The great 20th century philosopher and theologian Francis Schaeffer used to say that if he had one hour to explain the gospel to someone, he would spend the first fifty minutes on the bad news of judgment and then the last ten minutes on the good news of salvation. Why? Because if we don’t grasp the bad news, we won’t appreciate the good news. Isaiah takes the same approach. He has been urging us to put our trust in the LORD, and in the LORD alone. Now in chapter 34, he is moving us toward closure. Assyria fades from view and he is addressing the whole world. Time is merging into eternity. And we are being shown the seamless connection between what we embrace now and what we will have then. As Ray Ortlund explains, “We need to understand that Hell or Heaven will be, in one sense, the eternal extension of the deepest, truest you that you become in this life. So here is the most important question of your existence: What are you becoming? Whatever you are becoming reveals where you are going. If you are savoring by faith a salvation and fullness from God, you are already on your way to what Isaiah calls ’Zion’ in chapter 35. But if you choose not to live by faith in this coming world, Isaiah 34 is showing you your future.” It’s important for us to stop and think. What does it mean to live in a universe where a holy God judges evil? He is patient with us, but His patience will not last forever. On the great day of His wrath, the sword of God will descend from Heaven. With apocalyptic language, Isaiah pictures mountains dissolving into mudslides of human blood, as the LORD brings about a great slaughter. Someone will be sacrificed for your sins—either Christ as your Substitute, or you yourself. One way or the other, God will balance the scales of justice, and all moral guilt will be paid for. And the price is extraordinarily high. If not redeemed by the blood of Christ, the sinner’s debt will require the judgment of an unquenchable fire, and “its smoke shall go up forever” (v 1-10). And there is more. The good life, which seems so impressive now, will be turned into a desolate wasteland, unfit for human habitation. The words “confusion” and “emptiness” in verse 11 echo “without form and void” in Genesis 1:2. In the end, God will reverse what He created in the beginning, throwing the world into unlivable chaos. This will be the final, inevitable result of trusting in human glory. And the worst part of God’s judgment will be its eternal endlessness: “they shall possess it forever” (v 11-17). For further meditation: