Isaiah 34 Isaiah chapter 34 and verse 1
and chapters 34 and 35 together make up one prophecy. They're
really one chapter really or one particular prophecy as we've
seen these different pronouncements upon different places and peoples. 34 and 35 are one. They belong
together. And there are There are passages and verses
of scripture that are very clear and just sort of in and of themselves. They're a sermon outline. They
just point by point practically preach themselves. This is not
one of those. these two chapters together,
but I believe the best way to study them is just to begin reading
and comment as we go and we'll stop and comment more on key
verses and passages that I believe are the rest of it kind of hinge
upon. But these two chapters together pronounce God's judgment
as we've seen often in the book of Isaiah up on as we've seen it upon certain
countries and cities, but here it's pronounced upon all nations,
as we'll see in the very beginning of it. Verses 1 and 2, in fact,
of chapter 34 remind us that no one is exempt from the judgment
of God. And it also reminds us that no
nation has ever pleased God, including His chosen earthly
nation, the Jews. He pronounces judgment upon them
in the very beginning of the book of Isaiah. No nation has
ever pleased God ever. God has mercy upon a remnant
of people from all nations. And the nation of Israel, the
earthly nation of Israel, is called his chosen nation in the
sense that he gave them his statutes and law and all of the types
and pictures and ceremonies, everything that pointed to Christ.
gave them many, many outward advantages, and they are a picture
of His spiritual elect that are from all nations of the world.
But as we'll read verses 1 through 10 together of chapter 34, you'll
see this is all about what we've seen often again, the judgment
and wrath of God upon the nations of the world. Come near ye nations
to hear, and hearken ye people, let the earth hear, and all that
is therein, the world, and all things that come forth of it.
For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and rightly
so." We can understand that, can't we? We've experienced this
world enough to understand that. "...and his fury upon all their
armies. He hath utterly destroyed them,
he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall
be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses,
and the mountains shall be melted with their blood, and all the
host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled
together as a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down,
as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig
from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed
in heaven. Behold, it shall come down upon
Idumea, upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword
of the Lord is filled with blood. It is made fat with fatness,
and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys
of rams. For the Lord hath a sacrifice
in Basra, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the
unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the
bulls, and their land shall be soaked with blood. And their
dust made fat with fatness, for it is the day of the Lord's vengeance. You know, even in our study in
Luke, we've seen this. John talks about fleeing from
the wrath to come. This is what he's talking about.
Where are we going to hide when God comes? Like this, in vengeance. The year of recompenses. Notice
it's what you deserve. Recompense is what's coming to
you. We've earned it. And it's for the controversy
of Zion. We'll comment on that in a minute.
And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, the dust
thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning
pitch. It shall not be quenched night or day. The smoke thereof
shall go up forever from generation to generation. It shall lie waste. None shall pass through it forever
and ever. So God clearly taking vengeance,
he's recompensing justice and judgment upon all of the enemies
of his people. Now that's important to see that
it's for the controversy of Zion that he's doing it. That's what
he said. For that reason. Because you have a problem with
my people. Because there's a problem with
God, his church, his elect, his people. He is avenging his people. He's recompensing justice and
judgment to all of the enemies of his people. Did he not say,
I'll give men for thee and for thy life, people for thy life?
