ISAIAH
Prophecies concerning the Nations
The future of the Nations of the Gentiles and Israel (Isaiah 34 and 35)
The judgment of the Nations (34)
This "woe", here and in the next chapter, are an expansion of the two topics mentioned in chapter 33: "the judgements of the day of the Lord" and the subsequent "millennial blessing on Israel and their land".
Under the Satanic power of the beast and the false prophet, the armies of the Nations of the world will be gathered in a large effort to annihilate the Jews (see Revelation 19:19 -21 and 6:13,14). This will cause the indignation of God against all nations in general and against Edom in particular (Edom represents all nations in the rest of the chapter).
As a result, the Lord Jesus will come to execute judgment upon the Gentiles (the Nations). The sword of the Lord, "drunk with the blood," will fall in fury in Edom, both on the general population (symbolized by sheep, goats), and on the nobles or leaders (symbolized by the wild oxen, steers and bulls). The smell of decomposing bodies will fill the air, and the mountains will melt with the outpouring of their blood. Even the host of the heavens will fall like the leaves of the vine and fig tree.
Idumea (Edom is figurative of the natural state of man, always antagonistic against God) is particularly mentioned here as the big scene of divine intervention. The city of Bozrah (currently Petra in Jordan) is a central stronghold in the country. It will be the culminating location of the battle of Armageddon (see Isaiah 63:1 and comments). The judgements of this "day of vengeance of the Lord" will be spread over more than 300 kilometers (1,600 stadia of Revelation 14:20), and the district of Bozrah, it seems, is the southern limit of the conflict.
The king of the North, having subjugated Egypt, will be back with the intention to destroy Jerusalem and the Jews, because of news from the North. But he will not come to Jerusalem because of the personal intervention of Christ (Daniel 11:43, 44). The king will make his military headquarters (not "Palace", Daniel 11:45) in this region, and there will be destroyed by the hand of the Lord, as well as the Antichrist further north of Jerusalem.
The figurative language in verses 6 and 7 describes the defeat of the great leaders of these Gentile powers. It is the end of the "times of the Gentiles" (Luke 21:24), which started in the Babylonian captivity and will end on the back of the Lord Jesus for judgment of the world and start of his Kingdom on Earth (not to be confused with "the fulness of the gentiles" concerning the Church and ends in its rapture through Jesus Christ-Romans 11:25).
The verse 8 introduces "the day of vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion" that the Lord has, when He is going to enforce His rights as Supreme King. Compare Isaiah 34:9,10, Revelation 18:18 and 3:19. The word 'revenge' is of crucial importance, meaning a retribution, the action of God in the execution of the sentence that He as a Judge has imposed fairly on Himself.
The rest of this chapter describes the fate of Edom. "Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; its land shall become burning pitch" (verse 9, reminding us of the underground oil currently abundant in the Middle East). It shall be a land forever barren, covered with nettles and brambles, uninhabited by humans, taken by wild beasts, mysterious birds and birds of prey. They appear in couples, so they can reproduce (bringing to mind the Ark of Noah), and God will give them the ruins of Edom to own ... from generation to generation. This means "forever" in this chapter (verses 10, 17).
The return of the redeemed of the Lord (35)
The millenary conditions of peace and prosperity provided for in this chapter, in contrast with what is laid down in chapter 34, make it clear that the judgments of the wrath of God prophesied in that chapter will take place at the end of the current period, after which the Kingdom of Jesus Christ will be established on Earth for 1000 years.
After the rebel Nations are destroyed, the glorious Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, is introduced. The deplorable conditions of distress in the great tribulation will be replaced by everything that is done for the glory of God and for the happiness of His redeemed.
The features of this period include increased fertility of the Earth. Desert, parched land, thirsty earth, everything will become fertile, because nature itself will reap the benefits of the removal of antagonistic human and spiritual powers, and the glory of the Lord and His people, on earth and in heaven, will be present (verse 10).
There will be mutual encouragement between the saints. Each type of disability will be removed, and with great joy they will celebrate the transformation of the desert into well irrigated fields.
The hundreds of kilometres of desert en route from exile to Jerusalem will be covered by a "Holy path" exclusively for the redeemed people of God. No unclean person will walk on it. It will be for those who have fellowship with God, in whose heart are "the high paths of Zion" (Psalm 84:5-7) . Even people short of intelligence will not wander off the way (Isaiah 35:8). The joy of those dispersed around the world when they return to Israel is similar to the joy that will have accompanied the previous transfer of believers to the Father's House, when Jesus Christ comes for them (John 14:2).
The nature of the ferocious beasts will be changed. The lion shall eat straw like the ox (Isaiah 11:7, 65:25). There will be nothing to disturb the peace of the redeemed (Isaiah 35:9). The whole passage closes with a promise, which is repeated in Isaiah 51:11, to guarantee that both parts of the book have the same message of comfort: "and the ransomed of the Lord will come back; and come to Zion with jubilation, and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; joy and gladness will reach, and they will flee the sorrow and groaning"(verse 10).
Almost all these predictions are aimed at Israel directly, blessings or curses, and the Church comes later, extending the application also to it, as far as it is concerned. This is because the Church was one of the "mysteries", truths of God not previously revealed (Mark 4:11, Roman 16:25, Ephesians 3:9, etc.).
R David Jones
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter.
3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.
5 "For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment.
6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is 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 Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness."
8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch.
10 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.
11 But the pelican and the bittern shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; it shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; there also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.
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 them.
17 He has cast the lot for them, And 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."
Isaiah 34
1 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
2 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.
3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are fearful-hearted, "Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you."
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water; in the habitation of jackals, where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there, and a road, and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for others. Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray.
9 No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast go up on it; it shall not be found there. But the redeemed shall walk there,
10 and the ransomed of 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.
Isaiah 35