The Seraphim: Part 13: Isaiah 6:11, 12: Are cities, houses and lands going to be destroyed?

Isaiah 6:11, 12 – Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

If we were to take this verse literally, it would indicate that these people who come into the fullness of Christ will preach until basically there are no people left on earth since the cities and houses would all be empty and God would have removed all the men to some place far away. Additionally, the land would be destroyed.

This doesn’t make much sense because destroying the earth would leave nothing for the meek to inherit! And what about thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven? No, the earth is not to be crashed into a heap of ruins which is what the word desolate actually means in the Hebrew.

The best way to interpret a passage such as this is to view it inwardly rather than outwardly. Next we need to understand the spiritual significance indicated by the words. Using these two principles for spiritual interpretation will give us a rational understanding that will contextually fit in with the previous verses.

As we employ this method of spiritual interpretation, we will find that these verses that sound like the utter devastation of earth are actually giving us a picture of the kingdom of God coming on earth! That which is to be devastated is all that opposes God in the minds and hearts of people. This is what is keeping God from coming fully onto the earth in what we call the second coming of Christ. I believe there will be great destruction on the earth and upon those that hate Jesus, but the earth will survive. And the people of God will come forth in the image of Christ to take dominion over the earth.

As the seraphim/ministers preach and minister to people, they will be preparing the way for Jesus Christ to come in his fullness in his people. All that opposes him in us will be brought down by the truth and love of God coming forth in the powerful ministries of the seraphim/ministers.

Let’s look now at each significant word in this passage and see what it means in its types. We will discover here a detailed explanation of how verse 7 (iniquity taken away and sin purged) will happen.

Cities

Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant

Cities signify the interiors of the natural mind (Dictionary of Correspondences). The natural mind is what makes us human and differentiates us from animals. We are not humans because of the characteristics of the human body or because we have language and can speak and think. We are human beings because we have a mind that has intellect that can think what is true and what is good and can comprehend that there is a Divine God who is the source of all that is true and all that is good. We have the ability to have a relationship with our creator and to become like him. It all starts in our natural mind. However, we also have a spiritual mind that is in closer proximity to God and through which God flows his truth and goodness into the natural mind.

With this understanding of what the natural mind is, we can see that God would never destroy it because it is who we are as humans and as such we are eternal beings. So to be wasted here does not mean to be destroyed but to be made desolate or devoid of something or abandoned by something.

This mind has some limitations in its ability to understand God and his ways and also struggles to consistently obey God in all things. This part of us (cities = natural mind) will be deserted (wasted) of something (without inhabitant) at the coming of the Lord Jesus to dwell within in us in his fullness. So we see here that something that is now part of our natural mind will be removed (without inhabitant) when Jesus comes.

Houses

and the houses without man

There is more to our natural mind than its understanding of truth. It also contains our will. The word “house” in Scripture can signify several different things, and one of them is the will of the natural mind (Dictionary of Correspondences).

It is important to have truth but what we do with what we know is equally important. It is our will that chooses whether or not to put into one’s daily life what one knowns to be true. Those who know how to apply truth in a godly way have wisdom. Wisdom is what you do with what you’ve got. It is possible to have some understanding of truth and do nothing productive or good with it. In such cases, the knowledge of truth will be hindered because God only gives revelation to those who have the goodness to wisely use it. To know truth and live otherwise is to bring profanation upon one’s own life. In other words, if we know the truth and choose not to live the truth, we are in danger of forfeiting the fullness of what Jesus died to give us. .

The will of the natural mind is polluted by the curse of the sin nature, something humankind has never been able to completely change. In our Christian walk we should be cognizant of the fact that many of our struggles have been because our will is opposed to the will of God. Our will is naturally inclined to put ourself above others. This self-centered will dies over time as we continually choose God’s way over our way, but it can never be completely pure as long as we still have a sin nature.

So far we have seen that cities are a type of our natural mind, and that the houses signify the will that is in the natural mind. Next we will see what it means for houses (our will) to be without man.

In the Old Testament the two most-used Hebrew words for “man” are ish and adam.