God's destruction of all of our enemies, both physical and spiritual,
is our salvation. And this wicked world is part
of that, including us, as we've seen. The me that's part of this
wicked world, he's got to go too. But the cormorant and the bittern
shall possess it, the owl also, and the raven shall dwell in
it, and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion
and the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof
to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes
shall be nothing. And thorns shall come up in her
palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and
it shall be an habitation of dragons, that's probably snakes,
serpents, and a court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert
shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the
satyr shall cry to his fellow. The screech owl shall also shall
rest there, and find for herself a place of rest. There shall
the great owl make her nest, and lay and hatch, and gather
under her shadow. There shall the vultures also
be gathered, every one with her mate. Now these fowls mentioned, I look at the commentary written
by John Gill a lot, and he points out that all of these fowls and
creatures mentioned were, according to Jewish law, unclean creatures. And they are the ones that are
said to occupy the land and the cities that God laid waste and
drove out, slaughtered and drove out, banished the evil, reprobate
people, his enemies. And now these lands and cities
are going to be occupied by these unclean creatures. The proud
inhabitants of those cities who imagine themselves to have built
them You know, like King Nebuchadnezzar, he said, look at this great empire
that I've built, and what did God make him? A creature. But
he had mercy on his soul, didn't he? He was an unclean creature
in the sight of God, and he saw himself as such, and in God's
safety. So they are all destroyed, the
ones that built their little empires in this world, and God
God revealed who truly is on the throne. Destroy them, and
then these unclean creatures move in and inhabit these places. In verse 12, there's a call for
noblemen and princes to rule and govern, but there aren't
any of those. When God does what he does, there's
nobody. No, there are no noblemen. There
are no princes. Not the way he finds us, not
the way he deals with us. He doesn't recognize the offices
and hierarchies of men. This is the reality of God's
world. Everybody in God's world is unclean in the sight of God
by nature. By nature, we're legally unclean.
Now verse 14, let's look at that again. The wild beasts of the
desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island. And
the satyr, that's I believe a goat is what they said that was, shall
cry to his fellow. The screech owl also shall rest
there and find for herself a place of rest. These unclean creatures
are going to find rest there. Now the commentators that I read,
including John Gill, said that these were just beasts, just
simply picturing still the desolation of the world under God's judgment.
And just the picture of just birds flying in and making their
homes there and snakes and things like that were just a picture
of the desolation of the world under the judgment of God. But
it goes into such detail here. So many different types of creatures
are mentioned. I think there's too much attention
here given to these creatures to just pass them off as picturing
just that devastation and just the fact that it's uninhabited
by men anymore. These creatures are going to
find rest when God wipes the slate clean in this place. John Gill even said that these
beasts represent the evil religion of Rome. and even demons that
the earth is given over to for a time by God. But look at the
last passage of this chapter, verses 15 through 17. There shall
the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather
under her shadow. There shall the vultures also
be gathered, every one with her mate, Seek ye out the book of
the Lord. Let's see what God says about
who's going to inherit his earth when his judgment comes. I think John Gill is wrong about
it. And God says, look what I say about it. And listen to it. No
one of these shall fail. Still talking about these same
creatures now. No one of them shall fail. They're
going to find rest. that we kind of know that is
because in verse 15 it's talking about the vultures and still
talking about those creatures clearly and it says everyone
with her mate so you know at that point it's still talking
about these unclean creatures that are going to move into these
cities and palaces when God clears them out and then in verse 16
it says none shall want her mate no one of these shall fail None
shall want her mate. So it seems to still be talking.
Kind of clear, isn't it, that it's still talking about these
creatures, these unclean creatures. And his spirit, it hath gathered
them. God brought them in there. Now
he can do that. He can, with demons and the reprobate,
he dictates to them where they go and what they do too. But
listen to the language. And he hath cast a lot for them.
And his hand hath divided it unto them by line, and they shall
possess it forever, forever. I don't think that demons and
reprobate are going to possess God's world forever. Do you?
From generation to generation shall they dwell therein. I don't
believe God gives his world over to demons and reprobates forever. Our Lord said in Matthew 5.5
that his meek ones are going to inherit this earth. when his
judgment comes upon the proud inhabitants of this earth. And
I believe these unclean creatures are us. I believe that's you
and me where he is now. I believe this is his people.
It's not the only time in the word of God that we are thus
referred to. Turn to Acts chapter 10. And as far as I know, well let me just put it this way,
I don't know anybody else that thinks this but me, so I could be wrong
about it, but you look at the language of it. And remember
that God said look in my book to see. Don't look at the commentators,
look in my book to see what this is all about. Look at Acts 10,
9. On the morrow, as they went on
their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon
the housetop to pray about the sixth hour, and he became very
hungry and would have eaten. But while they made ready, he
fell into a trance, and saw the heavens opened, and a certain vessel
descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the
four corners, and let down to the earth, wherein were all manner
of four-footed beasts of the earth. And wild beasts and creeping
things like dragons or snakes. And fowls of the air. There's
a lot about fowls of the air in our tent. Different ones I've
mentioned. Kind of prestigious ones like
owls. You know you see an owl and you're
like oh man there's an owl. But a vulture, you see a vulture
and you're like oh there's one of them little stinking vultures.
