Isa 24:17-22 | KingComments | STEP | In Isaiah describes the woes of the end time and compares them to pitfalls in which animals end up. The final judgments are foretold about the nations that are under the satanic rule of the beast and the false prophet ( ). The judgment comes on the “inhabitants of the earth”. In God’s Word these are always unbelievers ( ), especially those of the prophetic earth, the Christian West. They are people who consider the earth as their home, who feel at home on earth, who stick to the earth as it were because they have all their interests there. There is no thought whatsoever about heaven or God. There is nowhere any safety. Man will be like hunted game. In his wild flee he will fall into a pit. If he succeeds in freeing himself from that pit, a new terror awaits him, the snare ( ; cf. ). As with the deluge, the heavens break open so that awesome masses of water fall to the earth ( ). The heavens above him breathe with menace and nothing on earth offers any hold ( ). The earth is in tremendous turmoil and will totter dangerously. We can think of a huge earthquake ( ), but also of the political situation, which will become enormously unstable. All certainty and order will have disappeared. This is the result of the transgression of mankind, as a result of which the heavy burden of the curse has been placed on creation ( ). makes it clear that in the realm of peace the Christian West will never be restored.

‏ Isaiah 24:17-22

Nowhere Protection or Hold

In Isa 24:17-22 Isaiah describes the woes of the end time and compares them to pitfalls in which animals end up. The final judgments are foretold about the nations that are under the satanic rule of the beast and the false prophet (Rev 13:1 ; 11). The judgment comes on the “inhabitants of the earth”. In God’s Word these are always unbelievers (Rev 3:10), especially those of the prophetic earth, the Christian West. They are people who consider the earth as their home, who feel at home on earth, who stick to the earth as it were because they have all their interests there. There is no thought whatsoever about heaven or God.

There is nowhere any safety. Man will be like hunted game. In his wild flee he will fall into a pit. If he succeeds in freeing himself from that pit, a new terror awaits him, the snare (Isa 24:17-18; cf. Amos 5:19 ; Amos 9:1-4). As with the deluge, the heavens break open so that awesome masses of water fall to the earth (Gen 7:11). The heavens above him breathe with menace and nothing on earth offers any hold (Isa 24:19-20).

The earth is in tremendous turmoil and will totter dangerously. We can think of a huge earthquake (Rev 16:17-19), but also of the political situation, which will become enormously unstable. All certainty and order will have disappeared. This is the result of the transgression of mankind, as a result of which the heavy burden of the curse has been placed on creation (Rom 8:20). Isa 24:20 makes it clear that in the realm of peace the Christian West will never be restored.

Judgment on Heavenly and Earthly Inhabitants

In Isa 24:21 two groups are mentioned that the LORD will punish. One group is “on high”, which is heaven (cf. Job 16:19; Psa 68:18a). The other group is “on earth”. The first group consists of the evil powers in the heavenly places, the fallen angels (cf. Lk 10:18; Eph 6:12). They have incited the nations to rebel against God. They are thrown out of heaven (Rev 12:7-10).

The second group are the leaders of the rebellious peoples. They are all “the kings of the earth” under the leadership of the beast of the sea, which is the leader of the restored Roman Empire, and the beast of the earth, which is the antichrist, the false king of Israel (Rev 13:1-10 ; 11-18). They have allowed themselves to be deceived by them and are fully responsible for this. They enter the “prison”, which for the demons is the abyss (Rev 20:1-3) and for the kings of the earth, the rulers now in control, the realm of the dead.

They will be confronted with that responsibility. “After many days they [will be] punished” that is, after thousand years, they will stand before the great white throne (Isa 24:22; Rev 20:11-12). The demons will be thrown into hell without any form of trial. We see this distinction in judgment in Revelation 19 (Rev 19:20-21).