Isaiah 24:16 - Meaning and Application

These verses, like the ones before them, speak plainly of comfort for believers. They may be driven by troubles in their own land to the farthest places on earth, or even sent away for their faith, but there they are singing, not groaning. People hear their songs from far away, and it is a comfort to hear that God’s people carry their faith with them even into distant lands. It is also a comfort to know that God meets them there and gives reason to hope that he will gather them back again (Deuteronomy 30:4).

This is their song: “Glory to the righteous.” The Hebrew word is singular and may point to the righteous God, who is just in all he has done to us. That is glorifying the Lord in the fire. Or the meaning may be that these songs bring glory and beauty to the righteous people who sing them. We honor ourselves most when we devote ourselves to honoring and glorifying God.

This may also point forward to the gospel being sent to the farthest parts of the earth, even to our own island in the days of the Messiah. The good news was answered back in songs from churches planted there, giving glory to the righteous God. That agrees with the angels’ song, “Glory to God in the highest,” and it brings glory to all righteous people as well, because the work of redemption was planned before the world began for our glory.

The prophet then turns from comfort to sorrow and warns of the misery coming over the earth. He says, “My leanness! My leanness! Woe to me!” The very thought of it makes him grieve and feel worn down (Isaiah 24:16). He sees, first, the spread of sin. Wickedness is increasing, and “the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously” (Isaiah 24:16). That is itself a judgment, and it brings on further judgments from God.

People are false to one another. There is no trust left in human dealings. Truth, which is the sacred bond that holds society together, has disappeared, and only betrayal remains. See Jeremiah 9:1-2. They are also false to God. As to him and the covenant they made with him, the children of men have dealt very treacherously. This is the root sin of the world, and it makes every other sin worse. If people are unfaithful to God, how can they be faithful to anyone else?

The prophet also sees wrath and judgment following that sin. People on earth will be chased from place to place by one trouble after another (Isaiah 24:17-18). Fear, the pit, and the snare are all over them wherever they go, because no one knows what evil may suddenly trap him (Ecclesiastes 9:12). These words may be chosen for their sound as well as their meaning, but the sense is clear: evil follows sinners (Proverbs 13:21), and the curse will overtake those who disobey (Deuteronomy 28:15).

Those who think they are safe because they have escaped one trouble do not know how soon another may seize them. What the prophet threatens here for all the earth also appears in the judgment on Moab (Jeremiah 48:43-44). This is a common part of human suffering. When we try to avoid one danger, we often fall into a worse one, and the end of one trouble is often the start of another. We are least safe when we feel most secure.

The earth itself will also be shaken apart. This will literally happen at the end, when all the works on it are burned up, and it is often pictured in this way before that time as well. The windows above are opened to pour out wrath, as in the flood. God rains snares on the wicked (Psalm 11:6), and when the fountains of the great deep are broken open, the foundations of the earth shake. Then the whole frame of nature is thrown out of order and everything is in confusion.

The prophet describes this vividly: the earth is broken, dissolved, and shaken out of its place (Isaiah 24:19-20). God shakes heaven and earth (Haggai 2:6). Think of the misery of those who store up their treasure in earthly things and set their hearts on them. They trust what will soon be completely broken and dissolved. The earth reels like a drunkard, so unstable and uncertain are all worldly things.

Worldly people live in it as if it were a palace, a castle, or a strong tower, but it will be removed like a cottage. It will fall so easily and suddenly, with so little loss to the great landlord who owns it all. Taking down the earth will be like taking down a cottage the countryside is glad to be rid of, because it only shelters beggars. No one will care to rebuild it. It will fall and not rise again, though there will be new heavens and a new earth where only righteousness will live.

What shakes the earth and sinks it? Its own sin, because its transgression lies heavy on it. Sin is a burden on the whole creation. It is a heavy load, and now creation groans under it, and at last it will sink beneath it. Sin ruins states, kingdoms, and families. They fall under the weight of that talent of lead (Zechariah 5:7-8).

