Isaiah 34:9, commentary and pictures

Idumea is the small ancient land of Edom, yet in its full meaning it stands as a type and figure of the whole sin-cursed earth under God's final judgments. Its streams are turned to pitch, its dust to brimstone, and its whole land becomes burning pitch, a vast lake of liquid fire in which even water and soil burn until the globe is dissolved. That fire is unquenchable because nothing can stop it while fuel remains, yet it burns only while the wicked remain to be consumed and then ceases, so its smoke rising forever marks complete destruction and not endless conscious suffering. The burning belongs to the day of the Lord at Christ's second coming, when the living wicked are destroyed and the earth is left desolate and waste through the thousand years between the resurrections. The same fire that devours the wicked on this earth where they sinned purifies it and makes it new again as the everlasting home of the righteous, and its wording is the Old Testament source for the lake of fire and the smoke forever and ever in Revelation 14 and Revelation 20-21.

Idumea as Earth's Type

The land in view is Idumea, the literal land of Edom east and south of Judea centered at Bozrah, a small ancient mountain land, and the prediction first refers locally to desolations to fall upon that land. Whether taken of the literal land and its desolations or of the overflowing fiery desolation of this earth, the unquenched fire and smoke going up forever mean complete destruction of limited duration, not eternal torment or endless conscious suffering. In its full meaning Idumea is not left as only that small land but signifies the earth or some portion of it. It serves as a type and figure of the whole sin-cursed world, of the idolatrous dwellers in it, and of the world under God's just judgments, with the streams and dust becoming pitch and brimstone picturing fires that consume and purify the earth from sin and its effects.

That fiery judgment comes in the day of the Lord's vengeance when indignation is upon all nations and their armies, when the heavens are rolled together as a scroll and the great Day of Judgment dawns upon a guilty world, when the Lord arises to shake terribly the earth and the nations are gathered to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. In this application to the earth as the counterpart of Idumea, the land becomes a fiery, burning wasteland and ruined desolation with no human inhabitants and no place for man in its awful desolation during the thousand years when man is absent, though animals dwell among the ruins. The fires continue until that consuming and purifying work is complete, the land remaining uninhabited during that time, and the smoke that rises forever signifies the lasting result of judgment rather than eternal suffering. The scene is connected with destruction at Christ's second coming, while afterward God creates a new heaven and new earth as the eternal home of the righteous and the saved.

The prophecy has both an immediate historical application to Idumea and a further application at the end of the age to the final punishment of the ungodly and formal professors. It belongs to the fall of Babylon which stands as a bold type of the end of the world, and it stands coupled with the return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy, showing that the return from captivity was altogether a type for the gospel dispensation. Language of cosmic and total destruction in the judgment on Idumea, with streams become pitch, dust become brimstone, and land become burning pitch in terrible consuming images, can portray God's judgments on a nation without requiring a personal appearance of God or a literal change to the heavens and earth at that time.

If understood of literal Edom, its judgments were fulfilled ages ago and have long since ceased, and it is not burning now. That ending of the literal fire and brimstone shows that its smoke going up forever means a complete destruction that ends and the fire goes out. If it pictures the final conflagration, the earth and its works are burned up and the earth is purified by fire and later renewed, not destroyed forever.

Land Turned to Burning

The land under judgment is turned to utter devastation and desolation, its streams changed to pitch, its dust to brimstone, and its ground to burning pitch and a burning waste. In its full scope this means the whole earth becomes burning pitch, a vast lake of liquid fire. Its waterways are made flammable fuel and its soil burning sulfur, so that hell-fire is made by the burning of the earth itself.

Even what now puts out fire or does not burn will then burn, for water will burn as pitch and dust as brimstone until the whole globe is consumed and dissolved by devouring fire. Not only combustible things but non-combustible things and even things that now quench fire come under the power of that fire. By chemical changes made by the Creator, water is so changed that it burns like pitch and dust like brimstone.

That fire lives upon what is cast into it and devours every element of the whole substance of the globe. It dissolves substances into their original elements, mainly into gaseous matter, changing the form of existence without annihilating matter. The conflagration requires a long period to melt the whole earth in this way.

God has power to transform streams and dust into pitch and brimstone so that the land becomes burning pitch. Regions devastated by volcanic fire and flowing lava illustrate how this prediction will be fulfilled in the final doom of the wicked. Burning lava and sulfur, such as in the Samoan volcano, give a picture of the great day of judgment, though only a faint one beside the coming punishment of the ungodly world.

Fire That Finally Ends

The fire is unquenchable not because it burns forever but because it cannot be stopped or extinguished before it consumes what it burns, burning irresistibly until it has utterly consumed all fuel and dissolved all that it feeds upon. In that last-day conflagration even water burns as pitch and dust as brimstone, because the Creator makes chemical changes so that not only combustible things but non-combustible things and even things that now put out fire come under the power of fire. That fire lives upon what is cast into it, dissolving the whole substance of the globe into its original elements mainly into gaseous matter, changing the form of existence without annihilating matter. When it has devoured every element it then ceases to burn for lack of fuel, stopping only when its work is done.

