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ISAIAH: GOD'S DIRECTIVES TO THOSE TROUBLED AT GOVERNMENTAL APOSTASY
Part XXV: Motivation To Holiness Now In View Of God's COMING HUGE World Judgment And Salvation
(Isaiah 34:1-35:10)
  1. Introduction
    1. As believers, we can observe around us exists an overwhelming degree of wickedness, and at times actually wonder if it is even worth trying to live separate from the evil that engulfs our environment.
    2. God had a climactic message of judgment followed by great blessing, and focusing on this message encourages His people to want to continue living fervently separate from sin in spite of this evil we see.
  2. Motivation To Holiness Now In View Of God's COMING HUGE World Judgment And Salvation.
    1. God urgently called the entire inhabited earth to listen to an important message, Isaiah 34:1a,b.
    2. That message predicted the Great Tribulation judgments of God's fierce wrath on man's sin, Isaiah 34:2a.
    3. Accordingly, Isaiah details the horrors of that coming Great Tribulation as follows, Isaiah 34:2b-17:
      1. God has determined to devote all the world's hosts to total destruction in the Tribulation Period, 34:2b.
      2. Indeed, the carnage brought on by this divine destruction will affect the entire world, Isaiah 34:3.
      3. Along with this destruction of human beings, God will deeply shake and unsettle the heavens, 34:4.
      4. The Idumeans, or Edomites, selected to represent all the nations who have failed to believe and obey God will be the object of God's fierce wrath at this time, Isaiah 35:5-8; Bib. Kno. Com., O.T., p. 1084.
      5. This judgment will have permanent ramifications for the world's peoples, Isaiah 34:9-17:
        1. As He did with Sodom, God will use volcanic activity to alter the world's topography, Isaiah 34:9.
        2. This upheaval in the natural world will ruin the works of evil men on earth, Isaiah 34:10.
        3. In the place of the evil human ruler will wild animals live, and make their homes, Isaiah 34:11-15.
        4. Indeed, the day is coming when men will be able to check Isaiah's prophecy here to see how surely this prophecy in Isaiah about such devastation has come to pass, Isaiah 34:16-17.
    4. However, in massive contrast to the fierce wrath of God and its resulting devastation on the earth to occur in the Tribulation Period, Messiah's ensuing, righteous kingdom will be like the Garden of Eden, 35:1-10:
      1. In the Kingdom after the Tribulation, earth's environment will be restored to an Edenic state, 35:1-7:
        1. The wilderness and desert will blossom abundantly with God's blessing like a rose, Isaiah 35:1-2a.
        2. The earth's foliage will be noted for its luxury and abundance (Lebanon, Carmel and Sharon possessed quality plants and farmlands in Isaiah's day), cf. Isaiah 35:2c.
        3. Where there used to be only mirages, real ponds and lakes will exist, Isaiah 35:7a,b; where once the desert animal would lie down will exist marshes abundant with grasses and reeds, Isaiah 35:7c.
        4. Mankind will experience mental health signified in his experiencing great joy, Isa. 35:2b, 3-4, 10c.
        5. Mankind will experience physical restoration and health, Isaiah 35:5-6: (a) the eyes of the blind will see (Isaiah 35:5a), (b) the deaf will hear (Isaiah 35:5b), (c) those with deformed or missing limbs will experience restoration (Isaiah 35:6a) and (d) speech impediments will be removed (also implying the removal of a variety of mental handicaps so that people can speak well), Isaiah 35:6b
      2. The cause for this restoration of the environment will be the curbing of sin on the earth, Isaiah 35:8-10:
        1. Due to the value placed on separation from sin, or holiness, only those who are holy in the Kingdom will be allowed to travel on the highway called, "The Way of Holiness," Isa. 35:8a,b.
        2. Such a great emphasis will be put on the separation from sin that even those who are often morally deficient (fools) will not go astray against the Lord and His Word, Isaiah 35:8c.
        3. Indeed, opposite what travelers could experience in Isaiah's era, no dangerous beast will come onto that Messianic highway; only the redeemed of God will be there, and they will come to Zion on that highway full of praise, rejoicing and rest from former sorrowful, painful effects of sin, Isa. 35:9-10.
Lesson: When discouraged from living separate from sin due to the degree of destructive evil in our surroundings, God wants us to recall an era of great worldwide judgment to come followed by great blessing at the reign of Christ. Thus focused, we are motivated to live uprightly in a very evil world.

Application: To avoid discouragement from living separate from sin in a generation where such holiness is not valued, may we keep a PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE of history to see holiness will be GREATLY REWARDED in the FUTURE while SIN will be THOROUGHLY PUNISHED by God!