Isaiah 26:20
Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
God calls His people to step aside into a brief, temporary hiding place in Him while His judgment passes by, as Noah and his household entered the ark before the flood came. Those chambers are the shelter of Christ and the holy angels, not one shared physical refuge, for His people are scattered in different places and each must meet the test alone. The indignation to be waited out is God's display of power and wrath against disobedience to His law, when He comes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and the earth lays bare its slain. It foretells the final time of trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble just before Christ's second coming and the deliverance of the righteous, when earthly powers threaten the faithful with starvation and violence for keeping God's law. God keeps those hidden ones safe and secure through that short trial until it is overpast, and they are the faithful who have kept His commandments and walked with Jesus, sealed and covered while judgment falls on their persecutors.
Words and Setting
The chambers are the protection of Christ and the holy angels, not one shared physical place or single location for all to gather to. God's people are scattered in different places across the earth, and each must face the test and stand it individually. The call to enter into the chambers and shut the doors about them pictures a temporary hiding place in God as defense while judgment passes. Before the time of trouble God calls His faithful people who have been preparing for translation to find this shelter while His indignation against the earth's inhabitants passes, and He Himself is their defense against the enemy. It is like God's command to Noah and his household to enter the ark before the flood, a prepared refuge entered only by those who heed the warning.
The hiding is for a little moment, a brief period of hiding and rest until the indignation has passed and the danger is over. The indignation is God's exhibition of power and wrath against disobedience to His law, as in the flood, when He visits impenitent transgressors. The next verse explains it: the Lord comes forth out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth discloses and reveals the blood of the slain. He first warns and provides a shelter where the obedient can hide safe while judgment falls, giving time for repentance through a proclaimed message, but only the few who remain righteous enter. Through that coming time of divine indignation and last great crisis, God's people are told to seek shelter, enter their chambers, shut the doors, and remain hidden for that brief time until judgment passes.
The verse stands with Isaiah 25-26 as describing the preparation God has made through the riches of His grace and the removal of sin.
Coming Time of Trouble
The verse foretells the final time of trouble, the time of Jacob's trouble, just before Christ's second coming and the final deliverance of the righteous, when the saints are still awaiting translation. It describes that brief period of indignation that immediately precedes their deliverance, when God's people face the earth's punishment for sin and are told to seek shelter and remain hidden until it passes. Then the Lord comes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and to disclose the blood of the slain. The promise is set in that coming final crisis, when a storm of strife will break upon the earth.
At that final crisis earthly powers threaten God's faithful people with death by starvation or by violence. They are told to withdraw and wait in safety for a short time while God's indignation passes and His judgment falls on the wicked. Their deliverance will be glorious, for they have patiently waited for Christ's coming and those whose names are written in the book of life are spared. It is a time of intense hostility to God's law and prevailing apostasy, when God will intervene to vindicate His honor and bring unrighteousness to an end. It is the last great struggle of earthly powers to destroy those who keep God's law, yet the faithful few who honor and exalt His law, fear His name, and acknowledge the relation between the Father and His law shall be covered and hid in the day of His anger, exalted and enabled to keep it acceptably only by the merits of Jesus Christ.
Then God rises from His holy dwelling to punish the earth for its iniquity, makes a covenant of peace with those who fear Him, and speaks while the heavens and the earth shake. The restraint is now being taken off the wicked and will be entirely gone when Jesus steps out from between the Father and man. Time is very short and deliverance is coming, while the world is becoming as it was in the days of Noah. The little moment is therefore a brief period of hiding and rest until the indignation has passed, with special messages now to prepare people for coming events.
Promise of Divine Shelter
God calls His people to enter their shelter and remain hidden with Him through the brief time of trial and indignation until it passes, keeping them safe and secure until the danger is gone. The call to enter chambers and shut the doors pictures a temporary hiding place in God as their defense against the enemy while judgment passes, before the Lord comes to punish the earth's wickedness. It comes as warning of coming persecution and judgment, bidding believers stand firm together in Christian love, united in heart and mind and purpose, while cleaving to God and following Christ's example of love and meekness and humility. Christ Himself will be their refuge from the storm and shelter them until the indignation has passed, a promise for those who have met the conditions of God's Word and kept His commandments.
