation. They had rejected the Torah and the prophets. Because of this, they faced divine judgment from the One whom they had taken for granted. The punishment would fit the crime.