November 3, 2010
The King of the World
Isaiah 24:1-27:13; 33:1-12; 34:1-17
Judgment Upon the Earth 24:1-26:21
The Vineyard Restored 27:1-13
Prayer for Deliverance 33:1-12, 34:1-17
Calvin Miller, in his book, Until He Comes, reminds us of the story about the little girl, whose mother’s face, was hideously scarred, from an earlier injury. As the little girl grew and made friends and gained her own identity, she became more and more ashamed of her mother’s horrible appearance. As the little girl walked down the street with her mother she noticed that people moved over to the far side of the walk or even crossed the street in order to avoid them. Gradually, the girl, herself, found ways to avoid being with her mother, in public. Eventually, the girl became an adult, married and moved to another town-----she rarely saw her mother, after that. Her lonely mother suffered financial set-backs and faced basic hunger. Her daughter continued to ignore her, even in such destitute circumstances.
One day, the daughter discovered an old diary of her mother’s. It described a horrible fire, that had swept through their home, and it told how her mother had rushed into the burning house and scooped her daughter into her arms and ran back out, burning herself, to disfiguration, in the process. The truth dawned on the daughter; her mother’s horrific scars had come, from saving her life. A new kind of shame raced through her heart and soul. She went to her mother as soon as she could and threw her arms around her and gazed fully into her face-------a face, which had become unbelievingly beautiful and precious. With tears, she expressed her gratitude for everything her mother had done. And, from that moment forward-------a new relationship controlled their lives.
Way too often, we depend on outward appearances when we choose our leaders and our friends and our world views. We don’t look far enough, behind the way someone or something looks or appears, to be able to discern the truth behind a person or a program, or an organization and see what their ability really is, to be able to help us or to guide us or to satisfy us.
Israel and Judah kept looking beyond their boundaries to try and find a strong ally to help deliver them from their enemies, which included each other. Time and time again, God sent word through Isaiah and the other prophets that Israel and Judah just needed to trust Him and to recognize that He was the only ally that they needed. God wanted them to understand that because of His Sovereignty, He would always have everything under control. (There is an old adage that says man proposes, but God disposes. Proverbs 16:9 “---in his heart man plans his course, but God determines his steps.” Many years ago, a professor in a history class, frequently said, that to be able to have an accurate account of past events, the word “history” should actually be 2 words---“His Story”. The professor was absolutely convinced that all of history was truly, nothing more, than the account of God’s dealings with man. He based his conviction on Paul’s words in Acts 17:26 which says, “From one man, God made every nation of man, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.”)
God’s final plans for His people will include both judgment on sin and redemption for all obedient people. Aside from being able to live with the Lord forever, our greatest reward, will be, the victory over sin; the victory over the worship of false idols; and the victory over death and the grave. (And, Praise, God, because of Jesus’ death and resurrection, believers can already claim those victories.) And, neither horrible monsters of the sea, nor heavily armed people, nor evil and greedy leaders, nor terrorists extremists, will be able to prevent God from carrying out His plan, when that Day comes. God is the Sovereign Ruler of the Universe!
Isaiah said that the world will look unbelievable, beyond imagination, some day----- because God will create a new heaven and a new earth. The old heaven and earth will be destroyed. All things will be new. Tears will vanish. Banquets will abound. Life as we know it will never have been so good! Are we ready for this new world that God will create? What will it take for us to really believe that God has everything under control? Do we really believe that God can take care of all of our needs? Has God always been faithful? Has He ever let us down? Have we learned to trust Him with everything in our lives and in the world, no matter how big or how small the issue is? Have we shifted our trust from economic and political and education powers, to God power? Have we learned to look beyond the appearances of circumstances and situations? Have we seen that the experiences of this life, good and bad, are just little dots in the scheme of God’s Big Plan? Do we turn to the Lord every day and put our confidence solely in Him rather than putting it in earthly allies. Have we learned to trust the Sovereignty of God? It’s my prayer, that if we haven’t, then through this study, we are beginning to! There is a poem that is entitled,
“God’s Handwriting”—------------------ (and it goes like this):
He writes with characters too grand
For our short sight to understand
We catch but broken strokes
And try, to fathom all the mystery of withered hopes
Of death, of life
The endless war, the useless strife
But there, with larger, clearer sight
We shall see------His way was right
The King of the World 24:1-26:21
Chapters 13-23 contained the judgment prophecies, which over time affected 11 specific nations, who had all had contact with “God’s Chosen People”, in some way. Some were good neighbors and others caused great suffering for them.
