The Standard

[CyrilSebastian]

When Satan shall come in like a flood then the Lord will raise up a standard against him so that you may be able to bear it.   
What is the standard the Lord will raise up?

[Benedict]

When Satan shall come in like a flood then the Lord will raise up a standard against him so that you may be able to bear it.   
What is the standard the Lord will raise up?

That part about the standard is only found in the King James and New King James Isaiah 59:19.

However the idea of a standard or banner occurs throughout  Isaiah and in Jeremiah.
Isaiah 11:12 Douay-Rheims
12And he shall set up a standard unto the nations, and shall assemble the fugitives of Israel, and shall gather together the dispersed of Juda from the four quarters of the earth.

Isaiah 13 Douay Rheims
1THE burden of Babylon, which Isaias the son of Amos saw.

2Upon the dark mountain lift ye up a banner, exalt the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers go into the gates.

3I have commanded my sanctified ones, and have called my strong ones in my wrath, them that rejoice in my glory.

4The noise of a multitude in the mountains, as it were of many people, the noise of the sound of kings, of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts hath given charge to the troops of war.

5To them that come from a country afar off, from the end of heaven: tile Lord and the instruments of his wrath, to destroy the whole land.

6Howl ye, for the day of the Lord is near: it shall come as a destruction from the Lord.

7Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every heart of man shall melt,

8And shall be broken. Gripings and pains shall take hold of them, they shall be in pain as a woman in labour. Every one shall be amazed at his neighbour, their countenances shall be as faces burnt.

9Behold, the day of the Lord shall come, a cruel day, and full of indignation, and of wrath, and fury, to lay the land desolate, and to destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

10For the stars of heaven, and their brightness shall not display their light: the sun shall be darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not shine with her light.

11And I will visit the evils of the world, and against the wicked for their iniquity: and I will make the pride of infidels to cease, and will bring down the arrogancy of the mighty.

Isaiah 18
3All ye inhabitants of the world, who dwell on the earth, when the sign shall be lifted up on the mountains, you shall see, and you shall hear the sound of the trumpet.

4For thus saith the Lord to me: I will take my rest, and consider in my place, as the noon light is clear, and as a cloud of dew in the day of harvest.

5For before the harvest it was all flourishing, and it shall bud without perfect ripeness, and the sprigs thereof shall be cut off with pruning hooks: and what is left shall be cut away and shaken out.

6And they shall be left together to the birds of the mountains, and the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall be upon them all the summer, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

7At that time shall a present be brought to the Lord of hosts, from a people rent and torn in pieces: from a terrible people, after which there hath been no other: from a nation expecting, expecting and trodden under foot, whose land the rivers have spoiled, to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, to mount Sion.

Isaiah 30 Douay-Rheims
15For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be. And you would not:

16But have said: No, but we will flee to horses: therefore shall you flee. And we will mount upon swift ones: therefore shall they be swifter that shall pursue after you.

17A thousand men shall flee for fear of one: and for fear of five shall you flee, till you be left as the mast of a ship on the top of a mountain, and as an ensign upon a hill.

God's Mercies

18Therefore the Lord waiteth that he may have mercy on you: and therefore shall he be exalted sparing you: because the Lord is the God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.

19For the people of Sion shall dwell in Jerusalem: weeping thou shalt not weep, he will surely have pity on thee: at the voice of thy cry, se soon as he shell hear, he will answer thee. 20And the Lord will give you spare bread, and short water: and will not cause thy teacher to flee away from thee any more, and thy eyes shall see thy teacher. 21And thy ears shall hear the word of one admonishing thee behind thy back: This is the way, walk ye in it: and go not aside neither to the right hand, nor to the left. 22And thou shalt defile the plates of thy graven things of silver, and the garment of thy molten things of gold, and shalt cast them away as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman. Thou shalt say to it: Get thee hence.

