Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 24

Verses 1-3

Isa 24:1-3

Isaiah 24:1-3

DIVISION III

PROPHECIES RELATING TO THE ETERNAL JUDGMENT OF THE LAST DAY (Isaiah 24-27)

THE DESTRUCTION OF THE EARTH BY FIRE

God, having in previous prophecies denounced all of the great and powerful nations of the earth, "Now declares the judgments impending on the people of God themselves, for their wickedness and apostasy; and the desolation that shall be brought on their whole country.” Although some scholars still hold to this understanding of the chapter, our own opinion is that all four chapters of this division are a prophecy of the eschatological conclusion of the Christian dispensation, that is, the final judgment. Excellent reasons underlie this conclusion. First, there is the word `earth,’ which occurs no less than "sixteen times in this very chapter.” Lowth and others have misunderstood this as a reference to Palestine only; but, Isaiah 24:4 makes it certain that `earth’ here must mean `the whole inhabited world,’ and not merely `the land’ of Palestine.”

Hailey hesitated to apply this to the final judgment day and cited good reasons for not doing so. However, there is an undeniable reference here to conditions that elsewhere in the Bible are definitely associated with that Final Day. Although it may be freely admitted that the Final Day itself does not appear in the passage, many things undeniably "associated with that day" do indeed appear. For example, Isaiah 24:10 states that "the waste city is broken down"; and in Revelation 16:19, the Lord revealed that in the near conjunction with the final judgment, "the cities of the Gentiles fell." Also, "The earth shall stagger like a drunken man" and is "shaken violently" (Isaiah 24:19-20). Now read the description of the onset of judgment in Revelation 6:12 ff. Even the sun and the moon appear "confounded" here (Isaiah 24:23) even as in Revelation.

In the light of all this, it appears that the proper resolution of the problem would be to understand these four chapters as describing the conditions on earth that shall immediately precede the last day.

Isaiah 24:1-3

"Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the creditor, so with the debtor; as with the taker of interest, so with the giver of interest to him. The earth shall be utterly emptied, and utterly laid waste; for Jehovah hath spoken this word."

These words cover the same occasion mentioned by Zephaniah in the first three verses of his prophecy, where God declared that, "I will utterly consume all things from off the face of the ground, saith Jehovah. I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea ... and I will cut off man from the face of the ground, saith Jehovah" (Zephaniah 1:2-3). The last clause here is equivalent to: "I will wipe this Adamic race off the face of the earth." What Isaiah prophesies here might indeed be the prelude to the ultimate destruction promised. As Cheyne said, "The mysteriousness of the language ought to be no difficulty for those who recognize the eschatalogical nature of the prophecy.”

Isaiah 24:2 foretells the demolition of all class and social distinctions. Compare this with the seven classes of all men given in Revelation 6:15 : "kings, princes, captains, rich, strong, every bondman, and every freeman." Both passages say simply that "Nobody, but nobody is going to escape the final judgment."

Isaiah 24:3 speaks of the earth being utterly emptied and laid waste. Indeed this is not "the end"; but the earth shall indeed suffer as indicated here. "Rival armies have carried fire and sword all over it.” Environmentalists this very day are screaming that the pollution of the earth has already reached a danger point. Rawlinson pointed out that Jesus himself prophesied these very conditions: "Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of war, but the end is not yet ... all these things are the beginning of sorrows" (Matthew 24:6-8). We might indeed apply these last words of Jesus’ prophecy, "the beginning of sorrows" to these prophetic chapters of Isaiah.

Isaiah 24:1-3 EXTENT OF JUDGMENT: These chapters (24–27) form a close connection with the preceding prophecies against the nations (13–23). They are a climactic conclusion to those prophecies. Isaiah is now uniting into one, as it were, all those enemies of God’s people which he had previously (13–23) discussed individually. Judah will also be included because many of her people have rebelled against God’s sovereign rule. After this widespread judgment upon man’s worldly attempts to rebel against God (and incidentally, the same picture is found in Isaiah 2:12 ff), there will come a world-embracing salvation (Isaiah 25:6-8; Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 26:21; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 27:6), with the result that the remnant saved from the four corners of the earth will praise the glory and majesty of God, and many will come from the ends of the earth to worship the Lord in Zion (Isaiah 24:15-16; Isaiah 27:13).