But in our lesson for this week, in Chap. 24-34, God’s judgment was expanded to include a universal judgment that would happen, far into the future, which will end with the entire nation of Israel restored to her land and all of God’s enemies destroyed. We have already talked, numerous times, about the fact that God enabled Isaiah to see that coming time that the prophets have all called ,”The Day of the Lord.” In Matt. 24 and in Mark 13, the Lord himself referred to this time of judgment as “the signs of the end of the age.” Most theologians, pretty much agree, that this time period is referring to the Great Tribulation. Even though Isaiah warned the people that Assyria would destroy the Northern Kingdom of Israel and that Judah would be taken captive by Babylon------he wanted them to understand, that those would just be local tragedies and would be a fraction, of the horror that was going to come, in a universal way, to the nations that refuse to acknowledge God as their Sovereign and Jesus as their Savior. Isaiah reminded them again about the Remnant that God would spare, so that they would be encouraged and wouldn’t lose hope. Being a part of that Remnant, is what we all live for. That is our Hope! That is the Good News! That is God’s promise to everyone who believes. God’s great love and mercy clearly shines through these prophecies ,as Isaiah talks about God’s judgment on the world; which will lead to the preservation of a remnant of His people; which will lead to a restoration of their nation.
Isaiah looked beyond the immediate crisis facing Judah and transported her to a future catastrophic time when the whole world will be involved in God’s judgments and all levels of people, remaining on the earth, will be affected. Nobody will escape, from the highest in the land, to the lowest of the low; everyone will suffer the same troubles. The Book of Revelation describes, in detail, some of the judgments that will fall upon the earth and its inhabitants during the 7-year Tribulation period. These will be more far-reaching and devastating than anything that the world has ever seen, up until that time. Even Jesus promised in Matt. 24:21-22,” For then there will be a Great Tribulation, such has not been seen since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved.”
(I want to pause right here for a minute, to talk about God’s special relationship with Israel. I think, at some point in time, in the study of scripture, we all wonder about it------ because it looks like God is playing favorites with them. He isn’t though! I understand the assumption behind the thought----but God’s character would never allow Him to put one person or one group, before another one. The Jewish people, quite simply, are God’s Chosen People, because there had to be a line of human ancestry, that the Son of God could be born through and God, in His Sovereignty, chose Abraham and his descendants. It is that simple! He is God; He can do whatever He wants to. The truth is, their punishment for disobedience, has been far greater than any other nation or people group, when you think of all the atrocities that they have had to endure, individually and as a nation and are still enduring and will continue to endure, right through the Tribulation. We have to understand that God chose them, from the beginning of creation, to bring the Savior to mankind, and to spread the message of His Gospel, throughout the whole world.
That has already happened, the Savior did come from the line of Abraham-----so that part of the prophesy and the promise, has been fulfilled----but they chose to turn their backs on the other part of their calling—they didn’t recognize Jesus, as the Messiah; so they haven’t spread His message. That is what they will be judged for. But, in the last days, it isn’t favoritism that will spare them from death and count them among the Remnant-------it will be God’s sovereignty----because God’s plan will not be thwarted----- they will finally become the missionaries that God has always intended for them to be. They will finally fulfill their reason for existence. They won’t all live through the tribulation—many of them will be martyrs—but they will be counted among the saints, as they gather around the throne of God, on that great resurrection morning.)