Ish is basically man in correspondence with woman sometimes as husband. It can also mean man in a more generic sense.

Adam is man in the image of God and also fallen man under the curse.

The word used for “man” in “and houses without man” is adam.

When we understand that the house signifies our will and man means fallen man under the curse, then our interpretation of “houses without man” is the will (house) without a fallen sin nature (adam).

Now we can see that the answer to this person’s question of how long is he to continue to preach in this way is:

He is to continue preaching in this way until the natural mind in humans (cities) is deserted (wasted) of something living there (inhabitants) in the houses (the will in the natural mind). That which is in the natural mind (cities) is the will (house) that is to become without a sin nature (is without man). Way back in verse 7 when the seraphim ministered to this person, the result of their ministry was that his iniquity was taken away and his sin purged, meaning his sin nature (iniquity) was taken away and now he would no longer sin. It was all forgiven and he was now completely sin free. Now he will minister in the same way and others will become without a sin nature.

I want to add here that the ministry of the seraphim will not bypass the cross. By this I mean all persons will have to choose to give up the selfish desires in their natural mind and go through the tribulations that the Bible says we must go through to enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), but they will be able to do so much more expeditiously because of the ministry of the seraphim.

The Coming of the Kingdom of God on Earth

God has commissioned this person living in the end times to go forth and minister to others to bring them up into the same place he is now in spiritually. That is, he is now free of a sin nature and all sin has been purged from his life. Now as he ministers to others, they, as recipients of this pure ministry of the Holy Spirit through him, will also rise up into this place of freedom from iniquity and sin. Then each of them will go forth and minister pure words from God to others and help them rise up into this high place in God that was reserved for the church of the end times.

What we are looking at here is the coming of the kingdom of God on earth in God’s people. We are being shown how it will grow exponentially until it spreads over all the earth as we will see in the final clause of verse 11 and also verse 12:

and the land became utterly desolate. 12 And the Lord hath removed men far away; and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.”

Land can mean the earth itself but it can also signify the church. It signifies the church because the land all through the Old Testament was Canaan. That is the area where the most ancient churches existed.

God has always had a church in that he always had people who knew he existed and worshiped him. All through the Old Testament the Israelites (as a type of the church) rose and fell according to their obedience to God or their worship of idols.

The churches rose up and the churches fell because no work of God remained unsullied because of the sin nature in man. Humankind as a whole is idolatrous and every single church eventually fell into idolatry. But with the coming of the kingdom of God on earth in these end times, the sin nature will be removed and God himself will reign over his church.

People who only understand the Word from a literal interpretation believe the temple will be rebuilt in Jerusalem and Jesus will return to earth and rule from that temple. They don’t seem to realize how limiting that would be to have God in one geographical location.

The temple that God resides in is his people (1 Cor 3:16 – “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” [ESV], and 1 Peter 2:5 – “You are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple” [NLT]). God will finally be enthroned as head of the church all over the earth in all locations, from the rainforests of Ecuador to the icy terrain of the Poles, this church will never be removed or adulterated because with the sin nature removed from his people, there will be no idolatry. No one will try to build his own kingdom or force his way into leadership or trick unsuspecting people out of their money. It will finally be the Lord’s bride, a perfect church without spot or wrinkle filled with people in the image of God free from the curse of the fall. This will be the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven adorned for her bridegroom.

We can all see that the institutional church as we know it today is far from being free of the evidence of the fallen nature of humankind. Many a pastor and well-known evangelist has fallen to adultery and other grave sexual sins that have been highly publicized by the media. The basic truths of the gospel have been maligned and said to be only nice stories to placate the fears of the ignorant masses. Even many of our seminaries teach false doctrines and lies that align them with the trends of society around them such that rather than changing the society, the society has changed the church right down to its basic beliefs.

