Isaiah 24 is one of the bleakest chapters in the Bible. The destruction that Isaiah has revealed through previous oracles is now directed not just at one particular city or region; it is worldwide in scope. And it is severe.
"Now the Lord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants" (vs. 1). The rest of the chapter goes on to describe the ensuing events. The devastation affects everyone: people and priest, slave and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower (vs. 2). The completeness of this destruction cannot be overstated. "The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled; for the Lord has spoken this word" (vs. 3).
Here are some of the things that the prophet foresees: drought, pollution, depopulation, grief and sadness replace joy and mirth, and desolation. Again and again Isaiah makes the point that this calamity will come upon the whole earth. "The earth is utterly broken, the earth is torn asunder, the earth is violently shaken" (vs. 19).
This destruction does not come as a whim - it is a judgment of the Lord for the guilt of the people (vs. 5 and 6 and 21). Could this be one picture of the tribulation that is described in the New Testament?
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