“You nations, come here and listen; you peoples, pay attention! Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that comes from it. The Lord is angry with all the nations, furious with all their armies. He will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter. Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise; the mountains will flow with their blood. All the stars in the sky will dissolve. The sky will roll up like a scroll, and its stars will all wither as leaves wither on the vine, and foliage on the fig tree… The wilderness and the dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower. It will blossom abundantly and will also rejoice with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees! Say to the cowardly: ‘Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.’” (Isaiah 34:1-4, 35:1-4 CSB)
Brief Outline:
- God is patient but just
- God will bring judgment
- God will demand a sacrifice
- God will tear down, then build up
- Walk with Him on the Highway of Holiness
Key verses: “The Lord will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her for her destruction and chaos.” (Isaiah 34:11b CSB)
“Say to the cowardly: ‘Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.’”(Isaiah 35:4 CSB)
Have you ever gone on a long hike? Several years ago, my wife and I were vacationing in Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park. She wanted to make a day hike to a site called Lulu City along the Colorado River trail towards the headwaters of the river. The hike is about 8 miles with an out-and-back route from a picnic area where Trail Ridge Road begins climbing up the mountain on the west side of the park. I thoroughly enjoyed the hike up to Lulu City and we saw some beautiful country and amazing wildlife.
However, on the return trip I was getting tired and a bit dehydrated. While we had packed water and trail snacks with us, we really needed to take a lot more water. When we were finally nearing the trail head late that afternoon, I was grumbling, exhausted and very, very thirsty. I had a headache and didn’t feel well. It all stemmed from being dehydrated and in need of rest. Once we reached our vehicle, I began to rehydrate and rest and my mood and outlook began to change. It is hard to make a trip like that when you don’t have enough water and the trail is long and tiring.
You don’t want to undertake a journey like that without being prepared and equipped. You need to plan, prepare, equip, execute and be ready to adjust and adapt. Our day hike was fairly simple and straightforward but I still struggled because I was ill prepared. Imagine what the daily journey of life will be like when you tackle it unplanned, unprepared and ill equipped. That’s nothing but a very long day on the struggle bus. This week’s focal passage is full of struggle, misunderstanding and frustration for those who come into it ill prepared. So, listen up as I do my best to try and prepare and equip you for the journey. It will be worth it, I promise.
We have reached the end of this section in our study. Isaiah’s declaration of woes upon the nations reaches its climax in this passage. As you’ll recall, last week we heard the final “woe” and it was directed generically against the “destroyer” who was to be destroyed and the “traitor” who was to be betrayed. This week, we carry that declaration of judgment a step further as we get both more general, as God includes all nations and peoples, and a little more specific, as He calls them by name – Edom. Yes, that seems paradoxical but stick with me and hear me out.
In the opening four verses of chapter 34, Isaiah references nations, peoples, the earth (plants/animals) and the world (people/society) and everything that flows from them. He calls the nations to listen and the peoples to pay attention to what He has to say. I mentioned last week that God is patient and long suffering, not wanting anyone to perish in His judgment but to repent (2 Pet 3:9). But justice and justness often get relegated to minor characteristics of God, maybe even to the bottom of the list.
But God’s justice is the natural outflow of His righteousness and His holiness. It is also within us through His image that He embedded in us as He breathed into man the breath of life. We know what is right, we recognize the difference between good and evil and we expect those who do wrong to be judged and those who are evil to be held accountable.
But why is the LORD angry with all the nations and furious with their armies? Why does He set them apart for destruction and give them over to slaughter? Why are they slain and then thrown out? Why does the stench of their corpses rise up and the flow of their blood erode away the mountains like a massive mud slide? Why do the stars dissolve in the night skies, withering away like leaves on a vine and the sky rolled up like a scroll? Because God has finally ran out of patience and His justice is about to explode onto the scene in righteous judgment upon man’s rebellion. The time HAS come and, as we heard last week, the LORD rises from His throne.
We now move from a generic declaration of judgment upon all of creation, to a more specific declaration of judgment upon Edom. As God’s sword of judgment swings against creation, it has drunk its fill of the heavens and now comes “down upon Edom, the people I have set apart for destruction.” Just who is Edom? Who are these people He has set apart for destruction? To understand, we need to take a step back in Biblical history. Back to Abraham, his son Isaac and God’s purposeful plan of redemption. It would be far, far too easy for me to simply tell you that Edom faces destruction because they are the descendants of Esau and not the children of promise through Jacob, his twin brother.
While those things are essentially true, that really just bypasses the heart of the matter – God’s purpose and man’s response. God didn’t choose Jacob over Esau because of the birthright Jacob outwitted his brother in obtaining. God chose Jacob because of his response to God’s purposeful plan of redemption. Esau was more interested in filling his belly than in God’s plan and God knew that would continue to be Esau’s lifelong choice. God didn’t destine Edom for destruction because of their ethnic ties to Esau, He rejected them because they rejected Him and His authority over their lives just like their ancestor Esau did.
Don’t misunderstand, Jacob was no saint and didn’t always do what was right. He often wrestled with God’s authority over his life, but he would limp away pursuing God’s purposeful plan for his life (see Gen. 32). THAT is Isaiah’s point and the focus of this judgment. God’s judgment is not an ethnic cleansing of Esau’s descendants, but it is a judgment of our choice to pursue God or not. It is a judgment of submission to His kingly authority over us and His will for our lives. It is judgment of our rebellion towards Him and the pursuit of our own desires and plan for life.