But both kinds are just unclean creatures. That's all they are
in the sight of God's law. They were all considered unclean.
But there fowls of the air, and there came a voice to him, verse
13, rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord.
And you know, it's almost as though the commentators read
that and saw these are unclean creatures. They thought, well,
that can't be God's people. That's kind of what Peter's saying.
Not so. These are unclean. I'm not going
to have anything to do with unclean. I've never eaten anything that's
common or unclean. And the voice spake unto him
again the second time, What God hath cleansed, that call not
thou common. Don't call unclean what I've
cleaned. And what I say is clean. And
I told you to eat now. And this was done thrice, and
the vessel was received up again into heaven. And you know the
context of this. You know that God showed the apostle this vision
to prepare him to preach to some unclean Gentiles that God had
chosen. We're talking about the creeping
things, and the snakes, and the unclean birds, and four-footed
beasts. We're talking about the people
of God. Talking about people, he said that I've washed, I've
washed them in my blood, don't you call them unclean. God had chosen them and cleansed
them with the precious blood of his son and they needed to
hear his gospel because God saves his people, his cleansed ones,
by the preaching of his gospel. So Cornelius was told to send
for the apostle Peter and he came and preached the gospel
to them and sure enough, God saved them. God showed the apostle,
they're not unclean, they're my redeemed ones just like you.
And Peter acknowledged that in that text. Read Acts chapter
10 in support of this if you want to. But you see what I'm
saying. It wouldn't be the first time in the word of God that
we're called unclean creatures. That's what we are now by nature.
By nature the children of wrath, even as others. Always to God
now, we're spotless. We've always been in Christ.
But in ourselves, by nature, under the law, we're pronounced
unclean. God said he's cleansed us by
grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so these are
the ones that God has made his earth for. This pronouncement
of judgment, he said I'm going to wipe just like he did in the
days of Noah. What did he do? Everybody was
doing that which was right in their own eyes and the world
was full of wickedness and godlessness and people that hated God and
did what they wanted to do and spit in God's face and what did
God do? He wiped them all out. And who did he populate his earth
with? Eight people. that found grace in his sight. That's what this is talking about.
That's what he's going to do in the end. He's going to get
rid of the chaff and he's going to gather the wheat. That's what he's doing. He's
going to judge this earth and drive out and destroy those who
have taken this earth by force and guile and pride and the strength
of the flesh and God's going to give it to the meek. These unclean creatures who didn't
even dare show themselves hardly. You picture these cities while
they're bustling with the business of the proud and the successful.
These unclean creatures wouldn't even hardly show themselves then.
But now they're living in the palaces. That's a picture of
us. And of course God's not going
to give us this scorched and ruined earth that he's going
to burn up. to live in. He's going to make a new one
and give it to us. That's what he's going to do.
So when it says the meek shall inherit the earth, not like it
is now. He's going to make a brand new
one for us. See how it's described again now, look at the earth
now as it's described in chapter 34 of our text now verse 9. The
streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof
into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning
pitch. Verse 13, And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles
and brambles in the fortresses thereof, and it shall be an habitation
of dragons and a court for owls. But now, when these unclean creatures
move in, listen to the way it's described now, look at chapter
35. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them. And the desert shall rejoice
and blossom as the rose. When God gives it to us, it's
not going to be a place of brambles and weeds. It's going to blossom as the
rose. It shall blossom abundantly, verse 2, and rejoice even with
joy in singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be
given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God. A different place, a different
people. When God's judgment comes, He's going to give it. He's going
to give it to who He's chosen. Now it seems to me that the they,
in verse 2, And you look at this later and you tell me. And by
the way, clearly at some point, he either stops talking about
wild beasts and snakes and starts talking about us, if you believe
John Gill, or he stops describing us as wild beasts and starts
describing us in a different way at some point. But either
way, in chapter 35 there ain't no doubt about who he's talking
about. He's talking about you and me, his people. So it's not
of eternal consequence, really, who's right or wrong about this.
