Would we want God to grant us extra time on this earth, if during that extra time we make some big mistakes? Let’s look at Isaiah 38.
What did Hezekiah do when Isaiah prophesied that he was about to die?
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. (Isa 38:1-3 ESV)
How did God let Hezekiah know that his prayer had been granted? How much longer would he live?
Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: “Go and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord God of your ancestor David says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I am going to add 15 years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the power of the king of Assyria; I will defend this city. This is the sign to you from the Lord that He will do what He has promised: I am going to make the sun’s shadow that goes down on Ahaz’s stairway go back by 10 steps.” So the sun’s shadow went back the 10 steps it had descended. (Isa 38:4-8 HCSB)
How did Hezekiah express his gratitude to God for giving him 15 more years?
A composition by King Hezekiah of Judah, following his illness and recovery: I said, “Must I leave in the prime of my life? Must I be consigned to the control of Sheol [the grave]? Bitter are my years!” I said, “I won’t see the Lord in the land of the living; and I’ll no longer observe human beings among the denizens of the grave. My house has been plucked up and vanishes from me like a shepherd’s tent; like a weaver, I’ve taken account of my life, and he cuts me off from the loom—day and night you make an end of me. I’ve been swept bare until morning; just like a lion, he breaks all my bones—day and night you make an end of me. Like a swallow or a crane I chirp, I moan like a dove. My eyes look weakly upward. O Lord, I am oppressed, so stand up for me! What can I say, so I tell myself, since he has done this to me? I will walk slowly all my years because of my soul’s anguish. (Isa 38:9-15 ISV)
How grateful was Hezekiah for God giving him an extra 15 years of life?
O Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit: so wilt thou recover me, and make me to live. Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth. The Lord was ready to save me: therefore we will sing my songs to the stringed instruments all the days of our life in the house of the Lord. (Isa 38:16-20 KJV)
What simple medicine did Hezekiah use to heal his boil?
Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take up a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may live.” Then Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Yahweh?” (Isa 38:21-22 LSB)
No matter how long a life God grants to us, how should we live it?
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (Gal 2:20 NASB)
Would we want God to grant us extra time on this earth, if during that extra time we make some big mistakes? You decide!
Assyria Defeated (Isaiah 37)
How did God destroy an overwhelming threat to Judah? Can He do the same for us? Let’s look at Isaiah 37.
Did Hezekiah king of Judah enter the temple with sack cloth and prayer and seek Isaiah the prophet’s help?
Now it happened that when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household with Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and rejection; for children have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’” (Isa 37:1-4 LSB)
What message did God give Isaiah to pass on to king Hezekiah?
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ (Isa 37:5-7 NASB)
Did Sennacherib the king of Assyria once again threaten Hezekiah king of Judah, bragging about his undefeated conquests?
When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?” (Isa 37:8-13 NIV)
Where did Hezekiah go for help, to Egypt or to the Lord?
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.” (Isa 37:14-20 NKJV)
What did God reply to Hezekiah through His prophet Isaiah?
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Lord has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee. Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have defied the Lord. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains—yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights and explored its deepest forests. I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’ ” (Isa 37:21-25 NLT)
How else did God rebuke Assyria through his message to Judah’s king Hezekiah? Would He turn Assyria back from conquering Jerusalem?
Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. (Isa 37:26-29 WEB)
How would Hezekiah know that God has given them victory over Assyria?
Now this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year, plant seed and harvest it; plant vineyards and eat their fruit. The survivors of Judah’s family who have escaped will put down roots and bear fruit above. Those who remain will go out from Jerusalem, and those who survive will go out from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of heavenly forces will do this.
Therefore, the Lord says this about Assyria’s king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow here. He won’t come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it. He’ll go back by the same way he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David. (Isa 37:30-35 CEB)
What did God do to the Assyrian army and what did Sennacherib’s sons do to him?
The Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them all in one night. The next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. After this, King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king. (Isa 37:36-38 CEV)
Should we confess our sins and pray for one another? How effective is prayer under humanly impossible circumstances?
Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16 ISV)
How did God destroy an overwhelming threat to Judah? Can He do the same for us? You decide!
Did Hezekiah king of Judah enter the temple with sack cloth and prayer and seek Isaiah the prophet’s help?
Now it happened that when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and entered the house of Yahweh. Then he sent Eliakim, who was over the household with Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. And they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, reproof, and rejection; for children have come to the point of breaking forth, but there is no strength to give birth. Perhaps Yahweh your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will reprove the words which Yahweh your God has heard. Therefore, lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.’” (Isa 37:1-4 LSB)
What message did God give Isaiah to pass on to king Hezekiah?
