Isaiah The Coming Judgment Isaiah 34 O ne of the more painful lessons parents should be teaching their children is that life isn t fair. Of course we don t want to have to do this. But if they can realize this truth at a young age, then just maybe they won t have to keep banging their heads against a wall their entire lives. I run into many people who know what is just, what is fair. They also realize, intellectually, that the expectation that life should be just and fair is unrealistic. The problem is, emotionally, they demand that it be that way. And so they are constantly frustrated and angry, because it never seems to work out fairly. At the other extreme are the individuals who, realizing there is a lack of justice and fairness, come to the conclusion that no one is to be trusted. That they have to do it to others before it is done to them. And so they are constantly frustrated and angry. Of course, as believers, we should give up our desire for justice and fairness. In fact, as far as it is possible, we should treat others in this way, regardless of how they behave. But, we too shouldn t be surprised we are not always treated fairly or justly. But for us, there should be a difference. We shouldn t be constantly angry and frustrated, because we know that one day there will be justice and fairness. It will come when we finally see a righteous king ruling over a restored Israel. And it is that world which is coming soon, a world Isaiah is looking toward. See, a king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice. Justice will dwell in the desert and righteousness live in the fertile field. The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever (Isaiah 32:1, 16-17). I Introduction II Judgment as: Verses 1-12 A a Sign of God s Wrath Verses 1-4 B a Sacrifice Verses 5-7 C Vengeance Verses 8-15 III Judgment as a Promise of Hope Verses 16-17 IV Conclusion But first When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. They
marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever (Revelation 20:7-10). Introduction: Here the camera pulls back, giving the broader picture of God s final judgment on a fallen world. The truth is, as we have been seeing, before the world can be healed and restored, judgment must come. Here Jewish and Christian scholarship are in agreement, seeing this as ushering in the Millennial kingdom. There are two aspects to this truth. First, with judgment comes vindication of God, and His children. This should serve as a comfort to us. God will make things right. Second, we need to have a heart and compassion for all those who, while having been created in God s image, are fallen and facing this coming judgment. But worse than the judgment which falls on this earth is the eternal judgment they are facing. Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41). Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire (Jude 1:7). Buksbazen introduces the next two chapters this way: In chapters 34-35, which is an epilogue to the Book of Woes, Isaiah looks beyond the downfall of Assyria to the judgment of the ungodly nations of the world. Edom, Israel s brother nation, which behaved in a most unbrotherly fashion towards Israel in the days of her sever distress, is singled out as the personification of all that is evil in humanity, and is destined to share the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah. 1 Verses 1-4: One of the aspects of God s character that offends the lost is that His righteousness demands justice and therefore at some point requires judgment. They point to passages such as this one to say this view of God is a reflection on the more primitive view replaced by a more civilized one we find in the New Testament. Talk about ignorance. Once again God is calling the world to listen to His words. This time, as Isaiah makes it clear, they are words of wrath and anger against a fallen and rebellious world. The language here is harsh, violent, and frightening. God promises total destruction against His enemies. But the language calls for an even more apocalyptical understanding because we find a picture of the rolling up of the heavens. This obviously speaks to the Day of the LORD. To the final judgment spoken of in both the Old and New Testaments. When I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the 1 Buksbazen, Victor, The Prophet Isaiah, In Two Volumes, The Spearhead Press, Collingswood, NJ, 1971, p. 275. ) 260(
heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign LORD (Ezekiel 32:7-8). But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare (2 Peter 3:10). Verses 5-7: This passage with its language of sacrifice is a bit hard to follow. But one major premise of the sacrificial system is that sacrifices are devoted to God and are intended for no other purpose. But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the LORD whether man or animal or family land may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the LORD. No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death (Leviticus 27:28-29). Here it appears Edom is being used as an example of God s judgment on all the enemy nations. There will be no survivors from the house of Esau. The LORD has spoken (Obadiah 18). The animals named here shouldn t be understood as reflecting types of Edom, but simply as pictures of sacrificial animals. On the other hand, Buksbazen sees the domestic animals as a picture of the smaller animals and the wild ones as applying to the larger ones. 2 Nothing can save Edom, and the other nations from God s judgment. Grogan notes: The NIV margin at v.2 makes this a comment on the phrase totally destroy : The Hebrew term refers to the irrevocable giving over of things or persons to the LORD, often by totally destroying them; In some respects cities, persons, and articles thus given over in destruction to the Lord were like sacrifices; for they too were holy to the Lord (Lev 27:28-29). This is probably why v.6 goes on to speak of sacrificial animals. The inhabitants of Edom, under divine judgment, were like sacrificial animals. Like them, the Edomites fate was death. Yet in one way, it is hardly appropriate to liken the antagonistic Edomites to the comparatively docile domestic animals employed in the sacrificial ritual; so the prophet looked beyond the domestic scene to the herds of wild oxen (v.7) that no doubt roamed parts of Edom s territory as well as the steppes of Bashan further north (Ps 22:12). They too would die. 3 Verses 8-10: What is at the bottom of this? What has always been the bottom of this need for God s judgment? Rebellion against Him! And how has this rebellion been demonstrated? By attacks on God s people, first and always Israel, and also against His church. God is bringing His judgment for the cause of Zion. God and His chosen people will be vindicated. When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you 2 Ibid. 3 Grogan, Geoffrey W., The Expositor s Bible Commentary, Isaiah, Zondervan Interactive Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1990 ) 261(
judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood? Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed (Revelation 6:9-11). It is not an accident this language is reminiscent of what? Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and when the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some of the men fell into them and the rest fled to the hills. Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of the heavens (Genesis 14:10; 19:24). Isaiah uses language that both takes us back to Sodom and Gomorrah and forward to the Day of the Lord and God s wrath. It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all (Luke 17:28-29). Verses 11-15: The land of Edom becomes one of desolation. It has become a nest to birds who live in the midst of desolation. In fact the birds will be able to breed unmolested by humans. The Bible Background Commentary notes: owls and ravens. The symbol for utter destruction here is that birds best known as inhabiting and scavenging desolate places (Job 38:41; Ps 102:6) have settled in the ruins of towns (see Is 13:22). One parallel to this picture is found in the Egyptian Visions of Neferti (c. 2000 B.C.), which describes an Egypt so weak that a strange bird will make its nest near the people and desert herds will drink from the Nile. 4 If there were rulers, which there aren t, they would have nothing to rule over. Leadership that directs people away from God or believes they are the ultimate authority themselves, will one day find themselves with nothing to rule. The monuments to men s power is overgrown by nature and over run by scavengers and other forms of wildlife that would only occupy a land unoccupied by humanity. What is illustrated here is that where God is absent we only find desolation, be it in the land or in the human heart. Verses 16-17: What is this scroll? Probably the best way to understand it is a document recording this prophecy. The words are recorded for posterity. They become a testament to God s veracity. God has said it. God will carry it out! What God has said regarding the land of Edom, its desolation, and its occupancy by all manner of beasts and birds will be carried out by the Holy Spirit. Ironside closes his analysis of the passage this way: 4 Walton, John H., Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 2000. ) 262(
Jehovah s word is absolutely sure. No prophecy of the Scripture will fail of final and complete fulfillment. prophecy and fulfillment will be in perfect harmony. Nothing that God has spoken will prove to be unreliable. He will never go back on His word whether it have to do with judgment or with grace. 5 Conclusion: Isn t this reassuring? Our confidence in the Lord, our security, our contentment, is all grounded in these truths. But for some, the fact God has not yet moved against the world in judgment becomes the basis for rejecting the warnings of scripture and believing they are in no danger of being judged. But it is insanity to say God hasn t acted yet, so clearly He won t. Wiersbie puts it this way: But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night (2 Peter 3:10). Why is God waiting? Because God is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance ( v.9, NKJV). How much longer God will wait, nobody knows; so it behooves lost sinners to repent today and trust the Savior. 6 So we are back where we started. While we should rejoice in seeing the vindication of God and His people, our greater focus should be on God s love of the lost. For as long as God tarries, He does so to give the opportunity to more people to accept His gift of salvation. Just as He desires that none should be lost, it should be our desire as well. Which then makes the second point. We are the instruments God uses to get out the warning of judgment and the hope of escape. I know I ve been focusing on this a bit more than usual, but what other response can we possibly have to such vivid scenes of God s judgment? After all, when He judges the nations, He judges the individuals within the nations. And individuals are who we need to be concerned with. But, as we will see next time, there is more to offer the unbeliever in the Gospel than escaping judgment. There is also a glorious future. And the promise of the blessings of God offer more than just the avoidance of judgment. Escaping hell is a wonderful thing, but eternity in God s presence is even more wonderful. So, take the risk, if it is one, and ask God to put someone in your path who needs to hear His truth. Yes, people are sinners. But they are sinners loved by the God who created them. Who was willing to go through the incarnation, suffering, crucifixion, all for them. The message of the Gospel is first and foremost the message of a loving God. What can be better than that? The Assurance of Christ. But, a man said to me, no one has come back, and we don t know what is in the future. It is all dark, and how can we be sure? Thank God, Christ came down from Heaven; and I would rather have Him, coming as He does right from the bosom of the Father, than any one else. We can rely on what Christ says, and He says: He that believeth on Me shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Not that we are going to have it when we die, but right here today. ~ MOODY 7 5 Ironside, H. A., Isaiah, Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., Neptune, NJ, 1952, p. 216 6 Wiersbe, Warren W., The Bible Exposition Commentary, Old Testament The Prophets, Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1971, p. 42. 7 McClure, editor, J. B., Pearls from Many Seas, The Master Christian Library, AGES Software, Albany, OR, Version 8.0 2000 ) 263(
Isaiah The Coming Judgment Isaiah 34 I Introduction II Judgment as: Verses 1-12 A a Sign of God s Wrath Verses 1-4 B a Sacrifice Verses 5-7 C Vengeance Verses 8-15 III Judgment as a Promise of Hope Verses 16-17 IV Conclusion I Introduction: (Isaiah 32:1, 16-17; Revelation 20:7-10; Matthew 25:41; Jude 1:7) II Judgment as: a Sign of God s Wrath: (Ezekiel 32:7-8; 2 Peter 3:10) a Sacrifice: (Leviticus 27:28-29; Obadiah 18)
Vengeance: Verses 8-10: (Revelation 6:9-11; Genesis 14:10; 19:24; Luke 17:28-29) Verses 11-15: III Judgment as a Promise of Hope: IV Conclusion: Personal Application: This week let us look to the promise of heaven. Consider how this reality can affect us on a day-to-day basis. Prayer for the Week: Thank You Lord for allowing us to be part of the miracle of Your grace in the lives of the lost. In Christ s name, Amen.