23And rain shall be given to thy seed, wheresoever thou shalt sow in the land: and the bread of the corn of the land shall be most plentiful, and fat. The lamb in that day shall feed at large in thy possession: 24And thy oxen, and the ass colts that till the ground, shall eat mingled pro vender as it was winnowed in the floor. 25And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every elevated hill rivers of running waters in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower shall fall. 26And the light of the moon shall be se the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days: in the day when the Lord shall bind up the wound of his people, and shall heal the stroke of their wound.

27Behold the name of the Lord cometh from afar, his wrath burneth, and is heavy to bear: his lips are filled with indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire.

28His breath as a torrent overflowing even to the midst of the neck, to destroy the nations unto nothing, and the bridle of error that was in the jaws of the people.

29You shall have a song as in the night of the sanctified solemnity, and joy of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel.

30And the Lord shall make the glory of his voice to be heard, and shall shew the terror of his arm, in the threatening of wrath, and the dame of devouring fire: he shall crush to pieces with whirlwind, and hailstones.

Isaiah 49 Douay-Rheims
22Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and will set up my standard to the people. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and carry thy daughters upon their shoulders.

23And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nurses: they shall worship thee with their face toward the earth, and they shall lick up the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be confounded that wait for him.

24Shall the prey be taken from the strong? or can that which was taken by the mighty be delivered?

25For thus saith the Lord: Yea verily, even the captivity shall be taken away from the strong: and that which was taken by the mighty, shall be delivered. But I will judge those that have judged thee, and thy children I will save.

26And I will feed thy enemies with their own flesh: and they shall be made drunk with their own blood, as with new wine: and all flesh shall know, that I am the Lord that save thee, and thy Redeemer the Mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 62 Douay-Rheims
8The Lord hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength: Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thy enemies: and the sons of the strangers shall not drink thy wine, for which thou hast laboured.

9For they that gather it, shall eat it, and shall praise the Lord: and they that bring it together, shall drink it in my holy courts.

10Go through, go through the gates, prepare the way for the people, make the road plain, pick out the stones, and lift up the standard to the people.

11Behold the Lord hath made it to be heard in the ends of the earth, tell the daughter of Sion: Behold thy Saviour cometh: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him.

12And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord. But thou shalt be called: A city sought after, and not forsaken.

Jeremiah 4 Douay-Rheims
1If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the Lord, return to me: if thou wilt take away thy stumblingblocks out of my sight, thou shalt not be moved.

2And thou shalt swear: As the Lord liveth, in truth, and in judgement, and in justice: and the Gentiles shall bless him, and shall praise him.

3For thus saith the Lord to the men of Juda and Jerusalem: Break up anew your fallow ground, and sow not upon thorns:

4Be circumcised to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, ye men of Juda, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my indignation come forth like fire, and burn, and there be none that can quench it: because of the wickedness of your thoughts.

Disaster from the North

5Declare ye in Juda, and make it heard in Jerusalem: speak, and sound with the trumpet in the land: cry aloud, and say: Assemble yourselves, and let us go into strong cities.

6Set up the standard in Sion. Strengthen yourselves, stay not: for I bring evil from the north, and great destruction.

7The lion is come up out of his den, and the robber of nations hath roused himself: he is come forth out of his place, to make thy land desolate: thy cities shall be laid waste, remaining without an inhabitant.

8For this gird yourselves with haircloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned away from us.

9And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord: That the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes: and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall be amazed

[eschator83]

Today just before reading this post I was attempting my contemplation procedure on Jesus' teaching about Elijah (Mt 17.11 and Mk 9,12, essentially identical) and wound up in the Malachi closing 3.23 which seems to suggest that Elijah aka St John the Baptist could avert or perhaps make more bearable the Day of the Lord's Judgment.
Last night I re-read the teaching by Leonard Foley, OFM, in his book Believing in Jesus, p175, that Christians do not look forward to a final catastrophe as described in Scripture. Is this really a common modern view?
 

[eschator83]

My daily contemplation cards continue to seem coincidental, being related to the End of the Age.  I can't recall previously having considered Isaiah's prophecy as somewhat comforting.

