Cosmic Judgment

If you're standing, please remain standing, and those who are sitting, go ahead and stand, and please turn to Isaiah 34, where we will read the words of Scripture, Isaiah 34, beginning in verse 1, "'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, for the

Lord is enraged against all the nations, and furious against all their hosts.

He has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.

Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise, and mountains shall flow with their blood.

All the hosts of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a scroll.

All their hosts shall fall as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.'"

You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank

You for Your Word. We thank You for the fact that it opens our eyes to the future.

You disclose to us what Your plans are, things we would not otherwise know. We thank You for this, and we ask that You would grant us hearts of sobriety to respond to them rightly.

In Jesus' name, amen. So this passage, inside of this context in Isaiah, it's about the folly of trusting in the nations.

This passage addresses the great judgment that will come upon all the nations, and it should be a cause of great sobriety for us as we look at it and we see the doom that it speaks of.

We should respond understanding the future and how we should honor

God, how we should turn to Christ for His mercies.

Now, this is a passage of great judgment, but it is also a passage of great hope if it is understood in context because this is the judgment that Christ brings upon His enemies.

And so, while for His enemies it is something that's cause for despair, for His people it is a cause for great hope.

Verse 1 says, "'Draw near, O nations, to hear, and give attention, O peoples.

Let the earth hear it and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it.'"

There's two categories of entities that are summoned here for judgment. First, it is the nations.

All nations are to hear, all peoples. All the peoples around the globe will all be summoned and have been summoned to hear the judgment of God, to be sentenced by Him.

In addition to that, it says, "'Let the earth hear and all that fills it, the world and all that comes from it.'"

Not merely the people of the earth, but even the earth itself, even the rocks and trees and creatures, the birds and the fish and the beasts of the field, all of them are to come before the

Lord. Every knee will bow before Him. It doesn't matter if it's the knee of men or the knee of beasts and animals.

Every knee will bow to the Lord. And this passage is a reframing of the judgment that was spoken of in the previous section.

If you remember, the previous section speaks of this enemy ship coming towards Zion and being destroyed as it tries to assault.

This judgment, this sentencing, this courtroom scene is a reframing of that in terms of the legal system, in terms of a court.

So, draw near, O nations, to hear.

Give attention, O peoples. God is calling all people to listen to His Word.

He's calling them even now to listen to His Word. He's calling you to listen to His Word. As you hear

His Word, it is important to read it with a heart that recognizes the preciousness of it.

You know, this is not merely the speculations of some philosopher.

This is not the ramblings of a wise man. This is the Word of God itself, and it is the

Word given with a purpose, and that purpose is for people to hear it. Purpose is for people to hear this statement of judgment and respond to it appropriately.

All are listening. The earth, all that fills the earth, you know, the birds, the trees, the rocks, they all hear

God in the way that they are designed to hear Him. They do not have ears, but they respond to God the way that they were designed to.

And yet, people often hear, who have ears, hear far less than the rocks and trees do.

You know, if you are here today, you are in a very privileged position where you get to hear the

Word of God. You will be held that much more liable for it, that much more culpable for it on the day of judgment if you reject

His Word. And kids, I would especially say this to you, you do not understand this because you have grown up in a church.

This feels very normal to you. This seems like the normal kid experience to you. But the fact of the matter is that most kids do not grow up in churches.

Most kids grow up never hearing about the things of God until a much later year. Now that, on one hand, is a great blessing to you.

It is a great blessing that you get to learn about God, you get to learn about the way of salvation, and many other children across the world do not.

However, it is also something that comes with a great expectation.

The expectation is that you would hear the Word of God and respond to it.

Now, those other kids who have not heard the Word of God, they are not expected to respond to it. They have not heard the same things that you have, and so the same expectation cannot be made for them.

But if you are hearing God's Word, then you are expected to respond to it.

I hope that makes sense. I see some kids are paying attention, some are not. You know, all children, please, this is so important.

