Decreation and New Birth

We come to one of the darkest chapters in Isaiah. 

Isaiah 34:1–2 (ESV) 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.

By Isaiah 34 the language is total cataclysmic judgment. All the nations, all their host all devoted to destruction. In chapter 24 the language was total destruction. But here it's not just the judgment, it's the anger of God. 

I think we fail to think about that properly. God gets angry. The language of this chapter is solemn.

Isaiah 34:5–6 (ESV) 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.

God has ordained a "day" of vengeance and a "year" of recompense.
Isaiah 34:8–9 (ESV) For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur; her land shall become burning pitch.

Isaiah includes hints at what all this is pointing to, teaching us what judgment does. 
Isaiah 34:10 (ESV) 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.

These phrases of "night and day" and "generation to generation" are Genesis types of phrases. God destroys what man builds and starts again through judgment. 

Then Isaiah describes a return to a world without human cultivation. 
Isaiah 34:13–14 (ESV) 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.

At the end of this description of a totally devastating judgment, God reminds us that He can bring order from it all.

Isaiah 34:15–16 (ESV) 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.

The Lord will restore order to the natural world through the judgments He brings. We know that when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead, He also will introduce a new heavens and a new Earth. The lion will lay down with the lamb, and a child will lead them. The old order will pass away, a new order has come. 

Notice that nothing will be missing in Isaiah's description. For all the chaos judgment seems to bring, we are reminded that God knows everything and everyone. He is in total control over creation. Also, Isaiah makes clear His Spirit "has gathered them". Those with the Spirit will not be wiped away. They will live in perfect peace with Him for eternity. 

What does that mean for you? It means simply that when God judges the world, His people are counted by Him and reserved for Him. He knows how to cover His own. His Spirit speaks to you and calls you out of the soon to come judgment facing the Earth. 




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