Judgment Has an Appointed End.

Isaiah 28:15

You boast, “We have entered into a covenant with death,
    with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement.
When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
    it cannot touch us,
for we have made a lie our refuge
    and falsehood our hiding place.”

The people had sinned to the point that God said they had made a covenant with death, and in verses 18 and 19 God said He would not have any of it,

Your covenant with death will be annulled;
your agreement with the realm of the dead will not stand.
When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by,
you will be beaten down by it.

As often as it comes it will carry you away;
morning after morning, by day and by night,
it will sweep through.”

He said that he would put an end to their wicked ways that the understanding of the prophet Isaiah’s message would bring terror to the people, that if they continued mocking the Lord He would make their chains heavier. In verses 24 and 28, God uses an analogy of farming and threshing grain, to communicate that whatever judgment the people faced would be in the Lord’s hands. You can even say that God is saying that all of the judgment would have an appointed end. He is saying that His judgment will not last forever (verse 28), and although the Lord is angry, His judgment would have an end (verse 24).

It’s not that the Lord gets tired of sending calamities, God is showing the prophet Isaiah that He is still merciful. God calls his judgment “His strange work” (verse 21) and his “alien task.” Sometimes the Lord’s ways are mysterious even in calamity, and Isaiah 28 shows us that despite the great terror and judgment, God is still merciful and has an appointed end to all things, even His judgment! This is Mike.

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