Isaiah 26:21, commentary and pictures

The Lord leaves His dwelling place in heaven and rises in majesty to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and sin, while the earth discloses her blood and no longer covers her slain as hidden murders, violence and guilt are exposed to light and brought to account. This belongs to the last great crisis and time of trouble just before Christ's second coming in glory, coming after a little moment when His faithful people are told to enter their chambers and hide until the indignation and desolation are past. The punishment falls when iniquity is full, probation has closed and mercy has ended, because men have made void and trampled God's law, rejected light and warnings, and universally exalted a false day of worship in place of the Bible Sabbath. It is final worldwide destruction by fire, not by water, executed through famine, plague, earthquake, war and bloodshed and other agencies of nature that obey His command and grow more frequent and severe as the end nears. Only those made holy through truth, obedient to God's law and hidden with Christ in God will stand, for God covers them in His pavilion in the day of anger and then gloriously delivers them while the wicked fall unburied across the earth.

Language and Imagery

The Lord leaving His place, dwelling, and heavenly seat and coming forth, rising, and arising in majesty means a personal movement from heaven to earth to punish the inhabitants of the earth and world for iniquity, sin, and wrongdoing. That coming is soon, and it brings a short time of divine wrath and indignation upon the wicked while the faithful are told to enter their chambers, shut their doors, and hide for a little moment until the desolation is past. Before that punishment Christ bids His people to hide, and God hides them in His pavilion and in the secret of His tabernacle and spares them as His jewels, as a man spares his serving son. The gathering storm of wrath falls at the final crisis when earthly powers are arrayed against His people and they fear death by starvation or violence, and it answers the affliction of God's people, so oppressors must answer for the pain and tears they caused. This is final worldwide destruction in which the wicked of every rank fall amid their own violent strife and passions and the outpouring of God's wrath.

The earth disclosing her blood and no more covering her slain means bloodshed, violence, murders, wrongdoing, and guilt long hidden and concealed will be exposed, uncovered, and brought to light rather than hidden. What the earth has hidden is revealed, and those slain are no longer concealed, so that hidden evil is made manifest. This exposure vindicates God's honor and authority and brings the guilty to account, especially in a setting of coming persecution when God's people are called to stand firm together in Christian love during the time of divine indignation.

The disclosure is literal and final, for the slain of the Lord lie exposed across the whole earth with none gathered or buried. Like the Flood, this end-time judgment comes because of transgression. Hidden evil deeds and crimes are brought to light as men expose one another, and the calamities falling on earth teach what it means to be under satanic control. Repeated killing, self-killing, fraud, robbery, violence, and unjust dealings that make cities like Sodom in heaven's sight are no longer hidden, and God will bring such transactions to nothing while humbling human pride and self-exaltation.

Pardon and the removal of sins through free access to grace is the preparation God has made before this punishment. That free grace prepares people to receive what belongs to them. It fits them for the blessings of the gospel covenant.

Time of Final Judgment

The verse belongs to the last great crisis, the final time of trouble and Jacob's trouble just before Christ's second coming and glorious appearing. It is the day of final judgment and final conflagration at the end of the world, when Christ comes in His Father's glory with angels and all nations are gathered before Him. Before the faithful are translated, earthly powers are arrayed against them and they fear death by starvation or violence, and their deliverance then will be glorious. If blood of faithful witnesses were shed in that final crisis it would not be as seed for harvest as martyrs' blood was, because fidelity would convince no one after the obdurate heart has beaten back mercy until it returns no more. The earth will then disclose the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal those who were slain.

The punishment follows a brief moment when God's indignation passes, during which His faithful people are told to enter their chambers, shut their doors, and hide for a little moment until the desolation is past. It is a short time of divine wrath upon the wicked during which God preserves the righteous in shelter as part of the church's final deliverance before that judgment. God hides them in His pavilion in the secret of His tabernacle and spares them as His jewels, as a man spares his serving son, and manifests mighty power to turn their captivity as He divided the Red Sea. They are called to seek refuge and remain hidden with Him while His indignation passes, to stand firm in Christ and remain united in Christian love. The earth disclosing the blood of the slain rather than covering it shows that violence and guilt will be exposed.

The punishment comes when iniquity reaches its full measure and human disobedience and violence reach the point that God must intervene to vindicate His honor and end unrighteousness. It comes when people and nations reject light and warnings, persist in iniquity, refuse the light given during probation, and choose darkness rather than light. Then God's patience, long forbearance, and mercy end, probation closes, and there is no respite until the judgment is complete. Those sanctified through truth and living in God's love will be hidden with Christ until the desolation is past. The earth exposing hidden blood means concealed violence, deaths, wrongdoing, and guilt will be brought to light and the guilty brought to account.

Delayed judgment does not lessen, cancel, or diminish the severity of punishment when it comes. His long forbearance reaches its limit, and forbearance beaten back returns no more. This takes place when the world is brought to judgment after evil has continued to grow worse, and Christ's death shows God's standard of righteousness does not change.

