Isaiah 34-35: Judgment or Mercy

Let's take our Bible and go to the book of Isaiah.

The book of Isaiah.

We're going to be in two chapters this morning chapters 34 and 35.

These two chapters are a capstone of a long section that we've been in for several weeks and even months, and that is chapters 13, all the way up to chapter 35.

Isaiah 13 · chapter mention

All the way up to chapter 35.

We said that this section, which is oracles to the nations, is bookmarked and bookended rather by two sections a focus on King Ahaz in chapter 7 to 12 and a focus on King Hezekiah, which we'll be looking at in just a few weeks or for the next few weeks, in chapters 36 to 39.

Chapter 7 to 12 with Ahaz and chapters 36 to 39 with Hezekiah.

We find two kings with two crises, two prophetic confrontations and two responses Ahaz fails in unbelief and Hezekiah, though he falters, expresses faith and trust in God.

And in the middle of this has been this long section that we've looked at chapters 13 to 35, largely focusing outside of Judah and off to the nations, but also bringing it back home.

At the same time, and in the midst of this larger section, we've seen two significant themes one of judgment and one of deliverance.

Now, of course, these themes are woven as a tapestry throughout all of Scripture, but they are very much in view at the very front end of this section of Scripture.

Isaiah itself could be divided by those two themes.

Chapters 1 to 39 focus largely on judgment.

Chapters 40 through 66 largely focus on deliverance.

Prophet Isaiah speaks in the first 39 chapters about disobedience and idolatry and injustice not going unchecked.

That God's wrath and his judgment are not arbitrary but purposeful for the bringing down of iniquity but also for the purifying of a people in preparation for deliverance that will come, and that it extends to the nations and not just to the people of God under the sound of the word, to the nations and not just to the people of God under the sound of the word.

Wonderfully also intertwined with all of that expression of judgment and focus have been this glorious, red-hued thread of salvation that we've seen time and time and time again in Isaiah in these sections.

Now, soon, very soon, we'll be in chapter 40 to 66.

And as much as the emphasis has been on judgment in the first 39 chapters, in chapters 40 to 66, the larger focus will be on redemption and deliverance and we'll see expressions of the suffering servant.

We'll see statements of a new covenant.

We'll see a glorious picture of Zion, of the heavenly Jerusalem, in which God is bringing all things not to destruction but to restoration and renewal in a new heaven and a new earth.

These two chapters that we're about to dive into chapter 34 and chapter 35, stand as emblems of all of Scripture, but all of Isaiah as well Chapter 34 with its focus on judgment, and chapter 35 with its focus on redemption.

The one hand, we're going to see the inescapable hand of God expressing itself in judgment and, on the other hand, we'll see God's glorious activity of redemption.

We'll find Edom singled out as representative of the nations, giving us an understanding that this imagery, chilling as it is, is not abstract but real, it's certain and it's coming, and that salvation is not abstract but real and certain and coming.

The question that we have before us is will we walk in chapter 34 and find ourselves ultimately facing the judgment, or will we find ourselves within the context of God's glorious promises of redemption, as he expresses itself in chapters 35?

The fate of the rebellious is clear, but the promise of renewal is just as clear.

So, as we go into this chapter, I pray that we might bring ourselves into it and ask ourselves, examining ourselves in the light of these two chapters and discovering where we will stand.

Will we remain in chapter 34 or will we enter wholeheartedly into the promises of God in chapter 35?

So let's do that.

Let's go through these two chapters together.

Chapter 34, as I said, is God's judgment against the wicked, and in this chapter he strips away all illusion that rebellion against God can go unanswered, all illusion that rebellion against God can go unanswered.

And we're going to see in this chapter three different aspects of that.

We're going to see poetic descriptions of judgment.

We're going to see a powerful display of judgment to the people of Edom and we're going to see a purposeful design of judgment.

As we walk through it, we're going to understand that God does not act capriciously or without purpose in these judgments.

The main focus of this is the poetic expressions or descriptions of judgment.

The imagery of chapter 34 is vivid.

Imagery of chapter 34 is vivid, even repulsively vivid if you think about it.

And these things are, yes, meant to shock and unsettle us.

They are meant to awaken us and they are meant to cause us to examine ourselves deeply, because judgment is unavoidable, it is certain, and the consequences are extreme.

Let's go through some of these poetic descriptions.

And the first one we find is in chapter 34, in verse 3.

And it talks about there the stench of corpses in the blood-soaked mountains.