After over forty-five years in pastoral ministry in two different denominations and in independent churches, we have seen, not only in our churches but in the churches of pastoral friends, a great lack of love for the brethren or willingness to die to self amongst its members. Many of our pastoral friends have left the ministry, deeply discouraged and disillusioned over how they were treated by those to whom they were pouring out their lives to serve. The behavior of many so-called Christians has not been lost upon the watching eyes of unbelievers all around them. This is why churches are closing their doors in droves all around this nation.  Many church buildings have become offices, stores, schools or some other secular enterprise.

God has also been watching and now he is going to move in ways that will shock not only the church goers but also their friends and neighbors. The institutional church is going to fall into utter desolation and ruin as the judgment of God falls upon it. It will appear as though the government or satanic cults (sometimes the same thing) are persecuting the church, but this can only take place because God has allowed it.

In the midst of all the chaos of the fall of the church as we have known it, God has his remnant and most of them have already left the established churches to meet in small groups in places like homes. We are not far from the rising up of the seraphim ministers who will lead the way in ushering in the kingdom of God. God is not going to patch up or repair that which has failed so badly. It will fall into utter ruin, but a whole new church will spring up all over like bright yellow dandelions in springtime. It will be all over the earth not isolated in some church building or denomination. It will be found in coffee houses, schools, stores, parks, offices—in short any place a few people can gather will be places where the true church will be meeting, perhaps in secret because it has been proven all throughout history that the church thrives under persecution.

The understanding of the seraphim as ministers ushering in the kingdom of God as revealed in Isaiah 6 gives deeper insights into Jesus’ parable of the leaven hid in the meal:

Matt 13:33 – “Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” (NKJV)

John Chrysostom, one of the Early Church Fathers, speaking as though in the midst of a discussion, said:

… the Lord sets forth in this parable of the leaven, as much as to say to His disciples, As leaven changes into its own kind much wheat-flour, so shall ye change the whole world. Note here the wisdom of the Saviour; He first brings instances from nature, proving that as the one is possible so is the other. And He says not simply ‘put,’ but hid; as much as to say, So ye, when ye shall be cast down by your enemies, then ye shall overcome them. And so leaven is kneaded in, without being destroyed, but gradually changes all things into its own nature; so shall it come to pass with your preaching. Fear ye not then because I said that many tribulations shall come upon you, for so shall ye shine forth, and shall overcome them all. He says, three measures, to signify a great abundance; that definite number standing for an indefinite quantity.

Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, can see here in Isaiah 6 how the kingdom of God will come on earth. It is not just in one verse of this chapter, but it is seen in many places in this chapter in the definitions of the Hebrew words and their definite types. It all fits together and flows smoothly from verse to verse.

We have been able to see here how the spread of the kingdom coming in God’s people will progress throughout the world exponentially. There will be opposition, to be sure; the Devil doesn’t give up easily, but he and his cronies will be no match for Almighty God moving through his people all over the world in perfect unity.

I want to make perfectly clear here that we will not be God; we will be like God. There is a big difference. Almighty God is still beyond our scope of understanding as one who shines like the sun and is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. We, on the other hand, will be like him in purity of character with love for all persons. We will be purified vessels with our personality still intact through whom God can flow his truth, love and power according to the Holy Spirit within us. However, we will still need each other because we are all individual parts of one body, the body of Christ. We have our individual callings and giftings that we will move in with perfection, but we will only be a part of the body.

At the same time, we will be in deep abiding relationship with Jesus and daily experiencing the joy unspeakable and full of glory that comes from being in his presence.

Briefly I would like to summarize my findings for this passage of Isaiah 6:

Isaiah 6:11, 12 – Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate, And the LORD have removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.

This person ministering in the end times (Isaiah in type) is asking the Lord how long he is to be preaching to the people. The Lord answers, Until the natural mind in humans (cities) has something removed (without inhabitant) from it. The will that is part of the natural mind (houses) is going to have its sin nature (adam – man) removed. Then the church as we have known it (land) will no longer have something in it that has always been there (utterly desolate). The Lord will remove the sin nature from all the people (the Lord have removed men far away) and there will be a great desolation and ruin (forsaking) in the midst of the church (land) as we have known it.

I looked, and behold, a white horse, and the one who sat on it had a bow;
and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (Rev. 6:2 NASV)