Reasons for Punishment

The punishment falls when light and warnings have been rejected, darkness chosen over light, and iniquity persisted in until its full measure is reached. It answers disloyalty to God, uniting in hostility to Him, making His law void, trampling it, dishonoring it, and persecuting those who keep it, continuing so until the close of history. Long forbearance and delayed judgment do not lessen or cancel the punishment when it comes, and the earth’s disclosing of blood means hidden violence, murders, and guilt will be brought to light and no longer concealed. In rising to punish, the Lord upholds His honor and authority and reveals the greatness of His power, shaking earth and heaven by earthquake, subterranean seas of fire, furnaces concealed beneath and within mountains, volcanic fires no ocean waters can quench, and flames that will finally wrap the earth.

The crisis is triggered when human laws are universally exalted above God’s law and put in its place. The first day of the week is exalted in place of the Bible Sabbath, the false day of worship replaces the seventh-day Sabbath, force is used to compel its observance, and it is made a crime for God’s people to keep the Sabbath holy. Then the Lord arises out of His place in majesty to punish the world for its iniquity, shakes the earth, discloses her blood, and no more covers her slain.

The judgment calls oppressors of God’s people to answer for afflicting them, for the pain and tears they caused, and for torturing, imprisoning, banishing, and killing them before the Judge of all the earth. It exposes and judges wealthy men who gained or hoarded wealth by deceit and oppression, who practiced unprincipled work, unfair schemes, selfish grasping, robbery, and unjust dealings, who refused to use entrusted goods to relieve the hungry, cold, and naked poor, and whose transactions God will bring to nothing while humbling human pride and self-exaltation. It also holds wicked cities and especially men in authority to a serious account for permitting open saloons and the curse of liquor that makes men insane, a word to be literally fulfilled unless inhabitants awake, repent, sweep away drink, become converted, and rulers come under the control of the all-wise God, as warned by the calamity at San Francisco with light suffering at Oakland.

The world punished is like the old world before the Flood and like Sodom, permitted to continue in sin as an example until sudden destruction by fire, not by water, which the godless absorbed in selfish pursuits shall not escape. People forget God, have no fear of God before them, serve self, no longer call sin sin, let iniquity prevail everywhere, act as though there were no God, reject Christ unto eternal death, and follow Satan the first transgressor who appears to attract men and would deceive even the elect if possible. Minds are set on eating and drinking and marrying carried to excess, dancing and carousing, drinking and smoking, indulging animal passions, putting heaven out of mind, going on in ordinary pursuits without repentance like an ox to the slaughter, until many become so disgusted with life that they kill themselves and the whole world appears in a march to death. That march is marked by confusion, strife between labor and capital, hypocrisy in the churches, gaiety and pleasure-seeking, ambition and self-exaltation, lust of the flesh and pride of the eyes, selfish display, misuse of power, cruelty, every conceivable crime, violence opposing truth because it restricts licentiousness, opposition to righteousness and observance of God’s law with truth given no place in mind or heart or works, and force binding men in confederacies and unions in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days, leaving the multitude without God and without hope.

Manner of Divine Punishment

The punishment is final worldwide destruction, when the wicked across the whole earth fall unburied and exposed amid the violence of their own passions and the outpouring of divine wrath. It comes at the coming of the Son of God, and destroys by fire rather than by water as in the Flood. At that time volcanic fires already kindled wait for the word to wrap the earth in flames, revealing divine power and upholding divine authority against those who have made the law void. Subterranean seas of fire and furnaces concealed beneath and within the mountains supply fires that no ocean waters can quench.

God executes this judgment through agencies of nature by sea and by land — famine, plague, pestilence, fire, flood, earthquake, war, and bloodshed. Nature obeys divine command in both judgment and blessing, even while men disobey. Earthquakes make the earth tremble and heave rocks and hills from their place, shaking solid ground beneath the tread of Omnipotence, until at last not the earth only but also the heavens are shaken. Wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in different places, including the terrible earthquake in Italy and Sicily, fulfill the signs before the second coming and testify that the end of all things is near.

As crime and wickedness increase these calamitous judgments become more common, more frequent, and more severe, following in quick succession until the final time when the earth leaves its slain uncovered and hides them no more. The calamity at San Francisco, with light suffering at Oakland, belongs with fire, flood, earthquake, war, and bloodshed among these testimonies that the judgment hour has come and the end of earthly things is near. Increasing crimes and iniquity are thus linked to more frequent judgments preceding that final disclosure.

The intervention comes after centuries of silence and wonderful forbearance in which divine power was restrained while the holy law was broken and trampled by rebels cooperating with evil angels to destroy truth and its champions. During that delay a reckoning of the guilt of every nation was kept, until vast numbers pass the boundary and compassion long offered and beaten back returns no more. Then sudden destruction overtakes a godless world absorbed in selfish pursuits, dancing and carousing, drinking and smoking, and indulging animal passions like an ox going to the slaughter, with many grown so disgusted with life that they kill themselves. It is destruction none shall escape, bringing eternal death to all who reject Christ and act as though there were no God, while the whole world marches in confusion, strife between labor and capital, hypocrisy, gaiety, ambition, lust, pride, selfish display, misuse of power, cruelty, and confederacies bound in bundles for the burning of the great fires of the last days.

