The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2007 was awarded to Cormac McCarthy for his apocalyptic novel THE ROAD. The dark novel tells the story of a gray, ashen world following some world-destroying disaster that is never explained.
When I read the story of God’s wrath in the 34th chapter of Isaiah, I was reminded of McCarthy’s book. Allow me to paraphrase:
Come and listen, everyone. Hear the news. The wrath of the Lord sits heavily on all nations. On your nation. He will destroy your army. The dead will be piled high, stinking to the heavens. The mountains will be soaked in blood. The sky will be rolled up as a scroll. The stars will be gone. The moon? Gone.
The Sword of the Lord will drink its fill. The sword of God’s wrath will be bathed in blood. God will punish Edom, the symbol of the enemy of His people.
Can you imagine a land where the land is ash and the rivers flow with smoking hot tar? Then you can imagine Edom. The nation’s rivers will no longer run with water but with hot pitch. The dust of Edom will be turned to burning sulfur. The smoke of that burned land will rise forever, ashes drifting down like gray snow, poisoning the land.
The only life will be the desert owl and the screech owl. The raven will build a nest in the barren, burnt trees.
God will stretch out over Edom the measuring line—the ruler—of chaos and destruction. God will size up Edom with the plumb line of desolation. Her royals will be reduced to nothing. Her rulers will be impoverished. The castles will be overrun with thornbushes. Nettles and brambles will overtake the forts and garrisons. The whole of Edom will be the desolate home of jackals, coyotes loping along, their ribs poking out. The whole place will be a desert, suitable only for hyenas, owls, desert creatures, and a wild goat here and there. But families will persist, if only animal families. The owl will guard her eggs, feeding her young. The falcons will protect their mates. They will survive. Isaiah 34:1-16 (paraphrase).
“None of these will be missing. Not one will lack her mate” Isaiah 34:16.
Cormac McCarthy’s bleak novel is built on hope, believe it or not. It is the story of a father and a son on a journey to the coast. The two have a shopping cart, a few cans of food, and a pistol to protect them from raiding bands of marauders. But most importantly, they have each other. At its core, THE ROAD is a book about love. About family.
And so is Isaiah 34. Yes, God will exercise judgment. God will punish evil. But God is love. God is always motivated by love and compassion and holiness. And He will always preserve a remnant. God will always preserve life. Even animal life, as He did with Noah’s Ark and as He does for the owls and falcons of Isaiah 34.
“Not one will lack her mate” Isaiah 34:16.
Dear God, thank You for hope. There is always hope. Even when You exercise Your wrath, You remain a God of love and compassion and mercy and holiness and HOPE.
AΩ.
Household Words: 