In Acts 10:34, Paul says “that God doesn’t show any favoritism.” And David says in Psalm 135:6, “The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” From the list in Isaiah 24:2, we can see that all socioeconomic groups of people will be equally affected in the “scattering” of the earth’s inhabitants-----Jew and Gentile, educated and uneducated, rich and poor, powerful or week--------there will be no ungodly person who will escape judgment. The fact is-----everything the Jews trusted in and everything that we trust in today------power, wealth, education, bloodlines, position----it will all be destroyed. Daniel said in 4:34-35 that “…His dominion is an eternal dominion; His kingdom endures from generation to generation…He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the people of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him, ‘What have you done.’” He is Almighty Sovereign God and once we come to realize and accept that, it gives us the freedom to trust Him, in every situation that we face---good or bad. It makes us realize just how insignificant our prideful arrogance in the achievements of mankind is, in the presence and majesty of Almighty God.
(In David Burgesses’ book, Encyclopedia of Sermon Illustrations, he says that there is an account of a man in Germany, in the early part of the 19th century, who thoroughly resented the message of Easter and its Resurrection Promise. To further enforce his scorn, the man stipulated in his will that his grave be secured and covered with great slabs of marble, bound together with iron bands and then covered with a 2-ton granite boulder. On the boulder was written this inscription: “this grave was purchased for eternity; it shall never be opened.” Ironically, though, but not so ironically, a tiny Poplar seed began to sprout in the dirt, that was covering the grave. Over the years, it broke through the man-made security system------it moved the boulder and its roots broke open the grave!”)
No man or nation----no matter his strength or his opinions or his intelligence or his creativity, can outwit the Living God. He is Sovereign. Because of His righteousness, God has to judge mankind’s sin. In their rebellion, they have abused the earth, disobeyed God’s laws and statutes, violated His love for us and broken His everlasting covenant. But and it is a big but--------------God loves mankind and He doesn’t want anyone to perish. (2Peter 3:9) So, in His Sovereignty, He sent Jesus the 1st time and in His Sovereignty, He will send Him again.
Harvest, in the OT days, was a time of festive celebration and great joy, as people gathered to worship God, in thanksgiving. Isaiah painted a picture of the sharp contrast of what the harvest will be like during the Great Tribulation--------basically, there will be no harvest and no joy, because the crops will all be destroyed and the workers will either be dead or they will be hiding in the hills, and in the caves, terrified, begging the mountains, to fall down on them. John tells us in Revelation, that there will be earthquakes of such unprecedented violence, that nobody will be able to escape them.
God loves mankind and the world so much though—that He will never reveal to us or give us, more than we can stand----not in His word and not in our lives. He always tempers His discipline and His judgment with mercy. He is firm in His justice, but He is always quick to forgive and restore. So, just like He will cut the time of Tribulation short----------He also cut Isaiah’s vision of the destruction short too, and He allowed Isaiah to see and tell his people, that after the time of Tribulation--------there would come a wonderful day, when God will reveal His glory, with such brilliance, that the sun and the moon will lose their light, and they will hang their heads, in shame, in the presence of His great Majesty.
Matt. 24:29-30 says, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the Sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then, the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man, coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” The entire world will recognize Jesus as the King of Kings and he will reign in absolute justice with God’s absolute Sovereignty--------and all of mankind will finally acknowledge Him. That’s what God has always wanted-----to share an open display of His glory with His children and to be recognized as Sovereign, by His whole creation. That is Salvation! That is Heaven! That is what having a personal relationship with Him is!
Think about it! What do we know that heaven and hell will have in common? Their commonality will be that everyone in heaven and everyone in hell will be honoring God. The people in heaven will be a tribute to His grace----and the people in hell will be a tribute to His justice. But, everyone, will bring honor to God, no matter which place, they wind up in. And, what will the difference be between heaven and hell? The people in heaven will be delighting in God’s glory and the people in hell will be shrieking and gnashing their teeth in hatred at God’s glory. The way that people will experience God and His glory forever, will come out of their own free-will and out of their own hearts. They will either love Him forever or they will curse Him forever. That is why the most important thing in our lives is to make sure that we nurture our relationship with the Lord Jesus, every single day and that we give Him all the praise, honor and glory that He deserves-with our mouths; with our actions; with our thoughts and with our prayers. (There is story told about the great Austrian composer, Joseph Haydn, giving that kind of praise to God. At a performance of his beautiful oratorio, “The Creation”, the lyrics filled the Vienna Music Hall. The audience sat enthralled by the glorious sounds of his great masterpiece. When the orchestra and chorus sang, “and there was light!”, the listeners rose from their seats and enthusiastically poured out their appreciation and accolades, to the composer. Haydn was very old and very feeble and confined to a wheelchair, but he struggled to his feet and motioned for silence. Then he pointed toward heaven and said, “No not from me, but from Him, comes all.”) Joseph Haydn knew, like Isaiah did, like I hope that we do and like I wish that the Jews did, that all that we have and all that we are and all that we can do-comes solely and completely from the strong hand of God.
