What does Isaiah chapter 24 mean?

Following oracles about the Lord's judgment on various nations (Isaiah 23) comes this prophecy about the end times. Isaiah looks toward the Lord's final judgment of the entire earth for human sinfulness in the last days. It is a terrifying vision of what is to come.

First is a cataclysmic event which will leave the surface of earth deformed, ruined, and practically deserted. Few details are given, so there is no hint as to what this catastrophe might be. Other end-times prophecies, such as the book of Revelation, include events which are often interpreted as environmental disasters. (Isaiah 24:1).

Whatever this event is, nobody will escape it due to power, position, wealth, or privilege. Castes and classes will become meaningless. Slaves and masters, borrowers and lenders, religious leaders and laymen; all will suffer the same way under the Lord's judgment during that time (Isaiah 24:1–2).

Isaiah paints a picture of earth, after this calamity, as almost uninhabited, with all its resources used up. Some of humanity will survive, but the land becomes "empty" in that cannot support life as it once did. Whatever is left will be sickly, weak, worn down, and decaying. No one will be thriving in this time. This is happening because humanity has defiled the earth. They have sinned and violated their eternal agreement with the Lord. Human sin has brought this curse upon the world. Fewer and fewer will survive; those who do are dried out and beaten down like something left out under a hot sun and drought (Isaiah 24:3–6).

The "city" here is simply a metaphor for the inhabited world of mankind. Civilization will be in ruins with people isolated and locked behind their doors. Happiness will seem like a long-forgotten thing of the past. Those left alive will be as few and as fortunate as the scattered bits missed during a harvest. One example is the impact of the failed grape crops. This crop was crucial to life in the Near East during Isaiah's time. Without the grape harvest, there would be no wine. Without this harvest, there will be none of the music and celebration that came with that time. There will be no partying for even temporary relief from the Lord's judgment (Isaiah 24:7–13).

In a sudden shift, Isaiah reveals that there is joyful celebration somewhere on earth. Apparently, even in those dark times, some will come to the Lord in faith. These new believers join to sing out praise to the Righteous One from the ends of the earth despite the desolation surrounding them. Even with that good news, Isaiah expresses despair; traitors continue to betray the Lord. He turns to describe the final judgment. (Isaiah 24:14–15).

Those who remain alive at the very end will experience terror, the pit, and the snare. The terror brings with it a sound that causes people to scatter and fall into the pit. Those who escape this pit are caught in the snare. There is no final escape (Isaiah 24:16–18).

Finally, the earth is destroyed by massive earthquakes which shake the planet to the core. This is an event from which the planet will never recover (Isaiah 24:19–20).

The Lord then gathers all who have stood against Him, including the kings of the earth and the supernatural powers of heaven. He puts them together into a prison to await the final punishment after many days. Then the Lord of hosts begins His reign over the earth from Mount Zion in Jerusalem (Isaiah 24:21–23).