Shelter and Deliverance Promised

The gathering storm of wrath falls when the Lord leaves His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for sin and to uncover the blood the earth has hidden, and only those who answer mercy's invitations as Nineveh did under Jonah's preaching will stand through it. Only the righteous will be sheltered, hidden with Christ in God until the desolation passes, and they are those made holy by obeying the laws of the divine Ruler, sanctified through the truth and living in God's love. That punishment comes when patience and mercy have ended with no respite until it is complete, yet in the setting of coming persecution the faithful are called to stand firm together in Christian love while wrongdoing is exposed and the slain are no longer concealed. Conditions in society and the great cities signal that the judgment hour has come and the end of earthly things is near, with judgments following in quick succession by fire, flood, earthquake, war and bloodshed, and the time when mercy shelters the impenitent is nearly over.

At the final crisis earthly powers are arrayed against His people and they fear death by starvation or violence, but before the punishment Christ bids them enter their chambers and hide for a little moment until the indignation passes. God hides them in His pavilion in the secret of His tabernacle, covers them in the day of anger, stands in their defense, and spares them as His jewels as a man spares his serving son. He speaks from His holy dwelling and makes His covenant of peace with those who fear Him and honor the Father's law through the merits of Jesus Christ. Amid terrible upheavals of the earth this protection holds them from harm while judgment comes upon the wicked for iniquity.

Glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently waited for His coming and whose names are written in the book of life. God manifests mighty power to turn their captivity as He divided the Red Sea for Israel, heaven and earth shake at His voice, the righteous dead are raised to immortal life, and the living saints who keep God's law are glorified and translated to heaven without seeing death at Christ's glorious appearing.

If the blood of faithful witnesses were shed in that final crisis it would not be as seed for a harvest as the blood of the martyrs was, for their fidelity would convince no one after the obdurate heart has beaten back mercy until it returns no more, and leaving the righteous to fall would only triumph the prince of darkness. During the sealing God draws a protective covering over those who are to find shelter, and those soon covered will be sheltered while the unprotected are left exposed in the time of slaughter. Very soon Jesus steps out from between the Father and man and restraint is entirely removed, so God's people must now get ready to have God's cloak thrown around them and be hid in the time of trouble, watching against Satan with steady abiding faith that holds on through trial without giving up, like Elijah praying seven times for rain until the cloud appeared.

Prophetic Links and Warnings

Jesus blended the final burning of the world foretold here with the destruction of Jerusalem in His Olivet discourse, so that what He said of Jerusalem reaches beyond that event to the destruction of the world at the end. That final conflagration is when the Lord rises from His place to punish the world for its iniquity, and the earth discloses the blood it has shed and no longer conceals its slain. The whole discourse was given not for the first disciples only but as warning to those living in earth's last days and in the last scenes of this earth's history.

Like the Flood, this judgment comes because of transgression, with the slain of the Lord found across the earth at the end. It is the time when Babylon is remembered before God and receives the cup of His wrath, calling everyone to take a firm stand on the Lord's side. It is associated with the terrible judgments revealed in Revelation, with hail falling on the wicked in the plagues.

The earth is cursed and groans under human sin, marked by idolatry, crime, and wars, and it will disclose the blood of the slain rather than continue to cover it. These revelations of widespread crime and corruption show guilt has become manifest and God's judgments are near, pointing to the time when He will blot out iniquity from the earth. The verse applies to the time when the earth is shaken and the proud seek to hide from the face of God and the Lamb.

Because the Lord will soon and certainly come to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity and uncover bloodshed and hide the killed no longer, warning those who do not know He is soon coming is an urgent duty. This coming judgment is the message now entrusted to be proclaimed, while mercy and hope remain, for when it comes the great multitude will be without God and without hope in the world. The chapter should be printed in a tract and circulated everywhere to arouse people from apathy. The words will be literally fulfilled upon wicked cities and especially upon men in authority who permit open saloons and the curse of liquor that makes men insane, who will have a serious account to settle with the great Judge, unless inhabitants awake, repent of sins, sweep away drink, and become converted, with the calamity at San Francisco and the light suffering at Oakland serving as warning and as a call for rulers to come under the control of the all-wise God.

That soon-coming day will bring terror to hypocrites when they see their own vileness, and that fear should move them now to confess sins, humble themselves before God, and seek pardon and healing. Readiness requires drawing close to God now so as to be hidden when His fierce wrath is poured out on humanity, not turning from trust in Him, and helping ready a people for the nearness of Christ's return. In view of God's judgments already in the land, the work of preparation for His service is to be done speedily on strictly Bible lines, with little said about degrees and long courses of study, with plain and simple meetinghouses erected without unnecessary expense, and with time and means wisely invested. Before the overflowing scourge comes upon all dwellers on earth, those who are Israelites indeed are called to gather their children into their own houses and out from classes that voice the words of Satan and disobey God's commandments, training them to become workers together with God and fit for endless life, with educational work embracing far more children and youth so a whole army of missionaries is raised up.