Isaiah 34 — The Day of the Lord: Judgment Before Redemption
As we have seen throughout “The Gospel according to Isaiah,” the prophet consistently reveals a pattern: Judgment, Rededication, Restoration, The coming Messianic King and His Kingdom.
In Isaiah 1–33, God warned Judah of coming judgment for her sin and looking to men rather than Him. God also rebuked the nations and promised a coming King.
In Isaiah 32–33, we saw glimpses of the righteous rule of the King and Zion restored. But before that restoration fully comes, Isaiah 34 reminds us that God must judge evil before He establishes His Kingdom. You cannot have Isaiah 35’s restoration, without Isaiah 34’s judgment.
Before the Kingdom of God is revealed in glory, the Day of the Lord must fall in judgment on all rebellion.
V 1–2 “Draw near, O nations, to hear…” This is not just about Israel’s enemies
It is global. God is addressing all nations and peoples, the entire world. The overall message of this section is directed to identifying the results of the consequences for mankind trusting in men and nations, rather than God. The call to listen is a repeated message concerning judgment (Is 1:10; 28:14; 32:9). Here it’s addressed to foreign nations who’ve denied Israel’s God. These nations have sought Israel’s destruction, and in so doing are at war against God and His chosen people. This message is not just to the nations but also to the world and all that flows from the world (v 1).
“Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.” Several times in Scripture God calls the earth to hear creation speak as witness against the nations including Israel; Dt 4:26: I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. This happened about a thousand years later first through the division of the nation with Israel in the North and Judah in the South. Then Assyria destroying Israel in 722 and Babylon bringing Judah into captivity starting in 605 B.C.
V 2 Gives the reason for his call for the nations to listen. Because of the Lord’s anger and a complete destruction will soon be coming. This is a reality in every generation since God’s judgment is immanent. We are always to live in the anytime return of the Lord. In Old Testament times Israel and the nations were to live prepared for God’s judgment. This was the warning to Noah and the people living for the 100 years that he and his sons built the ark. It was true in Sodom when suddenly judgment fell. It was true in Egypt when the time came for their judgement. Repeatedly in both Old and New Covenants judgment suddenly fell on a land and its people.
The term translated utterly destroyed is used in several places in the OT to refer to the “ban,” (Hebrew “herem”) for something or someone set apart for total destruction as in Josh. 6:18 “But as for you, only keep yourselves from the things under the ban, so that you do not covet them and take some of the things under the ban, and make the camp of Israel accursed and bring trouble on it. This describes how total God’s punishment is decreed upon the nations.
V 3-4 Here Isaiah describes the destruction which includes the heavens dissolved, the sky rolled up like a scroll, and the stars falling. It is creation being undone because of the compilation of sin. We see this kind of judgment in Rev. 6:12–14:
I looked when He broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind. The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Isaiah is not just speaking of events in his day but also pointing to the Day of the Lord. Before redemption is fully realized sin must be judged and evil removed.
V 5–8 – “My sword is satiated in heaven… it shall come down upon Edom…” Why Edom? Edom represents more than a nation. The descendants of Esau throughout Scripture both Old and New represent the enemies of God and the descendants of Jacob. They are a picture of worldly pride, fleshly opposition to God and His covenant against Israel and those grafted into Israel, the church.
Edom is only one example of God’s judgment on the Gentile nations because of what they have done to His people Israel. “For the LORD has a day of vengeance, A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.” (v. 8). In the Day of the Lord, the Gentiles will be repaid for the way they have treated the Jews and exploited their land (Joel 3:1–17). “Zion’s cause” gets little support among the nations today, but God will come to their defense.
Isaiah begins with a military picture of the armies on earth (Isa. 34:2–3) and in heaven (v. 4). The enemy armies on earth will be slaughtered, the land will be drenched with blood
Isaiah moves from the battlefield to a picture of the temple and sees this worldwide judgment as a great sacrifice that God as a Priest offers. Ezek. 39:17–19:
As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord God, ‘Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, “Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. 18 You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as though they were rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan. 19 So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
In the offerings in the Temple the people would kill the sacrifices and the priest would offer their blood on the altar to God, but here it is God in Yeshua who offers His enemies as sacrifices. God sees His enemies as animals: Rams, goats, lambs, oxen, and bulls sacrificed. These nations sacrificed the Jews on their altars of willful rebellion, so God used them for the sacrifice.
