Isaiah 33-35

Introduction

Lesson Josh had this morning in Psalm 36. And in so many ways, really, uh, it our lesson on Isaiah reflects the truth of that psalm. What happens to the wicked, though they think they’re self-sufficient and they will not be discovered, they go their way in thinking on evil, yet God will bring them down and has and will raise up the righteous. The uh the theme of Isaiah is trust in the Holy One. Trusting the Holy One of Israel. Why would that be necessary in Isaiah’s day? Isaiah’s called Cain in the year of whose death? The king.

But he therefore grew up in the reign of Uzziah. And what kind of a life uh style would you say was around Jerusalem or Judah during Isaiah’s reign? Both in the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom. What was the prosperity? And also what continued seemed to increase with prosperity, most every prosperous age, ours included, but also seems to go uh morally. Wickedness increases. And so it occurred really, you might say, when Isaiah began his prophecy, and uh what years do we usually date Isaiah? Anybody know remember that now? 690 to 740. The other way around, 740. 740 then 69. Uh all right, and and so uh in fact, in fact, uh Isaiah followed with his son, co-regent with him, no uh certainly Joseph. But what kind of king was Ahaz?

Wicked. Very, very wicked. In fact, when we say the theme of Isaiah has to do, trust in the Holy One of Israel. Did Ahaz trust in the Holy One of Israel? Certainly not. He is the example of a king who did not. In fact, when there were uh those uh that rose up against uh one of conquered Judah during Ahaz’s reign, uh he turned to Assyria for help. It was against Syria and against Ephraim of the northern ten tribes. Ahaz did not trust in the Lord. But then we come with Hezekiah. And certainly our section that we’re studying in these few lessons here has to do with the time of Hezekiah’s reign. And I think it might be good for us to kind of review that just a tad.

If you go back to 2 Kings chapter 18, I want us to sort of get in our minds really what the Bible, how it describes the time of Hezekiah and his reign. In 2 Kings chapter 18, let me go and begin, I’ll go ahead and start with verse 1. Where it came to pass in the third year of Hoshiach, the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. Second Kings 18, verse 2. He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abai, the daughter of Zechariah, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done.

He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image, and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. For until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it and call it Nesheron, Nesheton. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept his commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him. He prospered wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He subdued the Philistines as far as Gaza and his territory from watchtower to fortified city.

Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshiach, the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shamanesar, king of Assyria, came up against Samaria and besieged it. And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is the ninth year of Hosea, king of Israel, Samaria was taken. Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away. We usually date verse 10 at about 72, if you were thinking in terms of that. Verse 11, then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed his covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded.

And they would neither hear nor do them. In the fourteenth year, King Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. Then Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of Assyria at Lakish, saying, I have done wrong. Turn away from me. Whatever you impose on me, I will pay. And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah, king of Judah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.

Then the king of Assyria sent Tartan, the rabbis of Saras and the Rabshaka from Lachish, with a great army, against Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. And when they come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pooh, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. And when they called on the king, Eliakim the son of Herkai, who was over the household, Shebnon the scribe, and Joab the son of Asaf, the recorder, came out to them. I’m going to stop right there. And actually, though those last couple of verses will be, you might say, the point in time of our lesson to be with tonight, which is covered again in Isaiah 36 and 37. So, but that’s kind of a quick overview of the period of time of Hezekiah up to this point.

Now, in our section that we started, you might say back at Ruby in chapter 29, we have been talking about six different woes that are pronounced by God against different ones through this period. It seems about 705 BC. Let me say it this way, after Shamanizer, and then Sargon had taken uh uh Samaria, made it captive. And about 705, Sargon it seeming, about that point in time, died. And it’s thought that at that time maybe had Hezekiah sort of felt like, well, I’m not gonna pay any tribute uh to Assyria. But Assyria then says, wait a minute, and they began to come down against uh Judah. And in the process of time, as we says, even here, they took cities of Judah all around. In fact, uh Tanakh wrote that they had taken 46 fortified cities of Judah, and really were thinking that Jerusalem would be easy to conquer, easy to take.

