TWO DESTINIES
The contrast between these two chapters couldn’t be more dramatic. In 34 we have a description of Judgement Day. The sky actually IS falling. It’s blood, 🩸 fire 🔥 and brimstone, death ☠️ and destruction everywhere. But turn the page and in 35 there is singing and celebration as springs burst forth to water 💦 the desert and turn it into paradise. 💐🌷🌹🌺🌷🌻🌸🌷🌹🌺🌸
It certainly feels like these two chapters should be included in any study of eschatology. I’m going to dig a little LOT deeper and see what I find…
(You may want snacks for the journey.)
CHAPTER 34 – JUDGMENT DAY
The first thing that stands out is that verses 1-3 address the whole world; 🌎 ALL the nations. This isn’t just about Israel or Judah in 700BC.
And not only is it about ALL the nations, it even includes the Heavenly Host in verses 4-5. In fact, the opening 5 verses track really well with this passage we’ve already covered back in Isaiah 24:
“On that day the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.” Isaiah 24:21 ESV
When the text says Yahweh will punish “the host of heaven” it’s not talking about planets 🪐 or the burning balls of gas or plasma that we call “stars.” Why would He punish an uninhabited rotating ball of frozen slush or a red giant?
No. This is most likely speaking of the rebellious residents of the heavenly realm. Isaiah even says that they will be gathered and incarcerated until their trial. You don’t do that to physical, astronomical objects.
“They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished.”
Isaiah 24:22 ESV
And in chapter 34 when “the host of heaven shall fall,” it’s probably not talking about a meteor shower- ☄️which is how we generally think about this similar passage:
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”
Matthew 24:29 ESV
Literal stars cannot and do not “fall” from heaven. What gravitational force are they falling toward? They cannot be falling to earth. It doesn’t exert enough gravity to pull the sun, let alone the next closest star. Stars would vaporize Earth long before making contact anyway. Stars sometimes explode in what astronomers call a “supernova,” but they don’t “fall.”
There is a different kind of star in the Bible, however, that is described as “falling.” Some of the “morning stars” that “shouted for joy” (Job 38:7) “left their former habitation” (Jude 1:6). Satan is called “the Prince of the Power of the Air,” (Eph. 2:2). Jesus said the He saw Satan “fall like lightning from heaven,” (Lk. 10:18). Satan and his ilk (most of whom are NOT bound in Jude’s “chains of gloomy darkness,”) still inhabit the spiritual realm where they continue to battle for dominance over humanity. I suspect that THESE are the stars that will fall on judgement day.
And after the Lord gets done dealing with the rebel angelic beings and their demon offspring, He turns His attention to… Edom?
Ok, this is where I suspect that the prophecies are overlapping with dual fulfillment- both in ancient Israel’s near future and also perhaps in the end of days.
But first, a detour ⤵️ to review the origin of the Edomites.
We probably all know that the Edomites are descendants of Esau. Edom, which means “red,” was Esau’s nickname. The word Edom is very similar to Adam which basically means rosy or ruddy.
Esau and his boys conquered a region called “Mount Seir” or “Mount Hor.” It was an area inhabited by a tribe called the Horites/Horim way back in Genesis 14. They are listed along with known giant-clans. Their name means “Cave-dweller.”
🤔 So? Giant… cave men?
I dunno. It kinda sounds that way doesn’t it?
🤔 Is this where the idea for trolls comes from?
Maybe. I can imagine that stories of giants who lived in caves were probably very popular around the evening fires in the ancient world.
At any rate, Hor might’ve been an ancestor’s name. Seir certainly was. We have his whole family tree in Genesis 36:20-29. These were the people that Esau and his family conquered. The territory was called both Seir and Edom after the two main guys who ruled there.
If you’ve been reading through with me, you probably recall that I skipped Obadiah. I’m saving it for when Judah falls to Babylon because Obadiah is a prophecy about Edom being destroyed for helping the Babylonians out with the destruction of Jerusalem. And Edom WILL get destroyed. By none other than their former partner, Babylon.
So, Isaiah’s “great slaughter in the land of Edom,” (Is. 34:5-6) seems to be referring to this upcoming destruction.
IF it’s also a reference to some end-of-days event, then we should probably keep an eye on the area that used to be Edom- just in case.
