Quick Thought

Isaiah 24

Isaiah 24 is a marvelous chapter! In it, the prophet mentions the "earth" [H776, 'ereṣ] a total of 16 times. It is a chapter devoted to some of the major details of a time yet to be fulfilled at the end of the age—events which will encompass the entire earth!

The chapter begins:

Isa 24.1
Behold, the Lord lays the earth waste, devastates it, distorts its surface and scatters its inhabitants.

What caught my attention was why these events are to take place. In an age devoted to 24/7 coverage of "global warming" and man's destruction of the earth, it is almost comically myopic in its understanding of the very nature of the warning it heralds. Is man destroying the earth? Yes! But not for the reasons offered by the left and the MSM.

What does the LORD say? What reason does He give for the cataclysmic events that are to unfold at that time?

Isa 24.3-6
The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers, the world fades and withers, the exalted of the 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, a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty. Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left.

It is not what mankind is doing to the "environment" that is responsible for the demonstrably troubled state of global affairs. Instead, it is due strictly to the moral decay of the global population and the Divine judgment that ensues upon it.

The US seems to be "leading the charge" when it comes to all manner of sexual deviation and degeneration. The "progressives" of our day may praise the "sexual open-mindedness" of US society (with major shame on the President!), but the LORD judges it for what it is: a continual and thorough contempt for His law and statutes, for the very nature of the distinction between males and females.

This great passage from Isaiah tells us in very clear terms that a day of judgment is coming for the earth because of its sins.

Isa 24.18a-21
For the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.

Sin brings destruction.
Sin always brings destruction.
The great sins of our planet are bringing about great destruction of our planet—without "global warming".

Before leaving the chapter, I want to draw attention to the last few verses:

Isa 24.22-23
They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.

What are the "dungeon" and "prison" referred to by Isaiah? Moreover, what is the distinction between them and the "after many days they will be punished"? I'll not exhaustively prove this here from the Scripture, but "dungeon" and "prison" refer to the current reality of Hades: it is the "holding cell" contrasted with the Lake of Fire's permanent prison (distinct from the "prison" of Isa 24.22). All who die outside of faith in the Lord Christ must first be placed in Hades. At the Resurrection of Judgment (Joh 5.29), those in Hades will first be judged (the Great White Throne Judgment), then thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev 20.11-15). This latter event is the "after many days they will be punished", the Lake of Fire.

[See The Final Sequence on this site for more details.]

For those (Amillennialists) who hold to the error that the Lord Christ has already returned and currently rules His "spiritual kingdom" (this is the language of the Covenant Theologian, not the language of the Scripture), the text above teaches us clearly that just before the rule of the Lord Christ from Jerusalem that there must be unmistakable celestial events (the supernatural dimming of the lights of the moon and sun). These have not taken place; therefore, the Lord Christ has not yet returned as defined in the Book!