The Global Gleanings and the Glory Text: Isaiah 24:13-16
Introduction: The God Who Shakes the World
We are in a section of Isaiah that is often called the "little apocalypse." The prophet is describing a global judgment, a worldwide shaking. The earth is emptied, plundered, and polluted under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant. This is not a local flood or a regional conflict. God is dealing with the entire rebellious planet. And when God shakes the world, everything that can be shaken is removed. The flimsy structures of human pride, the towers of Babel we erect in our arrogance, all of it comes crashing down. Our modern secularists believe they are building a permanent world without God, but they are like children building sandcastles in the path of a tsunami. God's judgment is thorough.
And in the midst of this terrifying, earth-shattering judgment, we find our text. And what we find here is a surprise. We expect to find nothing but wreckage, ruin, and despair. But instead, in the rubble of a judged world, we find a song. We find a remnant, a small harvest left after the main crop has been taken in judgment. This is a central theme of Scripture: God always preserves a people for Himself. Noah and his family in the ark. Lot in Sodom. The seven thousand who did not bow the knee to Baal. And here, a few olives left on the tree, a few grapes left after the harvest.
This passage teaches us to see with bifocal vision. With one eye, we must see the terrible reality of God's wrath against sin. God is not a sentimental grandfather in the sky; He is a consuming fire. His judgments are real, they are historical, and they are coming. But with the other eye, we must see the invincible reality of His grace. His purpose to save a people for His own possession cannot be thwarted. The gates of Hell, the rebellion of nations, and the shaking of the earth itself cannot stop the advance of His kingdom or silence the praises of His people. This passage shows us both the severity and the kindness of God. It is a picture of a world judged and a remnant saved, and it sets the stage for the global worship of the one true God.
The Text
For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over. They lift up their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of Yahweh. Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, The name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea. From the ends of the earth we hear songs, “Glory to the Righteous One,” But I say, “I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously.”
(Isaiah 24:13-16 LSB)
The Divine Shaking and the Remnant (v. 13)
The scene is set in the aftermath of a great and terrible harvest.
"For thus it will be in the midst of the earth among the peoples, As the shaking of an olive tree, As the gleanings when the grape harvest is over." (Isaiah 24:13)
The imagery is stark. The main harvest is one of judgment. The olive tree has been violently shaken, and the vast majority of the fruit has been gathered for pressing, a clear picture of wrath. The vineyard has been harvested, and the trampling of the grapes in the winepress is a potent biblical symbol for the fury of God's judgment. What is left? Only the gleanings. A few olives clinging to the highest boughs, a few forgotten clusters of grapes. According to the law of Moses, these gleanings were to be left for the poor and the sojourner (Lev. 19:10). It was an act of mercy built into the harvest cycle.
Here, God applies this principle to His work of redemption. In the midst of a global judgment, He intentionally leaves a remnant. They are not overlooked by accident. They are not the lucky ones who managed to hide. They are the ones mercifully and sovereignly left behind by the Harvester. This is the doctrine of election in picture form. God's grace is not a blanket policy; it is a personal, particular, and preserving grace. When the world is judged, the church is not raptured out of it; it is preserved through it. We are the gleanings.
Notice the scope: "in the midst of the earth among the peoples." This is not just about Israel. The judgment is global, and therefore the remnant is global. God is gathering His elect from every tribe, tongue, and nation. The shaking of the nations is the very means by which God separates His people for Himself. This is a picture of the Great Commission in action. As the gospel goes out, it acts as a divine shaking, and the fruit that clings to the tree is the fruit of repentance and faith.
The Global Song of Majesty (v. 14-15)
What do these gleanings do? They do not cower in fear. They do not lament their small numbers. They sing.
"They lift up their voices, they shout for joy; They cry out from the west concerning the majesty of Yahweh. Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, The name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, In the coastlands of the sea." (Isaiah 24:14-15 LSB)
This is the great paradox of the Christian faith. Joy in the midst of judgment. Praise in the ruins. Why? Because they are not celebrating the destruction; they are celebrating the majesty of the God who is in control of the destruction. They see His hand, His righteousness, and His glory even in the shaking of the world. Their security is not in the stability of the earth, but in the sovereignty of their God.
And this song is irrepressibly global. It starts in the west and echoes to the east. The "coastlands of the sea" refers to the farthest reaches of the Gentile world. This is a stunning prophecy. The God who revealed Himself as the God of Israel will be glorified by name from one end of the earth to the other. This is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed.
The command in verse 15, "Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east," is a call to worship that is based on the reality of God's majestic work. The word for east can also be translated "in the lights" or "in the region of light," a beautiful contrast to the darkness of judgment covering the earth. In the fires of testing and judgment, we are to glorify God. This is not a call to stoicism, but to robust, joyful, and loud worship. The world is falling apart, and the church is singing. Why? Because we know the King, and we have seen His majesty.
Glory and Grief (v. 16)
But the song of the remnant is immediately juxtaposed with the prophet's personal anguish. The vision is not one-dimensional.
"From the ends of the earth we hear songs, 'Glory to the Righteous One,' But I say, 'I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me! The treacherous deal treacherously, And the treacherous deal very treacherously.'" (Isaiah 24:16 LSB)
The global anthem is "Glory to the Righteous One." This is a title for the Messiah. The remnant, gathered from all nations, is singing praise to Jesus Christ. They see His righteousness in both salvation and judgment. This is the great theme of postmillennial eschatology: the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The songs of Zion will be sung in every time zone.
But Isaiah, the prophet who sees this glorious future, is also living in the gritty, painful present. He hears the future song, but he sees the present treachery. And it breaks his heart. "I waste away! I waste away! Woe is me!" The Hebrew is emphatic, "Leanness to me, leanness to me." It is a cry of deep, personal grief. He is not a detached observer. He feels the weight of the sin and rebellion around him. He sees the covenant-breakers, the "treacherous dealers," doing what they do best, with utter perfidy and rebellion.
This is the tension every faithful Christian must live in. We are citizens of a future, glorious kingdom, and we can hear its music if we listen closely. We have every reason for unshakeable, long-term optimism. The gospel will triumph. The nations will be discipled. But we are also soldiers on a current battlefield. We see the treachery, the rebellion, the sin, and the suffering all around us. And if we have the heart of God, it should grieve us. We should weep over our cities as Christ wept over Jerusalem. Our eschatology must not make us callous. Our certain hope for the future must not numb us to the pain of the present. We sing of the coming glory, and we grieve over the present treachery. This is what it means to be faithful in a fallen world.
Conclusion: Singing in the Shaking
So what does this mean for us? It means that our hope is not based on the headlines. Our stability is not found in the economy, in political leaders, or in cultural trends. All of that is being shaken, and it will continue to be shaken. Our hope is in the Righteous One, whose kingdom cannot be shaken.
We are the gleanings. We are the remnant, gathered from all the peoples of the earth by a grace that is as sovereign as it is surprising. And because of this, we have a job to do. We are to sing. We are to lift up our voices and declare the majesty of Yahweh, from the west to the east, in the cities and on the coastlands. Our worship is spiritual warfare. Our songs are a declaration of victory in the midst of the battle.
But we must also have the prophet's heart. We must not become so heavenly-minded that we are of no earthly good. We must grieve the sin we see. We must confront the treacherous dealers. We must weep for the lost. We live in this tension: the "already" of our salvation and the "not yet" of the kingdom's full consummation.
The world is being shaken so that what cannot be shaken may remain. And what remains is a kingdom, and a remnant, and a song. A song of majesty, of grace, of judgment, and of glory. A song that rises from the gleanings of a harvested world, giving all glory to the Righteous One.