It is important that your soul be secure on that day of judgment, and the only way that that can happen is if you hear the words of the

Lord and you respond to them rightly. There is a great judgment coming, and what we adults here want for you is we want you to be safe on that day of judgment.

That is why we are all gathered together. We are all gathered together because we love the salvation from the

Lord. We do not want to face the judgment that is coming to the world, and we want you, along with us, to be safe with us on that day of judgment.

So please, please do hear the words of the Lord. It speaks of the judgment that is coming on all the enemies of God.

For the Lord is enraged against all the nations and furious against all their hosts.

He has devoted them to destruction. He has given them over for slaughter, the nations and their hosts.

Host is a fancy word for army. It is talking about the armies of the nations. This is talking about the strength of the nations.

His anger is particularly targeted against that strength which is opposed to Him.

Now, you might feel like your strength is not opposed to the Lord, but every time you try to do things by your own strength, contrary to the strength that God would provide of Himself, your strength is opposed to the

Lord. Psalm 127, 1 through 2 says, if the

Lord does not build the house, the one who builds it labors in vain. If the

Lord does not watch over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. In other words, that was just verse 1, in other words, if God is not doing the thing, then it doesn't matter how much energy you're exerting, there's no guarantee of success.

Then it says in the next verse, it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil, for He gives to His beloved sleep.

Now, how often do you go about laboring to accomplish something without trusting in the

Lord, without relying on Him for success? And what does it look like to rely on Him for success?

Basically, it looks like bringing things to the Lord and asking Him to bless them. If you do things by your own power and you do not bring it and consecrate it before the

Lord saying, this is for you, I ask you to bless it, then are you doing it by your strength or are you doing it by the

Lord's strength? That would be by your own strength if you're not bringing it to the Lord. Bring your activities to the

Lord every day, acknowledge God in prayer, ask for His blessing upon your work that day, that it would be done, not like the builder laboring in vain because God is not building the house, but the builder who builds well because God is building the house through Him.

Now, when is this fulfilled? When it says the Lord is enraged against all the nations, He has devoted them to destruction, He has given them over to slaughter.

It's already the case. It is already the case that they have been devoted to slaughter. It was the case all the way back in the garden when what's known as the

Proto -Evangelium, the first gospel was given that one would come from the woman who would crush the head of the serpent.

It has always been the case ever since the beginning that there have been enemies of God, that the enemies of God are doomed.

It is that case even here in Isaiah with this pronouncement. It was that case when

Christ actually crushed the head of the serpent on the cross and through the resurrection, and it remains the case as we look forward to that day when every last enemy is ended.

This has already been announced. This is already the case that things are devoted to destruction, and they will be fulfilled on that great day of judgment.

Now, if you knew that something was going to take place, let's say you knew what the stock market was going to do tomorrow or the next day or next week, would you not take some action on that and sell or buy according to this knowledge that you have?

Well, you have been given great knowledge. You have been given a knowledge that's far more important about the future than anything about the stock market.

You have been given knowledge that's far more certain than any predictions you might be given about the stock market, and that is that the enemies of God will be defeated.

If you find yourself among the enemies of God, leave. Do not sit in the council centers. Come join rather in the path of the righteous.

Leave that way and turn to the Lord. He has given them over for slaughter.

In verse 3, it says, the slain shall be cast out, and the stench of their corpses shall rise. The mountains shall flow with their blood, describing the destruction that will take place.

And this destruction is a great and gory one that is pictured as many corpses, so many that they can't be buried.

This is the same picture that's given in Ezekiel 39, just many corpses all over the land that cannot be buried because there are just so many of them.

Now, if you read older translations, rather than saying that the mountains will flow with blood, it says the mountains will melt with blood.

The idea is that they'd be eroded, and flow sounds a little more natural to think about.

But the idea here really is that the mountains melt with blood, that they are eroded because the blood is so great.

