Blessing Follows the Curse
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Isaiah
32. An expository study of Isaiah, chapter 34 and 35
Chapter 34
Isaiah is eloquent on the subject of divine
retribution and judgment and in this chapter, as we have already seen in
chapter 24, he proclaims universal judgment against all the nations. This is
not only a message from the Old Testament, but it is a prophecy that passes
through the New Testament and reaches to the end of our age.
“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” (verse
1). Much of the church in our day has tried to eliminate or at least to soften
and minimize the anger and vengeance of God. Rob Bell, a 21st
Century false prophet, has declared that the preaching of eternal punishment in
hell is “toxic”. A popular Spanish singer/preacher, Marcos Vidal, has said that
the presentation of a God of wrath is anti-biblical and diabolical. They are
totally wrong and will answer to God on judgment day for teaching error. Francis Chan thinks that we will need to
repent and confess being ashamed of an attribute of our Lord, as well as our negligence
and timidity in declaring His wrath.
God wants His coming judgment published among the
nations. It is a message to be declared and not ignored. No preacher should
take pleasure in it, but he must be faithful to his calling. It is Chan, who
finds support, not only from Isaiah, but from the writers of the New Testament
and Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus spoke freely of the fires of hell, more
frequently than the bliss of heaven. Here are just three examples: “It is better for you to enter life
crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire… where
their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched” (Mk.9:43,48). “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are
you to escape being sentenced to hell?” (Mt.23:33). “In hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes…” (Lk.16:23).
John the Baptist asked the Pharisees and Sadducees: “Who warned you to flee from the wrath to
come?” (Mt.3:7). He later declared, concerning the state of an unbeliever, “The wrath of God remains on him” (Jn.3:36).
The apostle Paul stated, “The wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of
men…” (Ro.1:18). Peter warns, “The
Lord knows how… to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of
judgment” (2 Pt.2:9). The book of Hebrews declares: “For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And
again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the
hands of the living God” (Heb.10:30-31). The book of Revelation prophecies
the unfolding of the seven bowls of wrath in the last 3 ½ years of Daniel’s 70th
week and has much more to say about this attribute of God (Rev.6:16-17; 11:18;
14:10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 19:15). We have by no means exhausted the New
Testament texts, but isn’t this enough evidence to show that God would have His
wrath to be known in this 21st Century?
“The Lord is enraged against all the
nations, and furious against all their host.” It needs to become very apparent to the Christian that
the world is under the control of the evil one. The universal sinful condition
of all of mankind is a clear reality and therefore it should not surprise us
that he lies in mutinous rebellion against his Creator and Owner. We need to
see that clearly and then we will understand why billions adhere to the theory
of evolution and a relatively small minority hold to the biblical account of
creation. Indeed, the majority never open the pages of the Bible. They jeer and
defame the works of God, just as He has clearly told us that they would. They
have chosen to believe and exalt the evil conclusions of a foolish mortal and
laugh at the declarations of an omniscient God. It is no wonder that God has
determined their destruction (v. 2).
At the end of this dispensation, the Lord will punish
them in disgrace, with their stinking bodies lying unburied and their blood
flowing uncovered (v.3). The bowls of wrath and the battle of Armageddon will
shake the heavens, as well as the earth. “Yet
once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens” (Heb.12:26).
This is quoted from Haggai 2:6, which in the following verse 7, speaks of
judgment upon all nations. Something we observe annually, the falling of
leaves, so that vines and trees are laid bare, will happen on a much grander
scale (v.4). What has been decreed in heaven, will descend into time.
“Seek and read from the book of the
Lord” (v.16). Seek understanding concerning
this prophetical depiction of Edom. It points to end-time ruin from which the
world system will never recover. The Sovereign God has determined all the detailed
dimensions of its ruin, as He did against Sodom and physical Babylon. He will
illustrate it through the judgment of Esau’s descendants, but it will extend to
a composite Babylon, a final formation of all the world’s historic and future
powers. Its destruction will be perpetual (v.17).
Chapter 35
This chapter lies in direct contrast to the previous
one. The inspired prophet will not allow his reader to remain very long under the
prospect of impending doom without referring to future bliss. It is an
established fact, seen throughout the Bible, that God’s stories have happy
endings.
It is the Christian only, who can provide hope for
mankind. All the institutions of learning, production and technology come to a
halt at the grave. They can only prepare and provide for a human being during
his lifetime. The message that is sent from heaven to earth looks into a millennial
reign upon this earth and reaches on into an eternity of heavenly joy.
It is proper that we join chapter 35 to chapter 34 to
contrast the condemnation, which will fall upon a rebellious race, with the joy
and glory of the people, who know their God. The Apostle Paul shows us that
nature awaits the revealing of the sons of God (Ro.8:19). As the curse upon the
earth turns the productive and populated places into a wilderness and dry land,
so God’s blessing reverses the trend and depicts creation… animal, vegetable
and mineral… rejoicing: “The wilderness
and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the
crocus” (v.1).
How does nature show its pleasure? It is revealed by rich
and abundant blossoms and lush production. They are immersed in the qualities
of their Creator, flowering abundantly, shining in glory and clothed with His
majesty. This is the joy and song by which they praise Him. Lebanon is named in
verse 2, because of its evergreen forests and Carmel and Sharon because of
their fertility. “They shall see the
glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.”
The writer of Hebrews shows us that these literal promises
could be applied in the first century to the spiritual condition of the church.
Referring to verse 3, he wrote, “Lift your drooping hands and strengthen
your weak knees and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may
not be put out of joint but rather be healed” (Heb.12:12-13). Because
Hebrews took this promise for its own, this can be a principle throughout the
church age Discipline may fall heavily
upon man’s spirit, but the final, godly intention is to bring healing.
Even the physical being, struggling under the curse of
sin, like the wilderness and the dry land, would experience the touch of Jesus
of Nazareth and the natural faculties would be restored. The world is still to
experience a future day when:
Jesus shall reign where e’er the sun,
Doth its successive journeys run,
His kingdom shine from shore to shore,
‘Til moons shall wax and wane no more.
His second coming will outshine the first, as He sits
on David’s throne and all on earth will know the full force of His literal
reign. See clearly the reversal of sin’s curse, that was described in chapter
34: “The burning sand shall become a
pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunts of jackals, where
they lie down, the grass shall become reeds and rushes” (v.7)
 |
| To Mt. Zion, via the Highway of Holiness |
See how the writer of Hebrews builds on Isaiah’s
foundation. We have already noticed that in a previous paragraph and here we
observe it again: “…Holiness without which
no one will see the Lord” (Heb.12:14). Isaiah wrote, “The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk
on the way.” They walk in Christ and His Way is so well mapped with His
person and care that “even if they are
fools, they shall not go astray” (v.9). That is, they will be kept on that
Way, not by their intellectual astuteness, but by dependence upon His keeping
power.
Because Christ is the Way, this highway is totally
safe and there is no danger of being trapped by the evil one. The Apostle John
taught us to trust and rely wholly upon Him: “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on
sinning, but he who was born of God
protects him, and the evil one does not touch him” (1 Jn.5:18).
It is by the Highway of Holiness that the redeemed,
the ransomed of the Lord, return and ascend Mount Zion. They are bought with a
price; God has received the ransom price of their redemption from slavery. They
have been saved by faith and made righteous through the work of the cross.
Everyone who is made righteous walks the Highway of Holiness. He progressively
is made partaker of Christ’s holiness by fatherly discipline and this highway,
and only this highway, leads to Zion.
I cannot improve on the poetic beauty of God’s promise
through Isaiah in verse 10, and so we end this study, basking in it without
further comment: “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.”
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