[Benedict]

Today just before reading this post I was attempting my contemplation procedure on Jesus' teaching about Elijah (Mt 17.11 and Mk 9,12, essentially identical) and wound up in the Malachi closing 3.23 which seems to suggest that Elijah aka St John the Baptist could avert or perhaps make more bearable the Day of the Lord's Judgment.
Last night I re-read the teaching by Leonard Foley, OFM, in his book Believing in Jesus, p175, that Christians do not look forward to a final catastrophe as described in Scripture. Is this really a common modern view?

I don't know where you are getting your idea of John the Baptist making bearable the Day of Judgment but the Tradition of the Church teaches that Elijah and Enoch will be the two witnesses who will return before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ in order to covert the Jewish people and convert Israel to Christianity. The Great Tribulation will begin once they have completed this task and then they will suffer martyrdom and thus merit greater glory in the Resurrection because they will have become Apostles, Evangelists and Martyrs of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Himself teaches that the end will be a deluge of fire.
Luke 17:22-37 Douay-Rheims
20And being asked by the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come? he answered them, and said: The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: 21Neither shall they say: Behold here, or behold there. For lo, the kingdom of God is within you.

22And he said to his disciples: The days will come, when you shall desire to see one day of the Son of man; and you shall not see it. 23And they will say to you: See here, and see there. Go ye not after, nor follow them: 24For as the lightening that lighteneth from under heaven, shineth unto the parts that are under heaven, so shall the Son of man be in his day. 25But first he must suffer many things, and be rejected by this generation. 26And as it came to pass in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27They did eat and drink, they married wives, and were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark: and the flood came and destroyed them all. 28Likewise as it came to pass, in the days of Lot: they did eat and drink, they bought and sold, they planted and built. 29And in the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed. 31In that hour, he that shall be on the housetop, and his goods in the house, let him not go down to take them away: and he that shall be in the field, in like manner, let him not return back. 32Remember Lot's wife. 33Whosoever shall seek to save his life, shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose it, shall preserve it. 34I say to you: in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left. 35Two women shall be grinding together: the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left: two men shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be keft. 36They answering, say to him: Where, Lord? 37Who said to them: Wheresoever the body shall be, thither will the eagles also be gathered together.

Apostle Paul also teaches thus
2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 Douay-Rheims
6Seeing it is a just thing with God to repay tribulation to them that trouble you: 7And to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with the angels of his power: 8In a flame of fire, giving vengeance to them who know not God, and who obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9Who shall suffer eternal punishment in destruction, from the face of the Lord, and from the glory of his power: 10When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be made wonderful in all them who have believed; because our testimony was believed upon you in that day.

The Apostle Peter also teaches the same
2 Peter 3:1-13
1Behold this second epistle I write to you, my dearly beloved, in which I stir up by way of admonition your sincere mind: 2That you may be mindful of those words which I told you before from the holy prophets, and of your apostles, of the precepts of the Lord and Saviour.

3Knowing this first, that in the last days there shall come deceitful scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 4Saying: Where is his promise or his coming? for since the time that the fathers slept, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. 5For this they are wilfully ignorant of, that the heavens were before, and the earth out of water, and through water, consisting by the word of God. 6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. 7But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of the ungodly men.

8But of this one thing be not ignorant, my beloved, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9The Lord delayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance.

10But the day of the Lord shall come as a thief, in which the heavens shall pass away with great violence, and the elements shall be melted with heat, and the earth and the works which are in it, shall be burnt up.

11Seeing then that all these things are to be dissolved, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conversation and godliness?

12Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of the Lord, by which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with the burning heat?

13But we look for new heavens and a new earth according to his promises, in which justice dwelleth

Saint Methodius of Olympus teaches "the whole world will be deluged with fire from heaven, and burnt for the purpose of purification and renewal;"

Furthermore the Book of Revelation and the gospel of Matthew and the Prophets are filled with information regarding the Sorrows that are to come before the Lord Jesus Christ returns in glory to judge the world by fire.