So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And Isaiah said to them, “This is what you shall say to your master: ‘This is what the Lord says: “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Behold, I am going to put a spirit in him so that he will hear news and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’ (Isa 37:5-7 NASB)
Did Sennacherib the king of Assyria once again threaten Hezekiah king of Judah, bragging about his undefeated conquests?
When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah. Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: “Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.’ Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them—the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?” (Isa 37:8-13 NIV)
Where did Hezekiah go for help, to Egypt or to the Lord?
And Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord, and spread it before the Lord. Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying: “O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, the One who dwells between the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods, but the work of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them. Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.” (Isa 37:14-20 NKJV)
What did God reply to Hezekiah through His prophet Isaiah?
Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent this message to Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Because you prayed about King Sennacherib of Assyria, the Lord has spoken this word against him: “The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and laughs at you. The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head in derision as you flee. Whom have you been defying and ridiculing? Against whom did you raise your voice? At whom did you look with such haughty eyes? It was the Holy One of Israel! By your messengers you have defied the Lord. You have said, ‘With my many chariots I have conquered the highest mountains—yes, the remotest peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars and its finest cypress trees. I have reached its farthest heights and explored its deepest forests. I have dug wells in many foreign lands and refreshed myself with their water. With the sole of my foot, I stopped up all the rivers of Egypt!’ ” (Isa 37:21-25 NLT)
How else did God rebuke Assyria through his message to Judah’s king Hezekiah? Would He turn Assyria back from conquering Jerusalem?
Have you not heard how I have done it long ago, and formed it in ancient times? Now I have brought it to pass, that it should be yours to destroy fortified cities, turning them into ruinous heaps. Therefore their inhabitants had little power. They were dismayed and confounded. They were like the grass of the field, and like the green herb, like the grass on the housetops, and like a field before its crop has grown. But I know your sitting down, your going out, your coming in, and your raging against me. Because of your raging against me, and because your arrogance has come up into my ears, therefore I will put my hook in your nose and my bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way by which you came. (Isa 37:26-29 WEB)
How would Hezekiah know that God has given them victory over Assyria?
Now this will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: This year you will eat what grows by itself. Next year you will eat what grows from that. But in the third year, plant seed and harvest it; plant vineyards and eat their fruit. The survivors of Judah’s family who have escaped will put down roots and bear fruit above. Those who remain will go out from Jerusalem, and those who survive will go out from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of heavenly forces will do this.
Therefore, the Lord says this about Assyria’s king: He won’t enter this city. He won’t shoot a single arrow here. He won’t come near the city with a shield. He won’t build a ramp to besiege it. He’ll go back by the same way he came. He won’t enter this city, declares the Lord. I will defend this city and save it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David. (Isa 37:30-35 CEB)
What did God do to the Assyrian army and what did Sennacherib’s sons do to him?
The Lord sent an angel to the camp of the Assyrians, and he killed 185,000 of them all in one night. The next morning, the camp was full of dead bodies. After this, King Sennacherib went back to Assyria and lived in the city of Nineveh. One day he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, when his sons, Adrammelech and Sharezer, killed him with their swords. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon became king. (Isa 37:36-38 CEV)
Should we confess our sins and pray for one another? How effective is prayer under humanly impossible circumstances?
Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16 ISV)
How did God destroy an overwhelming threat to Judah? Can He do the same for us? You decide!
Assyria Invades (Isaiah 36)
What do we do when faced with an impossible situation that nobody else in similar circumstances has escaped? Let’s look at Isaiah 36.
Did Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, begin to conquer the cities of Judah?
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed. These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian. (Isa 36:1-3 NLT)
Did Sennacherib’s official Rabshakeh speak against Israel’s trust in Egypt as an ally?
Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust? I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. (Isa 36:4-6 WEB)
Did the official mock any reliance upon God to protect Judah?
Now suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose shrines and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship only at this altar’? (Isa 36:7 CEB)
What bet did Sennacherib make with the people of Judah?
The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people! He will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? Don't forget that it was the Lord who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation! (Isa 36:8-10 CEV)
Why did the Assyrian army commander speak in Hebrew, the language of the common people, rather than Aramaic, the language of trade and diplomacy?
Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, “Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.” The Assyrian army commander answered, “My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you!” (Isa 36:11-12 CEV)
What did Rabshakeh say to glorify Sennacherib and mock God?
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. (Isa 36:13-17 ESV)
What did Rabshakeh say to mock anything that Hezekiah might say about trusting God?
Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power? Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the Lord deliver Jerusalem.” (Isa 36:18-20 HCSB)
What did the people say back to Rabshakeh, and what did Hezekiah’s officials do?