God will also deal especially with the kings and great ones of the earth (Isaiah 24:21). He will punish the host of the high ones. A crowd of princes is nothing before God, just as a crowd of ordinary people is nothing. What can they do with all their joined power when the Most High, the Lord of hosts, rises against them to bring them low, scatter their forces, and break their alliances? The high ones, those lifted up in pride and grandeur, those who think they are beyond danger, will be visited for all their pride and cruelty. They used their power to oppress and harm others, and now that same evil will come back on their own heads.

The kings of the earth will be called to account on the earth, so that it is plain there is a God who judges in the world and repays even the proudest kings according to their deeds. Let those crushed by earthly rulers take comfort in this: though they cannot, dare not, and must not resist them, God will call them to account. He will triumph over them in their own place, for the earth they rule is, in God’s sight, no more than dust.

This is only the general warning. The prophecy adds that they will be gathered together like prisoners, as convicted and condemned prisoners are gathered into a pit or dungeon, and there they will be shut up under close guard (Isaiah 24:22).

The kings and great rulers, who gave themselves every freedom and took pride in shutting others away, will themselves be shut up. Let the free person not boast in freedom any more than the strong person boasts in strength, for no one knows what restraints may still be ahead.

After many days, they will be visited. This may mean they will be visited in wrath, since the same word, in another form, is used later, where the Lord says he will punish them (Isaiah 24:21). They will be kept for the day of execution, like prisoners already sentenced, and like fallen angels who are held in chains of darkness until the great day of judgment (Jude 1:6). This helps explain why God’s punishment is often delayed. Sentence is not carried out right away because the day of execution has not yet come, and may not come until after many days. Still, the wicked are set aside for the day of destruction and are preserved for that time, then brought out for the day of wrath (Job 21:30). So we should not judge anything before the proper time.

Or this may mean they will be visited in mercy and released from prison, gaining back not their rank, perhaps, but their freedom. Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king, made many kings and princes his captives and kept them in a dungeon in Babylon. Among them was Jehoiachin, king of Judah. After many days, when Nebuchadnezzar was dead, his son visited them and seems to have given them some relief in their captivity. Jehoiachin was shown special kindness, because the son of Nebuchadnezzar set his throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with him (Jeremiah 52:32).

If we apply this to the general condition of human life, it shows a turning of fortunes. Those who were high are brought low, and those who were brought low are relieved after many days. In that way, no one in this world can feel safe just because life is going well, and no one needs to give up hope just because life is bitter.

Then God is glorified in all this (Isaiah 24:23). When these things happen, when the proud enemies of God’s church are humbled and brought down, it will become plain, beyond argument, that the Lord reigns. That is always true, but it is not always equally clear. When the kings of the earth are punished for their cruelty and oppression, the whole world sees and hears that God is King of kings, the One above all rulers to whom they must answer. He reigns as Lord of hosts, Lord over all armies, including their armies. He reigns in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, that is, in his church, for its honor and good, just as he promised. He reigns through his word and ordinances. He reigns before his elders, before all his saints, especially before his ministers, the elders of his church, who watch closely how his power and providence work. In these events, they see his hand more clearly than others do.

Then it will also be clear, beyond comparison, that he reigns in glory. His brightness will be so great that the moon will seem ashamed and the sun ashamed too, as smaller lights fade before a greater one. Great men, who imagined their glory and power matched the sun and moon, will be ashamed when God rises above them, and even more when he rises against them. Then their faces will be filled with shame, and that shame may lead them to seek God’s name.

The eastern nations worshiped the sun and moon. But when God appears so gloriously for his people against his enemies, those false gods will be ashamed that they ever received worship from deceived people. The glory of the Creator is beyond all comparison with the brightest things he made. In the great day, when the Judge of heaven and earth shines in his glory, his brightness will make the sun dark and the moon red like blood.