Assyria was a world power. And therefore, in our lesson, uh in fact, a week ago, now last Sunday, there was a question, who will Judah turn to for help against Assyria? If Assyria comes down and begins to conquer the cities of Judah, who does it seem that they’re going to turn to for help? And the Lord says, Woe to those who would turn or trust in. I heard it. Egypt. Why would they turn to Egypt? Well, it was the only world power, at least apparently, that might could help defend them. But the God really in Isaiah chapter 31 and 32, in effect says, What about Egypt? But how much will they be of help? Who made Egypt in beginning with? The Lord did. Why would you turn to other men?

1. Woe to You Who Plunder

Why would you turn to the many horses? They are but horses. They’re not spirit. Why would you, though they have any chariots? What are they? And so you sort of see the reasoning that goes with this. Why would you trust in men rather than the Lord? Our lesson today in chapters 33, 4, and 5, really, you might say, follow in that same line of thought. And yet we have we have some point that says, Well, who is Assyria anyway? Why would you trust in Egypt to help you against Assyria rather than the Lord? Trust in the Holy One of Israel. In fact, as we start chapter 33, the prophecy of Isaiah turns to Assyria. And here you might say is the sixth woe in this series of woes to these sections.

And it says, Woe to you who plunder, though you have not uh have not been plundered, and you who deal treacherously, though they have not dealt treacherously with you. In other words, was Assyria always really fair, you might say in battle? Was it they reacted only when having been attacked themselves? No. You’ve plundered and you’ve dealt treacherously even though you haven’t been attacked, and you haven’t been plundered, and you haven’t been dealt treacherously with. When you cease plundering, you will be plundered. When you make an end of dealing treacherously, they will deal treacherously with you. Now think about that. I want you to drop over to verses seven through nine, because uh then we really see why this prophecy is going to come to pass. How wicked was Assyria.

In fact, in verse 7 he says, Surely their valiant ones shall cry outside, the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly. The highways lie a waste, the traveling man ceases, he has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he regards no man. The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and shriveled, sharing it like a wilderness and basion, and caramel shake off their fruits. The great places you might say of Judah. It’s a picture, you might say, as Assyria has come down even through Judah and conquered so many cities. And he says, Look, are there anybody on the roads now? No, the the highways lie a waste, the traveling man ceases. There’s nobody traveling. It’s danger out there. Assyria has come now against Judah. They plundered.

Is there any hope for Israel? Or for Judah, shall I say, God’s people? You know, from man’s point of view, it may look as though there’s really very little hope. When we measure solely by what the eye can see and what man we measure, you know, the forces of men. What he’s really saying in this passage is, hey, you know, the people, the valiant ones cry. You see, even the strong, maybe, verse 7, weeping, and ambassadors of peace, weeping bitterly. What hope is there? This one who plunders. Is there any hope? What have we already read about Assyria? How God would use them in Isaiah? You better remember. It’s his instrument. Yeah. Look back at Isaiah chapter 10 with me. In Isaiah chapter 10, beginning in verse 5, the prophecy about Assyria goes like this.

Isaiah 10 and verse 5, Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, and against the people of my wrath, I will give him charge. To seize the spoil, to take the prey, to tread them down like the mire of the streets. And he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so. But it is in his heart to destroy and cut off not a few nations. For he says, are not my princes altogether kings? Is not Kalno like Archimish? Is not Hamath like Arpad, is not Samaria like Damascus. As my hand has found the kingdoms of idols, whose carved images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria. As I have done to Samaria and her idols, shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?

Therefore it shall come to pass when the Lord has performed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem that he will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks. For he says, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am prudent. Also I have removed the boundaries of the people, and I have robbed the treasure their treasury, so I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. My hand is found like a nest the riches of the people, and as one gathers eggs that are left, I’ve gathered all the earth. That’s a pretty arrogant claim, isn’t it? That’s what I uh a serious claiming.

And verse 14, there was no one who moved his wing nor opened his mouth with even a peep. And then verse 15, the real point. Shall the axe boast itself against him who chops with it? Shall the saw exalt itself against him who saws with it, as if a rod could wield itself against those who lift it up, or as if a staff could lift up as if it were not wood. Therefore the Lord of hosts will send leanness among his fat ones, and under his glory he will kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. Well, I read that verse just to remind you, because in the whole picture, Assyria was indeed a very cruel and wicked empire, and was really threatening Jerusalem or Judah as a whole, had plundered many of the cities already at the time of this text, no doubt.

