PROCLAMATION
“Come near, you nations, and listen … The Lord is
angry with all nations; His wrath is on all armies. He will totally destroy them, He will give
them over to slaughter.” Isaiah 34:1-2
(NIV)
“And those The Lord has rescued will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting
joy will crown their heads. Gladness and
joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.” Isaiah 35:10 (NIV)
EXPLANATION
In this chapter Isaiah prophecies about the War of
Armageddon, the day when The Lord God will vent His wrath against all the
nations who oppose Israel (Isaiah 34:8) and totally destroy them. (Isaiah 34:1-2) Here The Lord God speaks to all of the
nations through the prophet Isaiah and tells them that He is angry with them
and then tells them what is going to happen to them. (Isaiah 34:1-15) Then, after Armageddon, He tells them, in
chapter thirty-five, that they will witness His glory and splendor as he blesses
His people. (Isaiah 35:1-10)
APPLICATION
In the coming War of Armageddon, all of the
non-believing nations that stand against Israel will be destroyed. There is no mention of any great western
nation coming to the aid of Israel. So,
either the United States is included among the non-believing nations or it has
been weakened to the point of insignificance and cannot come to the aid of
Israel. As believers we will not have to
endure this because it will all occur after the rapture of the church. (1 Thessalonians
4:17) However, even now it is probably
not a good idea to actively oppose or stand against Israel. We cannot hate the Jews and claim to be
believers. (1 John 4:20) We need to learn
to love one another, (John 13:34-35) to love our neighbors, (Matthew 22:29) and
to love our enemies. (Matthew 5:44) Let
us let the love and word of Christ dwell within us. (Colossians 3:16)
