Introduction: Isaiah could have helped me more by placing dates or some clear markers as to whom various prophecies are made. He could have even helped a lot by telling us as to what time he was prophesying about – the immediate, at the time of the Messiah, or when the Messiah (Jesus) returns! And this passage raises some of those issues! but then I recognize that God is the Ultimate Author and I will trust Him to guide my thinking!
27 Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;
his lips are full of fury,
and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 his breath is like an overflowing stream
that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.
29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. 30 And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it.
Comment: I think that the Title is appropriate! People often want to say that God is Love, but that is a name which doesn’t seem to fit comfortably with the God described in this passage! Reading the passage above I find more appropriate, descriptive words to use for God such as ‘angry’, ‘punitive’, ‘at bursting point’, ‘at last prepared to act in decisive judgement’ more appropriate! But this does not mean that ‘God is love’ is wrong. It requires, however, to put other adjectives besides/adjacent to ‘loving’ – such adjectives as ‘just’, ‘holy’. And if we look Bible-wide we joyfully add ‘merciful’, ‘gracious’, ‘forgiving’, ‘steadfast’, etc. We discover that God has a perfect balance of character! The final sentence, ‘For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulphur, kindles it.‘ doesn’t sound as if there is always forgiveness available – sometimes as far as God is concerned people can go too far! A mistake the Assyrian king seems to have made!
Psalm 2: 2-6 – The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.”
Prayer: Please open my eyes that I see You, in all of Your full orbed Majesty!
As I read it! 