This land shadowing with wings is a land that pretends to preach the Gospel, a land of tinkling cymbals, whose praise of God is fake.

Isaiah 18:1 Woe to the land shadowing <06767> with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

Verses with the same Hebrew root. The number is to the right of the corresponding English translation

Locust:
Deuteronomy 28:42 All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust <06767> consume.

Cymbals:
2 Samuel 6:5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals <06767>.

Spears:
Job 41:7 Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears <06767>?

Cymbals:
Psalms 150:5 Praise him upon the loud cymbals <06767>: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals <06767>.

Shadowing:
Isaiah 18:1 Woe to the land shadowing <06767> with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:

The cymbals are instruments of praise. Praising God is like playing spiritual cymbals. Obviously, on looking at the above verses, this can be either good or bad.

“Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, [even] a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent [men] shall be hid.” (Isaiah 29:13-14)

Now for another connection of the cymbals.

1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

Though a land may sound like a Christian land, even to those who know what a Christian land is supposed to sound like, God knows the difference between the sound of a real Christian land and a land putting forth the same sounds, whose sound is nothing but a winged shadow. He says “woe to that land.” And, really, a land is made up of people, so the real woe is to the people, the individuals whose hearts are far from God. Woe is pain, and when we see it in the Bible, it’s horrible news.

“Woe to the land shadowing with wings, which [is] beyond the rivers of Ethiopia: That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters, [saying], Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled!” (Isaiah 18:1-2)

Isn’t this what Christians say about non-Christian nations? They have been scattered; they are terrible from their beginning; they have never had Christ. They have been spoiled by the rivers of false religions. Let’s hit closer to home. Don’t Christians think of the rivers of gospels that sound real but are not? Don’t Christians send their messengers, namely themselves, to these lands thinking that they don’t have the true Gospel to give it to them? Why confine this to literal lands? Why not think groups, nations, or organizations? All Christians, true or otherwise, think they’re doing a good thing. Isaiah 18 is aimed directly at the fake Christians. They think they’re going to cause a great harvest there.

“All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. For so the LORD said unto me, I will take my rest, and I will consider in my dwelling place like a clear heat upon herbs, [and] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest. For afore the harvest, when the bud is perfect, and the sour grape is ripening in the flower, he shall both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks, and take away [and] cut down the branches. They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.” (Isaiah 18:3-6)

The harvest that the land shadowing with wings expects never happens. God will destroy it before it has the chance to come to fruition. Once the fruit is cut away from the source of growth before the harvest, it has no more, it’ll die unharvested. But, then what happens to the people whose land the rivers have spoiled?

“In that time shall the present be brought unto the LORD of hosts of a people scattered and peeled, and from a people terrible from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, the mount Zion.” (Isaiah 18:7)

They’ve been converted it seems. How? What about these swift messengers, who came in thinking they were going to do such a wonderful work?

“Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matthew 7:22)

They’ve failed, so how is it that the people of the spoiled land are bringing a present to the name of The LORD?

“As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” (Romans 9:25-26)

It’s not the messengers who will be responsible for this. God will take care of it Himself, even the sowing of the seed.

“And I will sow her unto me in the earth; and I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to [them which were] not my people, Thou [art] my people; and they shall say, [Thou art] my God.” (Hosea 2:23)

“And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform [it].” (Isaiah 19:21)

What? Egypt? The religious people, especially the leaders, didn’t think Egypt was any good, incapable of being Godly, completely devoid of any truth, and rejected by God Himself. Modern Christians think the same way much of the time, even if unconsciously. Why should we think we’re any better just because we know a little more, because we have the examples of national Israel’s rebellion and punishment? We are all sinners and will find other ways to behave exactly the same as they did. Don’t point your finger at the churches. There's way too much fixation on that. What about us, the post church age Christians? Whom do we judge that way? What lands, groups, nations, or organizations do we think of in that way? I’m not just talking about knowing they teach false doctrines; that’s just a matter of objective reality. God will always do what man doesn’t expect.

“For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:9)