And if you were just counting like men would count, what hope is there for God’s people? I was reading something uh that I wanted to share with you by Farrar uh FW Forrar, a description of Assyria’s general character. Give you an idea if you had lived back then. It reads like this Judge from the vaulting inscriptions of her kings. No power more useless, more savage, more terrible, ever cast its gigantic shadow on the page of history as it passed on it no way to ruin. The kings of Assyria tormented the miserable world. They exult to record how space fell for corpses. Wasn’t enough space for all the corpses. How unsparing a destroyer is their goddess Ishtar. How they flung away the bodies of soldiers like so much clay.

How they made pyramids of human head. How they burned cities, how they filled populous lands with death and devastation, how they reddened broad deserts with carnage of warriors, how they scattered whole countries with the corpses of their defenders as with chaff. How they impaled heaps of men on stakes, strewed the mountains and choked rivers with dead bones, how they cut off the hands of kings and nailed them on the walls, left their bodies to rot with bears and dogs on the entrance gates of cities, how they employed nations of captives in making brick and fetters, how they cut down warriors like weeds or smote them like wild beasts in the forest and covered pillars with the flayed skins of rival monarchs. I mean, you know, reading all that you think, well, how kind of cruel and inhumane could they have been.

But that’s the way history records how Assyria is and was.

2. Be Our Arm Every Morning, O Lord

Verse 2. Isaiah now turns and speaks, O Lord, be gracious to us. We waited for you. Be our arm every morning. I know your translation may say, be their arm, and you know like I do that the Septuagint omits the word there. And the Targum Syriac Vogate read it with our in a certain sense is be our arm, O Lord, every morning. Our salvation also in the time of trouble. And the noise of the tumult, the people shall flee. When you lift yourself up, the nation shall be scattered. Your plunder shall be gathered like the gathering of the caterpillar. As the running to and fro of locusts, he shall run upon them. When the caterpillar comes through a green pasture or a locust dew, what does it leave?

Nothing. Nothing. So he says, you know, when the Lord actually finally will come against those who plunder, they’ll be brought down. They will be devastated. And so in verse 5, the Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high. He’s filled Zion with justice and righteousness. Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times and the strength of salvation. The fear of the Lord is his treasure. In other words, those who indeed have the fear of the Lord will treasure what things? Wisdom and knowledge and strength, stability. So what Isaiah is saying, you know, let again, here’s the idea again. Trust in the Lord. He will bring against Assyria. Assyria is crooked, is cruel and wicked and has conquered nation or city after city and king after king, but he’s coming against God’s people.

And so Lord, stand up for us is the plea of Isaiah. And of course, as the as the you might say later, we will read in our lesson, particularly in the next two chapters, have I Hezekiah. Turn to the Lord and pray. And there’s we’ve read seven through nine, so we just described, and this is one of the things I think about Isaiah makes it hard. You have interspersed, you know. Here’s a line that’s talking to the Lord, and then without any marking, maybe in the text, he talks about Assyria, and then he comes back to talking about the Lord. So in verse 10, because it says, I will rise, says the Lord. Now I will be exalted. Now I will lift myself up. You shall conceive chaff, you shall bring forth stubble your breath as fire, shall devour you.

And the people shall be like the burnings of lime, like thorns cut up, they shall be burned in the fire. Hear, you who are afar off. What I have done, and you who are near, acknowledge my might. What’s he saying? What’s going to happen to Assyria? Well, they’ll be brought down. In fact, the very burnings of lime, like thorns and cut up shall be burned in the fire. Indeed, uh, again, uh, how did Assyria fall? Anybody know the history behind Assyria? How did it finally fall? When was it taken? Actually, it’s its capital was Nineveh. And Nineveh was conquered in 612 BC. Uh and uh in 605 at Carchimis, the Assyrian government was finally wiped out forever. Assyria disappeared from the face of the earth, quote, as storms cut down and burned in the fire.