Isaiah 24:1 reminds us of God’s scattering mankind at the Tower of Babel. There man sought to unite all his worldly power to build a tower and assault the gates of heaven. It was a rebellious attack upon the sovereignty of God. After that mankind attempted to unite itself in world-empire status, usurp the Creator’s directions and rule, and take over the creation to exploit it for its own selfish purposes. One empire after another attempted this—Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome. But God triumphed over this scheme of man to wrest the rule of mankind from Him. He did so by establishing His own kingdom among men. It was when this kingdom was established that “the ruler of this world was cast out” (John 12:31; John 16:11) and that God “triumphed over them” in Christ (Colossians 2:15). Our comments in the Introduction to Isaiah, Vol. I, and Daniel, chapters 2, 7, 8, 9, are relevant to this section of Isaiah. We believe the judgments predicted in these chapters (Isaiah 24-27) are the same judgments pronounced in Daniel against world-empire rule, and thus their fulfillments began when the church was established. They will have their consummation when Christ returns at His Second Coming, but man’s attempt (actually the devil is behind it all) to take over the world and usurp God’s rule was judged and defeated at the cross and the empty tomb. God “scattered” that attempt. He “knocked” that image down, ground it to dust and blew it away (cf. Daniel 2). And He did it in the days of the fourth world empire by establishing His eternal kingdom, the Church.

As Isaiah 24:2 points out, human stature and rank makes no difference to God. All those involved in the great human rebellion will be defeated. All will be judged according to their response to the Sovereign Creator and His program of redemption. Human rulers and the ruled alike must submit to Jehovah. No pillar of humanly conceived society or culture will be able to save man. All man’s structures are vulnerable to the inevitable judgments of moral rebellion.

The judgment is inevitable because Jehovah is a God of Absolute Holiness and Justice. He is absolutely Moral. His creation is moral and is morally structured. His word is Absolute Truth. When that word is disobeyed, profaned and rejected, the inevitable consequences are falsehood and moral disintegration. God has spoken! It will come to pass!

Verses 4-6

Isa 24:4-6

Isaiah 24:4-6

"The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the lofty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are found guilty: therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left."

Isaiah 24:5 here explains the reason why such terrible things are in store for the earth and its inhabitants. The inhabitants themselves are declared "guilty." They have: (1) transgressed God’s laws, and (2) they are specifically guilty of breaking the everlasting covenant of Genesis 9:16.

On this latter violation, Peake has this:

"For the world’s inhabitants have broken the covenant made with Noah, in which bloodshed was forbidden (Genesis 9:6; Genesis 9:16). On bloodshed, the great empires have been founded, and they shall perish in the blood they have spilt.”

We believe Peake’s comment here is accurate; and we wish to add that the most terrible thing visible in the societies of mankind this very day is the utter disregard of this Divine Commandment in Genesis 9:6. It not only condemns and forbids bloodshed; but it also commands every society of mankind to "Put to death all murderers." "Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man (society) shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man." This heavenly order to execute murderers is not an option given to human societies, but an order. Any human society stupid enough to ignore that heavenly commandment will soon find itself devastated by all kinds of violence, murder, and crime.

The mention of the inhabitants of the earth being burned (Isaiah 24:6), according to Barnes, "is evidently figurative"; but we do not accept that view. An apostle of Jesus told us that: (1) the world that then was overflowed with water and perished, and (2) the same world is now stored up for fire against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men (2 Peter 3:1-10). There is no hint whatever that the fire spoken of by Peter was otherwise than literal. Also, Peter mentioned the flood in the same breath with this picture of the final judgment; and we have exactly the same thing here. Isaiah mentioned "the windows on high" (Isaiah 24:18) and the burning of the inhabitants of the earth here.

From Genesis to the end of the Bible, "God’s cursing the ground for Adam’s sake" is repeatedly evident. As the wickedness of mankind grows worse and worse, which is the normal growth-cycle of wickedness, it appears that the earth itself will become more and more hostile to the desires of men.