Their slaying will be thrown out and the stench of their corpses will rise.

The mountains will flow with their blood.

It's an extremely descriptive statement.

Why does it come?

Take a look at the first two verses.

You nations, come here and listen.

You peoples, pay attention.

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

The Lord is angry with all nations furious with all their armies.

With all nations furious with all their armies, he will set them apart for destruction, giving them over to slaughter.

What is this image of stench and blood-soaked mountains?

It shows us that God is going to bring all sin and all sinning people to an end, in which his wrath is outpoured upon them and it is pervasive.

All the earth, all the mountains will be stained with blood.

When we go to the book of Romans, in chapters one through three particularly, we find the apostle Paul unpacking the scriptures.

And he doesn't just look at a certain group of people and say, look, how bad they are, he brings the word of God forcibly through, as it expresses itself both to Jewish people and to Gentiles, and he brings it to a conclusion.

He says what is this conclusion?

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

Here Isaiah is speaking about all nations being liable to judgment before a holy God, and the effect of this is cataclysmic.

Take a look at the second image in verse 4.

All the stars in the sky will dissolve.

The sky will roll up like a stroll and its stars will all wither, as leaves wither on the vine and foliage on the fig tree.

This is not just poetic imagery.

It speaks of the depth of God's judgment and it speaks of a cosmic upheaval in which everything is brought to an end.

It is the very undoing of creation itself.

That's how unstoppable the force of God's judgment is.

And it shows us, in the stars falling from the skies and the sky itself rolling up as a scroll, that there's no power, be it on earth or in the heavenlies, seen or unseen, that can stand against God when he acts in judgment.

But it also tells us that God is going to bring something to an end.

The scriptures tell us at the very beginning, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, that the earth itself would be bearing the consequences of their iniquity, that the earth would grow thorns and thistles, that it would become a place of arduous labor, because the earth itself was receiving and bearing the scars of human iniquity.

And this creation that has been brought into the consequences of our disobedience is also going to be taken away and brought to an end.

This apocalyptic theme of the uncreation, of the destruction and undoing of the things that have been made is also found in the book of Revelation, in chapter 6.

The sky receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.

Even the fabric of the heavens has to respond to the voice of God's judgment.

The very order of creation is under his power and control, and what we see here is the undoing of everything that seems permanent.

A lot of things in this world seem to be in the cycles of permanence of human behavior that nations rise and fall, that families form and dissolve, that time marches on and that the powerful take the place of prominence, and that they exert that power for the purposes of self-satisfaction and gain.

And we find people in places of injustice, bearing under the weight of those powerful people who don't use their positions for the purposes of good but for the purposes of their own design and their own selfishness.

And what God is telling us here, when he expresses this kind of judgment, is that those kind of things will also be brought to an end If the stars themselves fall.

The power of human iniquity itself will come to nothing.

It will not reign.

All injustices, all iniquity, all of it will.

All inequity will be brought to an end and there will come a day when righteousness and justice and equity and love prevail.

I'm getting a little ahead of myself in chapter 35.

We'll see more of that in just a moment.

But another prophetic description, another poetic statement in verses five and six the sword of the Lord.

When my sword is drunk, it's filled in the heavens.

Then it will come down on Edom and on the people I've set apart for destruction.

The Lord's sword is covered with blood, it drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats and the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Basra, a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

This graphic image just adds another layer of emphasis to the completeness of God's justice, and that wickedness will be fully dealt with In the book of Deuteronomy, moses speaks these very same words in chapter 32.

As surely as I live forever, I will sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold of judgment, and I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me.

I will make my arrows drunk with blood while my sword devours flesh, the blood of the slain and the captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.

This is a sobering thought.

This is a sobering thought, and here Isaiah is echoing out what God said in Deuteronomy, that his justice is both necessary and purposeful and it will bring those who stand against him to an end.

Take a look at verse 8.

We see another one, for the Lord has a day of vengeance, a time of paying back edom for its hostility against zion.

And then another one, in verses 9 and 10, of streams turning to pitch and dust into sulfur.

Edom streams will be turned into pitch or soil into sulfur.

Edom's streams will be turned into pitch or soil into sulfur.

Her land will become burning pitch.

It will never go out day or night.

Its smoke will go up forever.

It will be desolate from generation to generation.

No one will pass through it forever and ever.

God's judgment is permanent and devastating.

In verses 11 to 15 speak about the chaos of that destruction and it talks about wild animals taking over the land.

