•Isaiah 34
•A Great Judgment
•1 Draw near, O nations, to hear,
•and give attention, O peoples!
•Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
•the world, and all that comes from it.
•2 For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,
•and furious against all their host;
•he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.
•3 Their slain shall be cast out,
•and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
•the mountains shall flow with their blood.
•4 All the host of heaven shall rot away,
•and the skies roll up like a scroll.
•All their host shall fall,
•as leaves fall from the vine,
•like leaves falling from the fig tree.
(Isaiah 34:1-4, ESV)
•5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
•behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
•upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
•6 The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;
•it is gorged 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.
•7 Wild oxen shall fall with them,
•and young steers with the mighty bulls.
•Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
•and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
•8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance,
•a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
•(Isaiah 34:5-8, ESV)
•9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,
•and her soil into sulfur;
•her land shall become burning pitch.
•10 Night and day it shall not be quenched;
•its smoke shall go up forever.
•From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
•none shall pass through it forever and ever.
•11 But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it,
•the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
•He shall stretch the line of confusion over it,
•and the plumb line of emptiness.
•12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
•and all its princes shall be nothing.
•(Isaiah 34:9-12, ESV)
•13 Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
•nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
•It shall be the haunt of jackals,
•an abode for ostriches.
•14 And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
•the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
•indeed, there the night bird settles
•and finds for herself a resting place.
•15 There the owl nests and lays
•and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
•indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
•each one with her mate.
•16 Seek and read from the book of the LORD:
•Not one of these shall be missing;
•none shall be without her mate.
•For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,
•and his Spirit has gathered them.
•17 He has cast the lot for them;
•his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
•they shall possess it forever;
•from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
•(Isaiah 34:13-17, ESV)
•Main Point
•These verses describe the devastation which comes from God’s judgment
• The results are full of dread
•We find God is Sovereign over the whole world
•Why would we decide to choose to put our trust and faith in anything other than this power?
•
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment
•This text is a dark text
• We are often confronted with God’s love, grace, and mercy
• It is easy to preach on because it makes everyone of us feel accepted
• We want Him to be loving and accepting
• Because of this sermons abound concerning the love of God and His acceptance of us
• Whether discussing our culture, or our congregations, we have greatly emphasized His love
• What we have failed to do, however, is equally emphasize God’s justice, righteousness, and wrath against sin
•
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (2)
• Perhaps it is fear
• We are scared to be called names
• Surely this would cause everyone to turn their backs on the faith…it is too harsh
• Consider the greatest acts God has done
• The act of the incarnation…God becoming man
• God becoming man…dying on the cross and rising again
• This brings our redemption and brings us reconciliation
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (3)
• Consider the darkness of it all
• How sinful humanity must be!
• We continue to be bad, we continue to do what we shouldn’t, we continue to sin
• God through the sacrifice of His own Son accomplishes something we could never accomplish
• If we were to believe sin is a minor thing, then we would not understand the ramifications of the Gospel
• We would not understand the weight of our guilt, the weight of sin upon the human soul
• How deep and dark must we be that this is the way which salvation comes?
• We are the Edomites, we are the worldly nations
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (4)
• The judgment of God is a great thing, it is a horrible thing
• Should we be like Edom, then we deserve the judgments against Edom
• If we seek to wander the desert, then we will die in the desert
• The world continues to offer us a reprieve from ourselves
• It is no different than any of the pagan nations of old
• In both cases…the world is attempting to userp God as Lord over all
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (5)
• When we follow the world we allow the same things
• By promoting sin as what should be accepted and embraced it leads to further destruction
• We have all sought our own sinfulness as well as accepted the sinfulness of the world in some capacity
• “Certainly not I!”
• Yes you. Yes me. Yes our guilt.
• A guilt of defying God
• Shared by all
• “Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples!” We are the nations, we are the peoples
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (6)
• Can we dare raised a clenched first before this impenetrable force and claim to know better?
• Claim to be better?
• Claim to be stronger?
• The question we need to ask ourselves concerning our sinfulness and guilt is whether or not we feel the sword of the Lord above us
• Can you feel the immoral impurity of your soul before a holy, righteous, and good God?
• No sin will not not be uncovered by His gaze
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (7)
• Do you feel it?
• Do you feel the abominable presence of the darkness within you?
• If we should all fall on our knees now it would be too late
• Yes, know yourselves, know your state, know your passion, know your brokenness, and know you are worthy of judgment
• You are, and so am I!
• We are unworthy of such a lofty God as the One who has made Himself known to us!
• He is all knowing, and He is everywhere, and we cannot escape Him
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (8)
• Yes the prophet Isaiah puts us in our place
•We are worthy of judgment forever and ever
• The LORD knows
• God will not let the guilty go unpunished
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (9)
• “Vengeance is mine” says the Lord
• For those who continue to spurn His salvation
• Those who slaughter innocent babes
• Those who oppress the broken and desperate
• Those who choose gain over people
• Those who are immoral
• Those who cause brokenness
• Those who remain unrepentant
• They will experience vengeance…God will do it
• Justice will not allude God
•Application Points
•A Great Judgment (10)
•In this way we have two great realities
• We are the ones who should experience such a calamity
• None will escape the calamity because God is the ultimate judge
• The injustice of this world are not the end
• God is the end, and He will have His judgment ending all evil once and for all
•Application Points
•The Gospel of Christ
•Origins
•Where we began
•Fall
•What went wrong
•Redemption
•How it is fixed
•Glorification
•Where it at leads