Isaiah 24:4-6 CAUSE OF JUDGMENT: The cause of the judgment is moral rebellion and disobedience. The judgment takes the form of moral pollution and disintegration of societal structure. The word pollution is a translation of the Hebrew word khanepah. It is used to denote defiling, profaning, or exploiting something until destroyed. To languish is to lose strength or vitality and to droop, wither and fade. Isaiah predicts that the “lofty” people of the earth will languish when God’s judgment falls upon human schemes to usurp His rule. The “lofty” people are those pagan rulers and nations (Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, Alexander the Great, Caesar and their modern-day counterparts) who think to dethrone God, thwart His redemptive work and accomplish through carnal resources what they have decided man needs.

The earth is pictured as mourning and fading away as a flower fades away. Wars, pestilences, famines, diseases are results of the sins of the people and are causing this wasting away. The sinfulness of men has polluted the earth. Falsehood brings moral disobedience. Moral disobedience inevitably brings social disintegration (cf. Romans 1:18-32). This moral malady of man has been transferred to the earth itself so that it is also polluted. Injustice pollutes society (cf. Numbers 35:29-34). Murder cannot go unpunished (nor other injustices) without polluting society! When man (who has been made lord of creation by the Creator) deliberately chooses falsehood and moral anarchy, he communicates to the creation beneath him the pollution of his own moral failure, with the result that the polluted earth reacts in judgment upon him to his own destruction.

When man selfishly exploits, wastes, profanes and spoils what God has created to be good, he eventually finds he has perverted and cursed himself. He suddenly awakens to the fact that he is the guilty culprit. This discovery repeats itself nearly every 200–300 years. Man in greed and pride perverts animate and inanimate creation until he destroys his culture and societal structure, He realizes that good men and good things are in the minority. He realizes that he is responsible for his own predicament, But where does he turn? Still, men will not repent! (cf. Revelation 9:20-21).

Verses 7-16

Isa 24:7-16

Isaiah 24:7-13

"The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merry-hearted do sigh. The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it. The waste city is broken down; every house is shut up, that no man may come in. There is a crying in the streets because of the wine; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone. In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction. For thus shall it be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done."

Moffatt’s rendition of some of these verses is as follows:

"Towns fall to pieces, each man bolts his door;

Gladness is gone from the earth; and pleasure is no more;

The cities are left desolate, their gates are battered down.

Few are left on earth, as few as berries, once the olive boughs are shaken,

As grapes, when once the vintage has been taken."

The meaning of Isaiah 24:12 is that, "Every city is abandoned to chaos, and citizens search hopelessly for food in the countryside." This again reminds us of Revelation 16:19, indicating that prior to the end of time, the cities of mankind will decay and fall. Hailey pointed out that "wine" is mentioned three times in this paragraph, showing, "How much the world depends upon artificial stimuli for its joys and good times." He added, "The world depends upon alcoholic drinks, sports, revelings, sensuous music and entertainment for its pleasures. When these are gone, its shallow joy perishes.”

These verses show how wretched and unhappy is the destiny of every man out of harmony with the will of God. It is quite opposite with the righteous remnant as indicated in the next paragraph.

Isaiah 24:14-15

"These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout; for the majesty of Jehovah they cry aloud from the sea. Wherefore glorify ye Jehovah in the east, even the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel, in the isles of the sea. From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous."

Here is a classic example of a pattern found over and over again in the prophecies, especially in Revelation. Right in the midst of the most terrible prophecy, there suddenly appears a kind of prolepsis, a looking away from the trials of the wicked, and a focus upon the saints singing in heaven, or upon the joyful happiness of the "righteous remnant." So it is here. The joy and praise represented here, according to Dummelow, belong to "The righteous remnant described figuratively in Isaiah 24:13.”

The latter half of Isaiah 24:16 actually belongs in a separate paragraph, but we shall notice it here.

Isaiah 24:16

"But I said, I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! the treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously."