And we won't read all of that, but in it you'll see owls and ravens and jackals and other creatures and they're going to stretch out over Edom and they're going to be ruling it where there are now, at the moment, people controlling it.

Edom at that time was a very strong and prosperous place.

It rose up in its pride and its arrogance because of its possessions and because of its alliances.

And God says when judgment comes, there's going to be nothing but a desert and jackals scattering across it.

All of these images worldwide, even cosmic chaos, all result from the hand of God's punishment.

And he brings all of that universal expression down to one group of people.

And this is the second part of this chapter Not only the poetic demonstrations and displays and descriptions, but the powerful display of judgment found in Edom itself, at the heart of this chapter.

Edom, edom, edom, edom itself At the heart of this chapter.

Edom, edom, edom, edom is spoken with relentless detail and vivid descriptions of judgment.

Why, why is Edom singled out here as the one who will receive all of this judgment?

Why, why is Edom's downfall the focus of God in this place?

Why does it stand as a representation of all peoples?

Well, we have to know the history of Edom.

Edom is a nation descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob, the father of Israel.

And their struggle between one another, between Esau and Jacob, started in the womb.

They weren't even born yet and they were already at odds with one another.

And it continued on through their life and down through their descendants and it shaped the history of the people of Israel, this hostility between Edom and Israel.

And geographically, edom sat at the southeast of Israel and because it did, it controlled a lot of the key trade routes and fortresses.

And the Edomites prided themselves on their wisdom, on their military strength, and they even got to the place where they thought they were untouchable.

And they even got to the place where they thought they were untouchable and because they were so arrogant, it led them to betrayal of their neighbors to the northwest Israel.

They refused passage to Israel.

In the book of Exodus, in Numbers, chapter 20.

Numbers 20 · chapter mention

And they rejoiced in Jerusalem's destruction.

You can read the book of Exodus in Numbers, chapter 20,.

Numbers 20 · chapter mention

And they rejoiced in Jerusalem's destruction.

You read the book of Obadiah in chapter one, you see them laughing at the downfall of Jerusalem.

And because of this history, because of this animosity, because of this arrogance, because of this refusal to help people in need, because of their laughing and scorning at the people of God even in their weakest moments, edom now is emblematic of all of the nations that rise up against God.

They are the one nation who most specifically and earnestly set themselves against God's son, israel, and so God's sword descends upon them.

But the scriptures tell us that there's another son, and he is the Lord Jesus Christ, the true son.

And the scriptures tell us that judgment will come to all of us, based upon what we do with that son, the true son, the true Israel.

You see, it speaks to us today, this judgment.

This judgment tells us, as Psalm 2 says Kiss the son, lest you fall under the wrath of God.

No force, no kingdom, no power that elevates itself against God and against his anointed will stand.

And just as Edom fell into ruin, every structure that's built on pride, every structure that's built on injustice, every structure that's built on injustice, every structure that stands in hostility to God and every individual who stands in opposition to the one Messiah, jesus Christ, will face this same judgment that's seen here in Edom.

We have to ask ourselves well, is this just simply about Edom's arrogance?

Is this just about Edom's full trust in its strength and its wealth?

Is this just about Edom and its deluded understanding of its self-sufficiency and its position to being invincible?

No, this is about us asking ourselves am I arrogant today?

It's about us asking ourselves what do I rely upon?

My strength, my wealth, my ingenuity, my self-sufficiency?

Do I stand as though I have every right to be confident in this world controlled by a holy God, the way I live?

We must reflect upon these things, and so, when we read chapter 34, we find poetic descriptions of destruction.

We find there that God also gives us a pinpoint, designated understanding of that judgment through Edom itself.

But we also understand, through reading this chapter, that there is a prophetic and purposeful design and God is wiping away this universe of all things that stand against him, and that he does so through temporal and eternal judgment.

His temporal judgment brings nations to humility that once stood in pride, but also eternal judgment, where he takes people and makes an everlasting judgment upon them and the characteristic of their life.

The scope of the one is in history, the scope of the other is a final assessment in eternity.

The purpose of the one is to humble, to correct and even to prepare for renewal.

The purpose of the other is to bring someone outside of time, into the culmination of history, in an irrevocable judgment of separation from God himself, in which everything that God is will be absent in their eternal being.

