They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
The call to the nobles finds no one there because earthly rule has ended and political power has come to nothing, leaving the land without human inhabitants for wild beasts and birds to roam. Idumea and Bozrah stand as a type of this sin-cursed world under God's just judgments, and its time is the day of the Lord's vengeance in the last days when Christ comes from heaven to earth in judgment upon all nations. The earth is left desolate at Christ's second coming and remains so through the thousand years until the thousand years end and the New Jerusalem descends, while Christ and the saints reign meanwhile in heaven. No people remain on earth because the living wicked are slain and stay dead until the thousand years end and the righteous are made immortal and taken to heaven, so that only the devil and his angels with surviving wild beasts, birds and reptiles multiply among the ruins. After the thousand years the wicked are raised and destroyed by fire from heaven and God brings a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, which leaves none on the desolate earth to hear the gospel and warns the rich that hoarded treasures and glittering palaces will become worthless mouldering piles.
Prophetic Setting and Sense
Idumea, Edom and Bozrah stand in the prophecy as a type of this sin-cursed earth or world, or a part of it, with its idolatrous dwellers receiving God's judgments. The same prophecy is spoken of also under the figure of Babylon's fall, used as a type of the end of the world. Its closing scene is a land without human inhabitants left for wild beasts to roam, pointing to absolute desolation under God's just judgments.
Its time is especially the last days, the Lord's indignation upon all nations, the day of the Lord's vengeance and year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. It is the day of tumult, wrath and fierce anger, fulfilled in the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven to earth. It is when the nations gather for the final battle and the great day of judgment. It is linked with the return to Zion as a type of the Gospel dispensation.
Its plain sense is that when nobles are called to the kingdom none are there and all her princes shall be nothing: there is no functioning kingdom, earthly rule is ended, rulers are absent and powerless and political power has come to nothing in complete desolation. The nobles cannot establish a kingdom there, and no inhabitants remain to be ruled. The mate mentioned nearby refers to the wild beasts and birds inhabiting the land, not to human marriage. The land's burning and waste do not last endlessly, for it later blossoms and is inhabited by the Lord's ransomed, so that forever describes only as long as people can exist in unquenchable fire, not an endless period.
The prophecy is included among prophecies having traits with a twofold application.
Millennial Desolation and Renewal
The verse portrays the earth left desolate at and after Christ's second coming, and remaining so through the thousand years until the thousand years end, the New Jerusalem descends, and the earth is renewed. Christ and the saints reign meanwhile in heaven and in the New Jerusalem before it descends to earth. The desolation is applied to the earth after the destruction of the last day, when it lies empty until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed. Its nobles are summoned to rule, but none are there, and its princes are brought to nothing and have vanished, showing no functioning kingdom or rulers and no people left on earth to hear the gospel.
The absence of rulers means no people remain on earth, for at Christ's coming all the living wicked are slain and remain dead until the thousand years end, while the righteous are made immortal and transported to heaven and the eternal city to reign with Christ in judgment of the wicked. The whole earth is laid desolate by the utter destruction of man at the indignation of the Lord upon all nations, the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, so that no nobles or princes are left to be called to the kingdom. The earth also remains inhabited by the devil and demons, and by birds and beasts, but by no human beings. The destruction of man and beast means man in the broadest sense and the domesticated or useful beasts, while humanity has been destroyed and the wicked have died.
Animal life is not all destroyed at the beginning of the day of the Lord, for birds and beasts survive among the ruins and multiply during the thousand years, while wild animals and birds instead inhabit the land after human life has perished at Christ's return. The living creatures left alive are the wild, ferocious, loathsome and revolting kinds of beasts, birds and reptiles, including owls, satyrs, bats and serpents, the most ferocious, loathsome, revolting and horrible kinds. The earth is not yet entirely wrapped in flame nor sin and its works universally destroyed until the thousand years end, and the prophecy of Idumea as a type of the desolate earth during the millennium fits the destruction of human inhabitants while wild beasts and birds remain. The surviving animals remain until the wicked come up at the end of the thousand years, when they multiply and provide food for the resurrected hosts.
