Day of judgment! Day of wonders!
Hark! the trumpet’s awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
I came across this 250-year-old hymn by accident. I heard an excellent version by Luke Hill on Spotify. I confess, when I heard his cover, I shuddered. Can we sing about God’s wrath? If yes, do we want to? After all, the hymn includes explicit references to the fires of Hell and the future eternal condemnation of the unrepentant, with lines like this:
“We shall triumph when the world is in a blaze.”
Will we? The biblical answer is an unashamed yes. If the concept of believers rejoicing and singing while the wrath of God is poured out on the earth seems foreign to you (or if you’re honest, offensive) then we probably don’t have a sufficient appreciation of God’s justice.
I’m not surprised I’ve never heard this hymn before in my life of 3 decades with at least 3 trips to church per week. Who would select this hymn to rouse the gathered church to sing? What about the unbelievers present? The visitors, the new believers, the children?!
Maybe Isaiah would select this hymn. Maybe the martyred saints of Revelation 7. Maybe we would, if we better understood the necessity and hopeful expectation inherent within the doctrine of God’s just wrath against evil.
Let’s open our Bibles.
Singing at the end of the world?
Isaiah 24 opens with a chilling statement:
“Behold, the Lord will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.”
If you read on, you’ll discover the extent of the devastation to come on the earth and its inhabitants. Verses 5 and 6 give the reason for God’s judgement: it is their transgression of God’s laws and their guilt—which they refused to confess and repent of—that must be dealt with by a holy and just Judge.
But in the middle of this harrowing chapter of prophecy, we read this surprising verse:
“They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.” (24:14)
Who are “they”? Who are these joyful people singing “songs of praise” “from the ends of the earth” (v. 16a) during a time of unimaginable destruction?
They’re the same people rejoicing throughout chapter 25. Have a look there with me.
The Chorus of the Redeemed
Isaiah starts the chapter with personal praise:
“O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name…”
But his song was never meant to be a solo. He’s just rehearsing for the chorus of the countless redeemed who will join in the praises in glory. Skip down to verse 10 for a preview:
“It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”
We’ll be singing together. Our collective joy will reverberate down through the endless years of our fellowship with each other and the One who rescued us from death and judgement. In fact, verses 7 and 8 state unequivocally that death will be banished forever.
“And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces…”
The covering or veil to be swallowed up probably refers to the shroud of death. It will be removed and cast away from us forever in the New Creation. I don’t think I’ve ever heard much said about this passage, but it’s got to be one of the greatest prophecies in the Old Testament, one John will echo in Revelation 21.
As one Irish Bible teacher explained:
“the individual voice (1-5) becomes a communal voice (9-10a). This enables us to see the world-wide pilgrimage entering the gates of Zion one by one (each with a song of deliverance) but within Zion’s walls becoming the company of the saved with a common testimony.”
Alec Motyer
Imagine these songs. We can’t really. Every single believer throughout history expressing their testimony of God’s saving grace lyrically, then every one of us joining them in song with perfect pitch and harmony.
Wrath: worth singing about?
Sometimes, to draw the reader or viewer in, an author or director will have a character “break the fourth wall”. Someone in the story speaks directly to the audience. For example, the novel The Book Thief is narrated by Death who addresses the reader throughout the book. In Isaiah 25:1, Isaiah breaks the fourth wall: he goes from describing future events to worshipping God for them. He can’t contain his praise after witnessing the final display of God’s justice.
Does that seem unusual to you? Thanking God for pouring out His wrath on the whole earth? I don’t think we love God’s justice as we should. We thank God for saving us, as we must, but how often (if ever) have you thanked God for His promise to judge the wicked and punish evil? Isaiah says that won’t always be the case for us. When we actually witness the full demonstration of God’s all-consuming wrath against evil, we’ll not be ashamed of it; we’ll rejoice, because we’ll understand properly how good, necessary and righteous it is.