In that great day, when everybody will acknowledge God in all His glory, there will be a great banquet prepared for us, by God’s own hand. And God offers everybody a seat, at His eternal banquet table. Everybody won’t accept the invitation, though, but those of us who do, will be a part of a great Remnant of people, from every generation who has ever lived. We will be served nothing but the best. We won’t be disappointed by anything. (this weekend, at Dale’s board meeting I couldn’t eat my filet because it was too rare—it is hard in a large gathering to get everything right-but at God’s banquet table-everything will be done to perfection.) All that our human hearts could ever desire will be placed before us. The feast will be held on Mt. Zion (Jerusalem). God’s people will have waited a long time to sit at that banquet table, but it will be worth the wait. (When I was a little girl, I learned an old song called “Suppertime”------ya’ll know that I can’t sing-----but I used to go out into our backyard and swing for hours, singing that song, at the very top of my lungs-----one particular verse would bring tears to my eyes and a feeling that I could almost describe as homesickness, every time-------it was years before I understood, that what I was feeling, was a longing to be with Jesus and my loved ones, who were already in heaven. Part of the verse is “…the banquet table’s ready up in heaven, it’s suppertime upon that golden strand—come home, come home, it’s suppertime, the shadows lengthen fast---come home, come home, it’s suppertime, we’re going home at last.”)
It will be the Banquet Supper of the Redeemed. All the guests will be full of joy and nothing will ever make them sad again. The Banquet that God is preparing will be so rich, that Isaiah couldn’t stop describing it. (My favorite time with my children and our family or with my friends or just with Dale is the dinner table. They will tell you that I never want anybody to get up. I never want our time together to end. We laugh and we talk and we share our days and our concerns and our joys. And we build memories---------but those precious times are just a shadow of what it will be to sit around the Banquet table with Jesus and all or our redeemed brothers and sisters.) The future promised to us is beyond our wildest and our most tender dreams. And, amazingly, Jesus is looking even more forward to the banquet than we are. In Matt. 26:29 when Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, He said this, “I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new, with you, in my Father’s kingdom.” When Jesus sits down at the Banquet table with us, it will be forever!
Isaiah continued in Chap 26, to sing the song of praise to God, for all the many blessings that He will shower on His children---and one of the most beautiful statements in this passage, is 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” The mind of a person is the way that they think. It isn’t their brain; we all technically, have identical brains----but we don’t all have identical minds. Our brain is the machine that we use to think with--------and our mind, is the intellectual tool, which controls the kind of thoughts that we have. It is like our brains are the computer and our minds are the software programs, that control its function. In this verse, Isaiah tells us that the person, whose mind is stayed upon the Lord, will be kept in perfect peace. To be stayed, means to be anchored. The best illustration that I can think of, to explain this, is that of a radio or television antenna. We’ve all seen them, on the tops of small hills. They are very tall and very thin and they have red, blinking lights, to warn aircraft of their presence. There is no way that they could stand up on their own—they couldn’t even be erected in the first place, without cables to attach them to the ground, on all 4 sides. Their cables are called stays-------and they hold the antenna steady, so that it can’t be blown down or away, when bad weather comes. In that same way, our minds can’t be balanced by themselves. Our hearts and our minds are closely connected and without anchors or stays, we are vulnerable to satan’s lies and his promptings------but when our minds are anchored securely in the Lord, He will provide all the stability that we need. This is not a technique or a magic formula and it isn’t something that we do in addition to our salvation. It is simply keeping our eyes on Jesus and applying the faith that He gives us, to the situations in our everyday lives. David tells us in Psalm 37:7 to “rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him.” Resting in Him is the same thing as having our minds stayed on Him. What it amounts to, is consciously placing our trust in the Lord Jesus and allowing Him to control our thinking------and when we do, the result will always be peace. There is a passage in 2Chronicles 20:17 that says, “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.” When our minds are stayed on Jesus, no matter what the battle is—we can rest in peace-------- because it isn’t our battle to fight-it is the Lord’s. We don’t have to fear or fret, because we can be completely confident, that the Lord will take care of every circumstance. The past will be forgiven and forgotten and the future is in His nail-scarred hands. When the enemy tries to put doubt or fears in our minds--------we can say, “Lord, I have already given this to you.” And we can leave it there, even if we have to say it to Him, 10 times a day-that‘s ok—because our anchor will never pull lose----------Jesus will weather every storm that blows our way.