After the thousand years the saints with Christ and the holy city descend to this earth, the wicked dead are raised and with Satan come up around the holy city, they are utterly destroyed by fire from heaven so that this earth becomes one vast lake of fire, and from it God brings a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. In that context the land's burning and waste do not last endlessly but later blossom and are inhabited by the Lord's ransomed. The chapter proves the wicked perish utterly rather than live forever in torment, for like thorns, one of the most inflammable and perishable substances, cut up and burned, they are consumed and devoured by fire in utter excision, coming to an end and becoming as though they had not been, with death as the wages of sin. Like perishing beasts, passing whirlwind, moth-eaten garments, burning fat, vanishing smoke, melting wax, chaff, tares and withered branches, thorns lose form and substance in fire and become as though they had not been, which proves utter ruin and destruction, not eternal preservation in torment. Fire that shall not be quenched and smoke ascending forever give place to perpetual desolation where no man passes through once everything is consumed, for rising smoke proves fire is consuming its fuel and what consumes must cease when nothing remains, and forever describes only as long as people can exist in unquenchable fire, not an endless period.
Doctrine and Practical Warning
The desolated earth during the thousand years leaves no people to hear the gospel in a so-called glorious Age to Come after the Advent. Its nobles are summoned to rule, but no one is there, and its princes are brought to nothing. The land is left desolate after the Advent, not a place where people remain to preach the everlasting gospel. The only audience pictured nearby is wild creatures.
Rebellion against God ends in loss of rulers and ruin of a people. Departure from God brings the same destruction illustrated in Idumea's desolation, where nobles and princes are gone. Palaces and strongholds become overgrown and inhabited by wild creatures.
A near day of desolation is coming upon the rich who harden themselves against the poor and sell their souls for hoarded gold. Their glittering palaces shall become mouldering piles hung with ivy, chambers of the dead where through ages long no human foot shall pace and no human voice shall wake an echo. There the owl shall hoot, the satyr shall cry, the bat shall flit, the prowling monster shall hide, and venomed serpents shall glide. Such ruin shows vast treasures and gay baubles to be worthless in that day. While time and mercy are given, treasure is to be laid in the bank of heaven.
The call to the nobles finds no one there because earthly rule has ended and political power has come to nothing, leaving the land without human inhabitants for wild beasts and birds to roam. Idumea and Bozrah stand as a type of this sin-cursed world under God's just judgments, and its time is the day of the Lord's vengeance in the last days when Christ comes from heaven to earth in judgment upon all nations. The earth is left desolate at Christ's second coming and remains so through the thousand years until the thousand years end and the New Jerusalem descends, while Christ and the saints reign meanwhile in heaven. No people remain on earth because the living wicked are slain and stay dead until the thousand years end and the righteous are made immortal and taken to heaven, so that only the devil and his angels with surviving wild beasts, birds and reptiles multiply among the ruins. After the thousand years the wicked are raised and destroyed by fire from heaven and God brings a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness, which leaves none on the desolate earth to hear the gospel and warns the rich that hoarded treasures and glittering palaces will become worthless mouldering piles.
Prophetic Setting and Sense
Idumea, Edom and Bozrah stand in the prophecy as a type of this sin-cursed earth or world, or a part of it, with its idolatrous dwellers receiving God's judgments. The same prophecy is spoken of also under the figure of Babylon's fall, used as a type of the end of the world. Its closing scene is a land without human inhabitants left for wild beasts to roam, pointing to absolute desolation under God's just judgments.
Its time is especially the last days, the Lord's indignation upon all nations, the day of the Lord's vengeance and year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion. It is the day of tumult, wrath and fierce anger, fulfilled in the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven to earth. It is when the nations gather for the final battle and the great day of judgment. It is linked with the return to Zion as a type of the Gospel dispensation.
Its plain sense is that when nobles are called to the kingdom none are there and all her princes shall be nothing: there is no functioning kingdom, earthly rule is ended, rulers are absent and powerless and political power has come to nothing in complete desolation. The nobles cannot establish a kingdom there, and no inhabitants remain to be ruled. The mate mentioned nearby refers to the wild beasts and birds inhabiting the land, not to human marriage. The land's burning and waste do not last endlessly, for it later blossoms and is inhabited by the Lord's ransomed, so that forever describes only as long as people can exist in unquenchable fire, not an endless period.