Right in the midst of contemplating the joyful praise from "the righteous remnant," the Lord reminded Isaiah that before he would be privileged to join in such glorious praise, there remained the wicked world that was coming to pieces all around him. Treacherous and deceitful men would continue to do wickedly.

Isaiah 24:7-12 SORROW IN THE CITIES: The Hebrew word translated “new wine” in Isaiah 24:7 is theeroush and means literally, “the juice of the grape.” The prophet is apparently trying to portray the idea that the very means by which men had falsely sought for joy would become occasions of despair and bitterness. There would be no more happiness when the juice of the grape was harvested. All the festivities associated with harvesting the grape, pressing it into juice, singing and drinking, would end among the enemies of God, for He is going to demonstrate once and for all the folly of all that. All the tambourines and harps of the world will play mournful music. Merryhearted singing while drinking wine will cease. Strong drink, shaikhor in Hebrew, will be consumed bitterly and in despair. This is a graphic description of unbelieving man’s predicament in every generation. The things of the world hold no hope. Ever since God demonstrated in history through Jesus Christ the sharp distinction between spiritual things and carnal things, the line of demarkation has been drawn vividly (John 9:39-41). The folly of sin and carnality is much more in evidence and the blessing of faith and righteousness is much more in evidence since the work of Christ has been accomplished (John 16:7-11). And it is interesting, in the light of this passage from Isaiah, that the songs of unbelieving man graphically portray his despair and disillusionment while the songs of believing man are exceedingly happy and filled with hope.

In the great cities of the nations arrayed against God there is moral, spiritual and economic confusion. They become vast wastelands of human decadence. People must shut their doors and bolt and lock them against thieves, murderers and other lawless men. In the streets echo the cries of wantonness and debauchery. The streets of the cities are filled with cynical, pessimistic, frustrated people rushing to and fro like sheep without a shepherd. These huge cities, monuments to man’s vain illusion that he can create his own utopia, are really concrete jungles of desolation. This prophetic picture of Isaiah applies not only to God’s enemies of the prophet’s day, Assyria and Babylon, but to all of man’s rebellious attempts to structure his own benevolent society and create his own heaven. It could apply to Greece and Rome; to England and Germany and America and Russia; to monarchies, dictatorships and republics. All of man’s attempts to govern himself are inadequate at best and destructive at worst. They all are to be supplanted by the just, holy, righteous kingdom of God, the church. That is a “bitter pill” for rebellious and unbelieving man to swallow! In his pride, man does not want to acknowledge that he is unable to transform himself and his society and save himself. So the judgment of God upon man’s schemes brings about all the bitterness Isaiah has described here. The surrender of man to God’s way is never easy and gentle. Man must struggle violently with his own pride and selfishness if he is to surrender to the will of God and enter God’s kingdom.

Isaiah 24:13-16 SHOUTING IN THE COAST-LANDS: As Isaiah takes in this universal scene of chaos he sees a gleam of light and hears a song of hope coming from the uttermost parts of the earth. It is the Remnant. This Remnant is from among the “peoples,” that is, the gentile nations which God has judged. This is probably one of those veiled Messianic prophecies concerning the defeat of God’s enemies and the institution of His kingdom which originated at the cross of Christ and the day of Pentecost (cf. John 12:31; John 16:11; Colossians 2:15; Hebrews 2:14-15; Luke 1:67-75, etc.). A very small remnant, a tiny minority of righteous and faithful believers will survive God’s judgments and form the nucleus of the church. They will be so few they will be like that which is left when the olive tree is shaken and like the left-overs when the grapes are harvested.

The Hebrew word meyom is translated “sea” in Isaiah 24:14. It usually means “toward the west.” The Great Sea was always “west” in Palestine. The glorification of Jehovah which Isaiah foresees is from “east to west,” in the “isles of the sea” and to “the uttermost part of the earth.” When Jehovah is glorified, so is His “righteous” remnant. The prophet sees in this remnant salvation brought out of judgment to the isles of the sea and the coasts of the nations.

