Isaiah 34-36 - None will lack its mate

Yahweh’s Wrath Against the Nations

Isa 34:16 LSB - 

[16] Seek from the book of Yahweh, and read: 

Not one of these will be missing; 

None will lack its mate. 

For His mouth has commanded, 

And His Spirit has gathered them.

Matthew Henry

V. Here is an assurance given of the full accomplishment of this prediction, even to the most minute circumstance of it (v. 16, 17): "Seek you out of the book of the Lord and read. When this destruction comes compare the event with the prediction, and you will find it to answer exactly." Note, The book of the prophets is the book of the Lord, and we ought to consult it and converse with it as of divine origin and authority. We must not only read it, but see out of it, search into it, turn first to one text and then to another and compare them together. Abundance of useful knowledge might thus be extracted, by a diligent search, out of the scriptures, which cannot be got by a superficial reading of them. When you have read the prediction out of the book of the Lord then observe,

1. That according to what you have read so you see; not one of these shall fail, either beast or fowl: and, it being foretold that they shall possess it from generation to generation, in order to that, that the species may be propagated, none shall want her mate; these marks of desolation shall be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the land.

2. That God's mouth having commanded this direful muster his Spirit shall gather them, as the creatures by instinct were gathered to Adam to be named and to Noah to be housed. What God's word has appointed his Spirit will effect and bring about, for no word of God shall fall to the ground. The word of God's promise shall in like manner be accomplished by the operations of the Spirit.

3. That there is an exact order and proportion observed in the accomplishment of this threatening: He has cast the lot for these birds and beasts, so that each one shall know his place as readily as if it were marked by line. See the like, Joel 2:7, 8, They shall not break their ranks, neither shall one thrust another. The soothsayers among the heathen foretold events by the flight of birds, as if the fate of men depended on them. But here we find that the flight of birds is under the direction of the God of Israel: he has cast the lot for them.

4. That the desolation shall be perpetual: They shall possess it for ever. God's Jerusalem may be laid in ruins; but Jerusalem of old recovered itself out of its ruins, till it gave place to the gospel Jerusalem, which may be brought low, but shall be rebuilt, and shall continue till it give place to the heavenly Jerusalem. But the enemies of the church shall be for ever desolate, shall be punished with an everlasting destruction.

 

The Joy of the Redeemed

Isa 35:5-6 LSB - 

[5] Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, 

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. 

[6] Then the lame will leap like a deer, 

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy. 

For waters will break forth in the wilderness 

And streams in the Arabah.

Mat 11:4-5 LSB - [4] And Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you hear and see: [5] [the] BLIND RECEIVE SIGHT and [the] lame walk, [the] lepers are cleansed and [the] deaf hear, [the] dead are raised up, and [the] POOR HAVE THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM.

Isa 35:8-10 LSB - 

[8] And a roadway will be there, a highway, And it will be called the Highway of Holiness. The unclean will not pass by on it, But it [will] be for him who walks [in that] way, And ignorant fools will not wander [on it]. 

[9] No lion will be there, Nor will any vicious beast go up on it; These will not be found there. But the redeemed will walk [there], 

[10] And the ransomed of Yahweh will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting gladness upon their heads. They will attain delight and gladness, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. 

Sennacherib Invades Judah

Isa 36:1 LSB - [1] Now it happened in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, [that] Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them.