In Isaiah, chapter thirty-four, verses eight through seventeen, though speaking in the context of a destruction coming from God on the Edomites as enemies of God and His people, as in Second Samuel eight, verses thirteen to fourteen, Psalm one hundred and thirty-seven, verse seven, and Lamentations four, verse twenty-one, Isaiah prophesies a coming judgment on all the unregenerate which are all those hostile toward God and His Word.
“And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch, as in verse nine. And the streams thereof are the rivers, which seem most secure from the judgment here threatened; shall be turned into pitch, which is the country shall be dealt with as Sodom and Gomorrah were, even utterly destroyed, as it were, by fire, or burning pitch and brimstone, thrown down upon it from heaven.
Those who aim to ruin the church can never do that but will ruin themselves. What dismal changes sin can make! It turns a fruitful land into barrenness, a crowded city into a wilderness. Let us compare all we discover in the book of the Lord with the dealings of providence around us, that we may be more diligent in seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness. What the mouth of the Lord has commanded, his Spirit will perform. And let us observe how the evidences of the truth continually increase, as one prophecy after another is fulfilled, until these awful scenes bring in more happy days. As Israel was a figure of the Christian church, so the Edomites, their bitter enemies, represent the enemies of the kingdom of Christ. God’s Jerusalem may be laid in ruins for a time, but the enemies of the church shall be desolate forever.