But this note of hope gives way immediately to a declaration of sorrow and caution. It is as though the prophet says, “Do not soon become too optimistic about how men react. Many of the seemingly positive reactions to God’s redemptive works are hasty, superficial, and soon erased.” It is as though the prophet sees sinners so deeply involved in wrong conduct they will go on, in spite of all the judgments and redemptions God manifests toward them (cf. Acts 13:44-47; Acts 28:23-28; Revelation 9:20-21, etc.). Jesus faced the world realistically. He insisted that discipleship was costly (Luke 14:25-33). “Many are called but few are chosen,” said Jesus. Isaiah was the same kind of realist. Many of the covenant people in his day fell away from faith. They rejected God’s signs; Ahaz had gone on in his stubborn sullen way; they were still looking to alliances with heathen nations. They dealt in treachery. God had warned Isaiah of almost total lack of “success” from his preaching (Isaiah 6:9-13). He would preserve only a small “remnant” by his preaching. Christians may as well face reality—the Bible teaches they will be a minority until the Lord comes again. The Lord is interested in a faithful minority more than He is in a lukewarm, half-hearted and doubleminded majority. The Lord’s standards of success and the world’s standards of success are very much different.

Verses 17-20

Isa 24:17-20

Isaiah 24:17-20

"Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall come to pass that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is shaken violently. The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock, and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it shall fall, and not rise again."

The first three verses here remind one of Amos 5:19 -

"Wherefore would ye have the day of Jehovah? It is darkness and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of Jehovah be darkness and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it" (Amos 5:18 b-20).

Perhaps a few words are here in order with reference to why the final judgment will be such a terrible time for the human race. It all goes back to the primeval sentence in the Garden of Eden, where God told Adam and Eve that they would surely die "in the day they ate of the forbidden tree." Of course Adam and Eve ate; and the sentence of God still stands against them. God did not change his mind. He did not commute or change their sentence. He did not repeal it. It stands yet like the sword of Damocles over the head of Adam’s race; and it will yet be executed! Adam and Eve shall indeed die in the person of their total posterity upon the planet earth upon the occasion of the final judgment, the second advent of the Son of God.

The commentators are generally ignorant of the great truth that "Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree on the seventh day"; and, therefore, that day, "the seventh day" of creation, not the seventh day of the week, namely the present dispensation, is the occasion when Adam and Eve shall die in the person of their total posterity, the only exceptions being the redeemed of God, especially the redeemed in Christ. For further light on this, one should read the discerning article by the Bishop of Edinburgh in the Pulpit Commentary.

These verses (Isaiah 24:17-20) also entail the account of cosmic disturbances that shall mark the final judgment. The great earthquake that shall move every mountain and every island out of its place (Revelation 6:14), resulting, as Isaiah reveals here, in the "fall of the earth," which shall "not rise again," thus supporting Peter’s revelation that we shall indeed look for "A new heaven, and a new earth (2 Peter 3:13)." To us, it appears absolutely mandatory to view this portion of Isaiah as applicable to the final judgment.

Note the reference to the opening of the "windows on high," obviously the same as the "windows of heaven" that were opened during the Great Deluge; and because that judgment is connected with the final judgment (2 Peter 3), we feel that this prophecy implies the same thing.

Isaiah 24:17-20 VICTORY: Admittedly these verses are difficult to interpret. Many want to make them apply to the Second Advent of Christ and the end of the world. It is our view that the prophets spoke almost entirely of Christ’s First Advent, and in view of New Testament passages which seem to appropriate these figures of Isaiah, we believe these verses and those following apply to Christ’s first coming and the establishment of the church.

These verses are a continuation of the idea begun in the first verse of this chapter. Human efforts to take over God’s work of redeeming man are doomed to failure and defeat. There is no escape for man’s rebellious attempts to usurp God’s sovereignty. God’s defeat of rebellion is inevitable! This same figure of inescapability is used in Amos 5:18-20 (see our comments in Minor Prophets there). The Lord’s judgments are inescapable. His power to defeat man’s rebellion is overwhelming and inundating like when He opened the windows of heaven and poured out the flood in Genesis 6. God is going to open the windows on high and send down His Son to defeat Satan and all those powers Satan has to hold men captive (cf. John 12:31; John 16:11; Hebrews 2:14-15; Colossians 2:15; Matthew 12:28-30). His Son will establish the kingdom of God on earth, the rule of God in men’s hearts, and ascend to the right hand of the Father taking captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8).

