This journey through the Book of Isaiah, though brief and sketchy, has been used of the Holy Spirit to teach me so many things. (You must realize that we are studying the “Prince of Prophets” here, Isaiah is the “gold standard.” The proto-typical Major Prophet!)
The theme that has so amazed me, repeated over and over, is God’s POWER over the NATIONS of the world! In fact, over His entire UNIVERSE, all creation!
And Isaiah chapter 34, its initial verses, again reemphasize that Truth. Read with me:
“Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Isaiah 34:1-4
The word, if it can be divorced from it current stigma, is “sovereign!” God is LORD over all! “For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies.” Note the word “all” is used twice in this compound sentence. “All nations.” And “all armies!”
“Indignation” is translated “wrath” 23 times in the Old Testament, but also translated “foam” once, as if God is so angry He’s foaming at the Mouth! (Such illustrations are called “anthropomorphisms.” Depicting God in a way we humans can better understand Him. God does NOT literally foam at the Mouth.”)
“Fury” derives from a root Hebrew word meaning “hot.” Fiery indignation! And it is even translated “poison” 6 times in the King James Old Testament! God is that serious, punishing sin.
And what will Almighty God do to these wicked, wayward, rebellious Nations? (These verses will see full realization in years ahead, after the Rapture … during the Tribulation, at Armageddon! And though they are yet future,” they are so certain to occur that Isaiah pictures them in the past tense!) “He (God) hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.”
Wow, Isaiah continues …
Verse 3 … “Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.” A lot of blood! (Compare to Revelation 14:20 … “and their blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles.”)
Then the earth, still under God’s Supervision, is judged! Things fall apart, earth and space and even the “heavens!” Yes, nature is cursed too … because of rampant human sin! “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Isaiah 34:4, stars falling everywhere! (Compare to Revelation 6:12-14 … “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Same event … just through different eyes.
Yes, God is sovereign, all right. (The word is simply built upon a Latin preposition, “super,” meaning “above!” Then we English folks added the “reign” suffix, picturing a Monarch on his Throne.)
Sovereign … yet loving!
How loving? “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Amen!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
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