When God's judgment on earth is near He will call His people to shelter and keep them safe through the brief indignation until it has passed, as the Lord comes forth to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. This assures His oppressed people that their suffering will not continue unchecked, for they are hidden from their persecutors and delivered from oppression while judgment falls on those who persecuted them. The following disclosure that the earth shall reveal the blood of the slain confirms that protection for God's people and punishment for the wicked come together. Those who remain faithful to God through testing will thus be kept secure and hidden until the danger passes.
Their hiding is for a short time at the final crisis when earthly powers threaten them with death by starvation or by violence, while they wait in safety until God comes to punish the inhabitants of the earth. Their deliverance will be glorious, for they have patiently waited for Christ's coming and those whose names are written in the book of life are spared. Christ's followers are preserved in a safe retreat for a little while at His coming until He cleanses the earth from its iniquity. He has pledged Himself to be their sanctuary for those who have followed Him as the Way, the Truth, and the Life, calling them to enter and hide for a little moment.
The faithful dead are also safely hidden for that time, resting in hope with their life hid with Christ in God to share in the joy of Christ's appearing. Their death is therefore no cause for hopeless mourning, since they are kept through the brief time of divine indignation with the living.
People Who Are Hidden
Those hidden are God's faithful people who have met the conditions of His Word and kept His commandments, and Christ will be their refuge from the storm through the time of trial just before them until the indignation has passed. Those who walk with Jesus and reflect His light are included among the people He calls to shelter until that period of indignation has passed. The righteous alone shall be hid with Christ in God till the desolation be overpast while the storm of wrath is gathering to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. Only those will stand who respond to the invitations of mercy as the inhabitants of Nineveh did under the preaching of Jonah and become sanctified through obedience to the laws of the divine Ruler.
They are the faithful few who still honor and exalt God's law in the last great struggle of earthly powers to destroy those who keep it, when God arises to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. They are those who have feared His name and acknowledge the relation existing between the Father and His law, and who keep His commandments, covered and hidden in the day of His anger. Only by the merits of Jesus Christ is man exalted and enabled to keep God's law acceptably.
Their safety is associated with God holding back the destructive winds until His servants are sealed, the judgments being restrained while this sealing work is completed. The covering drawn over them is protection in the time of trouble and for the day of the Lord, and it will soon be completed over all who are to have shelter. In the sealing time those who stand firmly on present truth receive this protection, while those who waver are not covered. Those left unsealed will be without protection and without shelter during the time of slaughter, which Satan seeks to ensure by keeping them unprotected until then.
Those who remain faithful to God through testing will be kept secure and hidden from their persecutors until the danger passes. They will be delivered from their oppression.
Preparation and Faithful Living
The meek who have done God's work must be prepared for the day of the Lord's anger by cleansing themselves from every defilement of body and spirit and perfecting holiness. They cannot wait for divine power to remove their wrongs without making the efforts required of them.
God's people must draw close to Him now so they may be hidden when His wrath falls upon humanity. They must get ready now to be hid in the time of trouble with the cloak of Almighty God thrown around them. Time is very short and deliverance is coming, while restraint is being taken off the wicked and will be entirely gone when Jesus steps out from between the Father and man. To be hid then requires watching on every hand against the wiles of Satan and holding steady, abiding faith that will stand trial. That faith is like Elijah's when he prayed for rain and sent his servant seven times until the cloud appeared and the heavens gave rain though outward appearance was against him.
While waiting through the brief period of divine indignation, with coming persecution and judgment falling on the earth, believers are to stand firm in Christ and cleave to God. They are to press together in Christian love, united in heart, mind and purpose. They are to follow Christ's example of love, meekness and humility. Families apply this sheltering by gathering their children into their homes and keeping them from influences that lead them away from God, to protect and prepare them before the overflowing scourge comes upon the inhabitants of the earth.
When God visits impenitent transgressors He first warns them and provides a shelter where the obedient can hide safe while judgment falls. The indignation is His exhibition of power against disobedience to His law, as in the flood, and the chambers are a prepared refuge, as the ark Noah built, entered only by those who heed the warning. Time is given for repentance through a proclaimed message, and special messages must now prepare people for coming events while the world is becoming as it was in Noah's days. The little moment describes a brief period of hiding and rest until the indignation has passed, applied also to completing the work of arranging testimonies and then resting. Yet only the few who remain righteous enter the shelter. God's people are therefore called to hide quickly beneath the covering and not remain outside, for the time of trouble approaches and His indignation is about to pass.