Judgment of Wrath on the World

Isaiah 34:1-17 

1 Come near, you nations, to hear;
And heed, you people!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
The world and all things that come forth from it.

2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations,
And His fury against all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has given them over to the slaughter.

3 Also their slain shall be thrown out;
Their stench shall rise from their corpses,
And the mountains shall be melted with their blood.

4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll;
All their host shall fall down
As the leaf falls from the vine,
And as fruit falling from a fig tree.

5 "For My sword shall be bathed in heaven;
Indeed it shall come down on Edom,
And on the people of My curse, for judgment.

6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood,
It is made overflowing with fatness,
With the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7 The wild oxen shall come down with them,
And the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
Their land shall be soaked with blood,
And their dust saturated with fatness."

8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance,
The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch,
And its dust into brimstone;
Its land shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night or day;
Its smoke shall ascend forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it,
Also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
And He shall stretch out over it
The line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom,
But none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces,
Nettles and brambles in its fortresses;
It shall be a habitation of jackals,
A courtyard for ostriches.

14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals,
And the wild goat shall bleat to its companion;
Also the night creature shall rest there,
And find for herself a place of rest.
15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs
And hatch, and gather them under her shadow;
There also shall the hawks be gathered,
Every one with her mate.

16 "Search from the book of the LORD, and read:
Not one of these shall fail;
Not one shall lack her mate.
For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.

17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they shall dwell in it."

This is a difficult message from Isaiah of God’s wrath of vengeance to judge the world which when He initially created it He called good.  How it must grieve Him to have to judge His creation, yet how necessary to His holiness and righteousness!  The message is for everyone in all the world to hear and heed His indignation and furious anger against the rebellion of sin and the destruction coming because of it.  This is more than just retribution against old enemies of the nation of ancient Israel, for the language is found later in the words of Jesus and the apostles as well of the wrath of God against all unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) to hold us all accountable to His word.  Were it not for the grace of God in Christ, we would all remain under the curse and penalty of judgment (Colossians 3:6-7, Ephesians 5:5-6), but instead He has chosen some for redemption (we do not choose ourselves as is commonly and erroneously taught) to demonstrate His wrath to destruction and grace of forgiveness and reconciliation on those prepared for the new Zion (Romans 9:22-24).  In verse four the words about the heavens dissolved and rolled up with the hosts falling down are echoed in places like Matthew 24:29, 2 Peter 3:10, and Revelation 6:13-14 concerning the final judgment.  God’s sword of His just vengeance (Revelation 19:15, 21) will end the false sacrifices of people using ritual instead of their contrite hearts of repentance.  In the day of the Lords vengeance (not only for Israel’s enemies then but for all His enemies who reject Him) there will be a recompense with brimstone and fire that has smoke going up forever as a perpetual wasteland, a picture of hell we are used to hearing about.  Just as the nations who rejected the Lord and His people then were held accountable and their land rendered uninhabitable, so will the lake of fire be a barren burn pit of the wrath of God.  This is not a popular topic of the reality of God’s word and plan, but unless it is clearly addressed and understood, many may refuse to hear the good news because they never considered the bad news of their destiny apart from the grace of God in Christ which cannot be earned by any number of good works as sacrifices or acts of meaningless penance.  The Lord gathers His people by His Spirit just as the animals here who did not lac a mate by His goodness of grace.  His choice, His lot cast for us as His chosen people, Jew and Gentile through the promise by faith through Abraham, that is what gives us the right to an eternal country as our promised land to have forever and ever, amen.  Through the judgment and wrath against sin on the world we find mercy and forgiving reconciliation in Christ as the good news we need.  Hell and brimstone are reminders for us of our well-deserved fate apart from that work of grace through faith.  Yes, there is a judgment of hell as well as grace of forgiveness in God’s love.  Without knowing the bad news of our sinful state and its just end, we cannot understand the good news of undeserved forgiveness.