Our faith should be in Jesus, alone. Because only in Him, is there everlasting strength. His strength is not in our faith. Our faith is in His strength. We have the misconception, that how much faith we have or don’t have is the key, to our rest in the Lord. But the quality of our faith is not the issue, it can be weak and wobbly and little----and the effectiveness of our faith is not in, what we can muster up-----the effectiveness of our faith, is directly related to whom our faith is in. When we put our faith in Jesus and fix our eyes on Him—we can look away from ourselves and our abilities and we can trust in His everlasting strength. God is Sovereign.
We can rejoice in the wonderful truth, that God just doesn’t forgive our sins, when we repent; He also forgets them. It goes so much further than forgetting our sins, though, -------- if the removal of our sins were simply a case of forgetting them--------what would prevent God from remembering them again, at some later date? (I forget lots of things, but sometimes when I least expect it or want it, they come back to me and they are “unforgotten”.) But God’s forgiveness and forgetting aren’t like that. By an act of His Sovereign will, He decides that He will never recognize them again. He throws them as far as the east is from the west. And because He is perfect in all His ways—we can rest assured that they are blotted out forever, and will never be acknowledged again. (A cartoon in the New Yorker magazine showed an exasperated father saying to his prodigal son, “This is the 4th time we’ve killed the fatted calf…”) The truth is, God kills the fatted calf, over and over and over again, throughout our lifetimes.
God implants and stimulates a longing in our hearts for Him-----we want to please Him. Isaiah 26:9 says,”My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.” Faith and longing prove that God is at work in our hearts. That yearning that He awakens in us, is the most important thing about us. It is the key to our eternal futures.
The Vineyard Restored-----27:1-13
Isaiah continued in this passage, to look far into the future, and God allowed the vision, to reveal to Isaiah, the final destruction of satan and his fallen angels. The symbol that Isaiah used to characterize the devil was a Leviathan, which apparently, is a sea serpent or sea monster of exceptional power. Isaiah said that in the Lord’s Day, the monster of the sea will be slain. He will never trouble the vineyard or the garden again. There will be no compromise and there will be no mercy. It will be good vs. evil and evil will be destroyed fully and forever. Satan, had been holding the nations in the Promised Land in bondage, because of their false and superstitious religions. This prophecy has already come true to a partial extent-------because when Jesus resurrected from the grave, He crushed satan’s head and took away his ability, to manipulate God’s people with fear, ever again.
He doesn’t have a claim on us anymore. And he doesn’t have any advantage over us. We don’t have to be his victims. And when Jesus comes back again, the prophecy will be fulfilled completely and He will obliterate satan and his minions, once and for all (the first 1000 years, he will be in the lake of fire and for the rest of eternity, he will be in hell).
