Page 70 - Isaiah Student Worktext

Study Section 10: Chapters 34 - 37

10.1 Connect

One of the most fascinating things to people seems to be ‘doomsday’ scenarios. I remember
my mother telling about an inscription on an Egyptian statue that talked about the end of the
world, and it involved a red sky. In the 1930s, during the ‘Dust Bowl’ days, the amount of dirt
flying through the air made life miserable for many, but it created some beautiful sunrises and
sunsets of glowing red. People feared that was a sign of the end.

Since that time, there have been dozens…just in the last few years…of predictions that the world was
ready to end.

We know in Scripture that Jesus said “no one knows the hour” Matthew 24: 36. So any time that we
hear a date associated with the end times, we can rest assured that NO ONE knows the day or the hour.

Another conjecture however is HOW the world will end. We are told in 2 Peter 3: 7 that the end will
come with fire. So many scenarios of the end times end with fire. A huge meteor will strike the earth,
or global warming will literally burn the earth. With the advent of nuclear weapons nearly 75 years ago,
that brought all kinds of theories with it.

God has warned us almost from the beginning that He will not tolerate disobedience, sin, forever. No
matter what images man can dream up about the end times, most of them leave off the most
frightening part: when the earth ends, for believers it will mean eternity in heaven. But for unbelievers,
it means eternity in hell. It is not how or when the earth will end, but where we will go afterward that
might cause fear and dread among some.

10.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to discuss Isaiah’s warning to the nations on earth of His coming
judgment on the whole earth and on all the armies of the earth, with Edom as a symbolic
representative of God’s enemies.

2. The student should be able to describe how that God restores the cursed universe and suffering
humanity to the original purposes by the redemption plan achieved in Christ.

3. The student should be able to discuss the taunts of the royal spokesman of the Assyrian army before
the walls of Jerusalem picture Satan’s assaults on our souls.

4. The student should be able to describe how the battle between God and the king of Assyria comes to
a head, and God wins effortlessly, symbolizing also Christ’s defeat of our eternal enemies.

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