14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
They cry out from the [d]west concerning the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the [e]east,
The name of the Lord, the God of Israel,
In the [f]coastlands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,”
But I say, “[g]Woe to me! [h]Woe to me! Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously,
And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
17 Terror and pit and snare
[i]Confront you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18 Then it will be that he who flees the [j]report of disaster will fall into the pit,
And he who [k]climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare;
For the windows [l]above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken asunder,
The earth is split through,
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard
And it totters like a [m]shack,
For its transgression is heavy upon it,
And it will fall, never to rise again.
21 So it will happen in that day,
That the Lord will punish the host of [n]heaven on high,
And the kings of the earth on earth.
22 They will be gathered together
Like prisoners in the [o]dungeon,
And will be confined in prison;
And after many days they will be punished.
23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed,
For the Lord of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
And His glory will be before His elders.
We go from the judgment of the earth in previous verses to shouting for joy in v. 14. There are songs and shouting, all to glorify the Lord… until we get to v. 16 and we return to the final judgment once again. It’s quite dramatic and foreboding, with the earth shaking, even breaking apart and reeling to and fro. Finally, the host of heaven on high will be punished, along with the rulers of the earth.
But wait a second, v. 21 raises a few more questions. First of all, God is going to “punish the host of heaven on high”? Those would be angels, and we often think of the fallen angels as having been cast out of heaven already. Right? The book of Job tells us otherwise, as Satan himself, the leader of the rebellion, came before God several times.
What about these rulers then? Are all kings evil? Well no, of course not, there have been many wicked kings, and many good kings (even queens on both sides too). So why are all these being punished, is there some criteria? For that we go back to v. 16, and find that at least one measure is those who are treacherous, even “very treacherous”.
That’s all well and good… well, not very nice for them, but they have it coming, no? Maybe, but we can’t control their actions anyway, so what does all this mean for us? Are we all to cover our faces and cry with Isaiah, “Woe to me! Woe to me! Alas for me!” For those who believe in God, we have a couple challenges (hang on for a moment though).
For everyone else, consider this your wake-up call. If you don’t want to be treacherous, stop living for yourself. Live for God instead, and give your heart and life to Him. He will take much better care of it anyway. And that leads us back to those challenges, the first of which is similar.
That is, don’t act treacherously! That is the way of the world, the way of self, and it is what got Satan in trouble in the first place. He was so focused on his own glory, that he missed his calling from God. Do not make the same mistake, for you also are called by God, and you also have the same selfish desires that wage war within you.
Instead, we should join in with those in the first verses, glorifying God and shouting of His majesty. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t like that very much (not that we should stop), but Jesus gave us a more “crafty” way. He told us to, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
In the words of a recent (and very silly) movie, “be a do-gooder!” The world might not like that either, but they’ll have a much harder time arguing against it. Show God’s love and glory in the way that you act, so that even those who don’t believe will glorify God with you. Live an untreacherous life, and lead the way for those who are (treacherous) to change their minds and hearts and find His love and forgiveness before it is too late.