Nineveh was forgotten so completely that even later it said, Alexander the Great, on his way to conquer the world, walked upon the very earth that covered it without knowing. It was unearthed until about 1845, nearly 2400 years after his device. So God did bring down Assyria. In fact, as it said, even Nineveh was sort of forgotten and left unleft unknown on the maps for a long, long time. Here was what’s a mighty power, yet it came down. And so Isaiah in this chapter really is saying, look, you who plunder, you who think you’re so mighty, can the axe do anything without someone picking up the handle and using? And can the arrow or the bow work without someone who’s really in charge of Assyria? So the whole text in Isaiah might say is while it’s this battle is going on, and man’s having to determine who am I going to trust in?

Am I going to trust in Egypt to feat Assyria? Am I going to trust in Assyria like Ahaz did? Or are we going to really trust in the Lord? For we are God’s people. What shall it be? I’ll tell you there’s a real test of faith. You know, in prosperous times, I think it’s easy for you and me to say I trust in the Lord. I mean, you get up, and maybe the worst thing you have is when my car starts this morning to get here. And will the traffic be alright so I can get here on time. Some of us don’t do that. But nevertheless, there’s that job, can we at least do trust in the Lord? You have any fear of somebody attacking you today?

You don’t have an enemy in our country about to overrun us. So we say I trust in the Lord, that’s easy words. But when you look back at Isaiah’s day, I mean those were literal. In fact, they had conquered so many cities. Here’s what it said. This is from the ancient Near Eastern texts, uh, what Sennachra wrote, and I might repeat some of this uh next uh Wednesday when we do chapters 36 and 7. It says, as to Hezekiah the Jew, this is this is the king of Assyria writing it, or the historians for them. As to Hezekiah the Jew, he did not submit to my yoke, the Assyrian king. I laid siege to forty-six of his strong cities, walled forts, and to the countless small villages in their vicinity, and conquered them by means of a well-stamped earth rounds and battering rounds brought thus near to the walls, combined with the attack by foot soldiers, using mines and breeches as well as sapper work, I drove out of them two hundred and one hundred and fifty thousand people, young and old, male and female, horses and mules, donkeys, camels, big and small cattle, beyond counting, and considered them booty.

Himself I made a prisoner in Jerusalem, Hezekiah, that is, uh, his royal residence, like a bird in a cage. In other words, he he conquered, you know, surrounding the city, so how can Hezekiah get out, or can the people flee? So I had I had him bound up like a bird in a cage. And he said, Hezekiah himself did send me later to Nineveh, my lordly city, together with thirty talents of gold, eight hundred talents of silver, his own daughters, concubines, male and female musicians, in order to deliver the tribute and to do obeys as a slave. He sent his personal messengers. Now, from that point of view, it sounds like Sennacherib is in charge, and that he had Hezekiah defeated. What really happens? Some of you will be here with tonight.

What really happens whenever the Rabshekah comes and declares to the people, just give up, don’t trust in the Lord God. Look at all the gods we’ve defeated in the other cities. What makes you think your God will help you? And yet, what really happened when Hezekiah prayed to the Lord to the Assyrian army? What happened to the Assyrian army? John? This is this is the time in history where when he prayed, 185,000 uh Assyrian soldiers were found dead next morning in one night. By what means we don’t really know it is instead an angel of the Lord came. Whether it was some, we might say from man’s point of view, maybe some fever or disease took him and killed him all that night. We don’t know.

But they rose up. And all Sennachata wrote in his annals were indeed we had him hemmed up like a bird in the cage. But in effect, he didn’t write about the defeat. That within itself said they did not defeat Jerusalem. Had he defeated Jerusalem, he had certainly been in the text in his history. So God’s word really came to pass, proving that here this great plunderer was itself plundered. Sennacher went back to Nineveh, his own sons assassinated him later. So it was a terrible end. And as we read earlier, also Assyria itself, Nineveh itself became simply unknown on the maps there for many, many years. So Assyria was brought down by whose power? God’s power.

3. Who Shall Dwell With Everlasting Burnings?

Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Stop and think about that. Why would the hypocrites fear? If God’s going to bring down a great power like Assyria, if God’s really that much in charge, indeed, 185,000 die in one night, and the king who thinks himself so mighty and cannot be overrun, and goes back, why would the hypocrites fear? Now, those who trust in the Lord don’t fear, they’re thankful. The hypocrites fear. Well, you know, God’s really shown himself. It’s kind of like I think in Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Spire when they fell dead. What happened to the rest of the saints who saw those two hypocrites? Did they fear? Yes.

