Isaiah 34:11, commentary and pictures

Isaiah 34:11 belongs to a prophecy of punishment and desolation upon Idumea, or Edom, as part of judgments upon the nations, picturing its land burned and laid waste with its cities overthrown so none passes through it, and the line of confusion and stones of emptiness stretched over it to mark its ruin, waste and emptiness where wild creatures possess and dwell. It looks especially toward the last days and the day of the Lord's vengeance, wrath and fierce anger upon the nations, with Idumea serving as a type or picture of the earth, the sin-cursed world under judgment. It describes the earth made desolate at Christ's second coming and remaining waste and uninhabited by people through the thousand years, until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed and made new. At that coming the living wicked are slain and destroyed out of the earth, the righteous dead are raised immortal and the living righteous changed in the first resurrection and ascend with the Lord to heaven to reign with Christ in judgment for a thousand years while the wicked dead are not raised until the thousand years end, which is why that judgment reign takes place in the New Jerusalem before it descends to earth. During that time the earth lies ruined, empty and naturally incapable of supporting human life with no people and no place for the wicked on it, possessed by the cormorant, bittern, owl, raven and other wild kinds that remain and consume the human carcasses, and the fire bringing this desolation is not yet universal, for the earth is not entirely wrapped in flame until the thousand years end when it becomes a lake of fire followed by renewal. The unquenchable fire and smoke ascending forever end in complete consumption and perpetual waste, for forever and ever means only the time the burning and desolation continue, teaching that after the final judgment the wicked are destroyed and perish rather than continue forever in punishment, so that because the land is desolate and uninhabited no people remain there to hear or to preach the everlasting gospel after the Advent.

Setting and Language

The verse belongs to a prophecy of punishment and desolation upon Idumea, or Edom, as part of judgments upon the nations. That declaration of God's judgments on Idumea points to absolute desolation coming under His just judgments. Idumea signifies the earth, or a part of it, that receives those judgments.

Idumea serves as a type or picture of the world, the sin-cursed earth and its idolatrous dwellers, and its desolation pictures the fate of this present world in contrast to the promised inheritance of the earth made new. It is a type of the earth during the millennium, when the saints are in heaven and wild creatures remain on earth after its human inhabitants have been destroyed. Under the type of Idumea the earth is left without human inhabitants and becomes a dwelling place for wild beasts and birds of prey. People have perished, but wild beasts and birds of prey remain to inhabit the earth and consume the human carcasses.

The prophecy looks especially toward the last days and God's judgments upon the earth. Its desolation is placed in the day of the Lord's vengeance, when God's judgments fall on the nations at the final judgment. That day of the Lord is a day of God's wrath and fierce anger.

The land is pictured as burned with fire that shall not be quenched and smoke that ascends forever, ending in complete consumption and utter desolation. It burns and lies waste so that none can pass through it, and afterward the same land blossoms and is inhabited. At Christ's second coming the earth is left desolate in this way, with its cities overthrown and its land possessed only by wild birds, because the living sinners are destroyed out of it.

The line of confusion and stones of emptiness stretched over it mark its ruin, waste, and emptiness. The earth is measured out for confusion and desolation and becomes a place of ruin and emptiness inhabited by birds among the ruins. A once-inhabited place with buildings becomes a ruin where wild creatures dwell, which illustrates the ruin of people, nations, and cities that turn from God. The desolated land inhabited by wild birds and beasts shows by its animal setting that the mate mentioned later in the chapter refers to an animal, not a human husband or wife.

Millennial Earth Laid Waste

The verse pictures the earth made waste at the second coming of Christ and left desolate and uninhabited by people through the thousand years, until the New Jerusalem comes down and the earth is renewed and made new. At that coming the living wicked are slain and destroyed out of the earth, while the righteous dead are raised immortal and the living righteous are changed in the first resurrection. Those made immortal ascend with the Lord to heaven, to the Father's house, to the eternal city and the New Jerusalem, to reign with Christ in the judgment of the wicked for a thousand years, while the wicked dead are not raised until the thousand years are ended. Because the earth is thus desolate, that reign of judgment by Christ and the saints takes place in the New Jerusalem before it descends to earth. After Christ returns the earth will lie desolate while the righteous are with Christ, before the wicked are raised and destroyed and the earth is made new.

During that time the earth lies ruined and empty under the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness, naturally incapable of supporting human life, with no people and no place for the wicked upon it. Its cities are overthrown and its land is marked by confusion and emptiness, and left without human inhabitants it becomes a dwelling place for wild beasts among the ruins. Wild birds and beasts possess and dwell in it among the ruins, for man and domestic or useful beasts are destroyed but the most wild, doleful, ferocious and revolting kinds remain. The cormorant and bittern, the owl and the raven, with the other beasts, birds and reptiles named in the chapter, inhabit the earth as birds of prey and consume the human carcasses after the saints are in heaven.

Animal life is not all destroyed at the beginning of the day of the Lord but remains on the desolated earth after humanity is destroyed, and it survives and multiplies greatly during the thousand years. It thus grows in number amid the ruins before the resurrection of the wicked, and provides food for the wicked when they come up at the end. Yet its presence during the thousand years, after Christ's coming has destroyed the wicked and before the final destruction of sin and its works, does not mean animal life survives the whole day of the Lord, since all animal life flees before Christ's presence. The fire bringing this desolation is not yet universal, for the earth is not entirely wrapped in flame until the thousand years end. When God's glory appears at the end the whole sinful earth becomes a lake of fire, before the wicked are destroyed and the earth is made new, and afterward the same land that burned and lay waste so none could pass through it blossoms and is inhabited by the ransomed. The earth is thus desolated through the destruction of the wicked.

Doctrine and Warning

The burning with fire that cannot be quenched and smoke that rises forever ends in complete consumption and lasting waste, for afterward the same land blossoms and is inhabited by the ransomed. Forever and ever means only the time the burning and desolation continue, as forever for the Hebrew servant meant his natural life, and unquenchable fire lasts only while persons or fuel can exist in it to support the smoke. When the country becomes a perpetual waste possessed by wild birds and not passed through by people, it proves that endless smoke does not mean endless burning but a fire that consumes what produces it until nothing remains. The stretching of the line of confusion and stones of emptiness over it into utter desolation shows that after the final judgment the wicked are destroyed and perish rather than continue forever in punishment.

Because the listed birds possess and dwell in the ruined land, no people remain there to hear the gospel during the so-called glorious Age to Come. The land after the Lord's Advent lies desolate and uninhabited by people and occupied instead by wild and doleful creatures, so none remain there to preach the everlasting gospel after the Advent. The verse stands among the prophecies associated with the return to Zion as a type of the Gospel dispensation. As a prophecy against Idumea it illustrates the ruin of people, nations, and cities that turn from God, when a once-inhabited place with its buildings becomes a ruin where wild creatures dwell and is marked for confusion and emptiness.

It warns of a near day of desolation for the rich who steel themselves against their brother's woe and sell their priceless souls for gold, when rusted gold is worthless and bodies lie in dust. Then glittering grand palaces become mouldering ivy-covered piles where for long ages no human foot paces with cheerful tread and no human voice wakes an echo among chambers of the dead, but the owl hoots, the satyr cries, the bat flits with noiseless wing, and prowling monsters hide and venomed serpents glide. Its owl and bittern evoke abandoned ancient cities like Carthage and Nineveh, where desolation marks the end of human greatness until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed. The ruins of human works in that picture of last-day destruction show the death and decay brought into the world by sin and disobedience.