Isaiah 1:24

"Therefore saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies; and I will turn my hand upon thee, and thoroughly purge away thy dross, and will take away all thy sin; and I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counselors as at the beginning: afterward thou shall be called, The city of righteousness, a faithful town. Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness. But the destruction of transgressors and sinners shall be together, and they that forsake Jehovah shall be consumed. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens ye have chosen. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. For the strong shall be as tow, and his work as a spark; and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them."

This paragraph follows the same pattern so frequently noted in all the rest of the Old Testament prophecies, especially in the writings of a number of the minor prophets, where one finds a blending of the prophecies that speak of the fate of the secular Israel, with undeniable references to that indefinite "afterward," "in the latter day," "in those days," etc., all of which references (as these latter ones) refer to the New Israel, which is the Church, and not to the old secular Israel. This mingling of such diverse prophecies in the same paragraph, and sometimes in the same sentence, often poses difficult problems of interpretation. Here Isaiah 1:29 refers to the "groves" of the prevalent Baalim in Palestine with the shameful religion observed with pagan immorality; and the "gardens" mentioned with them is another reference to the same thing. The destruction of sinners and transgressors, along with God's avenging himself upon his adversaries and the mention of sinful men and their evil works being burned up "together" are references, first of all to the ultimate destruction of the fleshly Israel, and typically to the eventual destruction of the incorrigibly wicked in hell, following the second advent and the final judgment of mankind.