The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is completely dissolved, the earth is violently moved.
Isaiah 24 pictures a collapse so total that the prophet states it three times in one line. The chapter moves from a wasted earth to a reigning Lord. Two questions press on the reader. What is "the earth" that breaks apart here, and is this the end of the world?
Six times in this short passage the prophet names the same thing. One writer takes that repetition to point at something other than soil and rock.
Verses 17-20 give us a striking description. They show the terrible overturning of all human order and institutions that lies ahead. Six times in these verses we read of "the earth." It refers to the established order and world-system of things, not the actual earth-crust we live on. All of it will shake violently before the presence of the Lord removes it.
The chapter has already given its reason before it describes the wreckage. The ground of it is moral, not accidental.
Next, we have the moral ground on which God judged and executed so sternly. "The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth" (vv. 5-6). It is no mere providential judgment. It is a far-reaching blow from God Himself, one He had spoken of almost since the beginning.
Many readers take language this absolute as the end of everything. The next verse checks that reading, because it dates the event.
Perhaps some of you think this is the end of the world, or the dissolution of all things. But read the next verse and judge for yourselves. It opens with "on that day." It is not eternity, you see, but "that day": "the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth." The arena of evil is also the arena of retribution.
The same writer grants that the wording reaches beyond the event, and then says where the chapter is heading.
The language, no doubt, is very strong. Here and there it appears to look on to the dissolution of all things. That is common enough in prophetic style. The prediction of the great change that ushers in the millennium carries a more or less hidden hint that the heavens and earth that now are will pass away completely. But the end of the chapter makes it plain that the Spirit's main aim here is to picture that mighty and universal catastrophe. After it come the times of refreshing for Israel and the earth, which God has spoken of by His holy prophets since the world began.
The shaking does not stop at what stands on the ground. It sweeps up unseen powers too.
God's dealing is so deep and all-embracing that even the angelic hosts escape no more than the proudest rulers here below… These spirits of evil had until now misled man and dishonoured God. They tried to corrupt every mercy almost at its source. But the time has come for angels to be judged as well as living men, far beyond even the judgment of the flood. The power of the heavens shall be shaken — not earth only, but heaven too.
The same chapter that reports the collapse also reports a song.
In Isaiah 24 the Holy Spirit describes the final dissolution. In the middle of it the saved shall sing, as they see the majesty of the Lord appear, glowing with glory and splendour… "From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One" (v. 16).
If everything dissolves, the fear is that nothing stands. One writer draws a line between what men build and what God holds.
Then the earth and its inhabitants will be dissolved. The social fabric will be broken up (see Isa. 24:19-20); but even so God has established its pillars. God maintains the earth, though the world system formed by man is broken up.
One writer applies this to work done today.
He reminds us that the things we see, so imposing in the world today, can be shaken. So they will be removed. But God's people are connected with a kingdom that cannot be shaken… Suppose we are working and serving God in line with His purpose. However feeble our work may look, it will last when all the earth is moved away.
- Broken — the sixfold "earth" points to the whole structure of human order, not just the ground under our feet.
- Because — the cause is moral. People transgressed the laws, violated the statutes and broke the everlasting covenant, so a curse devours the earth.
- Bounded — this is "that day," not eternity. The judgment falls inside history, and times of refreshing for Israel and the earth follow it.
- Beyond — the sweep reaches higher than kings, taking in the host of heaven, so no power seen or unseen stands outside it.
- Beneath — the fabric men built dissolves, but God still holds the pillars. Those who serve in line with His purpose belong to a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunkard, and is shaken like a night hut; and its transgression is heavy upon it; and it falleth and shall not rise again.
The chapter closes an age with a picture of a planet losing its footing. This verse gives the reason: its transgression lies heavy upon it. Two questions follow. Which "earth" is staggering here? And does "will not rise again" mean the end of everything?
So what exactly is staggering? One writer answers from the word "earth" repeated through these verses.
Verses 17–20 give us a striking description of the terrible overturning of all human order and institutions that lies ahead. These verses mention "the earth" six times. The words point to the established order and world-system of things, not to the actual earth-crust we live on. All of it will be violently shaken before the presence of the Lord removes it.
The second picture is easy to miss. Older translations say the earth is "removed like a cottage," but the word does not mean a small house. ESV has "sways like a hut."
A temporary booth or lodge, without stability. Isaiah 1:8; Isaiah 24:20.
The guilt named here is not only Israel's. Earlier in the chapter the charge is that men have broken an everlasting covenant. The law given at Sinai does not fit that description.
Israel is not the only one in view. The closing accusations of verse 5 may have special reference to them, since laws and ordinances were given especially to them. But the covenant of law, given at Sinai, could not be called "everlasting." The reference here is instead to the covenant established with Noah, and to the new world of nations of which he was the head, according to Genesis 9:9.
Another writer stresses that this is no ordinary setback in history:
This is no mere act of providence. It is a sweeping judgment inflicted by God Himself, and He had spoken of it almost since the beginning. "It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied" (Jude 14). The often-threatened, long-delayed blow will at last fall — as Isaiah shows here, and Jude later still, when the evil of Christendom becomes as plain as Israel's.
"Will not rise again" sounds absolute. One writer explains what exactly comes to a final end.
Chapters 24 and 25 form the close of the next series of prophecies. In them the testimony of God carries on to the utter desolation of the earth… That is, this is its definite and final judgment as the earth of man's power.
Elsewhere the same writer applies these verses to the reader's own world in one line: "Such is the end of all that surrounds us." (J. N. Darby)
Readers often take language this violent as the end of everything. One commentator answers from the very next verse.
Perhaps some here think this is the end of the world, or the breakup of all things. But read the next verse and judge for yourselves. "On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth" — it is not eternity, you see, but "that day." … The place of the evil is also the place of the punishment.
The same writer allows that the words "here and there appear to look on to the dissolution of all things." That reach is common in prophetic language. But he holds that the close of the chapter fixes the main aim on a coming kingdom on earth (William Kelly).
The collapse is not God losing control of His world. One commentator, writing on a psalm about the same breakup, separates what falls from what God keeps.
We are often impatient for God to deal with evil. God, however, has His set time — when evil is ripe, and His people have learned their lesson — for intervention in judgment. Then the earth and its inhabitants will dissolve. The social fabric will break up (see Isaiah 24:19–20). Even so, God has established its pillars. God maintains the earth, though the world system man formed breaks up.
And inside the wreckage there is singing:
In Isaiah 24 the Holy Spirit describes the final breakup. In the middle of it the saved will sing, as they see the majesty of the Lord appear, glowing with glory and splendour. … "From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One" (v. 16).
- Cause. The staggering is moral, not accidental. Men have broken an everlasting covenant — not the law of Sinai, but the covenant God made with Noah.
- Weight. Sin is a load the earth carries. The drunken stagger is what carrying it looks like at the end.
- Shelter. The second image is a temporary booth: no foundation, no stability. That is the true measure of the world-system men build.
- Collapse. What falls and does not rise is "the earth of man's power," the whole established order, not the ground itself.
- Limit. The fall belongs to "that day," not to eternity. God still holds the pillars, and the saved are singing while it happens.