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Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Isaiah 34

How many years does the Lord ordain for any of the nations of this world? Even if a nation still exists according to the same name for centuries, is it really still the same place? I was recently reading a lecture written by a nineteenth century New England preacher. What startling changes have taken place since his day! As he describes the life of the populace living under tyrants and popes in some European nations, he noted that the common man was left with little to do but to be amused by useless pursuits. I was brought to wonder about what has happened to our land in the 150 years since his message was written. How could it be that we too are now amusing ourselves to death? Is the nation that we live in today really the same one that was here in an earlier day?

One day all the nations of the world will face the judgment of God. God is not happy with the peoples of many lands. The destruction that is described in this chapter is massive and vivid. But it is not enough to speak of the destruction of the peoples of the earth. In the day of God’s anger the very heavens will be rolled up like a scroll, and the stars will seem to fall from the sky as the order of common grace/common curse will give way to a new day with the coming of the Lord’s mighty vengeance.

Why is He angry? Why has He reached the point where it would seem that nothing could turn away His fury? Edom is singled out here, almost as a representative of all the nations who will face the sword of the Lord on that day. Why Edom? One thing stands out. She rejoiced at the discipline of God against His covenant people, and since the beginning she has had a hatred for the chosen status of God’s own Jacob.

How anyone treats the special people of God is a most significant issue in both testaments. Here Edom would seem to be gone forever. Saul of Tarsus will one day be confronted by the risen Christ because of his persecution of the church, the new remnant of Israel, and he will then be redirected to bring the message of the gospel to the nations of the Lord. Some will be brought into the new Israel of God, not through circumcision, but through faith in Christ. Others will be left as the rejected Edom, for the Lord has sworn, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau have hated.” The Lord in His discussion of the coming Day of Judgment tells us that it will not go well for those nations who have persecuted the church. This is also the point that He makes in Matthew 25 when the coming King separates the sheep and the goats. In 2 Thessalonians 1 the same point is made by Paul concerning those who have hated the Lord’s church.

The Lord God has a jealous love for His people. He may discipline them and even use any nation to do this job. But that nation must not dare to celebrate the shame of the people who have been named with the name above all names. They have their part to play in his work of correction, but he will not stand for their pride, their boasting in their idols, and their unbelief and immorality. They will find that He is an enemy who knows how to rescue His own loved ones when they call out to Him for aid.

Edom will be as nothing. God has reserved her land for unclean animals rather than for those who have been created in His image but who would find their joy in the torture of His adopted sons and daughters. None of this should be a surprise to anyone. Seek the truth of the matter in the book of the Lord. The reigning Messiah King, Jesus Christ, will be a Defender against those who would be vicious predators and who would treat his weak ones as their prey. The Lord will rescue His church from the clutches of her enemies. The only way of wisdom for the nations of the world is for people everywhere to come to him and find their place in the assembly of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and in the living head of God’s people, his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Redeemer of God’s elect.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 7:00 AM

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