God who is love, god who is full of joy and gives peace, one who is kind and merciful and gracious, all the aspects of God's holy character in those ways are removed from those who enter into eternity and standing in opposition against God, to speak of it as eternal flames is only to give some real-life descriptor of just horrific that separation from God is.

Isaiah 34 · chapter mention

Chapter 34 is a sobering reminder and it should speak to us in several different ways.

If we're discouraged by the chaos that's around us, if we're discouraged by the chaos that's around us, if we are victims of wickedness and injustice and inequity, if we are feeling that the vulnerability of the powerful who holds sway against us, chapter 34 is a word of encouragement that those things will not continue to reign, that those things will not rule humanity forever, that there will be an end of injustices, there will be an end of inequity, there will be an end of this powerful display of pride and arrogance.

It will come to nothing, display of pride and arrogance.

It will come to nothing.

It will fall from the skies as harshly and as quickly as the stars dissolve themselves.

But it also reminds us that if we're resisting God, if we are in those places of sinning against others because we are not in alignment with God, that there's a warning for us that God's judgments are not merely temporary, they're eternal.

And if Edom, who was so full of positions of pride and arrogance and haughtiness, fell, so will we, so will we.

Chapter 35 takes a swift and sudden shift.

There's not even a segue of movement between the two Chapter 34, filled with judgment, without a whisper of any hope.

And then you get to verse 1 of chapter 35.

The wilderness and the dry land will be glad.

The desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower.

It's hard, I have to say, even for me in this moment, to try to regroup my mind and my heart and my emotion coming out of chapter 34, because it's so abrupt.

This is such a hard turn.

Thank God it's a good one.

Chapter 34 has drawn this grim picture in which a world and a universe has been stripped bare, swallowed by fire, left to decay in the wake of divine justice.

And this shift, the wilderness that was once bare and lifeless in the previous chapter is now erupting in beauty.

The dry and desolate land is now bursting into bloom.

What is this telling us?

God's ultimate purposes are one of redemption and reconciliation.

That we should, yes, heed the warnings of judgment and flee from the wrath to come.

But where do we go?

We go into chapter 35, into the warm embrace of promise and redemption and hope.

This is the triumph of the redeemed, where sorrow breaks into singing, where brokenness moves into healing, where despair rises to joy.

That's what this is, where God invites us to walk in the way of holiness.

Walk in the way of holiness.

This chapter, when we go through it, you're going to find it, lands in one place, jesus Christ.

Every one of these pictures that we're about to look find themselves with glorious fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, he talks about wilderness.

Yes, he talks about wilderness.

Yes, he talks about blooming, but he's talking about a day in which God will bring these things to bear on earth, in time and space, through one person, jesus Christ, the one who strengthens the weak and heals the broken, the one who quenches the thirst and opens the way, the highway.

So as we go through chapter 35, if you can go with me, let's move into it and the first thing you see is the desert blooms.

The desert blooms, the wilderness and the dry land will be glad.

The desert will rejoice and the blossom like a wildflower Verse 2,.

It will blossom abundantly.

It will also rejoice with joy and singing.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of the Lord, the splendor of our God.

This land, this land just a moment ago, was soaked in blood.

This land, a moment ago, was the habitation of jackals and owls.

This habitation was nothing but an empty desert.

Not anymore.

Not anymore anymore.

That which was once lifeless and hopeless and dry and empty is erupting with life and vitality bursting into bloom.

It is a powerful picture of God's ability to restore everything that looks lost.

Is your life destroyed, is your life completely barren.

There is hope in Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself, when he came, spoke to a woman at the well, rejected of many different men, rejected of the women in the village.

She was in the middle of the day alone, grasping some water in a time and a place where there ought to have been no one there to get any water.

And Jesus speaks to her and he shows her the well and he says if anybody drinks the water that I give, they will never thirst.

They will never thirst and the water that I give will become in them a spring of water welling up into eternal life.

Jesus takes this picture of a desert turning into a blossomed garden and a botanical display of God's variegated creational ability and he says it's found in Jesus Christ, who offers the glorious life of the gospel.

And he said in John 7, whoever believes in me, as scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.

Everything about our life will be transformed.

When Christ rules the heart, he will make the desert of our very souls come to life.

This is why he said I've come.

John, chapter 10, I've come that they might have life, and they might have it to the full.

John 10 · chapter mention

Have it to the full.

What do I have to give up to become a Christian Is the wrong way to think.

What do you receive when you become a believer way to think.

