THE “DAY OF THE LORD” STUDY IN THE SCRIPTURES – ADDITIONAL REFERENCES PART 8 - ISAIAH
The DAY OF THE LORD is “The Day of Jehovah” and its usage is always associated with something dire, with judgement, and with events outside the implementation of man. In other words, it is the intervention of God with the power of God in the affairs of this world. It has a primary application to Israel, but that is always extended often to a wider field, and that involves the world. Its main focus is in the Tribulation that is coming.
In “Additional References” we are looking into passages that belong to the Day of the LORD but don’t use that term specifically.
We continue -
NUMBER 5
[5]. {{Isaiah 24:17 “Terror and pit and snare confront you, O inhabitant of the earth. Isa 24:18 Then it will be that he who flees the report of disaster will fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare for the windows above are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. Isa 24:19 The earth is broken asunder, the earth is split through, the earth is shaken violently. Isa 24:20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard and it totters like a shack for its transgression is heavy upon it, and it will fall, never to rise again. Isa 24:21 It will happen in that day, that the LORD will punish the host of heaven on high, and the kings of the earth on earth, Isa 24:22 and they will be gathered together like prisoners in the dungeon and will be confined in prison and after many days they will be punished. Isa 24:23 Then the moon will be abashed and the sun ashamed for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.”}}
((Verse 17 addresses the inhabitants of the earth, so this passage is universal. Universal judgement on the earth is the Tribulation when the wrath of God in The Day of the LORD is unleashed. Verses 17-20 are great, dramatic judgement descriptions and fit Revelation, and the earthquakes of Revelation 6:12; 8:5; 11:13, 19; 16:18-19; Matthew 24:7. The severity of the wrath in the Tribulation is beyond our present thinking but it will come and it will be terrible but not for Christians because God will remove us from that wrath before it starts. Verse 21 uses the key phrase, “in that day” which always places events at the time of the end.
Note carefully the ending of verse 20 “and it will fall, never to rise again.” Once the Lord deals with this world and brings all man’s rule to the end at the Second Coming, then the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour. Man’s rule will fall and will never rise again. We don’t want it to rise again, because man has mucked it all up from the beginning. Once the Lord takes control, everything will be perfect.
Verse 21 is a most interesting one. The Lord defeats the kings of the earth and their armies in Israel at His Second Coming, and Satan and demons who are the host of heaven will be rendered ineffective for 1000 years. This is only my thinking on this, but I think the demons will be consigned to hell, but Satan to the abyss for the 1 000 years until he is released. Verse 22 is indefinite as to the party/ies which is/are specifically concerned. It could be both men and the demonic host or it many mean just Satan and his demons. In any case punishment awaits all those who are evil, men and demons.
Verse 23 is a very full verse. It begins with the signs of the Second Coming when the Lord returns to the Mount of Olives, but first He has to deal with the world’s armies that will be throttling Israel. Then the Lord establishes His Kingdom and will reign from Jerusalem. The leadership (elders) of Israel will see His glory, but we remember at His first coming it was the rulers and elders who had the Lord crucified. What a change this will be. That passage in Isaiah is so comprehensive for The Day of the LORD, that we must not overlook it.))
NUMBER 6
[6]. {{Isaiah 34:1-8 “Draw near, O nations, to hear and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it Isa 34:2 for the LORD’s indignation is against all the nations and His wrath against all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has given them over to slaughter. Isa 34:3 Their slain will be thrown out and their corpses will give off their stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood. Isa 34:4 All the host of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree. Isa 34:5 My sword is satiated in heaven. Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. Isa 34:6 The sword of the LORD is filled with blood. It is sated 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. Isa 34:8 for the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”}}
((Again this is such an amazing Isaiah passage. The whole world is asked to listen, and the wording has the sense of urgency. In a sense that opening verse – verse 1, is the message for the world RIGHT NOW. We are in those times when the events are about to be played out. Verse 2 opens up what the whole world needs to listen to. It is a description of Armageddon, the great climax of the Day of the LORD at the Second Coming when the wrath of the Lord is against all the world’s armies. They won’t escape because the words are “utterly destroyed them.” It is interesting that this is written in the past tense even though it was yet 2 000 years in the future from the time of writing. That is because its fulfillment is absolutely so certain that it is considered as having happened. That technique was used a few times in the bible. One such example is in Revelation – {{Revelation 11:15 “The seventh angel sounded and there arose loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever.”}} (there was still more time before the Second Coming).
I have mentioned many times that by the time of Armageddon, the population of the world will be small, as will be their armies. They are currently armed to the teeth but I feel in a way I can’t explain, that God will render useless all the technical weapons of today. However it plays out, all the armies of the world will enter Israel for destruction upon themselves.
Verse 3 describes the great loss of life, so great that the prophet used the expression “the mountains will be drenched with their blood,” and in verse 6 it parallels with “The sword of the LORD is filled with blood.” Verse 3 fits in very nicely with the account of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39, so much so, that I have always considered that war as one of the three battles, all part of Armageddon (Gog, kings of the east, and the armies of the Antichrist). Revelation 19 is also applicable which describes the LORD in battle against the world’s armies.
We must say something about {{Isaiah 31:4 – “All the host of heaven will wear away and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll. All their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.”}} The parallels with Revelation 6 v 13-14 are obvious – {{Revelation 6:13-14 “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 was moved out of its place.”}} (or “all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.”). Isaiah has an Armageddon setting, but Revelation 6 contains the same language in the 6th seal judgement. There is no discrepancy here. Isaiah is looking dimly through the ages to a time 2 700 years in the future, whereas the Spirit of God outlined to John on Patmos the specifics of the coming event.
Verses 5 and 6 are very revealing. It begins with “My sword is satiated in heaven,” indicating all decisions are made at God’s presence from heaven and seen as accomplished . The word “satiated” (NASB) (KJV - “bathed in blood” NIV - “drunk its fill”) means satisfied, quenched, so the wrath of God is quenched before it happens. It won’t stop it happening; it just flows from the throne in a foregone conclusion. Edom is mentioned, and in the Old Testament, Edom is mentioned sometimes with regard to destruction, but it usually progresses past Edom, and here is does that. Edom represents the enemy, and the enemies of God are “edoms”, and the progression is to “and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction” and in the context of this passage, “the peoples devoted to destruction” – they are the whole earth whose armies are at Har Meddigo. This is fully in the wrath of The Day of the LORD.
The final verse is very important also – {{Isaiah 34:8 “for the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”}} Two things are mentioned, the first being a day of vengeance. This vengeance is the Tribulation and God will pour out wrath on the world for the awful atrocities since the time of Adam. Yes, Christ bore our sins, but a rejection of that pardon means the sin of the individual falls on his/her own head. Of course, in a strict sense, the peak of the day of vengeance is Armageddon. The second expression “a year of recompense for the cause of Zion,” is more specific. The Lord has noted every atrocity done to His chosen people, the house of Jacob, even though some of those came on them because of their own willfulness and departure from the Lord. We thank a merciful God that we, the believers, will be removed in the Rapture before that vengeance and recompense falls. The vengeance of the Lord is what the Day of the LORD is about and He will recompense the nations according to what they have done to Israel.))
End of PART 8. Part 9 is to follow.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