Fire's action is not to preserve but to destroy, living upon and devouring what it preys upon until nothing remains to support it, when the wicked have been devoured and become ashes. Fire that is never quenched and smoke that ascends forever do not burn endlessly but consume what they burn, since rising smoke is proof that something is being consumed and must finally perish utterly in complete destruction ending in utter desolation and perpetual waste where no man passes through. The burning belongs to the Lord's day of vengeance and indignation against the nations, when streams become pitch, soil becomes brimstone, and land becomes burning pitch.

The burning, the fire not quenched night nor day, and the smoke rising forever do not mean endless burning or endless conscious suffering; the conflagration continues without relief only while there is fuel to consume and while the wicked remain, then it ceases and the scene finally closes. Its language parallels the third angel's description of the wicked's punishment in fire and brimstone, yet the burning earth is ultimately consumed and new heavens and a new earth follow. The fire is not quenched night nor day while it burns, but it burns only until vengeance upon the wicked is finished. The everlasting fire lasts only while there is material to consume; once the material is consumed the fire ceases.

Forever, forever and ever, and from generation to generation cover only the length of time the thing exists in that condition: as long as the old earth remains desolate, until vengeance is finished and the scene finally closes. The land remains desolate for as long as the old earth exists in that condition, until God creates the new earth, a desolation lasting through the thousand years and ending when the new earth appears. Whether of the literal land of Edom east and south of Judea whose desolations have long since ceased, or as a figure for the whole world in the day of final conflagration when the earth and its works are burned up, in either case forever is limited in duration. The smoke that rises forever signifies the lasting and complete and final result of judgment, not smoke continuing to rise forever.

The forever language still means something extremely terrible, torment in fire and brimstone continued through a series of days and nights, not instantaneous death or merely momentary torment. The image is applied to the destruction of sin and the wicked, after which the fire has gone out and the earth is purified. Because the earth is afterward purified, renewed, and made the eternal home of the righteous, with the wilderness and desert restored to joy and blossom and inhabited by the Lord's ransomed, the burning cannot last without end. From the ashes God makes a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness, so the forever proves no eternity of misery.

Millennial Desolation Timing

The prophecy looks especially toward the last days and belongs to the day of the Lord, the great day of God Almighty. It is the day of the Lord's vengeance and the year of recompense for Zion's controversy, when indignation rests upon all nations and their armies. It is a day of tumult, wrath, fierce anger, vengeance and utter desolation, darkness and not light, terrible and not to be abided. It is never the accepted time or day of salvation with calls to repentance and offers of mercy to sinners, but the great day of God's wrath and judgment upon the heathen.

The destruction comes at Christ's second coming and the Lord's presence, when the heavens are rolled together as a scroll and the great Day of Judgment dawns upon a guilty world. Then the living wicked are destroyed, the righteous are made immortal and ascend with Christ, and the land is left without inhabitant and utterly desolated. The earth is made desolate by the destruction of all wicked men at the second advent, left empty and waste while the resurrected and changed righteous have ascended to reign with Christ in judgment in heaven for a thousand years.

The burning wasteland with fire, smoke and darkness marks the ruined earth at the beginning of the thousand years between the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. Its streams and dust become like pitch and brimstone and its land burns, with smoke rising and the land remaining waste. There the devil and his angels remain for that time, confined to the desolate earth as the antitypical scapegoat. The words for ever and ever and from generation to generation indicate that the desolation lasts a long time.

Through the thousand years the earth remains desolate, waste and uninhabited by people, while Christ and the saints reign in judgment in the New Jerusalem in heaven. In its application to the earth as the counterpart of Idumea, this fiery wasteland has no human inhabitants, though the fires and smoke continue through the age of desolation, not forever without end. It remains desolate for as long as the old earth exists in that condition, through the one thousand years until God creates the new earth. It becomes a habitation for birds, beasts, the devil and demons.

During the thousand years animal life remains, dwells among the ruins, multiplies and provides food for the wicked when they come up at the end. The desolate earth is left with wild beasts and birds of prey after human beings are destroyed. The earth is not entirely wrapped in flame until the thousand years end, and the destruction of the animals along with the wicked comes at the close of the day of wrath.

The destruction at the beginning of the thousand years is similar to the final destruction of the ungodly at its end, both punishments being inflicted upon the earth. After the thousand years, after the holy city has descended and the wicked dead are raised to surround it, fire from God devours them. Then the earth itself burns and becomes a lake of devouring fire, its streams become pitch, its dust brimstone and its land burning pitch, consuming the resurrected wicked and melting the earth with its heat.

