Isaiah 34: 1 – 17
Armageddon
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. 2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter. 3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. 4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree. 5 “ For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, 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 The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.” 8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion. 9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate. 16 “ Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
So, history buffs or may I say ‘Prophecy’ students, are you ready to look into the battle of Armageddon. Not sure that this is the battle of Armageddon. Well, let’s see what chapter 34 speaks about the future. For one thing we read of Jehovah Elyon’s announcement to all the nations.
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it.
So, what does our Majestic Holy Creator want to let everyone know? I do not think you want to know for no one is left out.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter.
There are many bumper stickers on cars nowadays. Have you ever seen this one, ‘The Lord Is coming back, and He Is angry.’ Some may have put this on their cars to be humorous but in fact it is true. The fullness of mankind’s sins have reached their fullness as far as God Is concerned and now in His Righteous Anger He Is going to deal with our rebellion. No one is excluded from what is about to happen. No one is ‘Ruptured’ out before it hits. His indignation is against all nations.
Now though what does ‘all nations’ mean? It cannot mean all the nations in the world. The fact that the nations have been called on to witness this and having to explain it to them signifies that ‘all nations’ under the particular area are under judgment. We will read that it refers to Edom and her allies.
3 Also their slain shall be thrown out; Their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
If you have ever served in the military or police departments you understand the smell of dead people. When you have many corpses the smell seems to be all over. The amount of blood that the dead cast off will flow down the hills appearing as though the dirt is melting.
4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.
I do not believe that this is talking about a collapse of the solar system in space. You see these nations worshiped the ‘hosts of heaven’ which are the sun, moon, and stars. Look at the Islamic religion today and what do they worship? – The moon god Allah. What I understand this verse to mean is that under the judgment of our Holy El Shaddai – Almighty God – that these nations will receive no help from these objects which have been worshiped as gods. With all the destruction coming upon them it will seem as though the heavens themselves are dying and ceasing in their function, like a tree does when winter approaches. All these evil people will be destroyed. They will never gaze upon the stars or heavens again.
Now we can see how this is talking about Edom and her allies not the world at the end of time. You see for the Lord in His description has already viewed the future destruction of Edom and her allies.
5 “ For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment. 6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made overflowing with fatness, 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.
I find it quite interesting that the people of Edom include the Amalekites which God has pronounced a curse way back in the book of Exodus chapter 17, “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses built an altar and called its name, The-LORD-Is-My-Banner; 16 for he said, “Because the LORD has sworn: the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
The destruction of Edom is then likened to the offering of sacrifices. In such sacrifices the blood and the fat were offered to God. This comparison brings out that this act is not just arbitrary. It is a necessary slaughter for the sins of these nations. They are receiving their due.
Also please notice ‘Bozrah’. It is about 25 miles southeast of the Dead Sea. Many of the Israelites when they fled were denied shelter by the Edomites.
7 The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.”
Edom’s surrounding allies are spoken about here by our Precious Holy Spirit as strong wild animals [bulls] which shall be slaughtered in their own land.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
You have heard many times, ‘when is the Lord going to deal with evil’. Well, as we study these passages, we know that He has and He will also deal with evil in the future. For the people of Edom it is now payback day.
9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever. 11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate. 16 “ Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
Now if you read the first couple of verse here starting with verse 9 it appears that the Lord will smite the land like He did to Sodom and Gomorrah right? – ‘9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; Its land shall become burning pitch. 10 It shall not be quenched night or day; Its smoke shall ascend forever. From generation to generation it shall lie waste; No one shall pass through it forever and ever.’
If that be the case then how do the animals which are now listed even be able to live there – “11 But the pelican and the porcupine shall possess it, also the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. And He shall stretch out over it the line of confusion and the stones of emptiness. 12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all its princes shall be nothing. 13 And thorns shall come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches. 14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat shall bleat to its companion; Also the night creature shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. 15 There the arrow snake shall make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also shall the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate. 16 “ Search from the book of the LORD, and read: Not one of these shall fail; Not one shall lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them. 17 He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
Mankind will cease to live there but there will be plenty of wildlife that takes over the area. If ‘Google’ this area and the area of Sodom and Gomorrah, do you see smoke going up to heaven? No, you see the thought is on God’s judgment which is a fate on them forever. Edom has ceased from being a nation. If you went there today no one lives there. It is only ruins and will forever be that way, which is to say its evil will forever be documented as God’s message to the rest of mankind. Like Babylon, Edom will forever be listed as nations that are anti-God, faithless, and treacherous. How’s that for a grave stone marker.
Please also notice our Wonderful Holy Ghost’s reference in verse 17, “17 He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They shall possess it forever; From generation to generation they shall dwell in it.”
The line was mentioned in chapter 28 verse 17 where right judgment is the line and righteousness the plummet. Here our Lord emphasizes that Edom has lacked both.
‘Seek out the book of Yahweh and read’. This suggest that Isaiah has recorded the words and has now declaring they are the Words of the Most High God. He challenges the people to read what has been written so that when all the destruction comes upon them they will know that God Is the Only Living God.
This makes me think of the hundreds of prophecies our Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled in His first coming to earth. There are even more prophecies that speak of His Second Coming. So, the bottom line is that we have the full assurance that all things written beforehand is for our understanding and that all things written will be fulfilled. Even so, come quickly our Lord Jesus.