The prophecy is included among prophecies having traits with a twofold application.
Millennial Desolation and Renewal
The verse portrays the earth left desolate at and after Christ's second coming, and remaining so through the thousand years until the thousand years end, the New Jerusalem descends, and the earth is renewed. Christ and the saints reign meanwhile in heaven and in the New Jerusalem before it descends to earth. The desolation is applied to the earth after the destruction of the last day, when it lies empty until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed. Its nobles are summoned to rule, but none are there, and its princes are brought to nothing and have vanished, showing no functioning kingdom or rulers and no people left on earth to hear the gospel.
The absence of rulers means no people remain on earth, for at Christ's coming all the living wicked are slain and remain dead until the thousand years end, while the righteous are made immortal and transported to heaven and the eternal city to reign with Christ in judgment of the wicked. The whole earth is laid desolate by the utter destruction of man at the indignation of the Lord upon all nations, the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion, so that no nobles or princes are left to be called to the kingdom. The earth also remains inhabited by the devil and demons, and by birds and beasts, but by no human beings. The destruction of man and beast means man in the broadest sense and the domesticated or useful beasts, while humanity has been destroyed and the wicked have died.
Animal life is not all destroyed at the beginning of the day of the Lord, for birds and beasts survive among the ruins and multiply during the thousand years, while wild animals and birds instead inhabit the land after human life has perished at Christ's return. The living creatures left alive are the wild, ferocious, loathsome and revolting kinds of beasts, birds and reptiles, including owls, satyrs, bats and serpents, the most ferocious, loathsome, revolting and horrible kinds. The earth is not yet entirely wrapped in flame nor sin and its works universally destroyed until the thousand years end, and the prophecy of Idumea as a type of the desolate earth during the millennium fits the destruction of human inhabitants while wild beasts and birds remain. The surviving animals remain until the wicked come up at the end of the thousand years, when they multiply and provide food for the resurrected hosts.
After the thousand years the saints with Christ and the holy city descend to this earth, the wicked dead are raised and with Satan come up around the holy city, they are utterly destroyed by fire from heaven so that this earth becomes one vast lake of fire, and from it God brings a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. In that context the land's burning and waste do not last endlessly but later blossom and are inhabited by the Lord's ransomed. The chapter proves the wicked perish utterly rather than live forever in torment, for like thorns, one of the most inflammable and perishable substances, cut up and burned, they are consumed and devoured by fire in utter excision, coming to an end and becoming as though they had not been, with death as the wages of sin. Like perishing beasts, passing whirlwind, moth-eaten garments, burning fat, vanishing smoke, melting wax, chaff, tares and withered branches, thorns lose form and substance in fire and become as though they had not been, which proves utter ruin and destruction, not eternal preservation in torment. Fire that shall not be quenched and smoke ascending forever give place to perpetual desolation where no man passes through once everything is consumed, for rising smoke proves fire is consuming its fuel and what consumes must cease when nothing remains, and forever describes only as long as people can exist in unquenchable fire, not an endless period.
Doctrine and Practical Warning
The desolated earth during the thousand years leaves no people to hear the gospel in a so-called glorious Age to Come after the Advent. Its nobles are summoned to rule, but no one is there, and its princes are brought to nothing. The land is left desolate after the Advent, not a place where people remain to preach the everlasting gospel. The only audience pictured nearby is wild creatures.
Rebellion against God ends in loss of rulers and ruin of a people. Departure from God brings the same destruction illustrated in Idumea's desolation, where nobles and princes are gone. Palaces and strongholds become overgrown and inhabited by wild creatures.
A near day of desolation is coming upon the rich who harden themselves against the poor and sell their souls for hoarded gold. Their glittering palaces shall become mouldering piles hung with ivy, chambers of the dead where through ages long no human foot shall pace and no human voice shall wake an echo. There the owl shall hoot, the satyr shall cry, the bat shall flit, the prowling monster shall hide, and venomed serpents shall glide. Such ruin shows vast treasures and gay baubles to be worthless in that day. While time and mercy are given, treasure is to be laid in the bank of heaven.