Saturday, November 18, 2017

eschatology, the Highway of Holiness (Is.33-35)

Here is the next "batch" of chapters in Isaiah  (some of them can be twofold prophecies), but I will only focus on how it applies to the end times.  This chapter describes the Tribulation...
 (Isaiah 34:1-10)  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.
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.
So their slain will be thrown out, and their corpses will give off their stench, and the mountains will be drenched with their blood.
And all the host of heaven will wear away, and the sky will be rolled up like a scroll, (Rev.6:14); all their hosts will also wither away as a leaf withers from the vine, or as one withers from the fig tree.
For My sword is satiated in heaven, behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom  and upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
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.
Wild oxen will also fall with them and young bulls with strong ones;  thus their land will be soaked with blood, and their dust become greasy with fat.
For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
Its streams will be turned into pitch, and its loose earth into brimstone, and its land will become burning pitch.
10 It will not be quenched night or day;  its smoke will go up forever.  From generation to generation it will be desolate;  none will pass through it forever and ever...

The following chapter is about how the people who become believers during the Tribulation will enter the Millennium - and will be able to go see Jesus face to face (via "the Highway of Holiness").  There will not be any more persecutions against the Christian... 
(Isaiah 35:1-10)  The wilderness and the desert will be glad, and the Arabah will rejoice and blossom; like the crocus
It will blossom profusely and rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.  The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.  They will see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God.
Encourage the exhausted, and strengthen the feeble.  
Say to those with anxious heart, “Take courage, fear not.  Behold, your God will come with vengeance;  the recompense of God will come, but He will save you.”
Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.
Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.  For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah.
The scorched land will become a pool and the thirsty ground springs of water;  in the haunt of jackals, its resting place, grass becomes reeds and rushes.
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 him who walks that way, and fools will not wander on it.
No lion will be there, nor will any vicious beast go up on it;  These will not be found there.  But the redeemed will walk there,
10 And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads.  They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
This chapter is also a description of the Millennium.  The highlighted portions are adjectives of Jesus..
(Isaiah 33:15-24)  He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity, he who rejects unjust gain and shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;  he who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
16 he will dwell on the heights, his refuge will be the impregnable rock; his bread will be given him, his water will be sure.
17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty; they will behold a far-distant land.
18 Your heart will meditate on terror: “Where is he who counts?  Where is he who weighs?  Where is he who counts the towers?”
19 You will no longer see a fierce people, a people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends, of a stammering tongue which no one understands.
20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;  your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation, a tent which will not be folded;  its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its cords be torn apart.
21 But there the majestic One, the Lord, will be for us, a place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars will go, and on which no mighty ship will pass—
22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king;  He will save us—
23 Your tackle hangs slack;  it cannot hold the base of its mast firmly, nor spread out the sail.  Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided;  the lame will take the plunder.
24 And no resident will say, “I am sick”;  the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
Today's takeaway:  Notice how, as I have laid out this "batch" of chapters in a chronological order, the order above is chapters 34, 35, 33.  Even in other devotional posts, what I'm seeing is a kind of pattern in how God delivers each batch of messages.   They usually start off with the good news, then a warning of what will happen if you don't accept the good news, which them moves into how (if you are still alive) it's never too late to accept the good news.  The overall message is love.  The method of the message is brilliant, because of course, God is THE MASTER when it comes to knowing how to get our attention, and knowing how to communicate.  The God who created the universe has written a letter of love to us - the Bible!!!  It is our road map to eternal life!

Now, the Highway to Holiness in the Millennium will be an actual pathway, without any persecutions or suffering as people seek out Jesus to do God's will.  For us now...

(Matthew 7:13-14)  “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it."

(2 Timothy 3:10-17)  Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, 11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! 12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 13 But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. 14 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15 and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.16 All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; 17 so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.


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