But the people remained silent and didn’t respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, “Don’t answer him.” Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said. (Isa 36:21-22 ISV)
Is there battle armor that God gives us so that we may be victorious?
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:14-17 KJV)
What do we do when faced with an impossible situation that nobody else in similar circumstances has escaped? You decide!
Did Sennacherib, the Assyrian king, begin to conquer the cities of Judah?
In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified towns of Judah and conquered them. Then the king of Assyria sent his chief of staff from Lachish with a huge army to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians took up a position beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is washed. These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator; Shebna the court secretary; and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian. (Isa 36:1-3 NLT)
Did Sennacherib’s official Rabshakeh speak against Israel’s trust in Egypt as an ally?
Rabshakeh said to them, “Now tell Hezekiah, ‘The great king, the king of Assyria, says, “What confidence is this in which you trust? I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. (Isa 36:4-6 WEB)
Did the official mock any reliance upon God to protect Judah?
Now suppose you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose shrines and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship only at this altar’? (Isa 36:7 CEB)
What bet did Sennacherib make with the people of Judah?
The king of Assyria wants to make a bet with you people! He will give you 2,000 horses, if you have enough troops to ride them. How could you even defeat our lowest ranking officer, when you have to depend on Egypt for chariots and cavalry? Don't forget that it was the Lord who sent me here with orders to destroy your nation! (Isa 36:8-10 CEV)
Why did the Assyrian army commander speak in Hebrew, the language of the common people, rather than Aramaic, the language of trade and diplomacy?
Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said, “Sir, we don't want the people listening from the city wall to understand what you are saying. So please speak to us in Aramaic instead of Hebrew.” The Assyrian army commander answered, “My king sent me to speak to everyone, not just to you leaders. These people will soon have to eat their own body waste and drink their own urine! And so will the three of you!” (Isa 36:11-12 CEV)
What did Rabshakeh say to glorify Sennacherib and mock God?
Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. (Isa 36:13-17 ESV)
What did Rabshakeh say to mock anything that Hezekiah might say about trusting God?
Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will deliver us.’ Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the power of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my power? Who among all the gods of these lands ever delivered his land from my power? So will the Lord deliver Jerusalem.” (Isa 36:18-20 HCSB)
What did the people say back to Rabshakeh, and what did Hezekiah’s officials do?
But the people remained silent and didn’t respond to him with so much as a single word, because the king had commanded, “Don’t answer him.” Then Hilkiah’s son Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Asaph’s son Joah, the recorder, approached Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and let him know what the field commander had said. (Isa 36:21-22 ISV)
Is there battle armor that God gives us so that we may be victorious?
Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Eph 6:14-17 KJV)
What do we do when faced with an impossible situation that nobody else in similar circumstances has escaped? You decide!
God's Restoration (Isaiah 35)
After punishment that may seem harsh from a puny human perspective, is God perfectly capable of complete restoration? Let’s look at Isaiah 35.
Will God restore the desert as He renews everything once more?
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. (Isa 35:1-2 KJV)
Will God strengthen the weak and anxious, saving them?
Strengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling. Say to those with an anxious heart, “Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” (Isa 35:3-4 LSB)
Will the sick and handicapped be healed? Will the dry desert receive much needed water?
Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened, And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped. Then those who limp will leap like a deer, And the tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. (Isa 35:5-7 NASB)
Will there be a large highway only for the redeemed? Will everlasting joy be there, and no more sorrow?
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isa 35:8-10 NIV)
If God promises no more sorrow or crying, does that mean that there will be no more reason for them?
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Rev 21:3 NKJV)
After punishment that may seem harsh from a puny human perspective, is God perfectly capable of complete restoration? You decide!
Will God restore the desert as He renews everything once more?
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. (Isa 35:1-2 KJV)
Will God strengthen the weak and anxious, saving them?
Strengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling. Say to those with an anxious heart, “Be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with vengeance; The recompense of God will come, But He will save you.” (Isa 35:3-4 LSB)
Will the sick and handicapped be healed? Will the dry desert receive much needed water?
Then the eyes of those who are blind will be opened, And the ears of those who are deaf will be unstopped. Then those who limp will leap like a deer, And the tongue of those who cannot speak will shout for joy. For waters will burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The scorched land will become a pool And the thirsty ground springs of water; In the haunt of jackals, its resting place, Grass becomes reeds and rushes. (Isa 35:5-7 NASB)
Will there be a large highway only for the redeemed? Will everlasting joy be there, and no more sorrow?
And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it. No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there. But only the redeemed will walk there, and those the Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isa 35:8-10 NIV)
If God promises no more sorrow or crying, does that mean that there will be no more reason for them?