And this is a picture that is emphasized elsewhere in Scripture. Romans, excuse me, in Revelation 14, 20, it says, and the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse's bridle for 1600 stadia.

That's nearly 200 miles. Think about blood this high, nearly 200 miles, you know, in diameter.

We're talking about the kind of blood that could erode a mountain. That is really the picture that Scripture is giving, is this is the weight of the judgment, this is the magnitude of the judgment that is coming upon the world.

And the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up as a scroll. All their host shall fall away as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from the fig tree.

So, having talked about the host of nations, now it talks about the host of heaven. This is likely referring not only to stars, but even to angelic powers.

That all those demonic forces that the Bible calls powers of the air, they will be judged along with the peoples.

The heavens and the earth, the mountains and the sky, all things will be judged as part of this judgment.

Now, why is that the case that not only people, but even the earth is being summoned for judgment?

Well, Adam was over creation. When he sinned, his sin corrupted not only his descendants, but all things that he was over.

He was over his descendants, he was over the earth as well, and all created things beyond the angels, and the world is included in that.

So, we have a creation that is corrupt and needs to be destroyed. You know, what was creation like before Adam sinned?

I always wonder, it seems clear that there was no death.

Did lions have sharp teeth back then? What did mosquitoes do? Did we not have the biting kind of mosquitoes?

Did the parasites and bacteria, did they exist, or is that something that evolved later out of, you know, small changes in animals?

Not talking about, you know, creating a new species through macroevolution or anything, but are these things that only came after the fall?

It seems, some of these things, it seems to be the case. Others, I just don't know. To imagine a world that didn't have these fallen properties is just so foreign to what we're used to.

But this world has changed, and because it has changed under the sin of Adam, it is corrupted. It must be destroyed along with all the enemies of God.

It says that the host of heaven shall rot away. The scribes roll up as a scroll. All their hosts shall fall as leaves fall from a vine.

Leaves falling from the fig tree, it says in Isaiah 13, 10, for the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give light.

The sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. This is the destruction that's being described here earlier in Isaiah as well as it talks about the nations being defeated, as it talks about Babylon being defeated.

But that is not just for Babylon. It's for all the nations of the earth. Now, you know, why nations?

Why hosts? Because nations are groups of people who have gathered together for strength.

You know, this is talking about the enemy's strength against God. You know, there are ways that we think we have strength by gathering together, either as a nation, maybe you're someone who has much trust in your government, in your nation, beyond what

Scripture describes as healthy. Put no trust in princes. Or maybe you have a serious identity because of your career or because of a hobby.

You know, there are many people who feel a strength in that, a sense of community, a sense of identity through all the people that they have gathered together with.

The fact of the matter is that on that last day, those bonds that make you feel strong, they will all be burst apart.

And the only thing that will remain is you standing before the Lord. And what will you have on that day if you do not have

Christ? You must have Christ on that day. There are several passages in the

New Testament that describe this same scene.

It is very evident given the way the New Testament alludes to this very passage that this is talking about that last day.

2 Peter 3 10 says, "...but the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed."

Revelation 6 speaks of the seven seals. On the sixth seal it says, "...when

He opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale."

You see, I'm hoping you're catching up on some of the similar imagery, the stars being like the leaves of a fig tree.

That's the exact same image from Isaiah. The sky vanished like a scroll being rolled up.

That's another image from Isaiah. And every mountain and every island were removed from its place, mountains being melted.

Then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, "'Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne from the wrath of the

Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come.'" Who can stand?

Who can stand? Who can stand against the Lord? No one can stand against the Lord. Rather, it is only if you are on the side of the

Lord that you can stand. And that is why this passage, though it is reason for despair for the enemies of God, is a reason for hope for the people of God.

Because if you are on the side of the Lord, this passage is not a passage of judgment against you, it is rather a passage of hope for you as the enemies are destroyed.

Remember this context. Remember the passage that we looked at last week. It was speaking of Zion being defended against its enemies.

