The Judge of the Whole Earth

There is within our hearts an overarching sense that judgement will eventually come upon the Earth. Whether you're a climate alarmist or a self-righteous religious person whose had enough of the sin of the world, we all carry a sense of foreboding that these things cannot continue. 

Isaiah 24 introduces us to the reality that what we sense will some day be reality. The judgment will come.

Isaiah 24:1–3 (ESV) Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. 2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 3 The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word.

I think of that first word, "Behold." We are being asked to see this clearly. God will enact vengeance upon the Earth. No one will be treated differently, thus the comparison to priest and people, buyer and seller, lender and borrower. Every corridor of human activity falls under His sovereign right to judge. 

People say Christians are judgmental. They can be. But Christians are the people most people should worry about the least. God is the judge and when He judges, it is utter and complete. 

Notice the next three verses point to the creation mandate given to man. He was to rule and subdue, but his sin brings harm and retribution from out of the Earth. 

Isaiah 24:4–6 (ESV) The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. 5 The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.

That line in verse 5 is perfectly clear: "The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws". Mankind is responsible for the tragedies of Earth. Bad stewardship is on his shoulders. 

Later in the chapter Isaiah details more of the total destruction to come:

Isaiah 24:17–19 (ESV) Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! 18 He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. 19 The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.

There is no escaping the judgment of God. More than the creation and Earth's inhabitants, the very angels are judged by the Lord. 

Isaiah 24:21–22 (ESV) On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 22 They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.

The "host of heaven" are the angels who rebelled. Notice the line: "after many days they will be punished." What are the "many days"? The days we live in now between their condemnation and eventual final destination in the pit of hell. 

Isaiah is speaking of cosmic end-time realities in this chapter. His description of God's judgment is so far-reaching it cannot refer to anything other than what John speaks about in Revelation. God's judgment is complete and just. And the last line bears witness to His right to rule:

Isaiah 24:23 (ESV) Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.

Just as John describes a deliberate, step-by-step decreation of the world, so Isaiah unpacks these realities here. But what does it all reveal? It reveals this: God is KING. That God reigns. That no one is actually "getting away with it". We all have to give account. And there is one question that remains for every human born. Have you believed your sins were judged at the cross or would you rather wait for your sins to be judged on the last day?