The Edomites started out in the area southeast of the Dead Sea. And they stayed there for centuries until the Babylonian Captivity when they moved into the towns vacated by the deported Judah. After the Babylonians turned on them and destroyed their kingdom, the ones who remained intermarried with the few Israelites left in Judea and they became known as Idumeans.
The Nabataeans pushed them out and took over the area of Edom. The Nabataeans were the ones who eventually built THIS sometime in the first century AD:
😲 They built the temple where Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail!?! 🏆
That was just a movie. But yes, they built it.
Bozrah (Is. 34:6) was the capital city of Edom. It was built on high piece of land surrounded by steep ravines. Very defensible and not easily accessible. Remember this.
Here is it’s location in relationship to other biblical and historic sites in the modern country of Jordan:
I mention this because Isaiah will refer to Bozrah again. And when he does, it’s in conjunction with a picture of a blood-spattered Divine Warrior who is treading a winepress of wrath.
“Who is this who comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he who is splendid in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.” Why is your apparel red, and your garments like his who treads in the winepress? “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.”
Isaiah 63:1-3 ESV
Compare that to this:
“He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”
Revelation 19:13, 15 ESV
“So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse’s bridle, for 1,600 stadia.”
Revelation 14:19-20 ESV
The Isaiah passage could be an OT parallel regarding a different event, or it may be referring to the same event John describes in Revelation. It’s likely BOTH. (Remember how we said yesterday how prophecy is about repeated patterns?)
There is a clue in the name Bozrah. But we have to get down to the root meaning behind the name to find the connection.
The fundamental root word for the name Bozrah means BOTH isolated/inaccessible (like the city was), AND to gather grapes.
The picture painted is one of a Divine Warrior Who can easily overcome man’s greatest defenses. There is no earthly stronghold, isolated outpost, or manmade fortification that can keep out this Warrior. He can break through and clip off the grapes. And He doesn’t even need help.
Ancient Edom didn’t stand a chance. And neither will rebel humanity though they bind together and attempt to keep the Warrior out.
Esau himself was a very fleshly man who did not value the covenant Yahweh had made with his fathers. His kingdom was a fleshly kingdom. It’s an apt picture of the unregenerate world.
And the land of Edom is described as being utterly wasted forever. It actually sounds rather like Mordor in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy. Fire and tar pits and death.
Isaiah doesn’t exactly describe orcs but there are certainly hints of some very dodgy creatures haunting the ruined landscape. This is the lone appearance of something called in Hebrew liyliyth, (34:14). It is translated as “screech owl,” or “night bird.”
In the Babylonian Talmud (a collection of rabbinic writings from the exile period) Lilith is mentioned as a female who first cohabitated with man; or, as she came to be viewed later- Adam’s first wife which he expelled from Eden. A whole mythic lore grew up around her and by the 500s AD, Lilith is considered a primordial she-demon. Respected rabbis like Maimonides rejected the Lilith story completely. And I do too. You can’t build a doctrine on one word in one verse of scripture and just make up legends that contradict scripture.
The connection seems to be in the Hebrew word liyliyth. Here’s what the Wikipedia article says about the possible connection of the term:
The name Lilith seems related to the masculine Akkadian word lilû and its female variants lilītu and ardat lilî. The lil- root is shared by the Hebrew word lilit appearing in Isaiah 34:14, which is thought to be a night bird by modern scholars such as Judit M. Blair.[8] In Mesopotamian religion according to the cuneiform texts of Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia, lilû are a class of demonic spirits, consisting of adolescents who died before they could bear children.
Like the “satyr” also in Isaiah 34:14, there may be a connection between an actual animal (wild goat, night bird) and the suggestion of demonic entities. At the very least, the birds in verse 11, the “dragons” (tannin) in verse 13, and vague “wild beasts of the desert” are all unclean animals.
In the whole context of judgment day and fire and brimstone, I lean toward these verses pointing to a reality where unrepentant humans find themselves in the infernal company of unclean spirits in a burning wasteland.
CHAPTER 35 – PARADISE
After that slog through Mordor…
We come finally to greener pastures.
And no wonder the Disciples were confused about what Jesus intended to accomplish. Look how mixed up this prophecy is:
“Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For waters break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert;”
Isaiah 35:4-6 ESV
Jesus was opening blind eyes and deaf ears. The lame were leaping and the mute speaking. Is it any wonder they were expecting the other shoe of vengeance to drop at any moment? If I had been one of the Disciple-mom groupie members, I probably would’ve been checking every dry creek bed in the desert for signs of water.
These prophecies are like puzzle pieces in a box with no picture on the cover. And this is not a bug, it’s a feature. The LORD cannot have the forces of darkness knowing the details of His secret plan to save the world. He’s a much better General than that. There’s enough information to verify an event when it happens but not enough to predict it. There will be one major exception to this in Daniel. But we’ll get there when we get there.
That’s how I would describe my personal understanding of Bible prophecy. I don’t think the point is for us to predict…
I think the point is for God’s people (who may happen to live to see the fulfillment of a prophecy) to be able to verify that God is in control and guiding human events toward a definite conclusion. I think they’re more like trail markers to help travelers know they’re still on the right path than some sort of crystal ball.
My view: if you go into the study of prophecy thinking “I’m gonna figure out when and how thus-and-so is gonna happen” you’ll probably end up embarrassing yourself and misleading others. I think the better approach is to know what the trail-markers look like so when you pass by one you don’t mistake it for just a stick on the ground and wander along without realizing where you are.
Speaking of paths…
The Highway of Holiness
I can see a couple options on this one. The first is sensible and fits comfortably with historic Christianity. The other is totally woo-woo.
“A highway will be there, a roadway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not travel on it, But it will be for the one who walks that way, And fools will not wander on it. No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious animal go up on it; They will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk there, And the redeemed of the Lord will return And come to Zion with joyful shouting, And everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.”
Isaiah 35:8-10 NASB2020
The word translated “highway” only appears here in all of scripture. It literally means a high way. Elevated. Its root word means “to mound up.” It is an elevated way. A raised path. “Path” is an idiom often used for one’s mode of life or conduct.
“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
Psalm 119:105 ESV
And this path will be called Derek Qodesh, Holy Road, Sacred Path, Set-Apart Way.
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 ESV
“For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:14 ESV
“Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” Hebrews 12:14 ESV
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,”
1 Peter 1:15 ESV
Isaiah’s “Highway of Holiness” points to the Way of the Savior; the crucified life patiently walked out in the daily process of sanctification.
We do not attain holiness by doing enough good works. While there is overlap, holiness and righteousness are not synonyms. God’s own righteousness (right standing, record of rightness) is imparted to those who trust in Christ and who come to Him and remain in Him. Holiness is about ownership. Holiness means being set apart to God. Your life is no longer your own. You belong to the LORD. And when you walk that out day by day, you’re walking on the Highway of Holiness. It is elevated above the sludge and swampiness of this self-serving world.
The unclean don’t walk on it. They can’t. It’s not because they are prohibited, but because the narrowness and sacrifice of the way causes them to stumble so they bail out. Look how Hosea put it:
“Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.”
Hosea 14:9 ESV
Isaiah said of this road that “fools will not wander on it.” I can take that 2 ways:
- The fool (who “says in his heart there is no God,” Ps. 14:1), never even gets started on the high way of holiness.
- A foolish person (a simpleton or ignorant one) can’t get lost if he follows it. It is utterly “fool-proof.”
And this is the road that leads to Zion. Millions of saints before us have followed it with songs of joy, all the way to the Holy City.
😯 Very nice. But what about the woo-woo? I thought you said you had a woo-woo option?
Oh. What if… when the Heavenly City descends out of heaven, there’s like this path made of LIGHT that goes from the 4 dimensional earth/space-time realm into the 5+ dimensional spiritual realm? And it goes right into the city. But only the resurrected saints have the ability to perceive it and travel on it. Maybe the city is suspended above the earth and the high-way is this supernatural glowing golden path that is the only way to it.
😐 Well….uh…
😐 Yeah….
😐 That’s pretty woo-woo alright. Just needs a unicorn 🦄 and a few rainbows. 🌈
What? You don’t wonder about traveling on roads made of golden light some day?
😐 Can’t say that I have. I think we better just put a link to a good walking song and call it a day. I’m afraid if you keep going we’re gonna have another Sean Bean Lord of the Rings meme.
Ok. Here’s a link to a good ol’ gospel song, Walkin’ Up The King’s Highway. And if this arrangement doesn’t put a pep in your step, you may want to see if you still have a pulse.
To The Reader 