A Change in Landscape
5/7/26 Bible Thought (Isaiah 34-35)
Main Idea: While those who reject God face judgment, the redeemed will enjoy eternal bliss.
A Look at the Text:
In today’s text, the scope of God’s judgment broadens. While we saw the coming destruction of the destroyer (Assyria) yesterday, now God’s wrath is against all the nations and their host (Isa. 34:2).
All of those who rejected Him and His ways will face His justice. A “day of vengeance and a year of recompense” was coming (Isa. 34:8). Edom, as an “archetypical opponent of God,”[1] would be turned into a desert wasteland (Isa. 34:9-17).
Contrasting this, the people of God will experience a reversal of fortunes.
What was formerly desert would now blossom (Isa. 35:1-2). Streams would burst forth from the desert (Isa. 35:6). The blind, deaf, and lame would be healed (Isa. 35:5-6). As a result, the weak and feeble could be strengthened, the anxious of heart could be strong and not fear (Isa. 35:3-4). A day of reversal for the redeemed of the Lord was on the horizon (Isa. 35:9-10).
Bringing it Home:
As we turn the page to the New Testament, we see that this grand reversal comes through the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. In a moment of disappointment, John the Baptist began to doubt this. So he sent messengers inquiring whether or not Jesus was the long-awaited One (see Matt. 11:1-3).
To this, the Lord Jesus responded:
“Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me” (Matt. 11:4-6).
The hope of Isaiah is fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
With Christ’s coming, a new day has dawned. He came at the divinely appointed “fullness of time” (Gal. 4:4). His Kingdom has been inaugurated and will one day be finally consummated. In that day, there will be a final reversal of fortunes. The desert will be no more. The lame will be no more. The blind will be no more. The deaf will be no more.
Every tear will be wiped away. God will right every wrong. His redeemed, from amongst every tribe, nation, and tongue, will be with Him for all eternity. All the sorrows of the present life will be forgotten.
While we await that day, we put our trust in our Redeemer, the One who can bring forth streams in the desert, and for whom nothing is too hard. Although that day is yet to come, it is sure to come.
Challenge:
Does the desert cause me to doubt, or does it strengthen my resolve to believe in the impossible?
Let us always remember that God can bring about streams in any desert, and one day He certainly will.
[1] David Jackman, Teaching Isaiah: Unlocking Isaiah for the Bible Teacher, ed. Robin Sydserff, Teach the Bible (Ross-shire, Scotland; London, England: PT Media; Christian Focus, 2010), 146.