Isaiah 34:14, commentary and pictures

Isaiah 34:14 describes the punishment and desolation of Idumea, which stands as a type of the sin-cursed earth under God's judgments in the last days. Its plain meaning is that human life is emptied from the land, with no people, nobles or princes left to support, while wild beasts meet together, satyrs cry to one another, and owls find rest among the ruins. This takes place in the day of the Lord's vengeance at the glorious coming of Jesus, when the living wicked are slain and the righteous are taken to heaven, leaving the earth desolate through the thousand years. That ruined and empty earth is the chain that binds Satan from deceiving the nations, confining him to wander where he can deceive no one until the wicked are raised at the end of the thousand years. The burning with unquenched fire and smoke ascending forever lasts only while there is anything to consume, and afterward the same land is renewed for the ransomed, proving the wicked perish utterly rather than burn endlessly.

Historical and Prophetic Setting

Isaiah 34:14 belongs to the section of varied prophecies in Isaiah chapters 24-35, which particularly look forward to the last days and God's judgments upon the earth. It stands in the latter part of Isaiah, which relates almost wholly to the days of the Christian dispensation. That portion carries traits with a twofold application, as seen in prophecies concerning Babylon, Idumea and Jerusalem.

The verse is part of the description of the punishment and desolation of Idumea or Edom. Idumea signifies the earth or some portion of it that is to receive the judgments of God. Edom serves as a type of the sin-cursed earth and its idolatrous dwellers, and Idumea is presented as a type of the world. The desolate scene of wild creatures inhabiting the land points to the absolute desolation that will come under God's just judgments.

It takes place in the day of the Lord's vengeance, when His indignation is upon all nations and His fury upon all their armies. Then the heavens are rolled together as a scroll and their hosts fall as a falling fig from the fig tree, in close connection with the awful scenes of the great day of final accounts, when the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth and the great day of judgment dawns upon a guilty world. Then the nations are gathered to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. That day of the Lord is the day of His tumult, the day of His wrath and fierce anger. That day is the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven to earth, as essential and fundamental as His first coming in suffering flesh.

The fall of Babylon shown in Isaiah 34 is a bold type of the end of the world, and together with Isaiah 35 it shows the return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy as a type of the Gospel dispensation. The ruined city is depicted as deserted and overrun by wild creatures. The satyr's presence in its ruins shows that its pride and grandeur will end in desolation.

Creatures in Desolate Land

The verse portrays the earth emptied of human life, with no people remaining and no nobles or princes left, lying desolate and incapable of supporting human life through the age of desolation after the wicked are slain and the righteous taken to heaven. It belongs to the description of the thousand years when the rest of the dead remain unraised until the thousand years are ended and the wicked have no place upon the ruined land. Wild beasts of the desert meet with wild beasts of the island, the satyr cries to his fellow, and the screech owl rests and finds for herself a place of rest there, showing that wild animal and bird life continues and finds shelter among the ruins. Their meeting and resting amid deserted places makes the loneliness and desolation vivid, with Idumea representing the earth during the millennium when the saints are in heaven.

Man and beast, meaning mankind and the domesticated beasts useful to man, are cut off, while only the most ferocious, doleful, revolting and horrible kinds of beasts, birds and reptiles are left alive, showing very nearly what species will remain. The remaining wild beasts and birds of prey inhabit the desolate earth and feed on the bodies of the dead. They live and reproduce through the wilderness during the thousand years so that their numbers grow greatly. They provide food for the wicked when they come up at the end of the thousand years, though the verse does not establish whether they will be the provision.

Their presence shows that the fire at Christ's coming is not yet universal and that the earth is not entirely lifeless during its desolation. The destruction of animal life does not last through the whole day of the Lord, but wild animals and birds live there after the wicked have died, before the earth is entirely wrapped in flame at the end of that period and before the final destruction of sin and its works. The desolate wilderness inhabited by wild creatures and uncanny beings supports the identification of the desert as a dwelling place of demons. During the thousand years it is inhabited by birds and beasts and by the devil and demons.

