Isaiah 34 - Judgment against the nations.

Isaiah 34 is titled by many Bibles as "The Judgment Against the Nations" while the KJV has it as "The judgment with which God avenges His church." What is clear is that this chapter DOES reveal God's judgment against the nations; and it is clear in many places in earlier chapters that this judgment is because the nations were used by God to punish Israel for rebellion. Wicked men do what wicked men do - and there are consequences for that. God uses wicked men for His purposes but their wickedness does not proceed from Him, but from within the men. Read Acts 2:22 & 23 for a clear example of this.

Isaiah 34:1-2 (HCSB) You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth hear, and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it. The LORD is angry with all the nations— furious with all their armies. He will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter.

This is notice, not to the pagan nations around Israel, but to the entire world. YHWH is angry with ALL the nations and their military and He calls them to sit up and listen! To what are they to listen? God has sanctified them - SET THEM APART - for destruction. God is not passive towards His enemies, He does not, as some teach, merely "pass over them" and allow them drift to destruction. He sets them apart, devotes them, gives or delivers them over (Romans 1:26) to their destruction.

Isaiah 34:3-4 (HCSB) Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood. All the heavenly bodies will dissolve. The skies will roll up like a scroll, and their stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree.

These two verses ought to pull you to John's Apocalypse, where we see blood flowing far and high (Rev 14:19 & 20) and we also see the sky rolled up like a scroll (Rev 6:12-14). We also find Peter alluded to this in 2 Peter 3:10 (HCSB) "But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that ⌊day⌋ the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed." Scripture interprets Scripture - the apostolic references show us Isaiah's vision here is in regards to the day of the Lord's return. The vineyard and fig tree being withered away are another word picture of temporal wealth being reduced to nothing.

Isaiah 34:5-7 (HCSB) When My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, it will then come down on Edom and on the people I have set apart for destruction. The LORD’s sword is covered with blood. It drips 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. The wild oxen will be struck down with them, and young bulls with the mighty bulls. Their land will be soaked with blood, and their soil will be saturated with fat.

The imagery we're used to seeing in John's Apocalypse keeps showing up here! Read Rev 19:11-16 to see the Lord Jesus presented as the victorious King, whose robe is stained with blood and wields a sword to defeat the nations. See also Deut 32:41-43; Jere 46:10; and Ezek 21:3-5 for direct correlations to Isaiah's words. Again, symbols of temporal wealth (livestock and land) are described as slaughtered and made worthless. Mother Nature is not in control of the weather or circumstance or chance. There is one God by Whom all things were made and in Whom all things are held together. He directs the clouds where to go drop the rain He metes out destruction on those chosen to be vessels of wrath.

Isaiah 34:8-10 (HCSB) For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a time of paying back ⌊Edom⌋ for its hostility against Zion. ⌊Edom’s⌋ streams will be turned into pitch, her soil into sulfur; her land will become burning pitch. It will never go out—day or night. Its smoke will go up forever. It will be desolate, from generation to generation; no one will pass through it forever and ever.

Here we see why Edom - an ancient nation south of Moab - is a vessel of wrath; she has been hostile to Zion, the people of YHWH. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord! And He will have it! Sodom and Gomorrah are brought before us to show what end Edom will face: burning pitch, sulfur, and smoke from a never-ending fire. Edom will pass into shadow, never again to be a nation but only a memory. A signpost of warning for those who disregard God or stand, shaking their fists at Him.

Verses 11 - 15 describe the desolation of Edom with various word pictures, including the presence of unclean birds (owls), hyenas and wild goats, thorns and chaos. YHWH will stretch out a plumb line to make sure the plan is complete, the destruction comprehensive - and precisely as His wisdom has determined it should be. Edom will have no more kings - a line of rulers more ancient than Israel's. Edom's princes will come to nothing. This is a contrast to the righteous king and just rulers of God's kingdom that we read of in chapter 32.

Isaiah 34:16-17 (HCSB) Search and read the scroll of the LORD: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit. He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

This "scroll of YHWH" is likely the Scriptures Israel had in her possession, she had the recurring habit of putting them aside and following after the pagan nations. Isaiah tells them to find and read YHWH's Words, wherein they will find His hand of providence providing all they had need of as well as keeping the wolves they desired from consuming them entirely. Verse 15 ended with a picture of wild, unclean birds making nests in Edom; verse 16 tells us God will insure none of the birds will miss their mates. This is because God had ordained it, has gathered these birds by His Spirit, and allotted their portion by His plumb line. NOTHING is left to "chance."

If you are unhappy with your circumstances, be careful you do not grumble against God, as though you deserve something better. This is my daily challenge right now, as I have been looking for work for 6 months and tend to get discouraged. But God is my strength and my portion - we who are in Christ have no reason and no right to grumble against that which God has allotted to us. Praise Him in "good times" and in "bad times." He is always working for good for those who love God, those who are called according to His purpose. For those He has known from eternity past He has called and is causing us to be conformed to His Son. And the end of all this is our glorification and eternal life with Christ Jesus on the new earth. What reason DO we have to grumble? To the contrary, we have no reason to grumble - but countless reasons of far more weight to rejoice!