What do you receive when you become a believer, the wellsprings of God's glorious activity, to bring your life to fullness and to completion into the purposes for which it was ultimately designed, to be able to express yourself to all of the extent that God has made you for.

To the extent that God has made you for, that's what it is.

Isaiah saw the wilderness transformed.

Jesus brings a transformation to people.

Let's take a look at the next image in verses three and four Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees.

Say to the cowardly be strong, do not fear.

Here is your God.

Vengeance is coming.

God's retribution is coming.

He will save you.

After judgment, fear had set in, but Isaiah is calling to the people that the judgment will bring his people into a place of confidence and hope.

Do not fear, your God will come and he has come to save you.

This is the prophetic image of God interacting directly on behalf of his people to remove everything from them that had depressed them and to bring them into the place of deliverance by his very presence and the direct hand of his actions as a deliverer.

Hand of his actions as a deliverer.

Scriptures tell us that on one Christmas morn, a little baby was born and his parents were told that they were going to name that child and they were going to call him Jesus, a Savior, god who saves.

Why?

Because he is Emmanuel God with us.

And when Jesus came to this world, he came directly to the place where we live so that by his direct hand he could save.

And those hands that came to save us put themselves on the cross and allowed them to be nailed there so that he might stand that place as a sacrifice and substitute for sinners, so that we might be delivered.

And so now the invitation comes.

Jesus says come on, come unto me, all you that are burdened and weary, heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

In 2 Timothy 1, paul reminds Timothy God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

And these very words that are here in Isaiah, chapter 35, strengthen the weak hand, steady the shaking knees.

Isaiah 35 · chapter mention

Say to the cowardly, be strong, do not fear are brought to us in the book of Hebrews, hebrews 12, verse 12, strengthen your feeble arms and your weak knees.

Hebrews 12:12

And what is the argument of the writer of Hebrews?

It is focus yourself on Christ, don't be led astray by anything that would detract or denigrate Christ as Lord in your heart are.

Denigrate Christ as Lord in your heart.

So strengthen your feeble arms and your weak knees by grabbing a hold of Christ, who is your sacrifice, who?

Christ, who is your salvation, christ who is your deliverance and Christ who is your hope.

And the more you hold on to him, it is if your feeble arms and weak knees have found strength, because he will renew you from the inside and strengthen you to live your life well on the outside.

Let's move on Isaiah 35, verses 5 and 6.

Isaiah 35:5

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped, and the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy, for waters will gush in the wilderness and streams in the desert, the parched ground will become a pool and the thirsty land springs.

In the haunt of jackals and their lairs, there will be grass, reeds and papyrus.

Of jackals and their lairs, there will be grass, reeds and papyrus.

Jesus is restoring what's broken.

Jesus is filling what's empty.

Jesus is taking what seems to be permanent and changing it.

The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the lame will leap, the mute will shout.

They're no longer to be identified by those things which bind and restrict and mark them.

Now they're no longer blind, they're no longer deaf, they're no longer lame, they're no longer mute, because they have eyes and ears and voice and legs of strength.

Jesus restores what is broken.

Jesus in this world, when he ministered in his earthly capacity, did exactly these things In Matthew 11 and verse 5, the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.

Jesus came in order to change the categories of people, to change them from the blind to the seeing, from the deaf to the hearing, from the mute to the vocal, from the weak to the strong, from the dead to the alive.

What's your problem today?

What's your debilitating, constraining force today?

Well, I'm just no, you're not just.

With God's intervention, through Jesus Christ, there's no locked in to anything other than the fact that he can unlock every one of those closed doors of you, every single one.

And Isaiah is prophesying the restoration of the broken, and Jesus is the fulfillment of that restoration.

If you need wholeness, he is the source.

If you're wounded, he is the strength.

And again the waters flow.

We see it here again in verses six and seven, that dry land once again streaming flooding, bringing life and abundance.

Revelation 21.

And verse 6,.

Jesus himself speaking there to the thirsty, I will give water without cost from the springs of the water of life.

When Christ rules a person, this life flows freely.

And then the highway of holiness.

The highway of holiness, verse 8,.

A road will be there and a way.

It will be called the holy way.

The unclean will not travel on it, but it will be for the one who walks the path.

Fools will not wander on it.

There'll be no lion there, no vicious beast will go up on it, they will not be found there.

But the redeemed will walk on it and the ransomed of the Lord will return.

And the ransomed of the Lord will return.

Isaiah closes this whole section of judgment to the nations with a statement that the day is coming where there'll be a return of the people of God on a highway of holiness, a path set apart for those who walk in the light of his salvation.