Yes, they feared. If the Lord were to strike some among us today in a literal way, and today, you know, here someone says, Oh, I love the Lord, but he’s a hypocrite about it, and he struck dead, what would it do the rest of us? Now say, it’s it’s easy for us to say, I trust in the Lord. It’s easy for us to say, I fear the Lord, but what if in reality we saw some of these things occurring that the people of Isaiah they saw? I think of the passage in Revelation chapter 6, in fact, when this question is raised, uh, who, when the question is raised, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? When the the seals, the sixth seal is open around the book that’s in the hand of the Lord, that the Son of God comes and takes and begins to loose the seals thereof.

And when the sixth seal is loosed, and even the people who left prior to the mountains and the rocks fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come, the last verse of chapter 6 says, Who should be able to stand? Who’s going to stand in the day of God’s wrath? Well, no hypocrite. No wicked person. In fact, chapter 7 of Revelation says, Who will stand? Those who have the seal of God on their part. The 144,000 to remark. So with that thought in mind, you see in the New Testament, I think, much the same scene that’s being described here in Isaiah chapter 30. Who’s going to be able to stand?

Who shall dwell with everlasting burnings? The answer is in verse 15. Who it is? He who walks righteously, speaks uprightly. He who despises the gain of oppressions, who gestures with his hands refusing bribes, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from seeing evil or knowing and doing evil, really. He will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. Bread will be given him. His water will be sure. It’s an answer. When God really comes and defeats the enemy, who’s going to stand? Only the righteous. That’s much in the great lesson we had this morning from Psalm 36. You know, again, what was what was the lesson there this morning? The righteous will stand. The wicked, oh, they think they think they won’t be found out, but they would be.

And so Isaiah portrays that. You know the history of it, I say in studying the Old Testament. It’s such a great, great lesson for us today. While we don’t live under the law of Moses, we learn the nature of God, don’t we? And throughout the history of God’s people throughout the Bible, always the righteous stood, and the wicked failed. Oh, for a period of time it doesn’t look that way. For a period of time, it looks like the wicked prosper. It looks like they’re having their way, and they do for a period of time. The devil is the prince of this world, Jesus describing. So I think even today there are many people, you say you look around, the wicked seem to be prospering and going well.

4. Your Eyes Will See the King in His Beauty

But eventually they will fail and they do perish. There is the final judgment that we all shall face. So, and I’m going to hasten on because the last part of really chapter 33 is a look at the Messianic period. In verse 17, your eyes will see the king and his beauty. They will see the land that is very far off. Your heart will meditate on Tarah. Where is the scribe? Where is he who weighs? Where is he who counts the towers? In other words, when you’re looking for these who were once so mighty and powerful and wicked, where are they? They’re not there. You will not see a fierce people, a people of obscure speech beyond perception, of a stammering tongue that you cannot understand. They won’t be there anymore.

For a while those were the wicked, and they were in charge, and you didn’t understand what the Assyrians were saying and spoke a language, you didn’t a stammering tongue. But there come a time where they won’t be there. They will have been brought down. And so he says in verse 20, look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast. Your eyes will see Jerusalem a quiet home, a tabernacle that will not be taken down. Not one of its stakes will ever be removed, nor will any of its cords be broken. But there the majestic Lord will be for us, a place of broad rivers and streams, in which no galley with oars will sail, nor majestic ships shall pass by. For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver.

The Lord is our king, he will save us. Verse 21, when it speaks about broad rivers and streams, and the in the ancient times, some of the great cities like Babylon and Thebes had a moat around it. And so that anyone who would come had to conquer it by first of all getting over the water. And so he says, There won’t be any boats coming toward it toward this everlasting city, Jerusalem. It’ll be safe and protected. In fact, the Lord is our judge, lawgiver, and king. Our government today has three branches. What are they? Executive. Executive, legislative, traditional judicial. And the Lord is all three of those in that verse 22. He is our king. He is our lawgiver. He is our judge. Look with me rather quickly to Hebrews chapter 12.