I just see us in the scripture referred to as unclean creatures.
God said, don't you call them unclean, though. Don't you call
them unclean. And so, listen to it, though,
in verse 2. It says, They, it shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice even with joy in singing, the glory of Lebanon
shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, and they
shall see the glory of the Lord." Now, that chapter 35 designation
right there, that's put in there by translators. That's not there.
This is all the same prophecy, the same declaration of God,
and that they right there, Looks pretty clearly to me to be the
them in chapter 34 verses 16 and 17. Them and they. It's the same people it looks
like to me. And look at what God has done for them. Even back
in chapter 34 now. Is that talking about demons
and the reprobate? They're going to come in for
a while, you know, and then God will clear them out too? Well,
look at what it says about them in chapter 34. Verses 16 and
17, it says in verse 16, they're not a one of them shall fail.
That's interesting isn't it? Because he says that about us
all the time. Lest thou, he'll keep you, he'll give his angels
charge over you, lest you dash your foot against a stone. He's
able to keep us from falling, to present us faultless before
the presence of his glory. He's not going to let us fall.
Not a one of them shall fail. You know what that word fail
means right there? Let me read it the way it's written
in the original. Not one of them shall ever lack anything. Does
that sound like demons to you? I think Gil missed this one.
I tell you what, he don't miss much though. I recommend John
Gil. I believe that's us, don't you?
Not one of them shall ever lack anything. Does it offend you
to be called a snake? You know something? The Lord
Jesus Christ had to become a snake in order to save you. A serpent
lifted up on a pole, made in the likeness of the people, in
the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin
in the flesh. There's no creature so low that
it's beneath being a description of me. Not one of them shall lack anything.
And then in verse 16, none of them will lack a mate. That word
is companion or companionship. Think about that now. That's
true of us. Not one of them shall be left
alone. That's what this is about. And
even if you take it as mate, in the sense that we normally
think of mate, It can mean companion, but even if you take it as mate,
why did God make a helpmeet for Adam? You remember what he said? It's not good for man to be alone. So that's what he's saying here.
Not one of them will ever be alone. Never be alone. That's what the idea is here.
And then look in verse 16 again. God's Spirit has gathered them
Doesn't the scripture say that in Isaiah 43, 5? He said, fear
not, for I am with thee. I will bring thy seed from the
east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north,
give them up. And to the south, keep not back,
bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the
earth, even everyone that's called by my name. For I have created
him for my glory. And I have formed him, yea, I
have made him. God's going to gather them from
all corners of the earth and bring them home. That's His people. Out of every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue under heaven, the hosts of heaven sang, worthy
is the Lamb, because you were slain and redeemed us. Out of
all of those nations. And He's going to gather them.
And then verse 17, listen to verse 17 again. He's cast the
lot for them. You know, the word lot is You
also call a parcel of land a lot because lots were cast to determine,
to divide land in portions like that and to give inheritance
that way. And he said he's doing it in your favor. When the Lord
casts a lot, it's in order to bless you. It's in order to give
you a great portion in his kingdom. In other words, He's given the
earth to them. They will inherit the earth by
His decree, by His providence, by His power, by His grace. They'll
inherit the earth. He's cast a lot for them, and
His hand hath divided unto them by line. And it'll never be taken
away from them. That's what really got me looking
at this, is not being anybody, but the Lord's sheep. They'll possess it forever, from
generation to generation. They'll dwell therein. Now in
verses 1 and 2 of chapter 35, this will be a glorious place. It's described as having the
glories of all these beautiful cities that are mentioned there,
that were renowned for their beauty and grandeur. But it's
a glorious place because God's glory is going to dwell there.
and they're going to see the glory of the Lord. That's what
it says in verse two. They shall see the glory of the
Lord. What is, how do you see the glory
of the Lord? We have some good teaching, helpful
teaching about that in the word, don't we? We understand something
about what it is to see the glory of the Lord. Moses said to the
Lord, show me your glory. And we know what God said to
him. And we know some things that happened in that context. He said, show me your glory.
