(Isaiah 34:1-17)
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and listen, you peoples!
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2 For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to slaughter.
3 So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
4 And all the heavenly lights will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5 For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom,
And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will also fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
A year of retribution for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will not be extinguished night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be nothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
14 The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,
The goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.
2 For the Lord’s anger is against all the nations,
And His wrath against all their armies.
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has turned them over to slaughter.
3 So their slain will be thrown out,
And their corpses will give off their stench,
And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
4 And all the heavenly lights will wear away,
And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;
All its lights will also wither away
As a leaf withers from the vine,
Or as one withers from the fig tree.
5 For My sword has drunk its fill in heaven;
Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom,
And upon the people whom I have designated for destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
It drips with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,
With the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will also fall with them
And young bulls with strong ones;
So their land will be soaked with blood,
And their dust become greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
A year of retribution for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams will be turned into pitch,
And its loose earth into brimstone,
And its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will not be extinguished night or day;
Its smoke will go up forever.
From generation to generation it will be desolate;
None will pass through it forever and ever.
11 But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,
And owl and raven will dwell in it;
And He will stretch over it the line of desolation
And the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there
Whom they may proclaim king—
And all its officials will be nothing.
13 Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,
Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;
It will also be a haunt of jackals
And a habitat of ostriches.
14 The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,
The goat also will cry to its kind.
Yes, the night-bird will settle there
And will find herself a resting place.
15 The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,
And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.
Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,
Every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read:
Not one of these will be missing;
None will lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
And His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
And His hand has divided it to them by the measuring line.
They shall possess it forever;
From generation to generation they will dwell in it.
TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
The world would love to believe that people are all innately good, and therefore, we only do bad things because we've been taught this, or because we're frustrated, or we've just been handed an unfair lot in life. People will also find other reasons to justify their evil actions and intentions, like, by blaming others, whether their allegations are true or not. And we don't have to search far to find brazen criminals and political groups that support, encourage and defend them! "Suddenly", right is wrong, and wrong is right!
No matter who we are or where we come from, because this is a sinful, fallen world, we are all born separated from God. We are born with a sinful nature, and while God loves all people, He hates sin and cannot have a relationship with sin! So, unless and until we become a child of God, one will face punishment and destruction. Verse 5 makes it clear that only those who reject the Lord (Jesus) will face this.
And still, the Lord's desire is that all come to know Him, therefore the Lord provides the way. He came to earth to pay the price for all sin, for all people, of all time. There are no excuses. His word (the Bible) contains His truths and promises, His wisdom and directions and His message of love which leads to certain hope.
When one truly seeks, they will find! And when we open our hearts to humbly accept and believe in Jesus, we will be saved and receive eternal life with Him. He is faithful, just and fair. There is no other personal relationship that is perfectly, 100% secure! God's perfect love is sacrificial and unconditional, and drives out darkness, hate and fear!
(John 3:16) “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but so that the world might be saved through Him. 18 The one who believes in Him is not judged; the one who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the Light; for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light, so that his deeds will not be exposed. 21 But the one who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds will be revealed as having been performed in God."
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