Isaiah Chapter 24
GOD’S JUDGMENT ON THE LAND
Isaiah chapters 24-27 are often called “Isaiah’s Apocalypse.” They discuss God’s judgment on the entire world for its sin. Isaiah’s prophecies were first directed to Judah, then to Israel, then to the surrounding nations, and finally to the whole world. These 4 chapters describe the last days when God will judge the whole world, and when good will finally and permanently conquer evil. Chapters 24-27 describe the earth’s devastation and people’s intense suffering during the coming Tribulation and the blessings to follow in the millennial kingdom.
Isaiah 24:1-12 NLT:
1 Look! The Lord is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. See how he is scattering the people over the face of the earth.
2 Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors—none will be spared.
3 The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The Lord has spoken!
4 The earth dries up, the crops wither, the skies refuse to rain.
5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted the instructions of God, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth and its people. They are left desolate, destroyed by fire. Few will be left alive.
7 All the joys of life will be gone. The grape harvest will fail, and there will be no wine. The merrymakers will sigh and mourn.
8 The clash of tambourines will be stilled; the happy cries of celebration will be heard no more. The melodious chords of the harp will be silent.
9 Gone are the joys of wine and song; strong drink now turns bitter in the mouth.
10 The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out looters.
11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine. Joy has reached its lowest ebb. Gladness has been banished from the land.
12 The city is left in ruins, with its gates battered down.
The coming desolation and ruin of the whole earth will be by the direct intervention of God, and will level all of the world‘s population who fail to accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. No advantage will come from having a high rather than a low position, for all will come under God’s hand of judgment (verse 2). The world will be laid waste and totally plundered.[fn] This is certain because the Lord said so.
In this worldwide judgment, the earth will dry up so that no crops can grow. No one will be spared from this eschatological (end times) judgment. The reason such devastation will occur is that the people have not lived as God instructed them to live and they have polluted the earth. In creating the world God said it was “very good” (Genesis 1:31). But people in their sin defiled the good earth by disobeying God’s laws, violating His statutes, and breaking His everlasting covenant. “The everlasting covenant” probably refers not to the Abrahamic or Mosaic Covenants but to the covenant people implicitly had with God to obey His Word. Right from the very beginning mankind refused to live according to God’s Word (Genesis 2:16-17; 3:1-6; Hosea 6:7). And throughout history people have refused to obey God’s revelation (revealing of divine truth).
Because people have “defiled” the earth by their sins (verse 5), judgment will come. They must bear the consequences of their guilt. God’s judgment is likened to a burning fire that consumes all but a few on the earth. In the earth’s devastation vineyards will wither and music will stop.
Isaiah 24:13-15 NLT:
13 Throughout the earth the story is the same—like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest, only a remnant is left.
14 But all who are left will shout and sing for joy. Those in the west will praise the Lord’s majesty.
15 In eastern lands, give glory to the Lord. In the coastlands of the sea, praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
The fruit of the vine is often associated in the Bible with joy (Isaiah 16:9; Zechariah 10:7), and that will stop as well. The city (Isaiah. 24:10; 25:2), which represents the whole earth (Isaiah 24:13), will be in ruins with all its houses uninhabited. When God pours out His wrath on the unbelieving world in the Tribulation, all will be desolate and gloomy. Little will be left, as after the harvesting of olives or grapes.
The remnant refers to the righteous who will be left after God’s judgment on the earth. Though few in number (verse 6) they will delight in the fact that the earth is cleansed from people’s sin. They will raise their voices and shout to proclaim glory to the Lord… the God of Israel. Everywhere, in the west, the east, the islands of the sea, and the ends of the earth-the same song is proclaimed: Glory to God, the Righteous One. The believing remnant will view the earth’s desolation as a righteous act by the righteous God. It will not be viewed in the way the Assyrian advance was viewed, as a cruel, unfair punishment.
Isaiah 24:16-20 NLT:
16 Listen to them as they sing to the Lord from the ends of the earth. Hear them singing praises to the Righteous One! But my heart is heavy with grief. I am discouraged, for evil still prevails, and treachery is everywhere.
17 Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of the earth.
18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you.
19 The earth has broken down and has utterly collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned, and confused.
20 The earth staggers like a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for its sins are very great.
In contrast with the future joyful song of glory to the God of Israel (verse 16), the distress in Isaiah’s day caused him grief. Isaiah was deeply grieved by the suffering the people were going to have to go through because of their treachery. Because of the people’s treachery and their other sins, they would suffer. Trying to escape one danger they will be overcome by another calamity. God’s judgment will be like a great rainstorm and earthquake. The earthquake will cause great crevices to open in the earth and swallow up people. In the earthquake the earth will reel like a drunkard and will sway like a temporary un-sturdy hut in a field, blowing in the wind.
Isaiah 24:21-23 NLT:
21 In that day the Lord will punish the fallen angels in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth.
22 They will be rounded up and put in prison until they are tried and condemned.
23 Then the Lord Almighty will mount his throne on Mount Zion. He will rule gloriously in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people. There will be such glory that the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away.
Isaiah again stated that the coming judgment will be God’s direct intervention for punishment. The powers in the heavens may refer to spiritual forces opposed to God (Revelation 19:20; 20:2). The kings on the earth below undoubtedly refer to political forces that will be banished. Those powers in the heavens and on the earth will become like cattle when the Lord herds them together and places them like prisoners in a dungeon. Their punishment after many days refers to the great white throne judgment after the Millennium when all the unrighteous will have to stand before God and be judged for their evil deeds and lack of faith in Him (Revelation 20:11-15). When this judgment takes place, Jesus, the Messiah, will be reigning on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. He will reign gloriously, that is, His glory will be made evident. In the 1,000-year kingdom (Millennium) the Messiah will reign as King over the earth (Zechariah 14:9) from Jerusalem. After the Millennium and the great white throne judgment God will reign for eternity from the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2, 10), which will be filled with the glory of God and therefore will not need the light of the moon or the sun (Revelation 21:23).[fn]
[fn] Isaiah 24:3; see also Revelation 6; 8-9; 15-16.
[fn] Walvoord, J. F., Zuck, R. B., & Dallas Theological Seminary. 1983-c1985. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition
