Palaces for Beasts

Amen. Please turn to Isaiah 34. We'll be looking at the second half of Isaiah 34 today, and just as a reminder, this section from Isaiah 28 all the way to 35 is talking about the folly of trusting in the nations and the problem with the nations.

We're still in this section talking about Edom, a nation that represents all the enemies of God. When you have that, please stand for the reading of God's Word, Isaiah 34, beginning in verse 8. For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur. Her land shall become burning pitch. 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. But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it. The owl and the raven shall dwell in it. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness.

Its nobles, there is no one to call it a kingdom, and all its princes shall be nothing. Thorn shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles and 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. 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.

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. He has cast the lot for them.

His hand has portioned it out to them with a line. They shall possess it forever. From generation to generation they shall dwell in it. You may be seated. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for your Word.

We thank you for these calls to sobriety, these calls to consider your Word with solemnity. We thank you for these warnings you have given us. And God, I pray that we would take these seriously and that we would highly value the precious Word that you have given, speaking of the future.

In Jesus' name, amen. Many people have built many great things, many great monuments, many great inventions, many great buildings, and many of those have been torn down and come to nothing years later.

In fact, those things which do still exist will one day all end. This is the nature of life without God. Without God, who makes things to stand forever and ever. Without God, who gives eternal life, eternal life by which we may continue to exist.

All these things, all the works of our hands, all of it will be destroyed and given over to other creatures apart from the salvation of Jesus Christ. But those who turn to Jesus, those who trust in the King of Zion, they will have salvation and their works will stand.

This passage gives us a description of God's judgment using three different pictures. It gives us a picture of fire, it gives us a picture of a plumb line and building destruction, and it gives us additionally a picture of animals, one that we've seen a number of times in Isaiah, of animals taking over the city.

But not only taking over the property, the land of the city, but even the buildings themselves dwelling in it as a human might do. So let us consider this passage beginning with simply the statement of judgments, beginning with the day of the Lord, for the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

Lord has a day of vengeance. Now this day in the immediate context of Isaiah speaks of the destruction that will come upon Edom sometime after Babylon destroys Zion, sometime after the destruction of the temple.

And God has a day of vengeance on them. I mentioned last time we looked at Isaiah, last time we looked at this chapter and the issue of Edom, which this passage is about Edom, that Edom enjoyed and looked forward to the destruction of Israel when Babylon came against Jerusalem because they thought that they had something to gain out of it.

And so God speaks to them and says that He has a day of vengeance. He will avenge Himself by destroying them as they looked gloatingly on the destruction of Zion. It is a year of recompense, it is a repayment.

You know, it is very reasonable that Romans speaks of the wages of sin being death. This is a repayment that is being made. We have paid one thing, God pays another thing in return. What are the wages of sin?

The wages of sin is death. What is the repayment for gloating in the destruction of God's people? It is the destruction of yourself and your people. It is a repayment that happens, and it is for the cause of Zion.

You see this passage while being a statement of judgment is a statement of hope for the people of God. And we've had to see this time after time, you know, all the Bible is about the gospel. It all speaks of the wonders of God and salvation.

And so this passage here is not merely to be taken as a statement of judgment, not a statement of hope. It is a statement of judgment to those who are enemies of Zion, a statement of hope and salvation to those who are part of Zion, who have allied themselves with God, who have become part of His people through the blood of Jesus Christ.

Because in Him, in being part of Zion, being part of God's city, there is protection. And this vengeance is not against you, but rather it is against your enemies, rather it is against the enemies of God who have become your enemies, you allying yourself with Him, sharing the same enemies.

As we saw in the Catechism question today about the work of Christ as a King, what does He do? He conquers and defeats all His and our enemies. Those are one set of enemies. So it gives this picture of fire to describe this destruction.

And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch, and her soil into sulfur. Her land shall become burning pitch. 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. Speaks here of her land becoming pitch, in other words, becoming volcanic desolation. If you imagine, you know, lava and black burning mass everywhere, this is what it's talking about.

It's picturing an apocalyptic destruction, a cosmic destruction coming from heaven, destroying it, one that people of God had seen before in the book of Genesis. The book of Genesis speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah, which was destroyed by fire and brimstone coming out of heaven.

This is the picture that is being described, Edom shall be like Sodom and Gomorrah. You know, Edom might think of itself as being in the clear. They're near brothers of Israel. In fact, Esau, one who started Edom, is the brother of Jacob, the one who is the nation of Israel.

There might be much reason for Edom to think that they are in the clear. Their sins, are they really as great as the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah? The answer is yes. Yes, they are. And as Jesus says, those who reject the gospel, it'll be worse for them on the day of judgment than it is for Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now if this comparison to Sodom and Gomorrah is not obvious to you, Jeremiah makes it even more clear. Jeremiah 49, 17 says, Edom shall become a horror. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its disasters, as when Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities were overthrown, says the Lord.

No man shall dwell there. No man shall sojourn in her. So Isaiah and Jeremiah speaking of the same destruction of Edom, describing it as the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Edom representing in this passage more than just that particular nation, but the enemies of God in general.

And as Jesus said, this is what awaits the enemies of God, is a day of judgment that for many will be worse than that for Sodom and Gomorrah. It says, night and day it shall not be quenched. Its smoke shall go up forever.

It's an eternal fire. It's what the New Testament reveals about hell, the destiny of those who have not been saved by the blood of Christ, those who remain enemies of God, those who do not come to Him for mercy.

It is an eternal fire, it describes it as. And this eternal fire involves an eternal smoke, a smoke that goes up forever and ever. Revelation 14, 11 speaks of this fire, this smoke going up forever and ever.

Now I have met those who reject the notion of an eternal conscious torment of hell. This is what this is called, sometimes it's abbreviated to ECT, eternal conscious torment. There are some who reject that, among those being Seventh-day Adventists.

I met a Seventh-day Adventist once who said that this is describing the smoke continuing up, like imagine a puff of smoke, and that puff of smoke continues up forever and ever. No, this is talking about the source of smoke producing smoke forever and ever.

What would be the significance of smoke going up forever and ever unless it were saying that this will continue to burn forever and ever? That's the idea here, it's this eternal conscious torment that the New Testament speaks of.

This is what awaits God's enemies, is a complete destruction that continues to have bearing day after day, night after night, and continues, as the New Testament reveals, to be experienced by those who are the enemies of God, not merely something that happens to them so that, well, the destruction is complete and now they're just nonexistent.

No, they continue to experience it day after day. It's a very serious, horrifying thing to think about, but it is one that is supposed to drive us to realize our need for the mercy of Christ. It is not merciful to withhold this truth from people.

It would not be merciful for God to dim the view of His judgment so that people would go on and think less seriously about this end that is coming. No, this end is great, and it is a great warning that is supposed to be heard here.

You must hear this warning, you must turn. And it shall lie waste and none shall pass through it forever and ever. And this is the picture that we have repeatedly seen of cities that God says that He will destroy.

It says that no one will pass through it, instead, animals will pass through it, but the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it. The owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And these are animals that belong not in places where there are populations, but in places that are wasted, where no one dwells.

Psalm 102 .6 says, I am like a desert owl of the wilderness, like an owl of the waste places. The psalmist there describing owls, desert owls, as being those that dwell where no one else is. He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plumb line of emptiness, its nobles, there is no one there to call it a kingdom, and its princes shall be nothing.

He shall stretch the line of confusion over it. You know, the Bible frequently uses this picture of measuring things, especially cities, by a plumb line. Now, if you don't know what a plumb line is, maybe you've used one before, not for building but for maybe fishing and water, you can tell how far, how deep a lake is by taking a line with a weight on it and dropping it down and then being able to see how far down it goes.

What it's useful for in building is it hangs straight. Maybe you're used to using a level, but if you don't have a nice, well-constructed level, just a piece of string and a weight works perfectly because it hangs perfectly straight down and you're able to measure the building and see whether or not it's bulging out at one part or if it's leaning.

And what do you do if it's leaning? Well, there's really no way of fixing this. You can't just remove a few bricks, put a few bricks back, you have to destroy the whole thing. And this is what will happen to those who do not measure up to God's standard of perfection.

They will be destroyed. It says, he will stretch the line of confusion over it and the plumb line of emptiness. Now, these words, confusion and emptiness, this is tohu and bohu, which maybe you've heard a preacher use those words before.

Has anybody heard those words before, tohu and bohu? If not, you might hear them in the context of Genesis 1 -2, right, that all was void and empty. These are the exact same words that are used there in Genesis 1 -2 to speak of the emptiness of creation before, after God had created it, but before he had formed it into particular things.

So it was just this massive, wet muck. This is what is going to happen to those who have built things up and think that they will stand, but they do not have the Lord on their side. All of that will be undone and become an entropic mess.

So this is describing what will be done to the works of darkness, or the works of those who engage in works of darkness. They will all be undone and they will become like, just like the world before it was formed into anything in particular.

Creation will be undone in that regard. It speaks of its nobles, there is no one there to call it a kingdom and all its princes shall be nothing. This is not just the low people. Many times people in high positions think that they're above, above destruction.

You may be able to think of several politicians who have gotten away with pretty terrible things, but because they're in a high, well-respected position, they seem to be able to get away with this, while lowly people have no such protections, right?

They may feel that they get away with this, but no, this is saying even the high, even the high will face this destruction. They will not be able to escape. And so, having described this with fire and the plumb line, he then goes on to talk more of animals, saying, Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles its fortresses, shall become the haunt of jackals, an abode for ostriches.

The thorns and nettles growing over the strongholds, what is the significance of thorns and nettles in the Bible? It represents the curse of God. You know, in Genesis 3, when man sinned and God sent the curse on the earth, what happens?

Thorns grow up from the ground and make it difficult to maintain the earth, whereas before in the Garden of Eden, it was easy. There were no thorns to get in the way of doing good work. But here, the city of darkness, the city of Edom, the city of all those who would stand against God, it is covered in nettles.

It's covered in thorns. It is cursed. You know, it becomes the haunt of jackals and an abode for ostriches. There's a couple of reasons why jackals and ostriches are mentioned. One of these, one of these we see in Job, where Job says that he is like, he is like an ostrich or a jackal.

In Job 39, it says this, he's like an ostrich or a jackal. He is, he's just far away from everything. He's removed from all his friends. It says, I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches in Job 30, 29.

There is an additional passage that speaks of jackals and ostriches too, and that is in Micah. In Micah 1 .8, it says, for this I will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the ostriches.

See these different prophets speaking of jackals and ostriches, sometimes to talk about the loneliness of them, but also to speak of the sounds that they make, the wailing. This becomes interesting in this context because Isaiah goes on to speak of the wailing, of the calling of these unclean animals to each other.

These are unclean animals. Ostriches in Leviticus 11 very clearly called unclean. Jackals being a kind of dog. Jesus compares dogs and pigs to each other. You don't give what is holy to dogs. You don't throw your pearls before swine.

These jackals and ostriches, these are unclean animals taking over, and they are animals that call out loudly to one another, that make creepy sounds. It says, and the wild animal shall meet with the hyenas.

The wild goat shall cry to his fellow. Indeed, there the nightbird settles and finds for herself a resting place. You know, it speaks of these various things, and something that you should know about Hebrew poetry is that because it often lists many different things, you know, it will list a bunch of animals or list a bunch of items of jewelry, or without a lot of context to know what each particular thing is, a lot of times translators don't know exactly how to translate some of these words.

