"Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by" --Isaiah 26:20
Isaiah is a book of warning, prophecy, and encouragement. God’s Word came straight through his servant and Chapter 26, verses 20-21, demonstrates the extremes between wrath and salvation; death and life.
Some of Isaiah’s prophecies have also spurred debate about whether Christians will remain on earth during the tribulation or will be raptured to Heaven before that time, and v.20 is one such verse.
Are we told to hide ourselves until his wrath has passed? What does that mean?
God as a Storm
“Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by" (Isaiah 26:20). God, through Isaiah, certainly does instruct His people to hide from His fury.
We see in the prophecies many indications that the Lord will sweep through the nations like a tornado, His wrath bringing destruction to the evil: “His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet” (Nahum 1:3).
Zechariah 9:14 says “the Lord God will sound the trumpet and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.” Jeremiah 23:19 declares the power of God’s anger against evil-doers: “Behold, the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.”
Isaiah 26 maintains this theme, portraying the Lord’s anger in a way which the human mind can grasp, but which is only a fraction of the reality of God’s just anger towards and punishment of those who reject Him and rebel against His ways.
One Bible scholar explains that Isaiah 26 describes “God's unfailing love and righteousness. It encourages believers to maintain steadfast trust in the Lord, assuring them of perfect peace amidst turmoil.” Speaking of vv.20-21 in particular, the writer adds that “Isaiah provides a glimpse of hope with the promise of resurrection for the dead” even as Isaiah 26 closes with the promised punishment for sin.
That hope is our peace in the storm.
His Storm Hits Home
God’s anger has not always passed Israel by as it did during the Passover, prior to the great exodus from Egypt across the Red Sea. There were times when God did visit His anger upon Israel.
2 Kings 17 describes what happened to Israel after they had chosen to follow the sins of Jeroboam and to practice idolatry: “The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight” (v.20).
The people of God could not always escape His wrath. When they had been warned repeatedly, instructed to follow the Lord’s laws, but chose instead to walk in ways of the pagans around them, Israel and Judah would suffer terrible punishment. And Christians today cannot expect to get away with sin either.
Even though Jesus has paid the price for our iniquities, “the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” (Hebrews 12:6) Perhaps not His tempest-like wrath, but discipline is assured for those who need it in order to correct their path. The worst part of God’s anger, however, will never fall upon His children--Because Jesus endured God turning His face from Him, God will never turn His face from us. Jesus alone endured this worst part of God’s punishment for sin.
Should Christians Hide?
In light of these ideas, and the wording of Isaiah 26:20, are we to believe that God will not allow His people to endure suffering if they hide away at the first sign of tribulation? Seen from one perspective, this is an appealing notion. After all, the Lord is our rescuer. He DOES save His people from their enemies.
Examples include how He saved Israel from Pharaoh’s anger; and rescued Gideon and His army from the Middianites; not to mention David and Goliath, Esther and Haman; Daniel and the advisors of King Darius. But, will God always rescue His people?
There are also examples of the Lord permitting His people to be subjected to oppression, which is why Jews were dispersed far from Jerusalem. God said to His people multiple times that disobedience would lead to discipline.
“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate” (Zechariah 7:13-14).
God did not instruct them to hide from their oppressors; He told them to obey HIM. This tells us that the danger God’s people need to hide from is not external but internal: sin.
We see this in 1 Corinthians 6:18, where Paul tells the church to “flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” (v.18) This is a battle against thoughts and desires which lead to destructive actions.
The sin begins with thinking about and wanting something which God has spoken against. Paul’s choice of “flee” reminds us that what we should fear and run from on this earth is anything that will tempt us to sin, because it has power over us and separates us from God. We are frequently unequal to that battle, although if we stand firm in Christ, He will empower us to resist.
John puts it this way: “You are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4). His power will come to our rescue when we submit to it.
The Reality of Tribulation
Christians have predicted Christ’s imminent return many times since His death. Commenting on a previous prediction - that Christ would return on September 23rd, 2017 - Glen Taylor of Wycliffe College observed: “ominous and extraordinary events today might well be regarded as a sort of ‘wake-up call’ concerning realities that lie ahead, such as the final and decisive judgment of humanity by God.”
This should remind us not to let our guard down, so while “predictions are risky, [...] humility, caution, and, most importantly, readiness are so important.” Talking about and thinking about End Times is a good way to remind ourselves of the urgency around our work as Christians, spreading the Good News wherever we meet non-believers.
Does this readiness lead to hiding? That would make it difficult to share the Gospel. Yet, according to statistics regarding the global persecution of Christians, many of them ARE in hiding because, having shared their faith in dangerous places, authorities in various countries are aware of Christian rebellion against laws designed to prevent such courageous audacity.
In one study, reported by the BBC in 2019, “the Bishop of Truro the Right Reverend Philip Mounstephen, estimated that one in three people suffer from religious persecution. Christians were the most persecuted religious group, it found.” Those numbers have been steadily rising worldwide. "In some regions, the level and nature of persecution is arguably coming close to meeting the international definition of genocide, according to that adopted by the UN."
This adds significance to the apologetic argument that one would have to be crazy to follow Christ if He is not truly our Savior. The risks are far too high. Believers knowingly put themselves in harm’s way, though not gratuitously.
There will be times when we see danger coming and realize this is not a useful way to lose our lives. Jesus declared to his disciples regarding the great tribulation “Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be” (Matthew 24:20-21).
Choosing When to Hide
There is an expectation that we will hide from the danger if we can, but since we look to Christ we know that there is a chance we will also be asked to give our lives in a very real way.
This is not for every follower, but there is a special kind of glory in Heaven for those who were “Slain for [...] the witness they had borne. [...] They were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been” (Revelation 6:9,11).
Some of us will hide until His wrath has passed; and some of our brothers and sisters in the faith will stand with the lost, in the middle of the storm, praying that it is still not too late to save just one more.
Sources:
https://biblehub.com/chaptersummaries/isaiah/26.htm
https://www.julianspriggs.co.uk/Pages/SecondComingDates
https://www.wycliffecollege.ca/blog/more-september-23
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-48146305
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Bulat Silvia