And when we get to the New Testament scriptures, it's no accident that Jesus, the night before he is crucified, looks at his disciples and he says I am the way, the truth and the life.

He is bringing this prophecy to fulfillment by speaking about himself.

He is bringing this prophecy to fulfillment by speaking about himself.

In Hebrews, chapter 10, it says that the way into the very presence of God is to draw near to God through the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 10 · chapter mention

That way is his way, jesus' way, and so when you read the book of Acts and if you've noticed this, the phrase the way is used multiple times.

It is the first characteristic and description of what the life of the Savior brings to us.

Acts 9.2, paul seeks permission to arrest followers of the way in Damascus.

Acts 19.9, some in Ephesus rejected the way and speak against it.

Acts 19.23, a disturbance arises concerning the way due to the economic disturbance of idol making.

Acts 22.4, paul recounts the persecution that he did against those of the way.

Acts 24.14, paul defends himself before Felix, affirming his faith as the way.

In Acts 24.22, felix, familiar with the way, postpones judgment against Paul.

The way, the way.

God has opened up the way into his very presence through Jesus Christ, because he is the way and those who follow him are on the way, and those who follow him are going toward the destination that the way brings them.

And what is that destination?

Take a look the ransom to the Lord will return and come to Zion, to the very place of God's presence, with singing crowned with unending joy.

Joy and gladness will overtake them and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

This is the end, this is the destination point, not chapter 34.

Chapter 35.

Chapter 34 makes you look at God and say get me out of here.

And you find, even if you went to the widest reaches of the universe, to the most distant star, it's going to fall and I'll fall with it.

But then you come to chapter 35, and he builds this image of a place where, ultimately, you come into the presence of God and there's no fear there, there's no sorrow there.

There's no sorrow there, there's no crying there, there's no agony there.

There is joy and rejoicing and salvation and life and singing and abundance, all of it.

Here's the question.

Here's the question Am I Edom?

Am I that arrogant resister of God and his people?

Am I full of self-sufficiency and pride?

I'll do it my way.

You stay on that way, you'll miss this way.

Are we trusting in Jesus?

Am I?

Am I marching to Zion with joy in my heart that the highway is opened and judgment is gone, because Christ has come to open this up for me.

So here we have chapter 34 and 35 in dramatic contrast judgment and devastation, followed by glorious renewal and redemption, with these glorious words at the very end no lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it.

They will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk on it safe and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy.

Joy and gladness will overtake them, sorrow and sighing will flee.

Here is the sweeping invitation of the celebration of salvation, where every threat, every sorrow and every struggle is gone and joy takes the place forever On this place where no hidden danger can ever attack us and no grief ever overshadow our song.

It's not just escape from judgment, is it?

God's salvation is not just okay, you have a pass.

It's to bring you into fullness in life, into full restoration, into companionship in his presence, with eternal joy, so that your life might be swallowed up with triumph and not loss.

This is God's redemption, this is his promise.

And when we get to chapters 40, all the way to the end of chapter 66, this is just going to grow and grow and grow and grow and grow as we see God, who was the God not only of judgment but of redemption.

Let's pray, father.

We thank you for our Lord Jesus Christ, because without him there would be no hope for us, there would be no chapter 35.

Without Christ, we would all be crying and agonizing and speaking woes against ourself because our doom would be sure, because there is none righteous no, not one.

We would all be before the presence of a, a holy God, with our mouths stopped silent, recognizing that judgment was just and certain.

We thank you, lord, that you didn't leave us there and you don't leave any human there, that you open up the invitation of life through the prophetic picture of chapter 35.

This glorious image of life and vigor and strength and song of healing and hope.

And, lord, I pray that all of us might find ourselves in the way who is Jesus Christ and that we might be able to walk in the way who is Jesus Christ and that we might be able to walk in the way who is Jesus Christ and that we might find the destination of that pathway where the way ends in the very presence of God and in the Lamb.

Lord, I pray that all of us might flee from wrath and run to redemption, as it's offered to us today.

Whatever temporary judgments we have faced, may they be the very impetus to cause us to hunger and thirst for this truth and this redemption, and may we be sobered by it to recognize that whatever temporary ills we face are only meant to point us to everlasting joy, but they also stand as a harbinger of eternal judgment if we neglect them.

Lord, may these eternal issues of life move us today.

We pray for your glory and in Christ's name, amen.