Year 3, Day 18: Isaiah 34

Judgment Of The Nations

As we continue to move through Isaiah, it is now fitting that we should turn to a few chapters on judgment and restoration of the nations.  Isaiah 34 will deal primarily with judgment.

The first thing that we hear is the Lord is angry with the nations.  As I read that line, I had to wonder what has brought the Lord’s anger.  In the next line, we hear specifically that the Lord is furious against all of the “hosts” of the nations.  So I looked up the word in Hebrew.  102 times in the Old Testament this word is translated to mean army.  324 times this word is translated host – but in a context that could imply military (earthly or divine) service.  Therefore, what this passage specifically seems to be keying in on is mankind’s ability to be violent towards one another.  What has drawn God’s wrath against the nations?  The answer is our militaristic tendencies towards one another.

Let me pause for a moment and say that I’m not going to go all pacifistic here. While I believe peace is the way to go for the best results, I also know that not everyone in the world agrees.  There is a need for a standing army if for no other reason than there are people and nations in the world who would love to take over anyone without a standing army.  So I’m not making a case for pacifism here.  What I’m making a case is that God loathes the fact that so often we can’t resolve anything without force.  Because of sin, force is necessary – even as a defense.  God loathes that it is necessary.  God loathes that there are people out there who make military force a necessary evil.

Think about this in context.  Assyria has come upon Jerusalem.  Assyria had been called by God to bring judgment upon His people.  But they went too far.  They took too much.  Their brutality in going about God’s judgment was vicious and brutal.  Their humanity brought about cruelness to their agenda.  They flexed their military might in oppressive and nearly genocidal fashion.  But the Assyrians aren’t the only people in history to do this.  In fact, almost every nation has had tendencies towards this from time to time.  We can’t just win; we need to crush the opposition.  We can’t just beat someone; we need to assert our dominance.  We can’t just be superior; we physically show how superior we are until they cry “mercy” – and even then we don’t always stop.  That’s what God loathes.

Time and again this chapter from Isaiah talks about how God has had enough.  We hear verse after verse talk about all the blood that has been spilled and drunk by the weapons of humanity.  The Lord even says that the sword of the Lord is gorged and sated.  We as a human people are destructive and violent.

The Response Of The Lord

What will the Lord do about it?  Edom becomes the test case for judgment against the nations.  We are told that the streams of Edom will become like burning pitch.  Symbolically, think about this.  Pitch is really good for two things.  Pitch keeps out water and it is highly flammable.  Water, on the other hand, is good for sustaining life and putting out fire.  Symbolically speaking, when the Lord’s judgment comes upon us we will no longer be a people of sustaining life and “putting out fires.”  Instead, in the day of the Lord we will be an inflammatory people whose presence is capable of destruction instead of sustenance.

Generations will go by where life seems impossible.  Wild things will inhabit the cities.  The creations of mankind – our cities and our things that make our livelihood possible – will not sustain us.  They will not protect us.  Humanity will be confused and in turmoil as our society crumbles around us.  When God has had enough of our violence and He has seen enough of our ways He will come and our humanity will not stand.

So what can we learn?  Heed the last two verses of this chapter.  Search the book of the Lord.  Learn from Him.  We cannot save ourselves.  Our human inventions cannot prevent the inevitable.  We are a violent, destructive, and self-centered people and our time is coming.  The sooner we recognize this truth and humbly fall before the Lord and learn His ways, the better it will be for us.

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