The Good News, for all of us who have accepted Jesus as our Savior, is that, we have already been set free from the bondage of satan. In this world that we live in, the devil is still very much alive and active and he would love to blind us to the truth of God and he would love to trick us, into doubting the promises of God, like he did Eve; but he can’t do it unless we let him, because we are the children of God. And, God has given us armor to wear, so that we can be protected from satan and in Ephesians 6:13-17, He has given us the instructions, on how to use the armor. By putting on the armor of God, with prayer, we are really putting on the Lord Jesus and putting ourselves in His domain and the enemy can’t touch us there. ( When I sense that there is spiritual warfare going on around me, I don’t pray, “get behind me satan”--------I think that makes me vulnerable, to even acknowledge him----that was Eve’s problem-----she never should have engaged him in conversation, in the 1st place-----she should have called on God-------He would have come to her rescue-------so I pray, “Lord Jesus, I’m in your hands and I can’ be snatched away------you have put a hedge of protection around me and it can’t be penetrated-----you have already defeated the enemy at the cross and I trust You to keep him away from me-----he can’t touch me, thank you Lord Jesus.”).
When satan is cast into that lake of fire-----the children of Israel and all those with them, who have come through the Tribulation, will be able to enter the Promised Land, without fear. The vineyard, that Isaiah is describing here, is the Children of Israel, just like it was back in Chap. 5-------but the difference is night and day. The 1st vineyard had to be destroyed because it only produced bad fruit-------but the new vineyard that will be established in the Millennial Kingdom, will flourish and will yield luscious, beautiful, glorious fruit. God will watch over the vineyard. He will water it and prune it. He will guard it day and night and He will keep it from all harm.
God never took His hand off of Israel or Judah-----He wanted them to trust Him and to come back to Him and He knew that, eventually, a remnant would, and they would complete the task that He had called them to. He did allow Assyria to destroy Israel and Babylon to capture Judah---------and the Jews are still scattered to the 4 corners of the world---------but God didn’t allow any of it so that they would be separated from Him. He allowed it so that it would bring them back to Him. He wanted and He wants reconciliation with them. It is just like when a parent disciplines a child----------they do it, so that they can teach the child, the right way to behave. God, in His omniscience, said through Isaiah, that the people will see the error of their ways and they will forsake the worship of foreign gods and they will destroy their idols and they will atone for their guilt and for their lack of understanding and they will turn back to Him and He will end their suffering---------------and then He will sound the great trumpet and He will gather them from where they have been scattered and He will take them home.
The prophetic announcement of the trumpet strikes a familiar cord in the hearts of believers-----because we are also waiting to hear the trumpet sound, and it will announce the coming of Jesus, to get His church. Ist Corinthians 15:51-52 and 1st Thessalonians 4:16-17 says, “that we will all be changed------in a flash----in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…for the Lord, Himself will come down from heaven with a loud command…and with the trumpet call of God…we who are still alive…will be caught up…to meet the Lord in the air.” What a glorious day of rejoicing that will be.
III. Prayer for Deliverance----- 33:1-12, 34:1-17
The woe of destruction, in this passage, that Isaiah prophesied, was for Isaiah’s day, and it was directed against Assyria, not Judah. Vengeance and treachery against Judah, earned King Sennacherib the titles of “destroyer” and “traitor”, because he had ruthlessly destroyed everything in his path, all across Judah, right up to the gates of Jerusalem. God promised, that He would destroy Assyria, because of their arrogance and their pride; and their unwarranted cruelty to God’s people; and their arrogant disregard of God’s sovereignty. The bottom line of this is that God is sovereign and He will not be mocked. (There is an old fable that teaches this truth----“one day a young boy saw his parents, force his grandfather from the table, to sit in a corner and eat from a wooden bowl, like they had done many times in the past, because the old man’s hand trembled and caused too many spills and broken dishes. Later on that day, as the boy was whittling on a block of wood, the father asked him what he was doing and the little boy said innocently, “a wooden bowl for you, when you get old.”)
Galatians 6:7 says “that a man reaps what he sows.” Assyria and King Sennacherib were no exception. Isaiah prophesied, that their day of judgment was coming, and that when it came, there would be a remnant of Judah, which would call out to God, in a prayer for deliverance. At that point, Judah would realize, that the only thing between them and disaster, was God, and they would finally worship Him as their Savior. Going through the difficult time with Assyria, led Judah to forsake their wicked ways and to turn back to God and God saved His people. God will always save His people, when we call out to Him in repentance. The most beautiful point about this lesson is, that, when we really trust God, we will find that He has always been there. When we are stripped of ourselves and all of our possessions and all of our pride and all of our desires, then we discover that God is all that we have, but most importantly, we find that God is all we need.
