In Isaiah, chapters twenty-four, verse one through twenty-seven, verse thirteen, deal with end-time events in apocalyptic language, the type of language used in the book of Revelation. They speak of God’s judgment against the world for its sin and of the blessings He has prepared for His people. Beginning with Isaiah twenty-four, verse one, describes the Lord’s coming judgment upon the whole earth and its inhabitants. This time of world devastation is called the great tribulation in the New Testament, as in Matthew twenty-four, verses fifteen to twenty-one, First Thessalonians five, verses one through three, Revelation six, verses eight to nine, fifteen to sixteen, eighteen to nineteen, respectively. After this world-wide judgment, Christ will return to rule over the righteous of the earth.
All whose treasures and happiness are laid up on earth will soon be brought to want and misery. It is good to apply to ourselves what the Scripture says of the vanity and vexation of spirit which attend all things here below. Sin has turned the earth upside down; the earth has become quite different to man, from what it was when God first made it to be His habitation. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers in the hands of those that please themselves with it, and lay it in their bosoms. The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a vale of tears; the children of men in it are but of few days, and full of trouble.
See the power of God’s curse, how it makes all empty, and lays waste all ranks and conditions. Sin brings these calamities upon the earth. It is polluted by the sins of men. Therefore. it is made desolate by God’s judgments. Carnal joy will soon be at end. And the end of it is heaviness. God has many ways to imbitter wine and strong drink to those who love them; distemper of body, anguish of mind, and the ruin of the estate, will make strong drink bitter, and the delights of sense tasteless. Let men learn to mourn for sin, and rejoice in God; then no man, no event, can take their joy from them.