In all this we hear the crash and roar of falling governments and crashing empires. God’s judgments are upon them. He brings them to naught. His divine judgments will cause rebellious man to reel and stagger. Assyria fell to Babylon. Babylon fell to Medo-Persia; Medo-Persia crumbled before Alexander the Great; Greece was broken and overrun by Rome. Even Judaism will be “shaken” (cf. Hebrews 12:25-29) and “removed” so that what cannot be shaken (the kingdom of God, the church) may remain. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar, “And in the days of those kings (the Roman empire) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever;” (Daniel 2:44). Isaiah is not picturing the final great judgment here but the overthrow of the worldliness of the world. The destructiveness of rebellion and sin will bring about the downfall of all earthly systems trying to save men. If Daniel’s prediction is correct, and we believe it is, world-wide rule by human empires or kingdoms is never to rise again! The “fourth” kingdom of Daniel 2 was the last universal, human empire. That was the Roman empire. The church is now, and ever shall be, the only universal kingdom. Isaiah, in this passage (Isaiah 24:20), is agreeing with Daniel.

Verses 21-23

Isa 24:21-23

Isaiah 24:21

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth."

Moffatt’s rendition here should be noted: "And then shall the Eternal punish the hosts of the high heaven above and the kings on earth below." Who are those hosts of heaven above who shall be punished on "that Day?" Jude gave us this inspired answer: "Angels that kept not their own principality, but left their proper habitation, he (God) hath kept in everlasting bonds under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Judges 1:5). That, of course, is the day when Satan and his angels, along with all who have chosen to serve Satan, shall be finally disposed of by God Himself.

Isaiah 24:22

"And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited."

The "pit" and the "prison" might refer to the fate of two different groups. The pit in which the kings of the earth shall await the Great Day is the tomb; and "the prison" could be a reference to the "chains of darkness" in which the fallen angels are contained unto the judgment. Since there were two groups mentioned in the preceding verse, it appears to be reasonable that the two groups are still visible here.

On the "many days," see under the next verse.

Isaiah 24:23

"Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts will reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem; and before his elders shall be glory."

This verse again points squarely at the Great Day. "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the whole moon became as blood" (Revelation 6:12). It appears here that the same cosmic disturbances mentioned by Isaiah were also foreseen in the revelation to John. There is little doubt that both visions contemplate the final judgment and second advent of Christ.

"After many days shall they be visited ..." (Isaiah 24:22). This indicates a very long period of time to elapse between the time when the ones to be punished were either in the pit (dead) or "in prison" (the chains of darkness) and the time of the final judgment. We agree with Hailey that these "many days" are the same as, "the symbolic thousand years of Revelation 20:1-6)." Amazingly, a number of the time designations in Revelation all have the same meaning, that being, "all of the time between the first advent and the second advent of Christ," namely, the whole current dispensation of the grace of God. Note the following references from the Book of Revelation: (1) The souls of the martyrs were promised that before the judgment they would "rest for a little time" (Revelation 6:11); (2) Christ’s church will be nourished in the wilderness (her probation) for "one thousand, two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:6); (3) Satan is "wroth" against God’s people, because "he knoweth that he hath but a short time" (Revelation 12:12); (4) God’s church will be nourished "for a time, and times, and half a time" (Revelation 12:14); (5) The beast had authority to oppose the church for "forty and two months" (Revelation 13:5). (6) It is obvious that 42 months, 1,260 days, and time and times and half a time are all exactly the same amount of time, three and one-half years. (7) It is just as obvious that the "thousand years" of Revelation 20:1-6 refer to exactly the same time as indicated in the other symbolical expressions, namely, the whole dispensation of Christ.