And I think you might say in a forecast, Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 22. Really through 28 is forecast in the Messianic period. When he says in Hebrews 12, 22, you’re come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly judge. To an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church, the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God, the judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus, the mediator, the new covenant, to the blood of shrinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth, but now he is promised saying, Yet once more I shake not only earth, but also heaven.

Now this yet once more indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. I believe Isaiah is pointing to this period of time that you and I now live in. And the Hebrew writer is even saying to Christians in his period, don’t turn back, don’t lose sight of who you are and what you’re in as the heavenly Jerusalem, as citizens of it. Remember who you serve. Remember where you’re going. That’s the message of both Old and New Testament, basically. So moving on into chapter 34, he then now speaks particularly to the nations, you might say, as a whole.

5. The Indignation of the Lord Against Edom

It’s not necessarily a tie with Assyria. In fact, in chapter 34, we’re going to talk about Edom. In verse 2, the indignation of the Lord is against all nations. His fury against all their armies. He’s utterly destroyed them. He’s given them over to the slaughter. You see, this is written as though it’s already occurred, isn’t it? How can Isaiah write something as though it’s already occurred? Because God knows the end from the beginning, doesn’t he? When we get into chapters 40 through 45, we’ll have that statement over and over. And God, even Romans 4:17 in the New Testament says God can say things as though they’ve already happened because he knows. Is God in charge of the nations of the world? Absolutely. Many of the nations we read about in the Old Testament aren’t even existing today, are they?

God is in charge. But in verse 5 of chapter 34, my sword shall be bathed in heaven. Indeed, it shall come down on Edom, on people of my curse for judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood, it’s made overflowing with fatness, with the blood of lambs and goats with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Basrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Why would God make this judgment against Edom? Edom sort of stands as the example for all nations. So let’s go back a little bit in history. Who was it? Who were the ancestors of Edom? Esau. And how did Edom react toward Judah or God’s people, Israel?

Because Esau’s brother was Jacob, whose name changed to Israel. So when you say Israel, of course, what happens in this period we got a little bit of confusion that Israel began to stand for the ten northern tribes or Ephraim. But so Esau hated out of jealousy, didn’t he? Out of Jacob. And through the years, what happened? Did Esau ever help God’s people? Always it was just the opposite. And so Edom stood as a people always against God’s people. Obadiah, those false prophecy, the minor prophet we say, because it’s such a short one, spoke about Edom. It’s just really one chapter. But it’s all against Edom. In Obadiah chapter, start to say chapter in verse 3. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high.

You who say in your heart, who will bring me down to the ground? You know, pride. In Obadiah 5, if these have come to you, if Robert’s by night, oh how you will be cut off. God promised to bring Edom down. And so I’m going to read down, then we see about verse 15. For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near, as you have done, it shall be done to you. Your reprisal shall return return upon your own head. For as you drank on my holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually. Yes, they shall drink and swallow. They shall be as though they had never been. Edom is described as a nation that would be brought down. And it goes back of all the incidences, and there are really several scriptures that really bring us to talk about Edom.

I know my bell’s gonna ring, so I’m kind of hurrying through this particular section. But uh given in your word book at least the places where you might go and read about how Edom had had always opposed God’s people. Uh Angels chapter 1, verses 6, 9, and 11, Ezekiel chapter 35, uh Jeremiah 49, Malachi chapter 1. There’s several references where you see how Edom itself stood up against God’s people. Therefore, when they really stood up against God’s people, in essence, who are they really standing against? God. And so God would bring them down. Uh let me let me move down a little bit in verse 8 of Isaiah 34. Is that it’s the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Its stream shall be turned into pitch and its dust in the brimstone. Its land shall become burning pitch, it shall not be quenched night or day. Its smoke shall ascend forever from generation to generation, it shall lie waste. No one shall pass through it forever and ever.

You would have say, how it would be that if you had the Dead Sea, where would Edom be? Southeast. On the east side and south. That’s where Edom was. We we really get it as the children of Israel coming up from Egyptian bondage, captivity, they come through Edom and Moab and go in, we get it mentioned in comments. I just happened to read yesterday in Deuteronomy of the Travels of Moses recollecting the travels and how God specifically said, Don’t, you know, we’re just going to stay, and Edom will pay for our food, we’ll pay because they are our brothers, they are relatives. And they did the same for Ammon, the same for Moab. But did they? No. Yeah, as they were coming up out. This is the history earlier, of course, as they were coming into the promised land.