It was pointed out to me recently that every New Testament book with a doxology, a praise to God, includes explicit references to God’s final judgement of sinners and his mercy to believers. The most powerful example is probably Revelation 19. What’s the first thing the great multitude in heaven will say in response to the final outpouring of God’s wrath?
“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants” (Rev. 19:1-2).
The thought of singing those words may feel strange to us. We rightly don’t want to sound like we’re glorying in people’s suffering and punishment. But that’s misunderstanding the reason for the martyrs’ song. We really should glorify God for putting down evil once and for all and punishing His enemies —and ours.
God’s justice is good. Not embarrassing. Not to be excused, nor apologized for, and definitely not to be forgotten and ignored. We do not celebrate the death and judgement of the wicked, because God doesn’t (Ezek. 33:11). But we do celebrate the Judge and His perfect acts, including punishing evil fully. Isaiah shows why God’s judgement of evildoers is good news for His people who are mercifully saved from it.
Sinners Silenced, Saints Singing
We will sing if we are safe in Christ. But the earth-dwellers’ party is over. Their songs will be silenced. One day God will close their mouths, and all their defiant boasting will cease. All their hatred of God will end. All their taunting directed at God’s children will be silenced.
On that day God will hush their song of boasting and give us an eternal song to sing that will drown out their noise. In fact, Isaiah says they’ll stop singing altogether as they come face-to-face with divine justice.
“…All the merry-hearted sigh. The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled. No more do they drink wine with singing” (24:7-9 emphasis mine).
But all who are celebrating the victory of the Lamb, the vindication of the Lion, will have reason to sing a never-ending song of worship (vv. 14-16). It’s not accidental that three of Jesus’ parables describing this time employ the image of a wedding banquet as their setting, the ultimate happy event in Jewish culture (consider the parables of the great banquet [Lk. 14], the marriage feast [Matt. 22] and the wise virgins [Matt. 25] respectively). Judgement will be an occasion for much celebrating for the righteous in Christ.
On the other hand, the once-proud, arrogant rulers will be made to give honour to their Maker and Judge. Doesn’t Paul say as much in Philippians 2? At Jesus’ name every single knee will bow and every single tongue will confess Him as Lord to the glory of God the Father either willingly or under compulsion. Either way, God will be glorified— and we will be glad.
The venue will be more beautiful than wherever you had your most memorable meal (This mountain is Mount Zion cf. 24:23, 25:6, 10). The menu will be more exceptional than anything your taste buds have ever experienced. And the celebration will go on forever. Isaiah says it’ll be a feast for all people groups, but without the historic prejudices or whatever has divided various ethnicities throughout the history of mankind. We will all worship as one. We will sing the victory of the Lion-Lamb as one.
I’ve included the entire lyrics to the hymn that prompted some of these thoughts, and a link to the song that introduced me to it below.
Day of Judgment! Day of Wonders!
Day of judgment! Day of wonders!
Hark! the trumpet’s awful sound,
Louder than a thousand thunders,
Shakes the vast creation round!
How the summons
Wilt the sinner’s heart confound!
See the Judge, our nature wearing,
Clothed in majesty divine!
You who long for His appearing
Then shall say, This God is mine!
Gracious Savior,
Own me in that day for Thine!
At His call the dead awaken,
Rise to life from earth and sea;
All the powers of nature shaken
By His look, prepare to flee.
Careless sinner,
What will then become of thee?
Horrors, past imagination,
Will surprise your trembling heart,
When you hear your condemnation,
Hence, accursèd wretch, depart!
Thou, with Satan
And his angels, have thy part!
Satan, who now tries to please you,
Lest you timely warning take,
When that word is past, will seize you,
Plunge you in the burning lake:
Think, poor sinner,
Thy eternal all’s at stake.
But to those who have confessèd,
Loved and served the Lord below,
He will say, Come near, ye blessèd,
See the kingdom I bestow;
You for ever
Shall My love and glory know.
Under sorrows and reproaches,
May this thought your courage raise!
Swiftly God’s great day approaches,
Sighs shall then be changed to praise.
We shall triumph
When the world is in a blaze.
