Isaiah 23:1

The burden of Tyre. Howl, ye ships of Tarshish; for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no entering in: from the land of Chittim it is revealed to them... Pass ye over to Tarshish; howl, ye inhabitants of the isle. (Isaiah 23:1, with vv. 2–6)

Tyre boasted two thousand years of security—until God set Himself to humble the pride of the world's wealthiest city.

The Last of the Burdens: A Judgment on Tyre

As Isaiah finishes the burdens upon the nations in chapter 23, we come to the final judgment, directed at the Phoenician city of Tyre in modern-day Lebanon. You can still visit its ruins on the Mediterranean coast, just near the northern portion of Israel. In antiquity Tyre was called the Babylon of the Sea—Babylon's twin city. It was the commercial center of the ancient world.

If we put it in modern terms, Tyre was the Nasdaq of its time, the Wall Street, the stock exchange. It wasn't known for military might or conquest, but simply for its great wealth. It was the place where all the merchants came to dock their ships and sell their wares. We read of grain coming up from Sihor in verse 3, and the merchant ships of Tarshish—likely from modern-day Spain—dealing in iron, tin, lead, and silver. Tyre harbored ships from Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Spain.

The Report of Disaster

The picture Isaiah sees is of the ships of Tarshish on their way to Tyre, stopping at Cyprus—the last harbor about 150 miles northwest, just before Tyre's ports. There a report reaches the merchants: the city of Tyre has been destroyed. "Howl ye ships of Tarshish, for it is laid waste so that there is no house, no entering in." There is nowhere left to go, nowhere to take their goods.

The inhabitants of the isle—the Cypriots—are told to mourn in silence; the merchants will no longer come to Sidon and Tyre. Sidon, the sister city just to the north, was in reality the mother of Tyre, for it was the merchants of Sidon who founded it as a perfect harbor. Throughout these first six verses every merchant nation laments. Egypt is "sorely pained" at the report.

When Tyre falls, there is economic collapse. It is just as when the World Trade Center fell in 2001—every stock market around the world was affected, from Brussels to Japan. Or like the collapse of October 2008. Tyre is destroyed, and everyone feels it. The people are seen fleeing toward Tarshish to escape the coming destruction.

Who Would Dare Destroy the Crowning City?

"Is this your joyous city, whose antiquity is of ancient days?" Tyre was a city of exaltation, ecstasy, and delight. Because of its wealth it was given over to licentiousness—an "eat, drink, and be merry" mindset. Yet all that joy would be removed when destruction came.

According to Herodotus, Tyre was founded around 2750 B.C., so by Isaiah's writing in about 700 B.C. it had stood for nearly 2,000 years, never invaded. "Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city whose merchants are princes?" Her merchants were looked upon as royalty—like the names J.P. Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo once were, respected across the world. Because every economy was intertwined with Tyre, no one would dare destroy it, lest they destroy their own.

The answer comes in verse 9: "The Lord of hosts has purposed it." And why? "To stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt the honorable of the earth." Because of their wealth they had made themselves a great name, as if by their own strength and power. So God says, "I'm going to judge your pride." The very purpose of God was to dissolve their pride and lay low their glory.

Three Judgments Upon the Virgin Daughter

"Pass through thy land as a river, O daughter of Tarshish. There is no more strength." God tells the people to get out, for judgment is coming. As in verse 7, they would not be led away captive by Assyria or Babylon; they would flee themselves. The Lord "stretched out his hand over the sea" and "shook the kingdoms," for as Tyre was judged, the other nations felt the repercussions.

Tyre is called "the virgin daughter of Sidon"—her walls had never been penetrated, never sacked, never destroyed. But now three judgments would come in succession. In about 700 B.C. the Assyrian king Sennacherib laid siege and put Tyre under tribute for some seventy years, until about 630 B.C. Then in 572 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar besieged the coastal city for thirteen years; when he broke through, he found it nearly empty, for the people had moved out to the small island a half-mile offshore. Having no navy, he left.

The city flourished a few hundred more years until 332 B.C., when Alexander the Great came. He too had no navy—so he gathered the stones of the ruined mainland city and built a causeway out to the island, destroying it completely and taking it over. After nearly 2,000 years of safety, judgment came swiftly and completely.

Consider Babylon

"Behold the land of the Chaldeans," God says to the people of Tyre. Consider the Babylonians—they too were great merchants with a great ancient city, first founded by Nimrod in Genesis 11. Yet the Assyrians brought Babylon to ruin. "You are nothing in comparison to that great city Babylon. You too are going to be destroyed."

Despite their arrogance, the people of Tyre figured nothing would ever touch them—tomorrow would be like today, only more abundant. But God says no. Even after 2,000 years of security, judgment would come. "Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for your strength is laid waste."