So if you go look in this passage and other translations, you might find different things. In fact, some translations speak of goat demons for this one part, for wild goats, for nightbirds. It seems that the image that is being used is of some creature, but one that has some kind of spiritual force behind it, or one that is even humanoid in its behavior, right?

So you have them taking over these fortresses, fortress being the same word as Basra, right, which is the capital of Edom, so there's some pun that's going on here, speaking of Edom as a fortress. You know, they're taking these palaces over, and they're dwelling in them, they're calling out to each other, making, you know, kind of the noise of a city would be the scacophony of people talking to each other, but instead of people, it's the disturbing noises of jackals and hyenas and ostriches and weird creatures with even demonic forces behind them.

And consider the way Jesus speaks of demons. You know, he talks about the house being swept clean, and then what happens? You have demons that go into the house and take over. Speaking of possessing a soul, right, or possessing a person's body, this is a description of how wasted it will be, right?

Where do they go? To the waste places, to the waterless places, to the empty places. This place will be so empty, it will be so destroyed that it will be a place for these unclean animals, for these spiritual nightmares to take over.

Verse 15, there the owl nests and lays and hatches and gathers her young in her shadows. Indeed, there the hawks are gathered, each one with her mate. So in addition to talking about them gathering together and congregating as people might in a city, it also talks about them starting families.

You know, the owl nests and lays, hatches, gathers her young in her shadow. The hawks are gathered, each there with her mate. You know, this is describing the city that is full of, you know, human activity, human noises, human families, human flourishing is given over to animals for animal noises, animal flourishing.

It's a picture of taking all that was good that they had built up and handing it over to that which is unclean to destroy and to dwell in. And so in speaking of this destruction and summarizing it, the prophet writes, 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. One of the harder questions in this passage is, what is the book of the Lord that is being spoken here?

There are a lot of people who would say that this is speaking of the book of Isaiah. Isaiah had prophesied destruction, but the various kinds of destruction that have been prophesied so far have been largely against Babylon in this way.

So it seems like something more is meant. Some say that this is speaking of the books of Moses, that the law speaks of the destruction, the vengeance that comes upon God's enemies, and so this is the natural outcome of being an enemy of the Lord.

So see that it is written in the law that this is what befalls those who are enemies of God. However, I think it is most fitting to not see this as speaking of Isaiah's prophecies, which don't exactly address this, or to speak of the law of Moses, which also doesn't exactly describe this, but to see this as speaking of the book of God's sovereignty.

You know, there are several times in Scripture where a description of God's sovereignty is made that describes things as being written in a book. We saw that earlier in Isaiah 4. He talks about names being recorded.

Psalm 139, 16 says, your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. So this book being spoken here, I believe, is talking about the book that you see in Psalm 139.

It is the book of God's decree. It is the book of His sovereignty, and so Isaiah is saying that this is so certain that if you were able to open up God's book and read what was written there, it would be written that every one of these owls will have a mate.

Everyone will have a family. Every one of these monsters of the night will take over. It says that He has cast the lot for them. His hand has portioned it out to them with the line, they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation, they shall dwell in it.

Psalm 16, 5 says, the Lord has chosen my portion, my cup, you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places. Indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. That vocabulary of a lot and lines, this is speaking of God determining where each person lives, God determining their boundaries, God determining their dominion and their sphere of influence.

And so He has cast the lot for them. He has determined where each animal will live, and He has given over this pleasant place to the animals. The lot is cast in the lap, but it's every decision is from the Lord.

That's what Proverbs 16, 33 says. And it's not just by the mouth of the Lord, but His Spirit working to accomplish these things. His Spirit has gathered them. They shall possess it forever, from generation to generation, they shall dwell in it.

Now, the New Testament in Revelation picks up on some of these images, so I'd like to read you some of these passages applied to Edom, but then in Revelation, these very same images applied to Rome, applied to Babylon, which Babylon is often used to speak of Rome in Revelation at a time long after Babylon existed.

