In this sermon, Pastor Chuck Smith discusses the dark days that are prophesied in the Bible, but emphasizes that the scripture always offers hope and a future beyond the darkness. He highlights that God never ends the story with desolation, but always presents a glorious light and hope for the future. The sermon focuses on the battle of Armageddon and the great wrath of God that will culminate in this battle. Pastor Chuck calls on all nations and people to listen and understand that God's judgment will be universal on the earth.

Oh, let the Son of God enfold you With His Spirit and His love Let Him fill your heart and satisfy your soul Oh, let Him have the things that hold you And His Spirit like a dove Will descend upon your life And make you whole And now, with today's message, here's Pastor Chuck. The prophet saw the dark days that were going to come, and throughout the Scripture, the Scripture deals with those dark days that are coming. But the Scripture never ends with the dark days. The Scriptures always take you beyond the dark days into those glorious days of light in the future. So, yes, going through trials. Yes, you're going to have a lot of problems. There's going to be severe tribulation. But the day of the Lord is coming beyond. You're going to come out on the other side. Now, we get that as we move into chapter 34 because we're going to move into some of the darkest days of man's history as we deal with the days of the Battle of Armageddon, the great wrath of God culminating in the Battle of Armageddon as we get into chapter 34. So, come near, the prophet calls. Come near ye nations to hear. Hearken, ye people. Let the earth hear and all that are in it, the world and all of the things that come forth of it. He is calling now everybody, the earth, everyone listen because this judgment of God is going to be universal on the earth. We're hearing a lot about global strategy. And the word global is a buzzword today among the politicians and all. It's a significant buzzword because we're moving into that one world government and the global community and all. And we're moving into that. And thus, it is significant that the prophet calls for the global ear to hearken, to listen. Come near ye nations to hear. Hearken, ye people. Let the earth hear all that are therein and all of the things that come forth out of the world. For the indignation, now I've said before that this word indignation in the Old Testament is the equivalent of tribulation in the New. The Great Tribulation. And so wherever you read of this indignation, in most cases, it is a reference to that period of Great Tribulation that Jesus said was going to come upon the earth. So the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations and His fury upon all their armies. He has utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. In the book of Revelation, as it speaks of this tremendous slaughter that is coming, they cry for the birds of the earth to gather together and to feast on the carcasses of the princes and of the kings and of the mighty men of the earth as it speaks of this horrible carnage that is going to take place. In Revelation 19, 17, I saw the angel standing in the sun. He cried with a loud voice saying to all of the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God. That is that He has prepared for you that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of the horses and of those that sat upon them, the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And so this battle of Armageddon ending in this horrible carnage when the blood will flow to the horse's bridle for the length of fourteen furlongs or fourteen hundred furlongs. So here is a mention of that. His fury is against all their armies. He's utterly destroyed them. He has delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out and the smell will come up out of their carcasses and the mountains will be melted with their blood. It is figurative speech and yet it is speaking of this horrible time when the blood will flow to the horse's bridles and the smell of these millions of bodies as they are going through the process of deterioration. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved. And so this great judgment of God will be cataclysmic. It will not just be confined to the earth but will be also in the heavens, great earthquakes, great tornadoes, great meteorite showers that will hit the earth and destroy. The host of heaven will be dissolved. The heavens will be rolled together as a scroll and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree. Jesus spoke about the stars of heaven falling as a fig tree casteth forth its untimely figs. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven. Behold it shall come down upon Idumea and upon the people of my curse to judgment. The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is made fat with the fatness and with the blood of the lambs and goats and the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord hath a sacrifice in Basra and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. Now, these references to Idumea and to Basra and all are figurative and they are referring to those nations that have opposed themselves to the people of God. Now, God way back said to Abraham as a part of His covenant with Abraham, He said, I will bless those that bless you and I will curse those who curse you. Now, we are told by intimation at least in Zechariah the 12th chapter that in these last days the whole earth will be gathered together against Israel. I think that we are approaching that time. You remember a few years ago the tide of the world was against Israel because they had the audacity to bomb the nuclear reactor that Hussein was building in order that he could make nuclear bombs himself. And the