Let me state this very directly: If God doesn’t exist, then a moral authority doesn’t exist, right and wrong are subjective and I can pursue whatever is best for me. I am responsible and accountable only to myself and eternal judgment is nonexistent. If God does exist, then a righteous moral authority exists, right and wrong are objective, defined by His authority and I am responsible and accountable to Him and eternal judgment is coming. That’s what this passage is about. Notice how Isaiah puts it: “The Lord will stretch out a measuring line and a plumb line over her [Edom] for her destruction and chaos.” (Isaiah 34:11 CSB)
Initially, it sounds as though the measuring line and plumb line stretched over Edom will reduce her to destruction and chaos. In reality, the measuring line and plumb line is being stretched out over her as a means of demonstrating why God’s judgment is just. The measuring line and plumb line will clearly show that Edom’s rebellious and sinful choices have resulted in destruction and chaos. Isaiah’s choice of words are in direct contrast to God’s creative purpose, “the earth was formless (chaos) and empty (destruction) (see Gen. 1:2). Once the Spirit of God began to move over this chaotic and empty world, He brought order, purpose and good into it. Once He begins to move over our lives, He brings order, purpose and good into them.
A measuring line and plumb line are used to determine if what we build is correct and true. When applied to our life choices, we often want to throw the measuring and plumb lines aside and decide for ourselves what is right and good. To do so simply introduces chaos and destruction into our lives. We need standards to be able to coexist and live together and God has provided them. They give life order, stability, strength and direction. This is God’s judgment upon Esau and upon Edom. This is God’s judgment upon you and I if we choose to ignore Him, His authority over us and His purposeful plan for life. We will make choices that revert our lives back to emptiness and chaos, without Him and His ordering power and presence in our lives.
Without Him we are simply empty and chaotic, heading towards eternal judgment and destruction.
But, we aren’t finished and neither is God… “the wilderness and dry land will be glad; the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower (Is. 35:1).” This is what happens to those who pursue God and submit to His divine authority. Our lives often feel like we are living in a wilderness, a desert with no shade or rain and we wonder: “Where’s God? What’s going on?” Listen to Isaiah’s encouraging words: “Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees! Say to the cowardly: ‘Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.’” (Isaiah 35:3-4 CSB)
Did you hear Isaiah? “God’s retribution is coming; He will save you!” Our salvation is not based on our own efforts, but is entirely dependent on God and His mercy. He alone is worthy of judging us and He alone is capable of saving us. That is saving faith. What a paradox, we deserve His wrath but need His mercy but if we stand defiantly before Him then we miss His mercy and receive His wrath. This is the very issue that bewildered the Pharisees in the Gospels. They refused to see their own sin and believed their ethnic heritage, false religious piety and hypocritical moral goodness had earned them God’s favor.
I fear that many in the modern church face the same condemnation. We falsely believe that our declaration of belief in God and His love but that is devoid of any surrender to His authority over our lives is sufficient to stave off God’s eternal judgment. It is NOT! God has not just called us to belief, He has called us to a kingdom. A kingdom in which HE is the King who rules over us and rescues us from the emptiness and chaos we created in our lives. Esau knew who God was (belief), but he refused to submit to God and His will for Esau’s life (kingdom). And everyone who follows Esau’s path will receive the same fate. So, what is the sacrifice God demands? We must sacrifice our will to His.
“I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 CSB)
Isaiah tells us that everything will change when we submit to the will of God, “Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for water will gush in the wilderness, and streams in the desert (Is. 35:6).” As we exchange our will for God’s will, things begin to make a dramatic change in our life. That’s the illustration Isaiah is describing in this passage. When we abandon our will – the one that creates emptiness and chaos in us and our life – and begin pursuing God’s will then everything changes. Our emptiness is filled with His purpose and our chaos is replaced with His presence and peace.
“A road will be there and a way; it will be called the Holy Way. The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path. Fools will not wander on it.” (Isaiah 35:8 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/isa.35.8.CSB) All of scripture seems to hinge on the idea of us walking with God on His path or walking away from Him. Jesus even tells us that we need to choose which gate we go through and which path we walk, for one leads to life and the other leads to destruction (see Matt. 7:13-14).
So, you need to choose. That’s what this all comes down to, a choice. But your choice is ultimately driven by what you believe. Not just what you believe with your head, but what you believe and cling to down deep in your soul. It is often referred to as a “treasure” – that which you want so much and desire so deeply that it influences your choices and drives your decisions. Once you desire God that much, you will sell everything else and abandon every other desire just to get to Him (see Matt. 13:44).
The Apostle Paul put it this way, “But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them as dung, so that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but one that is through faith in Christ — the righteousness from God based on faith.” (Philippians 3:7-9 CSB)
Finally, this path is called the “Holy Way” and implies that those who walk this path with God will also strive to be holy as He is holy. Peter reminds us: “But as the one who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16 CSB) That means we must be willing to continually assess our walk with Him and be in a state of confession, repentance, cleansing and correction through His Spirit. The Apostle John reminds us that if we claim to have no sin, we are lying. We must be willing to recognize that taking a lackadaisical approach to our spiritual lives is self defeating.
In closing, Isaiah tells us, “..the redeemed will walk on it [the Holy path], and the ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.” Paul tells us that living life in the Spirit is life and peace. Notice how different that is to destruction, emptiness and chaos. When we walk with God on His path and pursue His holiness, then our lives are not empty and chaotic and devoid of God, they are filled with life, peace, joy, singing and gladness. They are filled with Him!
What do you choose today? Life or death? Destruction or deliverance? Emptiness and chaos or life and peace? Choose Him and join us on this path…
Hilltop Baptist Church - Shawnee, OK 
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