In Chap. 34, Isaiah looked again far, into the future to the time when God’s wrath would come down on the powers of satan and all the nations who are enemies of God, during the Tribulation, through the Millennial Kingdom and some theologians believe, even to the Battle of Armageddon. In this passage, Isaiah spoke for God, in the way that a Town Crier used to summon the people to hear an edict from the King--------the Town Crier would go up and down the street saying “Hear ye Hear ye”, and when all the people were gathered, he would read them the proclamation. This call that Isaiah proclaimed, was from Almighty God to the heathen nations and to the earth----- and it was a warning, that His anger and His wrath would come against them and defeat them. He singled out the nation of Edom, who was an ancient enemy of Israel, to symbolize the divine judgment, which would come upon all Gentile nations, who refuse to trust God and who have and will, mistreat the Jews and exploit their land. (The Edomites were the descendants of Esau----there was a long-standing rivalry between them and the descendants of Jacob ---when the Children of Israel tried to get from Egypt to the Promised Land-----the Edomites blocked their way-----they tried to prevent the Israelites from getting salvation-------they were punished for that; they were completely destroyed. The Edomites represent what will happen to any nation, who wars against Israel. They also represent, any person, who stands in the way of someone else, coming to know the Lord Jesus, as their salvation. We have to be so careful that we are road-pavers not road-blockers.
Skeptics and even believers sometimes scoff or ignore God’s warning, of coming judgment, because there has been such a long delay between God’s promise and its execution. But we need to be reminded that God is waiting---because He is patient; He doesn’t want anyone to perish----He wants all of the earth’s people to come to repentance. (2Peter 3:9) But, 1st Thessalonians says, “that the day of the Lord will come, like a thief in the night, while people are saying , peace and safety, destruction will come-----suddenly ----and they will not escape.”
People can make the choice to not live by faith, but they can’t choose to escape the consequences of that choice. (Lance Armstrong is a great athlete, a 7- time winner of the Tour de France and he is a courageous survivor of cancer. He is admired by many people-------but I want you to know what he said when his life was in danger-----the sadness and futility of it, will break your heart----This is the way he rated his chances for eternity…”Quite simply, I believed that I had a responsibility to be a good person and that meant fair, honest, hardworking and honorable . If I did that; If I was good to my family; true to my friends; if I gave back to my community or to some cause; if I wasn’t a liar, or a cheat, or a thief, then I believed, that should be enough. At the end of the day, if there was indeed some Body or presence standing there to judge me, I hope I would be judged on whether I lived a true life, not on whether I believed in a certain book or whether I’d been baptized. If there was indeed a God, at the end of my days, I hoped he didn’t say, “but you were never a Christian, so you’re going the other way from heaven. “If so, I was going to reply, you know what? You’re right, fine!”) How scary is that, for Lance Armstrong? He needs our prayers-----because with his words, he is literally, shaking his fist in the face of God. I pray that someone will come into his life who can lead him to the Lord and to salvation. Because, he obviously doesn’t understand who God is. Do we know who God is? Do we know who we are, in relation to Him? Do we understand that God is sovereign and that He will always have the last word?
Sin affects every aspect of our society so extensively, that even the faithful of God, suffer. We can’t blame God for those conditions, though, because human sin is what has brought it about. We need to understand, that we do have a responsibility, as God’s children, in this world, to renounce sin and to speak against immoral practices and to pray for each other and to share God’s word with those who know it and those who don’t. The more we can slow down society’s deterioration or spare someone having to go through the Tribulation, by spreading the Gospel-----it’s a good thing. We can’t give up----sin is rampant in our world, it’s a way of life---but in God’s strength, we can step out and step up and make a difference, in the lives of the people we come in contact with on a daily basis.
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