The Seventy Years and the Offering to the Lord

Tyre would be forgotten for seventy years, "according to the days of one king," and then "sing as a harlot," going back out to allure merchants once again. There are differing views on these seventy years—some see the Assyrian tribute from 700 to 630 B.C., others tie it to the seventy years of Babylonian captivity. Whatever the case, God declares Tyre will be forgotten for a time, then return to her commerce.

Verse 18 is striking: "Her merchandise and her hire shall be holiness to the Lord." Again the views differ. Some say Tyre supplied materials to help rebuild the temple after Israel returned from Babylon. Others point to the flourishing church of disciples at Tyre in Acts 21, when Paul returned from his third missionary journey. Still others see a future offering during the millennial reign of Christ. Any of these may be right, for ultimately the people of Tyre are given as an offering to the Lord—consistent with all of Isaiah: the purpose of God's punishment is purification, and a remnant always returns.

We even glimpse this in the Gospels. A Syrophoenician woman from the region of Tyre or Sidon came to Jesus, begging Him to heal her daughter. When He said, "I was not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," she answered, "Even the dogs eat the scraps off the master's table." Beholding her faith, Jesus said, "Go your way; your request is granted," and her daughter was made whole.

False Security and the One Refuge

To the proud people of Tyre God said: your security after 2,000 years is a false security. There are those today who live under the same false sense of security—trusting their own goodness and works, supposing that when they stand before God everything will be fine. Those walls will not protect you when the wrath of the Lord comes. There is only one place of refuge: again and again Scripture shows that Jesus is our refuge, and we must turn to Him.

From One Nation to the Whole Earth

In Isaiah 24 God's attention turns not to a single nation but to the entire world: "Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty... and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof." No one escapes. It comes upon the people and the priest, the master and the slave, the maid and the mistress, the buyer and the seller, the lender and the borrower. "The land shall be utterly emptied... for the Lord has spoken this word."

Why? "The haughty people of the earth do languish." Once again the pride of humanity is in focus. As Romans 1 says, the wrath of God will be revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness and ungodliness. Verse 5 names three things: man has transgressed the laws, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant.

A transgression is more than a trespass. You might wander onto private property on a San Diego trail without knowing—that is a trespass. But a transgression is to see the line clearly, know you must not cross it, and deliberately step over, as Adam did with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man has also changed the ordinances—the word in Hebrew is Torah—remaking God's law to fit his own life, calling evil good and good evil, light darkness and darkness light.

The Curse Upon a Defiled Earth

"Therefore has the curse devoured the earth." Through one man's sin, sin entered the world, and death by sin spread to all. But not only man—all creation groans, as Romans 8 tells us, under the curse of Genesis 3. From Isaiah 13 through 23 we have seen minor fulfillments of the day of the Lord, snapshots of judgment already accomplished: Babylon destroyed, Tyre destroyed, the Philistines laid waste, Moab and the Arabians brought down—all by the hand of God, even when He used earthly instruments. Isaiah 24 now gives the full picture: God will judge the entire world for its sin, transgression, and pride.

When that judgment comes, all joy is removed. "The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, the merry-hearted do sigh." The mirth of tabrets ceases, the joy of the harp ceases. All that remains is bitterness, confusion, desolation, and destruction—the great and terrible time we call the tribulation, ending in the day of the Lord, just as we read in Revelation 6 through 19.

A Remnant in the Midst of Judgment

Yet in the midst of it, verse 13: "There shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done." When the olive tree is harvested, only a few ripe olives remain on the branches; when the vineyard is gleaned, only a sparse few grapes are left here and there. So too there is a small remnant of the righteous who remain, lifting up their voices to sing of the majesty of the Lord.

But the judgment continues: "Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, O inhabitants of the earth." He who flees the fear falls into the pit; he who climbs out of the pit is taken in the snare. The meaning is that God's judgment will be inescapable. Amos saw the same: "Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord!... as if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house... and a serpent bit him." The day of the Lord is darkness and not light.

The Inescapable Day of the Lord

Today is the day of salvation. If a man does not want to face the wrath of God, he must turn to Christ now, while there is time. When Jesus returns, He comes as a lion, on a white horse, sword in hand, ready to do battle. Many will flee in fear, but they will be taken by the wrath of the Lord.

"For the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake." God opens the heavens and comes down. The earth is utterly broken down, dissolved, moved exceedingly; it reels to and fro like a drunkard because of the weight of sin upon it, and it falls and rises no more. "The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones... and the kings of the earth," gathering them as prisoners are gathered in the pit, shutting them up in the prison, and after many days they shall be visited.

The Pattern Confirmed in Revelation

This is exactly the pattern of Revelation 20. An angel comes down with the key to the bottomless pit and binds the dragon—the devil and Satan—a thousand years, that he should deceive the nations no more. Those beheaded for the witness of Jesus live and reign with Christ a thousand years. But "the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished"—the very ones gathered as prisoners in Isaiah 24.