V 9-10 Isaiah compares the Day of the Lord to the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Compare this with what Yeshua said concerning His coming in judgment in Luke 17:28:
It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed
Bozrah is said to be the place where this sacrifice will occur. There is debate among Biblical scholars where this is. In my opinion it’s located in the ancient Nabatean stronghold of Petra. This is located in modern day Jordan where tourists flock to see the wonders of the ancient world. I have been there several times leading groups. One enters through a narrow canyon that opens into a wide space. This seems the likely location because the name “Bozrah” means “sheepfold” and the city of Petra is in a basin within Mt. Seir with surrounding mountains and cliffs, creating a natural “sheepfold.” Right next to Petra is the Arab site of Butzeira, a name retains the Hebrew form of Bozrah.
Some believe that Bozrah is the place where Jewish people in the tribulation will flee for safety from the pursuit of the antichrist Rev 12:1-6. It would make sense for the end-time judgment to begin with the Lord’s deliverance of the Jewish people there. So great will be God’s warfare that even the strong will fall in battle and the land will be filled with their blood (34:7). The reason for the Lord’s attack is the day of vengeance in which He will fight for Zion (Isa, 63:1-6; Rev. 19:13-15).
The description in v 9-10 reminds us of the fall of Babylon (Rev. 14:8–11; 19:3). We should also remember that the fires of eternal hell, the lake of fire, will never be quenched. The nations that reject Messiah ultimately face judgment eternal as well as physical. The same Messiah who saves also judges.
V 11–15 When God finishes His work, the land will be a wilderness, occupied only by thorns, wild beasts, and birds that will feed on the carcasses of the fallen. God will see to it that each bird will have a mate to reproduce, and no humans will be around to drive them from their nests.
Isaiah sees the world of human pride undone. In v 11 God will stretch over it desolation and emptiness. God will deconstruct human societies that were built apart from Him. This is reminiscent of Babel and its tower and Noah and the Ark. The Hebrew words for “desolation” and “emptiness” also appear in the creation account: “The earth was without form and void” (Gen. 1:2). Isaiah uses those words from Genesis and uses them in his vision here, as God reverses His creation order into disorder of the system that distorted God’s order for the world and mankind. God will destroy it completely He will never make peace with a world that rebels against Him. Where God is rejected: Order collapses, life is removed, and chaos reigns.
As for how this chapter impacts us we should consider Peter’s admonition: “But the Day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:10). Why is God waiting? Because God, as Peter tells us, “is long-suffering, … not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (v. 9). How much longer will God wait? Nobody knows; so, this a wakeup call to us share with lost sinners so that might repent today and come to Yeshua. It is also a reminder to us who believe that His return and judgment is immanent.
V 16-17 – What is “the book (scroll) of the Lord“? There are many suggestions, including the Book of Life. It seems likely, however, Isaiah is speaking about the prophecy just given. The Spirit of God will bring about what his word has promised, about the birds and animals gathering and feasting on those slain by the Lord in His judgment. The events described in Edom will be a testimony to the truth of what he has said. Just as God divided the nations ( and mankind so He will fulfill His word concerning these animals and their domain in the millennium. Not one word revealed in God’s Word will fail. Everything spoken will come to pass, every judgment He has decreed and every promise He has made is certain to be fulfilled.
Isaiah 34 ends in desolation, judgment and silence. Next week we will see that Isaiah 35 begins with the desert blooming, joy and singing, and God’s redemption of His Chosen People. This contrast was and is intentional. Isaiah 34 is essential to the Gospel message. It shows why we need salvation. It reveals the holiness of God and that sin brings judgment. That no one escapes God’s judgment apart from the judgment that Yeshua took on our behalf for our atonement. He has provided reconciliation and forgiveness for all who seek life and the peace that God brings.
Isaiah 34 also reveals the Day of the Lord as a real future event, not symbolic. That this coming judgment will be upon the entire world. It also Points to Yeshua the Messiah as both Judge in this chapter and King as we have seen in chapters 32-33. Without Isaiah 34 chapter 35 makes no sense. Without judgment there is no need for atonement and reconciliation.
For Israel we learn that God will vindicate her despite her sin and rebellion against Him. He will pour out His undeserved grace and save a remnant just as He saved us. Israel’s enemies will not prevail forever because God’s covenant promises remain. For the nations God gives them a warning to repent and turn to Yeshua while there is still time.
Believers are saved from this judgment. Not because of any of our own righteousness, but because of Messiah’s atoning work. Isaiah 34 forces us to wrestle with a difficult but necessary truth that God is not only Savior He is also Judge and that the Gospel is not complete unless we understand both.
