The Sad Truth About Chastisement

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 1:28

The destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

The sad truth about chastisement on any grand scale, such as we are speaking of in the national chastisement of Israel, is that we are not just talking about some abstract concept.  We are talking about destruction, real and profound destruction.  Destruction in which real people are affected, and affected horribly.  We are all appalled when we hear of some terrible tragedy when “innocents” are lost.  We recently saw a terrible fire nearby where 5 children were killed, the result of the parents smoking in bed and falling asleep.  What a horrible tragic thing for all concerned!  All who heard of it had their hearts torn and their emotions stirred by the plaintive grief that the parents displayed.  How could it be otherwise?  The horror of such terrible events is affecting and profound. 

This is no less so, and in fact is greatly enhanced when we are talking about such events that happen on a larger scale.  Earthquakes, and other such natural disasters are horrendous things.  This is what makes war such a terrible thing, to be avoided at virtually all cost and entered into only as a last resort.  The toll taken on the combatants is only a part of the terrible cost; the toll taken on the civilians and other innocents is what is really heartbreaking.

This is the worst part of the chastening hand of God on the nation of Israel.  The sheer destruction that would be a part of the means God uses to chasten and purify His people is terrible to contemplate.  We get a hint of that terror in this verse.

And the destruction – Hebrew “the breaking, or crushing”, that is, the punishment which was about to come upon them; (compare Lam. 2:11; 3:47; Prov. 16:18). The can be no more horrible or painful act suggested than this.

Of the transgressors - “Revolters,” or those that rebel against God.

And of the sinners - Of all the sinners in the nation, of all kinds and degrees.

Together - At the same time with the redemption of Zion.

Shall be consumed – “to be completed, or finished; to be consumed, wasted away; to vanish, or disappear”. It denotes complete and entire extinction; or the completing of anything. It is applied to a cloud of smoke, that entirely dissolves and disappears:

As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away:
So he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more,

Job 7:9.

But the wicked shall perish,
And the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs;
They shall consume,
Into smoke shall they consume away.
Ps. 37:20.

It is applied to time, as vanishing and disappearing (Job 7:6); and to the destruction or perishing of men; (Jer. 16:4; Ezek. 5:13). The idea is that of complete and entire consumption and destruction, so that none shall be left. Applied to future punishment, it means that the destruction of sinners shall be total and complete. There shall be no sinner who shall not be destroyed; and there shall be none destroyed whose destruction shall not be entire and total. The expression here refers to the heavy calamities which were about to come upon the guilty nation, but it is as descriptive of the future punishment that shall come upon the wicked. We need to remember that this Scripture must be interpreted with others in mind which speak of the remnant or those whom God will preserve through this chastening.  The nation shall be utterly and completely consumed, but there will be some left, in Christ, who will survive.  Can there be anything more horrible or terrible than this?  What Isaiah is speaking of is no less than the dissolution of the nation.  This occurred in 70 AD when the Roman General Titus destroyed the city and the Temple because of the rebellion of the nation against Roman Law.  God promised to maintain a remnant in spite of that destruction – which He has and will, preserving it through until the time of the end.