Zion is despairing, and the Lord has changed it so that the cords of Zion remain fast while the cords of the enemy are broken apart.

The cords of Zion's tent versus the cords of the enemy's ship.

And so, as he continues on in this passage, it is describing God's protection for His people.

If you are opposed to the Lord, you will be as the nation is destroyed here. If you have trusted in the

Lord, if you have come to Him for mercy, then you will be one protected with this level of aggressive ferocity.

Now, there are several things also in context that I would want you to be aware of so that you might fully appreciate the statement of hope that this passage is intended to be.

It really is intended to be a statement of hope. This is not me, you know, turning it around for the purpose of a sermon. In the context of Isaiah, this is a statement of hope for the people of God.

In Isaiah 2, excuse me, Isaiah 1 verse 2, it says, Hear, O heavens, and give ear,

O earth, for the Lord has spoken. Children I have reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's crib, but Israel does not know. My people does not understand.

Earlier in Isaiah, and this is not the only passage that's related, earlier, heavens and earth have been summoned to a courtroom scene for judgment.

Now, who was the judgment against before? Who was it against in verse 2 of Isaiah? It was against the people of God.

And now, instead, they're being summoned for judgment where they themselves are being judged. God is reversing the judgment away from His people and towards the enemies of His people.

We all were born children of wrath. Judgment was placed toward us. The enemy,

Satan, accusing us, had much power because sin truly does condemn us in the eyes of God because of His law being perfect.

And so those accusations were very real and powerful. But now, through the mercy of Christ, through the blood of Christ, that power has been stripped away and turned against the enemy so that He is defeated and we are spared in light of any accusation.

And then another piece of context that shows that this is a reversal of curses that have been given previously in Isaiah.

In Isaiah 30, verse 17, it had said, A thousand shall flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill.

Now, it might not be obvious how these two passages are related, but that passage I just read is alluding to Leviticus, which

Leviticus says, The sound of a driven leaf shall put them to flight, and they shall flee as one flees from the sword, and they shall fall when none pursues.

So it talks about the people fleeing from a leaf as though the leaf were an army, a host of enemies.

And now what's happening in this passage, the leaf being turned into, before the leaf was turned into a host of armies against them.

Now, the host of armies is turned as if a leaf falling off the tree. This is a statement of hope for God's people.

He's turning the curses around against the enemies of the people if they have allied with the

Lord. And then consider even these passages that we looked at in the

New Testament. In 1 Peter, or excuse me, 2

Peter 3, it said, But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promises. Some count slowness, but is patient towards you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.

So in context, that was talking about the Lord's patience towards his people, that they should all be saved from that wrath that is to come.

Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, dissolved like the mountains melting, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn.

But according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

This promise of a destroyed earth comes with a promise of a restored earth.

The earth will be destroyed, and it will be restored. And for the people of God, he has provided holiness, holiness that they may grow in, holiness they might see him, holiness that might endure on that day of wrath, having the righteousness of Christ.

In this passage in Revelation, with the sixth seal, it had said,

Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.

Spoke of the wrath of the Lord in Isaiah, but here we have the wrath of the Lamb. This is not

God merely in unbridled judgment without any purpose of restoration.

Restoration. Rather, it is God, the Lamb, against his enemies, but to save his people.

The Lamb is the one who is saved, is the one who by his sacrifice, he has shed his blood that his people might be spared from this wrath.

And you may be spared from this wrath if you only turn to Jesus Christ. If you heed with your ears these words of scripture, hear this judgment, respond in sobriety, turn to the

Lord your Savior. Turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. Flee the things of this world, these things that will all be destroyed, and run to Christ, and he will save you from all these things.

This is a message of hope. The enemy has no power. He will be destroyed. All this creation will be destroyed.

If you want to evade that, run to Christ. Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this promise of judgment because it is a promise of salvation for your people.

And we ask that you would give us hearts that would respond soberly to this, acknowledging this truth and embracing it fully.