Dwell in the Word: Isaiah 13:1-22

Think on these questions as you dwell in Isaiah 13:1-22:

1. The passage describes a severe judgment from God, using intense language to convey the gravity of His wrath. How does this depiction of God's anger challenge or deepen your understanding of His holiness and justice?

2. The text mentions cosmic elements, such as the darkening of the stars and the shaking of the earth. How does this imagery emphasize the universal scope of God's judgment? What does it tell us about His sovereignty over creation?

3. Despite the harshness of the judgment, the passage serves as a reminder of the importance of Christ's role in bearing the wrath of God on behalf of humanity. How does this reminder impact your appreciation for the salvation offered through Christ and the urgency of sharing this message with others?

Transcript:

Well, if that isn't just sunshine, you need to start day. This is some pretty severe language, and there's hard parts. It was hard for me to read out loud, These parts down here, their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be plundered and their wives ravaged. This is hard language. As we come to it, it's difficult for us to know what to do with this. We've been dealing with a lot of judgment here in Isaiah. I'm guessing, as we've been reading through it together, as you've heard it read aloud, you're having some of the same experiences that I am. This is intense stuff. But one thing that I've also noticed is that when we come to the parts to talk about God's mercy and God's grace and faithfulness to his people, it makes it seem all the more gracious and all the more beautiful and full of splendor. But as we come to this today, we see that people should wail. We see this in verse 6, For the day of the Lord is near, as it is tried from the Almighty, it will come, and for all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt.

This is a severe, severe judgment. And Isaiah is telling them, Look, you need to be ready for this. This could happen at any point. You need to be watching for it. Be ready. In fact, you would say this is a warning here, a way to prepare the people for what is coming. God is warning the people. And we see that as we come to verse 9, Behold the day of the Lord comes cruel with wrath and fierce anger to make the land a desolation and destroy its sins from it. I think that we all tend to struggle with this language, the idea that God would have cruel wrath and fierce anger, we struggle with that. We want God to be nice and warm feelings. But then we have to stop and we have to think God has to punish sin. He is holy. He is great. He is good. And when we think about this, it's important that we remember that, yes, God's wrath is fierce. But for us, when we think about our sin, we have to remember that that wrath, that fierce anger was poured out on Christ on our behalf. The judgment that we deserve that has this anger as Christians, we have to understand that that has been poured out on Christ.

And while it says here that God is going to make the land a desolation, and the story that comes from it, that deflation was experienced by Christ for us. And so we need to remember this. But there's also a sense here. As we look at this passage, we have to remember the level to which this judgment is coming. This is a judgment on the Earth as well. Look at what it says. This is a cosmic judgment. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark and it's rising, and the moon will not shed its light. Imagery here. Let us know that this is cosmic, that God has power over all of this, and He's going to judge in all. This isn't just a localized judgment. That's important for us to understand. That's what that imagery is driving home here. It's very poetic in its nature, isn't it? Even though it's harsh, it has a flow to it, doesn't it? And then we see it increasing, right? Verse 11, I will punish the world for its evil and wicked for their inequity. I'll put an end to the palm of the arrogant, lay low to the pompous pride of the ruthless.

God is going to punish sin. And we get this idea once again, verse 13, Therefore, I'll make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaken out of its place at the wrap of the Lord of hosts, in the day of his fears, anger. And lastly, we see that God is very serious about this judgment. Verse 19, and to have along the glory of kingdoms, this is an earthly example of awesomeness, right? Splendor and pomp are the Chaldeans. They're going to be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them. The imagery here is that it is going to be a complete and total desolation. These people are going to come in and they are going to be God's instrument of judgment, and the destruction is going to be absolute. Now, this is harsh. It's hard for us to hear. It's hard for me to read. But at the same time, it's important that we remember that this harsh language does something for us, and I mentioned it in some capacity already. It reminds us that God is holy, that He has to do something about sin. Do we want to worship a God who is absolutely holy, who's absolutely powerful, and just lets sinfulness slide?

We do not want that. That is not a good thing. There is a lot of peace. While this is difficult to leave, there's a lot of peace in the fact that God judges sin. I've said this already, but we need to remember that this is why we turn to Christ. This is why we run to him. This is why we go to Him and we cling tightly to him, because we do not want to experience this wrath. We want the wrath for our sin to be on another one who can bear it for us. So may we remember these words of judgment. May it turn us towards Christ. May we lay hold to him tightly and celebrate the love and the mercy that he has shown to us.