whole world was condemning Israel for that act of aggression against Iraq where they were just protecting their own interest. Now, again, God is going to judge those nations that have turned against Israel. God said, I will curse those that curse you. And so this chapter deals with these nations and of which Idumea becomes the sort of classic example for the Idumeans have always been the perpetual enemy of Israel throughout history. They are representative of those nations that are perpetual enemies to the people of God or enemies to the people of God, to Israel. And thus God said, I will bless those that bless you. I will curse those that curse you. And I challenge you to look at history and look at those nations that have cursed Israel and see what has happened and look at those nations that have blessed Israel and see what has happened. But the final result is yet to come. So the unicorns, verse 7, 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. God is judging now. The year of recompenses for the controversies of Zion. God is now moving in judgment for his people. And verse 9 I find extremely fascinating. The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch or tar, oil, crude oil. The dust thereof into brimstone. And the land thereof shall become burning oil or pitch. Pitch, which is the oil. It is the tar. It was actually the fact that the Bible mentions that the ark was covered with pitch. Well, Rockefeller, in reading the Bible and reading that, thought to himself, covered it with pitch. That's interesting. If there's pitch, knowing that it is tar, there must be oil over there. And that's what caused Rockefeller to go over there and start drilling for oil. And thus, the vast oil reserves were discovered by him reading the Bible. So, the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch. That's very interesting in light of what is happening right now. And it is interesting also that in the war in 1967, the terrorists and the Syrians were planning to blow up that oil pipeline that comes across the northern part of Israel. And they were planning to blow up the pipeline up in the northern portion of the Hula Valley, which is the upper Galilee region, where the headwaters of the Jordan River come. The Banias River and the Dan River and the Chutzpahni River, all three join together to make the Jordan River. The word Jordan means down from Dan. And so, the tribe of Dan was up there in the north, the river came down from Dan, and so the Jordan. But it's actually made up of three rivers, and the one, the Banias, comes right out of the base of Mount Hermon. In the place known as Banias in the Bible, at times it was known as Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus was with his disciples at the time of his transfiguration. But right up in that area of Banias, where the Banias River comes down, they were planning to blow up the pipeline and dump millions of gallons of oil on down into the Jordan River that would have flowed down into the Dead Sea and would have erected horrible ecological damage on Israel. And then they were planning to just ignite the thing, so you'd have a river of fire. That almost happened. The Israelis caught the men who were trying to come in and to blow up the pipeline, and the men were destroyed, but Israel was saved from this holocaust that would have been had they carried out that plan. But that is mentioned here as a strategy of war. So it is interesting that they are using oil as a strategy for warfare now, but it will go one further step as they turn the oil into the stream beds. The stream shall be turned into pitch oil, the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land shall become burning pitch. It will not be quenched by night or by day. The smoke thereof shall go up forever, forever being figurative speech, I'm sure. From generation to generation it shall lie waste. None shall pass through it forever and ever. And so it speaks of the area that will be made so desolate. But the wild animals and the cormorant, the bittern, the owl, the raven will dwell in it, will stretch the line of confusion on the stones of emptiness. They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there. All of her princes shall be nothing. Thorns, weeds and all will grow up in the area where the palaces were and in the fortresses. It will be a habitation of demons, actually, dragons and a court for owls. The wild beast of the desert shall meet with the wild beast of the island and the hairy one shall cry to his fellows. The demons, the screech owl, shall rest there and find herself a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest and lay in hatch and gather her shadow. In other words, it will be inhabited only by wild animals and under the shadow there shall the vultures also be gathered, everyone with her mate. Now, having given this prophecy of horrible desolation and all, he then declares, Seek ye out of the book of the Lord and read. At that time he's saying just, Hey, get this book out and read it. You'll find out. You know, you'll see it now and just read about it then. It's interesting how that so many times as we read the Bible, the daily events come alive and we realize what an amazing book the Bible is speaking of future events before they ever take place. And here's the challenge that when these things happen, then seek out the book of the Lord. And it is interesting that it is referred to as the book of the Lord, the Bible. And read, because not one of these things shall fail. Now, one of these days we'll have another Bible lesson. And we will be looking back on these events and I'll say, You see, this is what Isaiah was doing. You see right there he was talking about. Now you see it over there. The rivers of pitch and the whole thing. Not one of these shall fail. Not one of the Scriptures. Not one word that God has said shall fail. Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away, but my word will never pass away. God's word is certain. God's word is steadfast. God's word is sure. Not one word of this prophecy shall fail. As God said, I said it and I will do it. And that which he was talking about he has already done. We've seen that. That's one of those that's already checked off. None shall want her mate, for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them. God said not anything is going to be lacking. It will all come together. There won't be any missing pieces, for I have commanded and my spirit is putting it together. And he has cast the lot for them and his hand has divided it unto them by line. Now the line was usually used in the matter of construction. You set out your lines for the corners of the buildings and so forth. And it's usually thought in the terms of destruction. Laying out the lines where you're going to build. But this is the laying out of the line for where you're going to destroy. The line for destruction. I've divided it unto them by line and they shall possess it forever from generation to generation. They shall dwell therein. That is the wild animals and all. And not be a dwelling place for man. So that desolation that will follow the great battle of Armageddon when God destroys the armies of man. As I say, the prophecies of Isaiah in the first section actually end with the 35th chapter. And so as we enter into the 35th chapter, we are entering into the final prophetic section of the first part of the book of Isaiah. It is significant that chapter 34 deals with the great tribulation of the last days. God's judgment that is coming upon the earth. God's judging of man's sin. And man for sin. The battle of Armageddon. The great destruction that God will bring. Cataclysmic destruction upon the earth as is recorded in chapter 34. And aspects of the great tribulation. The host of heaven dissolved. Heaven's being rolled together as a scroll. Their host falling down as a leaf falls from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree. And God's judgment coming upon the earth. Now, the Bible never ends on a dark note. There are dark notes in the Bible. Because of the darkness of sin, it brings its resultant and inevitable consequences of destruction, death, desolation. And so the Bible speaks of those dark days that will come upon man, upon a nation because of sin. And over and over again the prophets were warning the nation of Israel, the nation of Judah, that they were headed for difficult times. Because they had turned their backs upon God and were worshipping other gods, they were going to be carried away captive by their enemies. They were going to be destroyed. The cities were going to be ravaged. And these prophets spoke to them of the great persecutions and trials that they were to experience. But they never stopped there. They always went on. And when you are in captivity, when you turn to the Lord, the Lord will hear you and the Lord will bring you back into the land. And they always spoke of the restoration. God never leaves and ends the story with desolation. But there is always the glorious light, the hold that God lays out for the ultimate future. We'll return with more of our verse-by-verse venture through the Bible in our next broadcast as Pastor Chuck continues to guide us through the fascinating book of Isaiah. And we do hope you'll make plans to join us. But right now, I'd like to remind you that if you'd like to secure a copy of today's message, simply order Isaiah 34, verse 1 when visiting thewordfortoday.org. And while there, we encourage you to browse the many additional biblical resources by Pastor Chuck. You can also subscribe to the Word for Today podcast or sign up for our email subscription. Once again, all this can be found at thewordfortoday.org. If you wish to call, our toll-free number is 1-800-272-WORD. And our office hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific Time. Again, that's 1-800-272-9673. For those of you preferring to write, our mailing address is The Word for Today, P.O. Box 8000, Costa Mesa, California, 92628. And now, on behalf of The Word for Today, we'd like to thank all of you who share in supporting this ministry with your prayers and financial support. And be sure to join us again next time as Pastor Chuck continues his verse-by-verse venture through the Bible. That's right here on the next edition of The Word for Today. Now once again, here's Pastor Chuck with today's closing prayer. Father, we thank you again for the wisdom and the instruction that you give to us and that has been handed down to us through these Proverbs. Help us, Lord, that we might give heed to them, that we might be wise and do justly and do that which pleases you. In Jesus' name, Amen. It is my great pleasure to present Pastor Chuck's commentary on the Book of Acts. The Acts of the Apostles is an open-ended book. Jesus continues, even to the present day, to work in the lives of people throughout the world through those who have been empowered by the Holy Spirit. This book also includes a special forward written by Pastor John Corson. We studied the Book of Acts, but we never saw the Book of Acts. But we were seeing the moving of the Holy Spirit. Calvary Chapel family, may you always be known as a people who pray in Jesus' name, that it would be Jesus Christ, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. May the Jesus movement continue on. To order a copy of Pastor Chuck's book, The Acts Commentary, please call The Word for Today at 1-800-272-9673 or visit us online to read a sneak preview of the book by visiting thewordfortoday.org. This program has been sponsored by The Word for Today in Costa Mesa, California.