In Revelation 18, if you'd like to turn there, it might be helpful to follow along. Revelation 18, verse 1, it says,. After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory.

And he called out with a mighty voice, Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.

First of all, does that sound familiar? It sounds pretty familiar to me. For all nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her.

The merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living. Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues, for her sins are heaped high as heaven.

And God remembered her iniquities, pay her back as she has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds, mix a double portion for her in the cup she has mixed. So that passage also spoke of a repayment, it is a day of vengeance, it is a day of recompense, of repayment that will happen.

And then in the next chapter in Revelation 19, it continues on. Speaking of Babylon, it says,. After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, Hallelujah, salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just, for he has judged the great prostitute, speaking of the whore of Babylon in Revelation, who corrupted the earth with her immorality and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.

Once more they cried out, Hallelujah, the smoke from her goes up forever and ever. These images in Isaiah, speaking of Edom, are then applied to one who is called Babylon later on in Revelation. And what is this speaking of?

Well, in part, it is speaking of all the enemies of God, the kingdoms of the world that would stand against him, Rome included. And in particular, I do believe that it is speaking of the false religion of Rome that would put itself in the place of God and pervert all that God has given to the church and call it its own.

And so this prophesied destruction here awaits all those who would pervert what God has given, who would gloat in the destruction of God's true people, who would be the enemies of God rather than his friend.

There is a great mercy found for those who are in Zion, because in Zion, the recompense is paid to those who are the enemies of Zion. It is a defense of Zion. God takes up the cause of Zion. Jesus Christ has taken up the cause of Zion and fought for her.

And so each of these images, how are we to stand against them? You know, we had just seen in Isaiah the question of who can dwell with everlasting burnings? You know, who can stand this pitch of Edom, this volcanic destruction?

And the answer is, the answer that was already given in Isaiah is this coming King, the coming Messiah. He is the one who can withstand these things, and us as we are found in him, because the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King, the Lord will save us.

And then as it speaks of the plumb line, who can withstand the plumb line? Who can withstand that destruction? Well, it is Christ who is perfect, who measures up perfectly by the plumb line. It is us who may be found perfect as well if we are in him, if we are looking to him for our salvation rather than looking to ourselves, rather than assuming or presumptuously living our lives as though we will stand on the day of judgment on our own merit, on our own works, on our own goodness, on the fact that we're not as bad as others.

And then the animals, the animals having, you know, consider that God spoke of man being given dominion over the animals. So for animals to be given dominion over man, that is a curse, a curse that reverses the blessing.

And so who has dominion over all the earth, who has dominion over the animals? Jesus Christ has dominion over all the animals. Jesus Christ has restored that dominion. He who has made a little while lower than the angels, has risen on high and seated the right hand at the throne of God, he has gotten that dominion and shared it with all those who are the children of God, all those who are found in him.

Every last, every last one of these curses can be withstood in the protection that we have in Jesus Christ. You know, there's a great day of vengeance coming. Do not, do not think that you will be able to stand apart from Jesus Christ on that day.

Do not think that you will be able to stand just because you're not as bad as others or apart from, yeah, apart from faith in Jesus Christ. It is only in him, it is only by his blood, his merit, his sacrifice on the cross that we have any chance of standing, but in him we have a perfect security, we have a perfect hope of standing before God because this vengeance has not even targeted us, it's even not, it's not even targeted us to have to withstand, rather it was, it is targeted at our enemies and Christ has already borne it in our place and God would never, never deny that sacrifice and require it paid again because his son has paid it perfectly.

Let's pray. Dear Heavenly Father, today as we consider this passage and we consider the seriousness of the repayment that is due to sin, the seriousness of the destruction that is coming on the world, we ask that you would give us hearts that think about these things soberly and hearts that think about these things zealously so that we would even not just awaken our own selves but be willing to warn our neighbors as well.

In Jesus' name, amen.