Isaiah 34:16-17 – An Effective Judgement
Not only is the judgment of these verses an assured judgment, it’s an effectual judgment. It’s a judgment that actually brings about what it promises. The picture here is of a conquering king who has taken the land away from his enemies. Perhaps it is land that was taken from his own people at one time, when an ancestor was weakened. But now he conquers back the land, and he drives out the enemy who have usurped it. And what does he do? He assigns the land to his people. He has surveyors out there marking exactly where each person gets their land. The land isn’t just left empty, the land isn’t left just desolate. No, the conquering king goes in there and divides it up and brings it effectually under his rule.
This judgment is long term as well. It’s not just a quick, passing thing. In truth, that’s the way it has been for Edom. Gradually Edom was destroyed. And the description we have here of what their land would look like is the way their land does look like today. Nobody lives there now. A few people come around to visit the ruins of their cities. The application here is for all the nations, all the peoples, all the societies and cultures of earth who will not have king Jesus to reign over them. They, in their day, may come to great power, they may attain to grand achievements. But they who hate Jesus, as we see in Proverbs 8:36, love death, and death is what eventually comes. All the accomplishments of these grand cultures will be in vain, and their influence will be dead and empty. Only that which is increasingly given over to the reign of God’s king, the Lord Jesus Christ, will survive and thrive.
So people of God, do not yield to despair. It’s easy to do by times. But people of God, hope on. Your labour in Christ is not in vain. Vindication and victory shall come, as we shall be seeing in chapter 35. The promises cannot fail. Move on, then, in hope.
Questions
- What is the only thing that will last?
- Why do we have reason to hope?
Prayer Points
- Pray for the preaching and hearing of God’s Word tomorrow.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.