In view of the tribulations, sorrow and death that are clearly foretold in passages such as these chapters of Isaiah, one can understand why the Son of God had compassion and pity upon the children of men. Twelve times, the New Testament states that "Jesus had compassion ..." No one who studies the Bible can be unaware of our human need for Divine mercy and compassion. Every thoughtful person on earth may join in the prayer of the publican, "O Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13). Our poor world, following the leadership of arrogant, conceited, but ignorant men, ignoring the "Light that has come into the world through Christ," and blundering along in the darkness of human wisdom, is inevitably headed for a disaster. Our sinful world, in rebellion against God, is on a collision course with the inevitable reckoning. All mankind moves toward that awful moment described by John Milton, "When God shall cast his throne in middle air, and all receive their sentence there." On that occasion, God will appear in righteous wrath and cast evil out of his universe.

Before leaving this last verse, there are two or three more observations which we wish to include:

"The thought here passes to the final convulsion of nature, and the manifestation of Jehovah’s kingdom in all its glory. If sun and moon are to lose their luster, it is only as outshone by the Light itself, by the Lord reigning in full state, This is essentially the same vision as Revelation 21:22 ff. The mount Zion and Jerusalem mentioned here can only mean the spiritual Zion and the New (heavenly) Jerusalem, because the earth is no more (Isaiah 24:20) at the time indicated here.”

Isaiah 24:21-22 VANOUISHING: When God defeats the world of human rebellion and world-government usurpation, He will visit the “host of the high ones on high,” and the kings of the earth upon the earth, to imprison them. The Hebrew word translated punish in Isaiah 24:21 is pokad which is usually translated visit (as in Isaiah 24:22). At the accomplishment of the redemption of man—at the death and resurrection of Christ—the god of this world, Satan, was “cast out” (John 12:31; John 16:11). Satan was “bound” (Matthew 12:28-30; Revelation 20:1-3). Satan’s power was “destroyed” (Hebrews 2:14-15). The New Testament also indicates (as well as Daniel 10:13; Daniel 10:20) the devil had “angels” or “princes” of the abyss to help him lead sinful men in rebellion (2 Corinthians 11:14; Ephesians 6:10-18, etc.). But these rebellious angels have been vanquished to a prison house of God (2 Peter 2:4; Judges 1:6) awaiting final punishment. Christ triumphed over all principalities and powers (Colossians 2:15; Ephesians 1:20-21; Colossians 1:16), and He led captivity captive (Ephesians 4:8). Many days after Isaiah penned his 24th chapter, God visited the earth in His Son and vanquished the principalities and powers arrayed against His rule over man, freed man from their power, and bound the rebel Satan and his helpers—whether “hosts on high” or “kings on the earth.” Those who sat in darkness have seen a great light (cf. Isaiah 9:1-7). Captives have been liberated (Isaiah 61:1-4; Luke 1:68-75; Luke 4:16-30).

Isaiah 24:23 VINDICATION: The great planets and heavenly bodies are used by the prophets time and again to symbolize cataclysmic changes or portents to be experienced by man during the progress of history. See Joel 2:31; Joel 3:15. See also Isaiah’s use of the same terminology in connection with the downfall of babylon, Isaiah 13:9-10, and the symbolic language of the Revelation, chapters Isaiah 6:12 and Isaiah 8:12.

Here in Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah portrays God’s triumph over the world at the accomplishment of redemption in Christ as so exceedingly glorious the sun and moon will pale into insignificant shame in comparison with His glory! No created thing in this universe, no matter how magnificent or majestic, can ever be compared with the glory of redemption’s accomplishment and the reign of God in His kingdom finally established. As C. S. Lewis once said, Even the glory of the future heavens and earth will not compare with the glory that is in us. It is not changed circumstances that will so much constitute a glorified existence as changed people. And when Jehovah reigns in Zion (the church, Hebrews 12:22 ff) people are changed and glorified! Of course, changed people eagerly long for changed circumstances where they, in their changed natures, may serve the Lord without pain, frustration, and death. But right now those who are overcoming the world by their faith and are “beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another”; (2 Corinthians 3:18). God reigning in Zion is a Messianic term (See Isaiah 24:17). God is going to reign in Jerusalem when the ark of the covenant is no longer “remembered or missed” (Jeremiah 3:15-18). That must be when the New Covenant is instituted!