The LORD Lays The Earth Waste

The burden of the LORD for Isaiah continues from chapter 24-35. It is one continuous oracle concerning what God has planned for the entire earth. God warns His people of what was coming soon and where not to place their trust. He admonishes them to turn from their sinful ways, but also foretells of His judgment on them for their refusal to repent. After the ten oracles against nations and Jerusalem, this begins with a warning for the entire earth and all who dwell therein.

Behold, the LORD lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface, and scatters its inhabitants. And the people will be like the priest, the servant like his master, the maid like her mistress, the buyer like the seller, the lender like the borrower, the creditor like the debtor. The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the LORD has spoken this Word. The earth mourns and withers, the world wades and withers, the exalted people of the earth fade away. The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

That description beginning Isaiah 24 should shock the ears of those who hear and cause the reader to stop and think long and hard about the certain judgment God will bring on the earth. God is going to pummel the earth with earthquakes and stars falling from the heavens. All mankind alike will be affected. Many will perish in fire and few will be left. All because of the sins of mankind, who have broken the everlasting covenant.

The everlasting covenant is an interesting concept. God made the first everlasting covenant with Noah and all mankind after He destroyed the earth with the Flood. Mankind perished and few survived that cataclysmic event. He promised to never again flood the entire earth due to the sin of mankind, but there was left room in that covenant for a future fiery judgment that was sure to come. The rainbow was the sign of that covenant and it surrounds God’s throne even now. Then God made an everlasting covenant with Abraham to bless the nations through him and give his descendants the land of promise. Every time other nations get involved in dividing the land God gave to Israel, they are breaking that covenant. God intends to keep it, for the whole earth belongs to Him! 

A third everlasting covenant was made between God and David. There would always be a descendant of David to sit on the Throne of Israel. This extended to the Place where God chose for His Name to dwell, where David’s son Solomon would build a Temple. Even from its founding, God warned He would destroy that City and Place of His people walked away from Him in their sins. God has fulfilled His Word concerning that, and He will completely fulfill it when Jesus returns to reign. In fact, this oracle concerns the return of Christ and His millennial reign. Judgment will fall on all, few would survive, even the earth will be affected. But then it will be released from the curse and God will reign upon the earth Himself.

Isaiah foresaw the earth reeling to and fro, cities being broken down, the sound of revelry ceasing, and the city gates being left in ruins because of the desolation to come. The earth will be shaken like an olive tree when harvest comes to drop all the olives, a violent shaking. The whole earth is called to give glory to God, but Isaiah can only cry out, ‘Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for help!’ He knows that even during this judgment, the wicked will continue to deal treacherously until they are consumed in the flames. He calls for terror, a put, and a snare. Those who flee the terror will be caught in the pit. Those who escape the pit will be caught in the snare. There will be no escaping the cataclysmic judgment of God when it comes. 

The window of the heavens above will be opened. Storms like never seen before will roll across the sky, hailstones and meteors will fall from above. The foundations of the earth will shake as the landscape around everyone will break apart. The earth will shake violently and reel to and fro like a shack or a drunken man. The reason this comes is the transgressions of man. The LORD has this planned from long ago and will punish the hosts of heaven and the kings of the earth. They will go together like prisoners to the dungeon. Fallen angels and the elite of the earth will be punished. The sun and moon will go dark and then the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem. His glory will shine before His elders.

Certainly this oracle concerns the Day of Judgment when Jesus returns in yet future days. And it will happen exactly like God said here. But it also applied to some events that would take place in the lifetime of Isaiah. God would cause the earth to move back in its rotation as a sign to Hezekiah that he would have a 15 year extension of life. This would cause catastrophic damage all over the earth. Even the Assyrian army would die in one night by fire from heaven as the Angel of the LORD killed 185000 of them. There would be a smaller near fulfillment, then many other events to partially fulfill this Word from the LORD. One final complete fulfillment yet remains, and it is surely coming. None can stop what God has planned for this entire world. Repent now and call out to Jesus for Salvation.