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. (Rev 21:3 NKJV)
After punishment that may seem harsh from a puny human perspective, is God perfectly capable of complete restoration? You decide!
God's Anger (Isaiah 34)
Before God can bless humanity, must He prove His existence to a stubborn world, punish all evils, and expose all our efforts as futile? Let’s look at Isaiah 34.
As God was angry with Israel’s evils, is He also angry with all nations’ evils?
Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it. For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter. Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up. The mountains will melt in their blood. All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree. (Isa 34:1-4 WEB)
Is the punishment of Edom (Esau), Israel’s neighbor and frequent enemy, an example of God’s judgment upon the whole world?
When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, it will descend upon Edom for judgment, upon a people I have doomed for destruction. The Lord has a sword covered with blood; it is soaked with fat from the blood of lambs and goats, from the kidney fat of rams, for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Wild oxen will fall with them, steers with mighty bulls, and their land will be drenched with blood; its soil soaked with fat. The Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of payback for Zion’s cause. (Isa 34:5-8 CEB)
Is this a time also described in Revelation, where God will punish the nations?
Edom's streams will turn into tar and its soil into sulfur—then the whole country will go up in flames. It will burn night and day and never stop smoking. Edom will be a desert, generation after generation; no one will ever travel through that land. Owls, hawks, and wild animals will make it their home. God will leave it in ruins, merely a pile of rocks. (Isa 34:9-11 CEV)
Will Edom become discounted as nothing, no longer a kingdom?
Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing. Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 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. (Isa 34:12-14 ESV)
Would the ecological disaster punishing those who oppose Israel and thus God, be so complete that only wild animals would live there?
The sand partridge will make her nest there; she will lay and hatch her eggs and will gather her brood under her shadow. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate. Search and read the scroll of the Lord: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit. He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation. (Isa 34:15-17 HCSB)
Does Revelation also describe God’s final anger upon the atrocities of the nations?
So the angel swung his sickle in the earth, gathered the grapes from the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. The wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press as high as a horse’s bridle for about 1,600 stadia [300 kilometres]. (Rev 14:19-20 ISV)
Before God can bless humanity, must He prove His existence to a stubborn world, punish all evils, and expose all our efforts as futile? You decide!
As God was angry with Israel’s evils, is He also angry with all nations’ evils?
Come near, you nations, to hear! Listen, you peoples. Let the earth and all it contains hear, the world, and everything that comes from it. For Yahweh is enraged against all the nations, and angry with all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over for slaughter. Their slain will also be cast out, and the stench of their dead bodies will come up. The mountains will melt in their blood. All of the army of the sky will be dissolved. The sky will be rolled up like a scroll, and all its armies will fade away, as a leaf fades from off a vine or a fig tree. (Isa 34:1-4 WEB)
Is the punishment of Edom (Esau), Israel’s neighbor and frequent enemy, an example of God’s judgment upon the whole world?
When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens, it will descend upon Edom for judgment, upon a people I have doomed for destruction. The Lord has a sword covered with blood; it is soaked with fat from the blood of lambs and goats, from the kidney fat of rams, for the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. Wild oxen will fall with them, steers with mighty bulls, and their land will be drenched with blood; its soil soaked with fat. The Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of payback for Zion’s cause. (Isa 34:5-8 CEB)
Is this a time also described in Revelation, where God will punish the nations?
Edom's streams will turn into tar and its soil into sulfur—then the whole country will go up in flames. It will burn night and day and never stop smoking. Edom will be a desert, generation after generation; no one will ever travel through that land. Owls, hawks, and wild animals will make it their home. God will leave it in ruins, merely a pile of rocks. (Isa 34:9-11 CEV)
Will Edom become discounted as nothing, no longer a kingdom?
Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing. Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches. 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. (Isa 34:12-14 ESV)
Would the ecological disaster punishing those who oppose Israel and thus God, be so complete that only wild animals would live there?
The sand partridge will make her nest there; she will lay and hatch her eggs and will gather her brood under her shadow. Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there, each with its mate. Search and read the scroll of the Lord: Not one of them will be missing, none will be lacking its mate, because He has ordered it by my mouth, and He will gather them by His Spirit. He has ordained a lot for them; His hand allotted their portion with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; they will dwell in it from generation to generation. (Isa 34:15-17 HCSB)
Does Revelation also describe God’s final anger upon the atrocities of the nations?
So the angel swung his sickle in the earth, gathered the grapes from the earth, and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. The wine press was trampled outside the city, and blood flowed from the wine press as high as a horse’s bridle for about 1,600 stadia [300 kilometres]. (Rev 14:19-20 ISV)
Before God can bless humanity, must He prove His existence to a stubborn world, punish all evils, and expose all our efforts as futile? You decide!
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