But now, God, from Isaiah’s point of view, what’s going to happen to Edom? Because they have really fought against my people, and always rejoiced when my people were struggling and seemingly defeated, and so forth. What did it really look like? Edom, will it stand? Look at verses 13 of chapter 34. Thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brammels in its fortresses. It shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches.

There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch and gather them under a shadow. There also shall the hawks be every one of their mate. That looked like a place to want to live. Edom, I mentioned a moment ago how Nineveh became unknown where its geographical place was, so happened to Edom. I’m reading again, Malachi 1 and verse 3. Malachi 300 years after Isaiah. Said the mountains and the heritage of Esau and Edom were laid waste and left to the jackals of the desert. And then verses 4 and 5 of Malachi 1 represents the Edomites bowing, they will rebuild. But the Lord vowing, he will tear it down again. What’s really happened? The territory of Edom was made desolate, first of all, by the Assyrians, later the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks.

And though there was a brief period of recovery in the time of the Maccabeans, Edom really was completely devastated. It is now and has been for more than a thousand years, one of the most desolate territories of land on the face of the earth. Isaiah would hardly seem to demand a literal turning streams in the pitch. The present land of once ancient Edom has no perennial rivers. It has numerous wadis, dry stream beds that sometimes run with torrents when the winter rains flood. But no doubt Edom is busy with the destruction of the desolation so complete it could be likened unto Sodom and Gomorrah. No one lives there, only the wild beasts and animals. Did God bring it down? Did God want it to bring down?

How do you know it’s the will of the Lord? Well, not only does Isaiah prophesy, look at the last two verses of chapter 34 and verse 16. Search from the book of the Lord and read. Not one of these shall fail. Not one shall lack her mate. For my mouth has commanded it, and his spirit has gathered it. He has cast the lot for it. His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation, they shall dwell in it. That is the wild beast and animals. Write it down. You can look about it later. But God’s word came to pass. And still continues to come to pass. So in these two chapters, we’ve seen Assyria’s going to fall, and Edom’s going to fall.

6. The Desert Shall Rejoice; the Highway of Holiness

You and I looking back in history, did it come to pass? Yes. One of the strongest belief proofs that the Bible is the inspired word of God is full of prophecy. And I find it fascinating passages like these to say, well, you know, go search for it. Where was Nineveh? If it weren’t for archaeologists, you and I couldn’t find it today. And what’s happened to Edom? Well, we know where it should have been, but no one lives there to this day. God said it would be. Come to chapter 35. And now we turn really to beautiful prophecies of the Messianic period. I think describing even an age in which you and I presently live and serve the Lord. The wilderness of the wasteland shall be glad for them.

The desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. I don’t know whether you recall, I did it rather quickly a while ago, and one of the earlier things I did when we came to class, when back in chapter 33 and verse 9, he talked about how that the Assyria had come down, and verse 9, the earth mourns and languishes of leaven and the shame and shrivel, sharing it like the wilderness. Bashan and caramel shake off their fruits. Yet now in chapter 35, these lush and grace great places in Judah, the territory of Judah, are now perhaps figuratively so, but they’re blossoming.

They’re thinking regions to rejoice in. Whereas at one, from man’s point of view, just for looking at the eye, Assyria devastated those places. But now, what will the Lord do? The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it. The excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Verses 3 and 4. Strengthen the weak hands. Make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fear-hearted, be strong. Do not fear. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you. Are those just words? Are you having reason if you’re reading Isaiah at that time to think, well, you know, that’s that’s word, that’s true. You know, we look back and say, history, well, if God said it, it’s true, right?

Because we see these things fulfilled. This passage, if you’ll turn with me, it’s Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews 12, verses 12 and 13. Hebrews 12, verses 12 and 13. Now, in the Hebrew letter, the writer is really writing to Jews who were no doubt struggling in the first century. How long do we stand with the Lord? He hadn’t come back again yet. We’re being persecuted. The temptation to fall back into Judaism, and Hebrew writers, no, no, no, stand firm. Remember who you are and where you’re going. In Hebrews 12 and verse 12, what does he say? Strengthen the hands which hang down, the feeble knees. Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. That sounds like what Isaiah was saying?