Punishment Purification Renewal

The burning land is the gehenna of fire, the lake of fire and brimstone, and the second death, for the earth itself is made combustible and burning pitch. That fire is kindled by the Lord with fire coming down from God out of heaven, at times united with fire now burning in the interior of the earth. It melts the whole earth and dissolves the elements with fervent heat, and the conflagration requires a long period to melt the whole globe and dissolve its substances without annihilating their matter. This takes place in the great day of God after the thousand years, when the resurrected wicked surround the city of God and fire from God consumes them and death itself is destroyed.

This proves the wicked receive their punishment on this very earth where they committed their crimes, not in some distant place outside creation. It is inflicted after the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, rained upon them with fire and brimstone. It is consumed in the presence of Christ and the holy angels, and in the presence of the righteous within the city, as the smoke of the burning earth ascends together with the smoke of the wicked suffering its devouring power. Everything that fire can consume is burned up, the heavens in flames, the rocks melted and the whole earth devoured.

The same fire that destroys the wicked purifies the earth, melting the old earth to make it over new again as a founder recasts iron. Its streams and soil turned to pitch and brimstone picture fires that consume and purify the earth from sin and its effects, consuming sin, the works of sin throughout the earth, Satan himself, and death itself, while the holy city remains unharmed. The flames continue until that work is complete and then die out, leaving a clean universe with the earth purified and the fire gone out. The land remains uninhabited during that time, through the age of desolation until the scene finally closes.

From those purifying fires and from the ashes God brings the new heaven and new earth wherein dwells righteousness, as the everlasting kingdom and eternal home of God's people. The place where sin ruled becomes the home of the people of God, restored to primitive beauty for the saints to inherit. Isaiah 34 describes this judgment by fire, and Isaiah 35 immediately following describes the new earth coming forth from those fires, where the wilderness and desert rejoice and blossom and the Lord's ransomed dwell. This comes before the New Jerusalem descends and the earth is renewed, after the earth has lain desolate and has ultimately been consumed by fire when the wicked are destroyed.

The verse therefore proves no eternity of misery, for it means complete destruction of limited duration ending in utter desolation and perpetual waste where no man passes through. The fire consumes its object and the rising smoke proves something is being consumed and must finally perish utterly, so its smoke rising forever signifies the complete and final result of destruction, not a fire that keeps its victims alive forever. Whether taken of literal Edom, whose judgments were fulfilled ages ago and have long since ceased, or as a figure for the whole world in the day of final conflagration when the earth and its works are burned up, the forever covers only the length of time the thing exists in that condition. Fire that is never quenched and smoke that ascends forever do not burn endlessly but refute endless torment and the doctrine of hell fire, since this earth is destined to be purified from sin and become the abode of the righteous.

Ties to Other Scriptures

The wording supplies the Old Testament source from which Revelation borrows its fire and brimstone and lake of fire language. It parallels the third angel's description of the wicked's punishment in Revelation 14:10-11, including smoke going up forever and ever and no rest day nor night. It is cited as part of the fiery punishment of those who worship the beast and receive its mark. Though the burning and its smoke are described as lasting forever, this does not mean the conflagration continues without end, for the scene finally closes and the burning earth is ultimately consumed. Because the earth is afterward renewed to become the everlasting dwelling of God's people, the burning cannot last without end.

When set on fire, its literal fire and brimstone is the same as the torment of the wicked in Revelation 14. It shows the gehenna of fire where the second death is inflicted is a fire burning with brimstone. That punishment of the wicked with fire and brimstone shall be in the great day of God, after the example of Sodom and Gomorrah, and inflicted in the presence of Christ and the holy angels. If understood of literal Edom, its judgments were fulfilled ages ago when Idumea was laid desolate, and it is not burning now, which shows that its fire and brimstone and its smoke going up forever mean a complete destruction of limited duration that ends and the fire goes out.

It describes the melting of the earth and the forming of the lake of fire and brimstone, joined to the dissolving of the heavens in the same chapter. It is the same event as the desolate and dissolved earth followed by the glorious reign of the Messiah in Isaiah 24 and the lake of fire followed by a new heaven and new earth in Revelation. It comes immediately before the glad, blossoming new earth described in Isaiah 35, and the next chapter shows the new earth that comes after. The fire is not quenched night nor day while it burns, but it burns only until vengeance upon the wicked is finished, then it ceases. That same fire that destroys the wicked purifies the earth, melting the old earth to make it over new again as a founder recasts iron, and restores it to its primitive beauty as the final home of the righteous and an everlasting kingdom for the saints to inherit, where the wilderness and desert rejoice and blossom.

It stands coupled with the return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy, showing the connection between judgment on the nations and the restoration of God's people. It belongs to the fall of Babylon which stands as a bold type of the end of the world. The return from captivity was altogether a type for the gospel dispensation.