Isaiah 24:18b-23 The windows of the sky above are opened and earth’s foundations shake, it is convulsed and reels wildly. The earth lurches like a drunkard because the sins of its inhabitants weigh heavily upon it.
On that Day the Lord will punish in heaven the host of heaven and on earth, the rulers of the earth. They are put in a prison, punished over many years.
The moon will grow pale and the sun will hide its face in shame, for the Lord reigns on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem. He is revealed in His glory to the elders of His people.
Jesus is not revealed to all the world, as yet, so this must be before the Return.
This passage describes the Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath. On that Day – the rulers and the sinners on earth will be punished. The sun and moon are darkened because of fires and volcanic eruptions caused by a CME sunstrike, that will affect the whole world. But note that in Isaiah 30:26, it is the Day that He saves His people, now we see that He reveals His glory to the leaders of Righteous Israel, who gather into the Land soon after this judgement.
Isaiah 25:1-5 Lord, you are my God, I shall praise Your Name, for You have done great things, long planned and sure. You have turned cities into heaps of ruin and made destruction over the land. For this many a cruel nation now treat You with awe. You have subdued the ruthless enemy, their war cries die away.
Truly You have been a refuge for the poor and needy in their distress, their shelter from the tempest and shade from the heat.
This next prophesied event: the Lord’s Day of vengeance and wrath, will not destroy all of His enemies and sinners, but they will know that punishment has come upon them for their misdeeds. The poor and needy, is a metaphor for His people, Christian Israelites, until they are brought back and settled into Greater Israel. They are promised protection from the heat flash and storms of this CME that the Lord will use to punish His enemies.
Isaiah 25:9 On that Day, the people will say: See – this is our God, we have waited for Him and He will deliver us. This is the God for whom we have waited, let us rejoice and exult in His deliverance.
Deuteronomy 32:43 Rejoice with Him, you heavens, all bow down before Y’hovah. For He will avenge the blood of His people and take vengeance on is enemies. He will punish those who hate Him and cleanse His peoples Land.
Ref: REB verses abridged.
Isaiah 25:7-9 predicted (and identified) the first resurrection and the impact it would have on the lives of God’s people. It attributed this to Messiah and importantly identified it with the enlightenment of “all nations,” not just Israel (as it was before the cross). We learn:
“he will destroy [Heb.
bâla‛]
in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up [Heb.
bâla‛]
death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
This Old Testament passage takes us back to the First Advent when Christ through His life, death and resurrection defeated every enemy that was arrayed against us. The words interpreted “destroy” and “swallow” here are translated from the Hebrews word
bâla‛ and literally mean to devour or swallow up. This text is primarily describing how the Messiah swallowed up or destroyed death by undergoing it Himself upon behalf of man. By taking our penalty upon Himself, He defeated sin. As a result, He defeating the grave. He destroyed death. Finally, He defeated Hades and eternal punishment.
Jesus swallowed up “the covering” or “the veil” that was smothering the nations in darkness. He armed His disciples with the glorious Gospel, whereupon they were able to bring light to a darkened world. This passage speaks of this great victory.
This passage predicts the Coming Messiah and what He would achieve. One of the great changes that would occur when He came was that the ignorance hanging over the Gentiles would be removed and they would be privileged, like Israel in the Old Testament, with seeing the light. Satan before the cross ruled the nations unhindered. The Gentiles sat in gross darkness. The removal of the obstructing “vail” facilitated the enlightenment of the Gentiles. The removal of the “vail” which blinded the Gentiles is identified here with the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. This great event saw Christ “swallow up death in victory” which resulted in the grave been eternally defeated for God’s people and heaven being opened to the redeemed of all time. Consequently, entrance to heaven would mean Jesus would “wipe away tears from off all faces.” This in turn saw the spiritual binding of Satan.
The opposite to deception is enlightenment and truth. That is exactly what Jesus is. Therefore, the removal of the vail of darkness cloaking the nations meant enlightenment to the ignorant Gentiles. Their hopelessness had gone and they were now blessed with the wonderful Gospel opportunity.
Matthew Henry explains what this prophecy predicted:
“Christ will himself, in his resurrection, triumph over death, will break its bands, its bars, asunder, and cast away all its cords. The grave seemed to swallow him up, but really he swallowed it up.”
What is more, this was no mere man; it was the God-man who the grave couldn’t hold. This great event proved the majesty and deity of Christ in all His overcoming power. That is why the result of this transaction was that men would recognise His divinity. The text confirms men would proclaim:
“Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the LORD; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
The New Testament repeatedly shows that Christ is the first resurrection. Matthew 28:6 confirms:
“for he is risen, as he said.” Scripture after Scripture tells us He is the first resurrection. Premils must ignore/ overlook this in order to make the general resurrection of believers the first resurrection. No sane Bible student would propose we the elect are going to precede Christ in resurrection. After all this is a fundamental, and essential, truth in being a believer. Yet a large body of eschatology students ascribe the first resurrection to the redeemed of God. This doesn't make biblical or logical sense. It is a glaring inconsistency in the Premil understanding of Revelation 20.
Christ won the victory over death and obtained its keys at his first coming. Death had swallowed man up for long enough, Jesus overcome it at the resurrection.