Really? It’s sort of a testament, New Testament overview of what we just read from Isaiah. Even now, 2,000 years later, do we find some Christians who become discouraged? And we need to sort of strengthen the hands that hang down, the feeble knees, make straight paths for the feet. How do you do that? How do you do that? How do you find brethren who sometimes we have some brethren who have been baptized but aren’t really faithful? Do we? Y’all know anybody? I was very wanting to say, yeah. If you’ve been a member of Chap Bumby very long, you say, Yeah, I know someone who’s not as strong as hell to be. What should we do? How about strengthen their hands that hang down? All of us have somebody that we can go encourage and help.

And so Isaiah really, while he’s also prophesying about the time in which he lived, and here’s some wicked kingdoms in Assyria and Edom, and they’re going to be brought down. But God’s people need encouragement. And so there’s a lesson you might say, it’s a living lesson. Whether it’s true in Isaiah’s day, it’s true in our day as well. In verse 5, what’s going to happen? Why rejoice? Why encourage? How can you do that? During the Messianic age, verse 5, then the eyes of the blind shall be open. The ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. The lame shall leap like a deer, the tongue of the dumb sing, for waters shall burst forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, the thirsty land springs of water.

In the habitation of jackals where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and brushes. That passage is really quoted in Matthew 11, verses 2 through 6, Luke chapter 4, 16 through 19. Jesus applied it. Did Jesus in fact help? Did he come and open the eyes of the blind and make the lamb walk? It was when John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask, Are you the right one? And Jesus said, and he quoted this verse from Isaiah and said, Look, are not the miracles of Jesus’ work as testimony that indeed he’s the fulfillment of the promises of God? So without reading it, I would have read it except for time. I hope you’ll go back and maybe you’ll mark it that this same passage is found in the New Testament quoted by Jesus.

I wanted to get the last three verses of particularly. Verse 8 a highway shall be there, and a road, and it should be called the highway of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although fool shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it. He shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. The ransom to the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Highway, God’s way. How’s it going to be? Actually, this is not the only time. Back in chapter 11 and in verse 16, he spoke about the highway of holiness.

God’s way. Jesus spoke in Matthew 7. There are two ways. What do they call? There’s a way that’s wide and broad. Leads to destruction.

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life. And so we have to make a choice in our own life. But what does he say? What does Isaiah prophesy about the way of the Lord? The way of holiness? Is it going to be so hard that man, God made it so hard? We really can’t understand the Bible. Is that what he said? He’s saying it’s just so hard, you really, you know, you have to be perfect to get to heaven. Is that what he said? Isn’t that any of that? That you hear some grumble about today. But instead, it’s going to be a way where it’s a way of sorrow and sighing flying away. It’s a way where there is everlasting joy. Remember who you go, who you serve.

Remember your destiny. God hasn’t made it a way that’s impossible, but it is a way of choice. It’s a way we have to make with focus and purpose of mind. I believe in God. I have a reason to have that hope and joy. I have the testimony to the ages that just as God could conquer a wicked, great power like Assyria, I could bring to nothing the land of Edom. Indeed, God who brought his son into this world by promise. And Jesus proved himself to be the Son of God by miracles and signs and wonders. Indeed, know who you believe in. And don’t forget it. The way can be found in all and can be served by all. Only the wicked will not be found on him.

Conclusion

That’s what he says here. And indeed, there are people who turn away from it. But you and I have the advantage of saying, look, I believe God, I believe the Bible to be the word of God, and I want to follow it. And God help us all with that in. I hope you enjoy Isaiah. I hope you’ll especially read the next two chapters. I think they’re about the most thrilling. I ain’t say that. But they are very thrilling in Isaiah. How that now when Sennacher really comes and it just looks like he’s got Jerusalem, he’s got Hezekiah bound up like a bird in a cage. That’s what he said. But uh Hezekiah prayed to the Lord. Boy, what an example, a thrilling example. God answered the prayer.

Trust in the Holy One of Israel. May we do that our day in our day as well. Thank you. God bless.