Lesson on Isaiah 2:19-21

In the previous lesson, we discussed God's judgment of humanity's pride. In this lesson, we will understand how this judgment plays out. Fear of God's wrath will inspire people to throw away their idols.

Isaiah 2:19-21.(NIV)(NASB)(NKJV)(NCV)

Our next passage from Isaiah contains an interesting bit of irony. The literary term irony describes situations or scenes where what actually happens contradicts what we might expect to happen. The discrepancy may also exist between what the character thinks and what we, as readers, know. In any case, irony deals with situations where expectations and reality contradict each other.

Isaiah 2:20 contains the irony. Isaiah writes:

In that day men will throw away
to the rodents and bats
their idols of silver and idols of gold,
which they made to worship.

The people Isaiah describes here fashioned their idols with expectations of worshiping them. Yet, we see them actually tossing their gods of precious metal to the vermin. In the end, the outcome is much different than anything they first imagined.

This ironic twist occurs sandwiched between two verses with essentially the same message, that people will run to hide in the rocks out of fear. The verb translated "shake" in verses 19 and 21 occurs 15 times in the Old Testament but most frequently (six times) in Isaiah. The word is translated "dread" in Isaiah 8:12-13, "cause terror" in Isaiah 47:12, and "stand in awe" in Isaiah 29:23. Also, in other contexts in Deuteronomy, Joshua, Job, and the Psalms, this word depicts fear or dread. I think we can reasonably conclude that the shaking here isn't as much a physical shaking as an emotional one.

When the Lord unveils His judgment against humanity's pride, people have good reason to feel shaken by fear. Let's quickly examine a few passages that describe God's wrath in a little more detail than what we have in this passage of Isaiah. Jeremiah delivers a message of God's wrath to the nations before describing the result of that wrath: "At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere - from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground" (Jeremiah 25:33).

John describes Jesus in His return to the earth as the emissary of God the Father's wrath. John describes Jesus, "Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty" (Revelation 19:15). Later in the passage, John describes the outcome of the war: "The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh" (Revelation 19:20b-21). The previous verses identify these people as those who war against God.

Now, this picture of a King of wrath can be highly disturbing for those who have only heard that the God of the Bible is a God of love. Certainly, He is a God of love. The Bible clearly teaches us about God's deep and abiding love. In fact, 1 John 4:7-8 says that God is love and is the source of our love for each other: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

Although the ideas of God's wrath and love seem at dissonance with one another, the same John writes both Revelation and 1 John. He doesn't seem to object to the co-existence of these qualities in the God he writes about.

The book of Romans contains some theological explanations that may help us to understand the wrath and love of the Lord. Romans 1:18 reveals the cause of God's anger, "the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness." The pride Isaiah describes is but one way that godlessness and wickedness manifest themselves. Again, in Romans 2:5, we see the cause of God's wrath is "stubbornness" and an "unrepentant heart." In order to have unrepentant hearts, people must first have the chance to repent. We all have the chance to repent, and when we do not, we incur God's wrath.

Even so, the Lord shows His love even to those who are under His wrath. In Romans 5:6, Paul explains, "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." Christ's death is the exact means by which "God demonstrates his own love for us" (Romans 5:8). Jesus died for the enemies of God, that they might be enemies no longer.

Isaiah claims that fear of God's anger will overpower the people, to the point that they toss their idols to the vermin. We, too, must decide what to do with God's wrath. His love waits to embrace us, if we will only repent and place our trust in Him.

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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.