Terrors, Pits, & Snares
4/29/26 Bible Thought (Isaiah 23-24)
Main Idea: The Day of the Lord is a day of inescapable destruction for the ungodly.
A Look at the Text:
After a final judgment oracle upon a specific people, Tyre, the judgment oracles of chapters 13 through 23 climax in Isaiah 24 with a picture of future judgment upon the whole world in the eschaton. The Lord reveals through Isaiah that this judgment would be inescapable for the ungodly.
Human beings have transgressed the laws of God. They have violated His statutes. They have broken His everlasting covenant (Isa. 24:5); therefore, they will suffer for their guilt (Isa. 24:6).
As a result of human sin, the curse devours the earth (Isa. 24:6; see also Gen. 3:14-24). Yet, there would be a remnant (Isa. 24:6d). A remnant of those who would give glory to the Lord (Isa. 24:14-16).
For those who reject God, His judgment is inescapable. One might be able to flee from the terror, but would then fall into the pit. One climbing out of the pit would then get caught in a snare (Isa. 24:17-18).
Even the host of heaven that rebelled against God will be held as objects of His wrath (Isa. 24:21). Kings of the earth will waste away before the King of Heaven.
There will come a day when the Lord’s reign will be established on Mount Zion, and no rebellion will stand.
Bringing it Home:
Human beings have an intrinsic sense of right and wrong that God has placed within our conscience. The apostle Paul argues:
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth (Rom. 1:18).
Human beings aren’t naturally innocent. There is sufficient knowledge of God and His attributes in the created order that no one is without excuse on that judgment day (see Rom. 1:19-20).
In Isaiah’s terminology, it is a transgression of God’s laws, a violation of God’s statutes, and a breaking of His everlasting covenant (Isa. 24:5). Human beings cannot plead ignorance when God has, to some degree, written His law on the human heart with the conscience and revealed His glory in creation.
Yet people go their own way. They don’t want to be told what to do. They reject God and suppress the truth that is all around them.
For those who go from suppressing the truth to professing it, there is hope for that remnant of people whom God has called. While we stood under a curse because of our sin, there is One who bore the curse, in fact, became a curse for us, so that we could inherit blessing instead (see Gal. 3:10-14).
It is in this One, the wrath-bearer, the One who is called the way, truth, and life, that we must hope in the face of God’s inescapable judgment. We must turn to Him, giving glory to the Lord before it is too late.
Challenge:
Do I struggle with the seeming innocence of people in passages that talk about God’s judgment?
Remember, God is just, and according to Romans 1, no one can plead ignorance on the day they stand before their Maker.