What does it mean when God tells his people to go into their rooms until God's wrath has passed by?
Is this a prophecy regarding the end times?
Isaiah 26:20 - 21
NASB - 20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while Until indignation runs its course. 21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed And will no longer cover her slain.
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Asked May 01 2016
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vanessa pannuti
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Tim Maas
I think that Isaiah 26:19 (immediately prior to the verses cited) makes it clear through its reference to resurrection that the prophecy being given does concern the end times, and specifically the rapture of the church to shield them from the final judgment that God will bring upon the earth for its sin. That is why Paul (in discussing the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18) prefaces his remarks with "according to the Lord's word", in reference (I believe) to this passage. Also striking to me in the passage cited is the reference to the people entering their rooms to avoid God's judgment, which brings to mind Jesus' comments in John 14:2 with regard to the many rooms in His Father's house.
Kenneth Heck
These two verses refer to the practice of both Jews and Christians physically hiding from extreme persecution. For example, the Christians of the early church hid in the catacombs of Rome. In America true Christians and Jews are expected to be temporarily forced into refuges to hide from the intense hostility of government and religious authorities. In Rev 20:9 there is the camp of the saints outside of Jerusalem at the time of Gog and Magog's invasion. These two verses refer to more than the end times before Christ's second coming, but any future time period of God's judgment. Chapter 26 speaks of the eventual restoration of Jews to the Land of Israel, their sufferings up until that time, and the ultimate promise of the resurrection, but (in verses 20-21) there must be punishment of the earth's inhabitants before the final fulfillment of the prior verses.
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