When Satan is loosed at the end of the thousand years, he gathers Gog and Magog to battle, and fire comes down from heaven to devour them, and the devil is cast into the lake of fire with the beast and false prophet. Then comes the great white throne: "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened... and they were judged every man according to their works... and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." This is the second death.

After this, Isaiah 24:23 says, "The moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of hosts shall reign in Mount Zion." Revelation 21:22 explains why: "The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon... for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Christ is so bright that the sun and moon are diminished. From Genesis to Revelation, the outline is one: the windows of heaven will open, God's wrath will be poured out on a Christ-rejecting world, and the wicked will be bound to await the day of their trial.

Who Is This That Comes from Edom?

What will that day look like? In Isaiah 63, Isaiah, standing in Jerusalem, looks east and sees a man coming from Edom, from Bozrah, glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength. "Who is this?" The man answers, "I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Isaiah saw Jesus. "Why are you red in your apparel, like one that treads the winepress?" And Jesus answers, "I have trodden the winepress alone... for the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come."

Zechariah tells us Jesus descends to the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem. What winepress has He trampled? Joel 3 tells us: "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles... Beat your plowshares into swords... Assemble yourselves... cause your mighty ones to come down, O Lord... Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe... Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision." The sun and moon are darkened, the stars withdraw, and the Lord roars out of Zion—yet "the Lord will be the hope of his people."

The Harvest and the Winepress

Revelation 14 shows the same. John sees One like the Son of Man seated on a white cloud, a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand—the same Jesus the angels said would return in the clouds. An angel cries from the temple, "Thrust in thy sickle, and reap," and Jesus gathers His own from the earth. Then another angel comes with a sickle, and a third, with power over fire, cries to gather the clusters of the vine and cast them "into the great winepress of the wrath of God." The blood flowed even to the horses' bridles, for the space of a thousand six hundred furlongs—the winepress Jesus trod alone.

Revelation 19 completes it: heaven opens, and One called Faithful and True rides forth on a white horse. "In righteousness he doth judge and make war." His eyes are a flame of fire, on His head are many crowns, and He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. Out of His mouth goes a sharp sword to smite the nations, and "he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." On His robe and thigh is written: King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.

Jesus' Own Words: The End of the Age

In Matthew 24 Jesus tells His disciples the same. They ask for the sign of His coming and of the end of the age. He warns of false christs, wars and rumors of wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes—the beginning of sorrows—and persecution and betrayal. "This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

The sign He gives is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel, standing in the holy place. Then comes great tribulation, such as the world has never seen and never shall again—and unless those days were shortened (in length of time, not the 24-hour day), no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake they are shortened. His coming will not be secret: "As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of man be."

"Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light"—as Joel said—"and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven... and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory," sending His angels to gather His elect. Just as John saw Him seated on the cloud, just as He thrust in the sickle and gathered the earth. "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away."

A Message of Hope and Refuge

The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night upon those who are not ready, gathered to the valley of decision, the winepress of God's wrath, their souls bound a thousand years to await the lake of fire. That day will come as surely as judgment came on Tyre in 572 B.C. under Nebuchadnezzar and in 332 B.C. under Alexander; as Babylon fell in 536 B.C. under Cyrus; as Assyria's 185,000 were struck down in one night at Jerusalem in 701 B.C. As God destroyed those nations thousands of years ago, He will come again to bring wrath upon this earth.

There is only one way not to be found under that wrath. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 that "God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." The wrath of God is a fearful thing. Amos said, "Woe to those who desire the day of the Lord"—no one desires it. And because it is so fearful, it should cause us to flee to Christ for refuge.

We have a great message to bring to this world. Some think we're crazy when we speak of the end of the world, but it will come, and they may rightly fear it. Yet we have a message of hope in Jesus Christ—a message of refuge and salvation. May we be bold to proclaim it, that those who at this moment abide under His judgment and wrath would flee to Him and find that He is a sure and steadfast Rock of salvation.

Closing Prayer

Father, Your Word is so full. I love the way Your Word connects one passage to another, because You by Your Spirit are the One who inspired and stirred holy men to write these things. All Scripture is given by inspiration of You, Father, and it is useful—and Lord, would You teach us to use it. Help us to be those who study to show ourselves approved unto You, rightly dividing Your word of truth. Give us boldness and a passion to share Your Word with those still in darkness, that they would find refuge in You as we have. We thank You, Lord, that You have saved us, that You have not appointed us to wrath. Help us in these last days to stand strong, proclaiming the truth of Your Word. And Lord, we pray, come quickly. We look forward to the day we will be with You. We praise You in Jesus' name. Amen.