Rev. Warren Woerth, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Arnold, Missouri, joins guest host Rev. Dr. Steve Schave, Director of Urban and Inner City Mission and Church Planting with the LCMS Office of National Mission, to study Isaiah 34.

Leading into chapter 34 of Isaiah we see that God is leading His people to repentance, through the punishment of their sins, as the nations have conquered them. And yet these nations who are hostile to God and His Word, and who have been destroyers, will face judgment and pay the penalty for what they have done to the people of Zion. The people of God have waited in faith for these promises to be fulfilled as they will be restored.

Isaiah 34 is difficult for many because we may not like this picture of God, we may only wish to think of God as being loving and not just, but you cannot have one without the others. And so we are called to pay attention to this very sobering picture of Judgment Day. That if we want the opposite of holiness, and righteousness, and justice… this is what it looks like. It is bloody and gory and complete desolation as no one can escape justice and the wages of sin. And yet we see also in this chapter that there is recompense, the Lamb is slain, and the blood soaks the ground as an offering… all pointing us to Christ.

So while it is a challenging chapter to look at, it is also a sobering reality of judgment day, and gives us our own sense urgency to proclaim a message of repentance and forgiveness to those who need to hear.

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