Isaiah 3.8

Prayer

Carol, Jamison

joann, brrother carl, brain cancer

arlene, christy ann, reafduy for chemo after dec 5

patti, Christy, heart surgery on the 26th

Bing, niece, breast cancer surgery next wednsesday

Suzanne, Dave and Lorrie surgery on Dec. 12

Cheryl, Sister Susan, health challenges

Now let’s move on to chapter 34, Isaiah’s 2nd universal judgment!

Let’s look at Isa. 34:1-10

Isaiah 34:1–10 ESV

1 Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it; the world, and all that comes from it. 2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their host; he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter. 3 Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll. All their host shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree. 5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction. 6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood; it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall drink its fill of blood, and their soil shall be gorged with fat. 8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch. 10 Night and day it shall not be quenched; its smoke shall go up forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.

Isaiah’s message is for all people! Draw near, o nations, give attention! What’s the message he wants the nations to hear?

“for the Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against their host!” The language here reminds me of a Psalm. Yes, Ps. 1, but also something else—

Psalm 102:25–27 ESV

25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, 27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.

The image is that the whole of the earth and creation is, to God, like a garment that when it has worn out, can be rolled us and thrown out to be burned away.

Here’s the message from the Lord: Nations, everything you think you are, all your glory, all your prosperity, all your scheming, all your pride—it is as nothing to the Lord. It will rot away and be rolled up because of the corruption and wickedness of sin. The whole universe, the whole cosmos has become infected with sin, God will roll it up.

Isaiah 34:11–17 ESV

11 But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness. 12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas; the wild goat shall cry to his fellow; indeed, there the night bird settles and finds for herself a resting place. 15 There the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow; indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. 16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord: Not one of these shall be missing; none shall be without her mate. For the mouth of the Lord has commanded, and his Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them; his hand has portioned it out to them with the line; they shall possess it forever; from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

This is a devastating picture, but we can be comforted by this: any destruction or judgment comes from the mouth of the Lord and is carried out by His Spirit. God will carry out his decrees. This might seem like cold comfort to us, but we know we are not of Edom—Edom becomes this stand-in here for all the pagan nations. We are not like Edom, though Edom was related to Israel, they turned from God, and thus they face the judgment of God. I think of Romans 11, in which Paul talks about us, about Gentiles, and the imagery is this: we are grafted into the family of God—God has brought us into the family of Israel and thus protects us from this judgment. Anyone who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus, anyone who believes will be saved and grafted in.

The image Isaiah leaves us with here is one of destruction, but we see it is perfectly within the will and hands of God. We also know, there is yet room for redemption for anyone who believes. Now let’s move into that promised hope in Isaiah 35.

Isaiah 35 ESV

1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; 2 it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. 3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. 4 Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; 6 then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; 7 the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8 And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. 9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. 10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Now, if the previous section was about the ultimate judgment, the ultimate reality, this also is a part of that ultimate reality, an ultimate reality that is all about redemption and restoration. The climax of this whole section, the six woes of all these chapters of Isaiah, all of this finds its culmination in this epic picture of God’s restoring work. Let’s look at the language here and see how we might read this as an ancient Israelite and for ourselves today.

The wilderness and dry ground—this is Exodus language, a people in the wilderness looking for their help, looking for their salvation. Set our minds to those who came out of sin and death in Egypt and were delivered into new life. First it was desert and wilderness.

But look at Isaiah’s vision: the desert shall rejoice and blossom, it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The environment, the wilderness and the desert literally changes around these exodus people. The Lord, as the desert changes, seems to offer an encouragement to these pilgrims: v. 3-4, strengthen weak hands, and make firm feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong; fear now! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

The pilgrims are still weak and weary, under oppression just as the Exodus people were, but here God encourages them—be strong, trust in me, I will strengthen you and lift you up. He encourages them to strengthen themselves and trust in what God is doing, trust that God making a way to new life and a way from destruction and judgment and death. They are encouraged to take heart and the foundation of this encouragement is their God who will bless them.

V. 5-7 represent a shift. THEN! No longer oppressed and weak, there is new life and new strength and new resolve in the people. the eyes of the blind will be opened, there are great reversals, the weak made strong, the sick healed, the dead brought to new life!

“For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.”

What an image—in all the oppression, in the desolation and wasteland of the wilderness a stream will break forth. Life where there was none.

And out of this desert, v. 8, there emerges a highway to salvation. The Way of Holiness. This is such a common biblical image. We see this Deuteronomy when God gives them the blessings for their obedience—the way of holiness—and contrasts that with the curses for disobedience—the way of the unrighteous.

Jesus gives us a similar image: are you building your house on sand or on rock? Or Matthew 7:13–14 “13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

But here it is not a narrow gate, but a highway for God’s people, but the caveat remains: this is a road that belongs to those who walk on the way. By this way, they will be safe.

Look at some of the nuance here. Look at the last part of v 8: “even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.”

Arriving at the destination of salvation does not depend on human ability, the assurance of God is in His grace—we come on that way, he gives us a new heart, we are guided by His Spirit. We will be saved.

There are two roads for all people, but the broader point for us about salvation is this: salvation is not about human perfection but about surrender to God’s transforming power.

Look at Isaiah 35:10 “10 And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”