Isaiah 34:1

Isaiah chapter 34 is a very interesting chapter. It is a chapter about the Great Tribulation that will take place at the end-times, and it is amazing that it touches on many of the same themes as mentioned in the book of Revelation. The Bible says in Isaiah 34:1-2, “Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations, and his fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.” Of course, God always deals in all the affairs of mankind including what happens to every nation on this earth. But in the time of the Great Tribulation, God will get everyone’s attention by means of the very dramatic events of the Tribulation. Isaiah spoke of the “nations,” the “people,” and the “world.” Revelation 10:11 spoke of nations and people also. It says, “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.”

Notice that Isaiah 34:2 tells us very plainly what kind of a period the Great Tribulation will be. It speaks of “the indignation of the Lord,” and “his fury.” And it speaks of people being “destroyed” and of “slaughter.” In short the period of the Great Tribulation will be the worse time ever for anyone to live upon the earth. The word that is translated “indignation” means simply “anger.” God does get angry. Often people get angry when they should not, or people do not know how to properly control their anger. But God’s anger is always righteous and always justified. Of course, we are in big trouble if we are in danger of the anger of Almighty God. The whole earth will be in big trouble during the Great Tribulation because it will be a time when “the indignation of the Lord” will be known all over the earth. There are many places in the Bible that speak about the anger or the wrath of God. For example, it says in Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” And it says in Colossians 3:6, “For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience.” Thank God that He has provided us an escape from the wrath through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in First Thessalonians 5:9, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 16:1-20 speaks of the wrath of God that will come upon the earth in the Great Tribulation. It says, “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”

Isaiah 34:3 speaks of the great numbers of people who will die during the Great Tribulation. It will be a time of human death such as has never been seen on this earth, except for the days of Noah’s flood. It says, “Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.” It says in Revelation 9:18 that just one of the plagues will kill one-third of all the people on the earth: “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.” It is interesting to notice how it says that these people will be killed. Notice that Revelation 9:17 says, “And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.” That might be a description of nuclear weapons told from the viewpoint of someone seeing them from the distance of the first century AD.

Another description of the Great Tribulation from the book of Isaiah and chapter 34 tells us about spectacular events to be seen in the skies. It says in Isaiah 34:4, “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.” Concerning the same event, the Bible says in Revelation 6:12-14, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” In the first century all shining objects in the sky were called “stars” except for the sun and the moon. These stars will evidently be meteors that will shower the earth during the time of the Great Tribulation and they will cause much destruction and suffering.

The Bible says in Isaiah 34:5-6, “For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.” A sword is an instrument of war and of death. To speak of the “sword of the Lord” is an emphasis upon the fact that God will fight against those who are against Him. Today we live in the age of grace. In the age of grace God’s blessings are showered down upon all people on the earth: both the believers and the unbelievers. But when the age of grace is over, and the world enters into the time of the Great Tribulation, it will no longer be that way. “The sword of the Lord” will be manifest, and it will be a sword that will bring vengeance and judgment to the people of the earth. Speaking of Jesus riding upon a white horse in His return to the earth at the end of the Great Tribulation, the Bible says in Revelation 19:21, “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”

Speaking about the Great Tribulation, the Bible says in Isaiah 34:7-8, “And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” In these two verses it is important to notice the phrase “the controversy of Zion.” The word that is translated “controversy” means “contention” or “strife.” It is often used in reference to a lawsuit or some other legal proceeding. Of course, we all know about the controversy of Zion. It is the strife and the contention that continually takes place between Israel and the nations that hate Israel. The word “Zion” refers to the city of Jerusalem, and the city of Jerusalem will be the focal point of all the hatred against Israel and the people of Israel. What should be done with the state of Israel? What should be done with the city of Jerusalem? Should the city be divided? How does anyone solve the controversy between Jew and Arab, or between the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock? This controversy will be at a fever pitch in the Great Tribulation. Any resolution that mankind attempts to put into place will ultimately end in disaster, and it will ultimately end in hatred against the Jewish people.

Why is the world on a path that takes it continually towards hatred for the Jewish people? The answer to that is given in the book of Revelation. The Bible says in Revelation chapter 12, “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

The devil hates Jesus so much that because Jesus was a Jew, all Jewish people are hated. Those who hate Jewish people and those who hate the nation of Israel are doing the work of the devil. Of course, this devilish work will meet its destruction. In Isaiah 34:8 we are told that this time at the end of the Great Tribulation is called “the day of the LORD's vengeance, and the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion.” There will be just “recompences” from God to those who have opposed the Jewish people and who have caused “the controversy of Zion.”

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