Millennial Timing and Sequence

The verse describes the earth made desolate after Christ's return and during the thousand years, when the wicked have been slain and the righteous taken to heaven, with Idumea as a type of that desolation. It belongs to a picture of the earth after the second coming in which human life is destroyed but wild beasts and birds continue, meeting one another and finding rest and shelter among the ruins, while no people, nobles or princes remain. The wild beasts and birds of prey inhabit the desolate land through the age of desolation, feed on the bodies of the dead, and live there after the wicked have died, before the final destruction of sin and its works. Their presence shows the fire at Christ's coming is not yet universal and the destruction of animal life does not last through the whole day of the Lord. Isaiah 34:1-15 thus sets forth the earth's desolation during the millennium after the wicked are destroyed at the second advent, the land lying waste until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed.

At the second advent all living wicked men are destroyed, the righteous dead are raised and the living righteous are changed to immortality in the first resurrection and ascend with Christ to the Father's house in the heavenly city to reign with Him in judgment, while the rest of the dead remain unraised until the 1000 years are ended. The land is then emptied of human life and left incapable of supporting it, inhabited only by wild beasts of the desert meeting wild beasts of the island, the satyr crying to his fellow, and the screech owl resting and finding a place of rest there, with the wicked having no place on it. The immortal saints ascend to the New Jerusalem to reign with Christ during one thousand years while this earth lies desolate and waste, judging the wicked.

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 and are utterly destroyed by fire rained from heaven, until from that vast lake of fire God brings a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. The land lies waste with wild creatures inhabiting it until the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed. This desolation supports the conclusion that Christ and the saints reign in the New Jerusalem before it descends to earth, rather than reigning on an already renewed earth or among living nations, and is cited for the sequence of destruction at Christ's return before the final destruction and new earth.

The verse is cited among the prophecies describing the destruction of sinners living at Christ's second appearing and the resulting desolation of the earth. Because its creatures provide no human congregation to hear or reject the everlasting gospel, the desolate earth inhabited by wild creatures and not people contradicts the idea that people will remain on earth after the Advent to preach it.

Doctrines Established from Verse

The land is burned and laid waste so that none passes through it forever and ever, yet that forever and ever lasts only as long as the burning and desolation last. As the Hebrew servant serving forever means serving during his natural life, so forever in passages about unquenchable fire covers only the time it is possible to exist in that fire. Afterward the same land blossoms and is inhabited by the ransomed of the Lord.

Edom is burned with fire that shall not be quenched and smoke that ascends forever, yet afterward the land becomes a perpetual desolation where no man passes through. That desolation is shown by the wild beasts and birds that meet and rest there in place of men. Fire that is never quenched and smoke that ascends forever does not burn endlessly but consumes everything until nothing remains to support the fire, and then gives place to utter desolation. Ascending smoke is proof that the thing burning is being consumed, and the wicked in their torment will likewise consume away into smoke until they perish utterly.

Man and beast means mankind and the domesticated beasts useful to man, which are cut off, while only the most ferocious, doleful, revolting and horrible kinds of beasts, birds and reptiles are left alive, including the wild creatures named in the verse. The Lord makes the earth empty, waste, turned upside down and desolate, with not one person left alive, all dead and all equal. Thorns come up in palaces and brambles in fortresses, while the wild beast of the desert meets the wild beast of the island, the satyr cries to his fellow, and the screech owl finds a resting place. This desolate earth with no living human inhabitants is the chain that binds Satan from deceiving the nations during the 1000 years between the two resurrections. This ruined earth is Satan's home for a thousand years, where he is bound, able to wander over it as he wills but limited to this place.

Moral and Spiritual Applications

The meeting and pairing of wild creatures in a desolate city shows how sin perpetuates and increases itself. Each sin makes repeating it easier and leads toward further sins, with each wrong act drawing a person further into evil. Their calling to one another and each finding its fellow and its mate shows sins linked together, where one sin prepares for and pulls after another.

A near day of desolation foretold by signs is coming on the rich who harden themselves against the poor in selfish struggle after gold. Their glittering grand palaces will become mouldering ruined piles, chambers of the dead where ivy clings and where for ages long no human foot paces with cheerful tread and no human voice wakes an echo. There the owl shall hoot and rest, the satyr shall cry, the bat shall flit with noiseless wing, and prowling monsters shall hide and venomed serpents glide. Then vast treasures and hoarded piles of shining gold will rust and become useless gay baubles for which the priceless soul was sold, while the oppressor's frame lies in the dust.