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One sentence summary: The Lord will judge Israel and the nations, but He will bless them when they return to Him, which He Himself will cause them to do.
The Lord has a burden against Babylon which Isaiah sees. He tells him to lift up his voice to them. There is a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms gathered together, and the Lord musters an army for battle against them from a far country, from the end of heaven to destroy the whole land. "Wail, for the day of the Lord is at hand. It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore, all hands will be limp. Every man's heart will melt, and they will be afraid. Pangs and sorrows will take over them. They will be in pain as a woman in childbirth." The Lord will destroy the sinners. The stars will not give their light, and the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not shine. The Lord will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for its iniquity. He will bring the proud low. He will make a mortal as rare as gold. He will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of its place in the wrath of the Lord of Hosts and in the day of His fierce anger. Everyone will flee to their own land. It will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorroh.
The Lord will have mercy on Jacob and choose Israel and settle them in their own land. Strangers will join with them, and they will cling to the house of Jacob. They will be brought to their place and be their servants. They will rule over their oppressors. The Lord will give them rest from their sorrows, from fear, and their hard bondage. "The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked." The one who oppressed with be persecuted. The whole earth will be at rest and quiet. They will break forth into singing. The Cypess trees and Cedars of Lebanon rejoice over them, too. "Your pomp is brought down to Sheol." "How you are fallen from heaven, oh Lucifer, son of the morning. How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations, for you said in your heart, 'I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.... I will be like the most high!' Yet you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you and consider you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?'" He will go down to the pits like a corpse trodden under foot. The brood of evildoers will never be named. The Lord will rise up against them and cut off all their posterity from Babylon. The Lord will break the Assyrians and tread them underfoot, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders. This purpose is against the whole earth and is the hand stretched out over all the nations, "For the Lord of Hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?" This is the burden that came in the years that King Ahaz died. He tells the Philistines not to rejoice because the rod that struck them is broken, because "out of the serpent's roots will come forth a viper, and its offspring will be a fiery flying serpent." The poor will be fed, and the needy lie down in safety. The Lord will bring a famine to slay their remnant.
The burden against Moab: Because they are laid waste and destroyed, they have gone up to the high places to weep. They will mourn. "Send the lamb to the ruler of the land... from the wilderness... to the daugher of Zion." "Take counsel. Execute judgment. Make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day." Hide the outcasts... Let my outcasts dwell with you, oh Moab. Be a shelter to them... the oppressors are consumed out of the land. In mercy, the throne will be established, and One will sit on it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness. Moab is proud, and he will mourn. Their remnant will be small and feeble.
The burden against Damascus: Damascus will become a ruinous heap. Ephraim and Syria and Jacob's glory will wane. "In that day, a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the idols, the works of his hands." There will also be desolation because they have forgotten the God of their salvation. It will be a time of "desperate sorrows." The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters, but God will rebuke them, and they will flee far away and be like chaff in the wind. They will be no more. This is the portion of those who plunder and rob Israel.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
There is a constant dichotomy in God: grace and truth, a narrow road and an easy yoke, blessing and cursing. The sword of judgment is for both. We need to make sure we are on the right side of God's judgments. Humility and the fear of the Lord will ensure that.