And God told Moses, here's what's got to happen. If you're going
to see my glory, first of all, I've got to put you in a place
by me. There's a place by me. And that's
where you have to be in order to see my glory. There's a place
by me, and I'll have to hide you in the cleft of the rock.
And I'll have to put your feet upon a rock. And I'll have to
cover you there with my hand." Now think about this. This is
God who has no hands saying, I'm going to cover you with my
hand. God is spirit. But God does have a hand, though,
doesn't he? In the person of his son. And that person, the
Lord Jesus Christ said, My people are in my hand and nobody can
pluck them out. And this is what's being, I'm
going to protect you, I'm going to hide you, I'm going to cover
you with my hand and from there, from the rock, from a place by
me, from the very side of God, in a rock, on a rock, covered
with the hand of God. Now you can see the glory of
God. So only in Christ, only if you're hiding in Christ, only
if you're in the hand of Christ, only if you're standing upon
Christ, the rock of God, then can you see the glory of
God. So we know something of God's glory from that. Let's ask this. You know, sometimes
when you want to know something about something, you ask the
questions, who, what, where, when, and why? Well, let's ask
this. What's the glory of God? Well,
we see something about that there. We see that only in Christ can
it be seen. Where is God's glory? Where is
God's glory? 2 Corinthians 4, 6, For God,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined
in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The glory of God is in the face
of His Son and can only be seen there. What is God's glory? Hebrews 1.1 God who at sundry
times and in diverse manners spake in time past unto the fathers
by the prophets hath in these last days spoken unto us by His
Son whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he
made the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory, and
the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the
word of his power when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the majesty on high. Christ himself, when asking what
is the glory of God, we're answering with who is the glory of God. And his glory is seen in that
he by himself purged the sins of his people and sat down on
the right hand of the majesty of God, having finished the work. You don't sit down until you're
done. No earthly high priest ever sat down on the job. There
weren't any chairs in the tabernacle. But ours did. Our great high
priest. When he entered that holy place,
not made with hands, not with the blood of bulls and goats,
but with his own precious blood, he sat down. When God showed Moses his glory,
whatever Moses saw, We don't know exactly how the Lord revealed
himself visually there. But while he was seeing it, where
he was seeing it from, as we've seen, it's all Christ. God declared
this as he showed it to him. I will have mercy. And how does God have mercy?
Well, we just read it. The brightness of the glory of
God by himself purged the sins of his people, that God might
be just and justify them which are in Christ Jesus. He might
be merciful to sinners like you and I. And then he was exalted by the
Father. This is how God has mercy on sinners. If God says, I will
have mercy, and he's talking about sinners, And he did. Then the Lord Jesus Christ must
die for our sins and put away our sins by the sacrifice of
himself. And he did. Have you seen the
glory of God? You unclean things I'm looking
at tonight. Have you seen the glory of God?
That's what Isaiah said is going to happen. These unclean creatures
are going to see the glory of God. According to the Levitical
law, every leper, everyone who was diagnosed and identified
as a leper, was not just in trouble medically, but legally he was
an outcast. And he was required to announce
himself everywhere he went, crying, unclean, unclean, so that people
could hear him. He had to announce so that they
would know, everyone would know and be able to avoid his making
contact with him or even coming near him so that they might avoid
being infected by him. And so every sinner before God
defiled by sin, by spiritual leprosy, incurable and vile and
wretched and defiling everything he comes in contact with, he's
called upon by God to confess that sin. to cry before God,
unclean, unclean. This is why God gave his law
so that every mouth might be stopped and all the world become
guilty before God, that we might acknowledge ourselves to be unclean
before God. An actual leper approached the
Lord Jesus Christ once, more than once, but here in Matthew
chapter 8, And it doesn't say there that
he cried unclean when he approached him like he was legally required
to do, at least not that we're told. He may have, I suppose.
