We know from the Old Testament prophets, and from Jesus Christ and His apostles in the New Testament, that God is going to judge the world at a particular time in the future. Many other ancient prophecies have been fulfilled, so there’s no reason to think prophecies concerning God’s future judgment won’t happen. They will.

Our question now is what God’s “Day of Judgment” will look like. We can assume that it will be a tough judgment since God’s involved, but just how bad will it be for people alive at the time of His judgment? Does the Bible give us any information about that?

Yes, it does. A lot of information.

Judgment of the Almighty

And I heard another from the altar saying, ‘Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments. Revelation 16:7

The Lord God Almighty is going to judge the earth. The fact that God is Almighty speaks to His nature. The fact that His judgments are true and righteous speak to His character. God has the power to do anything He wants to do. The fact that He will judge according to truth and righteousness should let everyone know what’s coming.

God has the power to destroy the earth. He almost did it several thousand years ago because of the wickedness of humanity.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually … So the Lord said, ‘I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ Genesis 6:5, 7

God didn’t destroy the earth at that time because, in addition to truth and righteousness, another part of His character is grace and mercy.

But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. Genesis 6:8

God did enact judgment through a world-wide flood that destroyed almost every living thing, but He showed mercy to Noah. However, it wasn’t long after the destructive flood that God judged the people of the earth again. He confused the language of Noah’s descendants at the Tower of Babel and “scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth” (Genesis 11:9).

God’s eternal plan had always included sending His Son to the earth to save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) and to destroy the works of the devil (1 John :8), so He demonstrated judgment and mercy through the flood and the confusion of language. The family of Noah’s son Shem carried the “seed” of God’s promise to Eve in the Garden forward. That holy Seed is Jesus Christ. He came from Heaven the first time to seek and save the lost. He will come the second time to execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.

Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, ‘That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. Jeremiah 23:5

Judgment In The Earth

The idea of executing judgment and righteousness “in the earth” tells us that every nation, every people group, in the world will be impacted. The Old Testament prophets were specific in naming many of those nations and peoples.

Isaiah is believed to be one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets. God used him to announce to Israel and the world that a day of reckoning was coming. Who will do the reckoning? Jesus Christ – prophetically known as the Son of David (Matthew 1:1).

There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, And a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, And decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, And faithfulness the belt of His waist. Isaiah 11:1-5

The Old Testament prophets often began their proclamations with warnings to Israel and Judah, then moved on to warn other nations of God’s impending judgment. Some of that judgment has already been delivered to ancient civilizations like Assyria, Babylonia, Philistia, Tyre, Edom, and Moab. Here are some of the nations identified in Isaiah for God’s future “judgment in the earth.”

Egypt – Isaiah 19:1-17

Ethiopia – Isaiah 18:1-7

Syria – Isaiah 17:1-3

Moab (modern Jordan) – Isaiah 15 & 16

Isaiah followed that up with a general warning to all the nations of the earth.

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, Distorts its surface And scatters abroad its inhabitants … The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, For the Lord has spoken this word … The earth mourns and fades away, The world languishes and fades away; The haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, Because they have transgressed the laws, Changed the ordinance, Broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, And those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, And few men are left … The city of confusion is broken down; Every house is shut up, so that none may go in. There is a cry for wine in the streets, All joy is darkened, The mirth of the land is gone. In the city desolation is left, And the gate is stricken with destruction. When it shall be thus in the midst of the land among the people, It shall be like the shaking of an olive tree, Like the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done … Fear and the pit and the snare Are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth. And it shall be That he who flees from the noise of the fear Shall fall into the pit, And he who comes up from the midst of the pit Shall be caught in the snare; For the windows from on high are open, And the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, The earth is split open, The earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, And shall totter like a hut; Its transgression shall be heavy upon it, And it will fall, and not rise again. t shall come to pass in that day That the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones, And on the earth the kings of the earth. They will be gathered together, As prisoners are gathered in the pit, And will be shut up in the prison; After many days they will be punished. Then the moon will be disgraced And the sun ashamed; For the Lord of hosts will reign On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem And before His elders, gloriously. Isaiah 24:1, 3, 4-6, 10-13, 17-23

Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, And the mountains shall be melted with their blood. All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree … For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion. Its streams shall be turned into pitch, And its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, And find for herself a place of rest. There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs And hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, Every one with her mate. Isaiah 34:1-4, 8-15

Next Time

That is quite a picture of God’s judgment yet to come in the earth. However, Isaiah is not the only prophet to paint that picture. We’ll look at how other Old Testament prophets addressed the nations in the next part of our special series, God’s Judgment: How It Works.

Judgment and Justice

God’s future judgment will be based on His justice. That’s why we have connected this series with one titled God’s Justice: How It Works. You can read the first part of that series here.

If you have not read all of the parts of this study we’ve published so far, we invite you to do that now for the Scriptural background to Christ as Judge.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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