But the Lord knew what he was, and I just imagine that he knew
that the Lord knew. But this is the cry of a heart
now. He wasn't crying unclean, but
he cried from his heart. And what he said with his mouth
was this, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And the Lord said, I will. Be
thou clean. Be thou clean. And now with that
in mind, us unclean creatures, let's read the last of, starting
in verse three, the last of this chapter. And you'll notice that we're
not referred to as unclean anymore in these last verses of this
prophecy. It says in verse 3, strengthen
ye the weak hands and confirm the feeble
knees. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, be strong, fear not. Behold, your God will come with
vengeance. Now remember what chapter 34
was about? Should we tremble at this? God's
going to come with vengeance? Oh no! He's going to come with
a recompense? Both of those words were used
in chapter 34, weren't they? That's what that is. That's what
that's talking about. God's going to tear this world
up and everybody in it. Should we tremble at that? He
said no. No. Listen to the way that it's said.
Your God will come with vengeance. Even God with a recompense. He
will come and save you. What do we say? The destruction
of his enemies and ours is our salvation. Then the eyes of the blind, verse
5, shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
Then shall the lame man leap as in heart, and the tongue of
the dumb sing. For in the wilderness shall waters
break out, and streams in the desert It's not going to be a
wilderness anymore. He's going to give it to us and
He's going to make it a wonderful place, a paradise. He's going
to restore everything we lost in Adam and a whole lot more.
A whole lot more. Verse 7, And the parched ground
shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water. In the habitation of dragons,
where each lay, there shall be grass with reeds and rushes,
and a highway shall be there, and a way, it shall be called
the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it. But wait a minute, I thought that's who was going to be in
there. But it shall be for those. The
wayfaring men, the fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall
be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up there on. It shall
not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. Apostle Peter said, these are
unclean creatures. I'm not going to have anything to do with the
unclean. The Lord said, no, those are the redeemed. That's who
they are. Those Gentile dogs, those are
my redeemed ones. I've cleansed them with my blood. And the ransomed of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sigh shall flee away. We're not referred to as
unclean anymore. There's no unclean there. But
I thought it said now in verse 17 of 34 that the unclean will
possess it forever. Isn't that what it said? Those
creatures, those unclean creatures, it says they'll possess it forever.
Well they're still there but they're not unclean anymore.
They're not to be referred to that way. In verse 35 verse 8 it says
the unclean shall not pass over. How can that be? How can they
possess it forever and yet when we see this place flourishing
under the glory of God and God blessing it and prospering it,
no unclean shall pass there. Well, those two words in verses
9 and 10, redeemed and ransomed, that's the answer to the riddle.
Redeemed and ransomed. He has washed us from our uncleanness
with his own precious blood, and our sins and our iniquities
God remembers no more. Isaiah 53, for surely he hath
borne our griefs. That's how he cleansed us. He
took our griefs and our sorrows. He carried our sorrows. Yet we
did esteem him strict and smitten of God and afflicted, but he
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way and the Lord hath laid
on him the iniquity. of us all. Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the law. It was his law that pronounced
us ceremonially unclean. But he redeemed us from the curse
of the law. How? Being made a curse for us. Galatians 3.13. There's that
word redeemed in Isaiah 35. echoed in Galatians chapter 3.
He redeemed. What does that mean, redeemed?
Redeemed from the curse of the law. Redeemed from being an unclean
wretch that God's wrath is upon. Redeemed from being a child of
wrath, even as others. What about ransom? What does
that mean? The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. Now think about what that says.
If we wanted to define the word ransom in our text, how would
we define it? Well, in Matthew 20, 28, our
Lord defined it this way, his life. He gave his life a ransom. What is the ransom? His life. This is how an unclean thing
comes to see the glory of God and dwell in paradise with him.
He said to an unclean thief that hung near him and died on the
same day, he said, today you'll be with me in paradise. That's
what we just read about in verses 3 through 10 in our text. The
paradise of God, that's where we're going to live. What does
that mean, with me in paradise? Redeemed with the precious blood
of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.